Bartleby Write

Objective:

Elevate the product scope of Bartleby Write to cater to an ever-evolving user base and dynamic market demands.

Key Deliverables:

  • Feature Enhancement: Introduce innovative features, stemming from thorough user research, to augment the product's functionality and to better cater to end-user needs.

  • User Experience Refinement: Reassess and refine user journeys, interfaces, and interactions to ensure a seamless, intuitive, and user-centric experience across the platform.

  • Design System Establishment: Formulate and standardize a comprehensive design system, ensuring consistency, scalability, and adaptability across all product touchpoints.

The challenges of Refining Bartleby Write

Narrow Product Focus:

  • The product initially emphasized grammar checks, limiting its appeal and capabilities in the writing process. There was a pressing need to diversify and expand its writing tools to cater to a broader audience and a wider range of writing tasks.

Absence of a Defined Design Language:

  • Without a cohesive and standardized design language in place, scaling the product, ensuring consistency across features, and introducing new functionalities became cumbersome and resource-intensive.

Innovation by iteration

Operating within a lean framework, our team, although compact, was rich in diverse expertise. Comprising of one Product Manager, one Full-stack Developer, one Front-end Developer, and myself as the dedicated UX/UI Designer, we harnessed the synergy of our diverse skills to drive the evolution of Bartleby Write.

1. Agile Methodology with Quick Iterations:

  • Leveraging the agile approach, we ensured that design, development, and product management worked in tandem. This enabled us to quickly conceptualize, prototype, test, and refine features in shorter cycles, ensuring that the product was continually improving and adapting to user feedback.

2. Cross-functional Collaboration:

  • Given our team's size, open communication was paramount. We held frequent touchpoints, ensuring everyone was aligned on goals and challenges. This close collaboration allowed for real-time feedback and expedited decision-making.

3. User-Centric Design Approach:

  • As the sole designer, I took the lead in anchoring our strategy around user needs. By conducting rapid user research, testing, and iterating on designs, we ensured that each new feature or refinement was genuinely solving user problems and enhancing their experience.

4. Innovative Problem Solving:

  • Working with limited resources necessitated creative solutions. Whether it was optimizing the existing codebase, leveraging open-source tools, or brainstorming unconventional design hacks, our mantra was to be resourceful and pragmatic.

5. Emphasis on Scalability:

  • Despite the initial lack of a defined design language, we prioritized establishing a robust design system. This not only aided in maintaining consistency but also ensured that the product could scale efficiently, with every team member having clear guidelines to reference.

Through our concerted efforts, determination, and agile approach, our team succeeded in significantly accelerating the growth and functionality of Bartleby Write, turning challenges into opportunities and ensuring the product's continued relevance and appeal.

Scaling the product

Leveraging user insights and innovative design, we transformed Bartleby Write from a mere grammar checker into a comprehensive writing suite, encompassing essay research, builder templates, a citation generator, and an integrated document dashboard, making it an all-encompassing tool for writers.

Outcomes

Through our journey with Bartleby Write, we learned the immense value of iterative design, close collaboration, and user-centric focus. We successfully expanded the tool from a singular-function grammar checker into a holistic writing aid, encompassing multiple facets like essay research, templates, citations, and document management. The outcomes were evident in enhanced user engagement, positive feedback, and a notable increase in subscriptions, establishing Bartleby Write as a go-to resource for writers of various calibers.

It was a truly rewarding experience.