1
Carl · Shopper
Carl places an online order
Carl buys coffee beans for in-store pickup and a French press that ships, since it's out of stock at his store. One order, two fulfillment methods.
Case Study · Product Vision
Salesforce Order Management
Creating a product vision to drive strategic conversations and build organizational alignment.
The Challenge
A great product with a missing piece.
Order Management had launched, but without native inventory it was a hard sell. Customers had to keep using third-party inventory tools, which felt clunky and spread the full picture across multiple places.
Shifting Behaviors
Shopping habits changed fast as the pandemic hit, and pickup and delivery expectations changed with them.
Lack of Vision
There was no shared picture of the product beyond the MVP, or a clear story for prospective customers.
Power of Salesforce
Stakeholders needed to see what the full platform could do for the product's future.
The Goal
Guide the future product, drive strategy, inspire the team and align the organization.
Even though it was a future vision, it had to stay grounded in what could actually be built on the platform with current technology and resources.
The Vision
Distributed Order Management
Adding inventory visibility and custom order routing would expand Order Management into Distributed Order Management (DOM): giving merchants options for how shoppers receive orders, and flexibility in how they fulfill them.
Multi-Channel Fulfillment
Show location-level inventory in the storefront, and mix pickup, ship-to-home and ship-from-store in one order.
Custom Order Routing
Build routing rules with clicks or code, with seamless MuleSoft integration.
Inventory Visibility
One hub for inventory across channels, with insights by location and location group.
Process
From discovery to validation
Personas
Three people, one coffee brand
The story needed three personas whose journeys intersect, plus a brand to tie them together.
Carl, shopperOrders online for pickup and delivery, and wants to know where his order is.
Steph, developer / SIIntegrates the new inventory system with Capricorn's existing tools.
Corey, operations managerManages inventory and order routing across millions of records and locations.
Capricorn Coffee10k orders a day across 80 stores in the U.S. and Canada, with pickup and ship-from-store.
Ideation
Mapping the journey
We mapped how each persona's journey hands off to the next, then worked through sketches, affinity mapping and wireframes. Bi-weekly design reviews let us get stakeholder feedback early and iterate without costly rework.
The Solution
The story in five parts
We told the vision as one connected story. Parts 2 and 3 happen before Carl's order, but playing them as flashbacks made the story land better with the audience.
2
Steph · Developer / SI
Steph integrates inventory Flashback
Steph finds the APIs and docs she needs, then works with Corey to define requirements and connect Capricorn's existing inventory systems.
3
Corey · Operations Manager
Corey creates order routing rules Flashback
Using the visual flow builder, Corey sets up routing that favors lowest shipping cost over fastest delivery, in line with Capricorn's strategy.
4
Corey · Operations Manager
Corey discovers a problem
An exception shows orders backing up at the Boulder store, which flooded overnight. Corey turns the location off, and his routing flows send its orders to the next best location.
5
Carl · Shopper
Carl gets the rest of his order
Carl's French press arrives on time. He never knew anything went wrong. His only problem now is figuring out how to use it.
The Presentation
Bringing the vision to the team
With the story, personas and screens in place, we built a presentation and demo deck. The team took turns presenting each part, and the response was overwhelmingly positive. Our Product GM even did a little "flashback" dance.
Outcomes
What it led to
Informed the roadmap
A reference for scoping, planning and budgeting three quarterly releases.
Eased dependency talks
Helped prioritization with partner product teams the vision depended on.
Aided product marketing
The demos and deck were reused in customer-facing marketing.
With stakeholders on board, the next step was breaking the story into chunks of work we could ship over the next several releases.
Let’s talk.
Questions about this project, or just want to compare notes? Reach out.