Koding is a tool for software development teams that automates the setup process of dev-environments and allows teammates to collaborate in real time. The time I spent at Koding, I successfully launched a complete product overhaul: transitioning the company from Koding (as a learning platform for individuals) to Koding for Teams (read more). I also managed to created a new logo for the company! Logos aren't my forte, so I wrote about how I approached this here: Prototype Your New Logo.
The work here reflects some of the big challenges we tackled together: sharing Virtual Machines (VMs), clarifying product messaging, creating and testing a user on-boarding experience, implementing payment mechanics, and building a barebones design system that would support pretty dramatic product changes.
Re-Thinking "Social"
Late 2015, Koding built a messaging platform and an activity feed to support dev-team collaboration. It was a pretty cool idea to keep your team's activity all in one place, but the Koding team (internally) was still using Slack day-to-day. I audited the UX of their social feature set, and made my proposal: ditch the thing we aren't doing better than our competitor (Slack), and double down on our killer product.
They weren't excited to scrap months of hard work, so I challenged them to use their own chat, exclusively, for all team communication. Meanwhile, I put together a proposal for a seamless Slack integration, and outlined multiple places in the UI that could host team-centric features. A week later, they were ready to ditch their team chat and asked for my proposal.
