R2D2 Design Approach | Marco Aguirre

R2D2 Workflow

A methodical, cross-functional approach to software development

By Marco A. Aguirre

Published 23 Jan 2023.

01// Introduction

As Director of Research at cove.tool, I developed the R2D2 workflow to refine the team's product MVP handoff and software development cycle. Prior to the switch, our documentation was non-existent, the roadmap was only weeks ahead of the development team, and the questions that are most crucial to determine ROI, unanswered. To address all of these issues, we modified the industry standard Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), shown in Figure 1 below, and fully adopted a Agile SCRUM environment workflow for optimize collaboration and communication between product designers, owners, and the software developers.

Figure 1: "What Is SDLC? Understand the Software Development Life Cycle"

by Alexandra Altvater for Stackify.com

About cove.tool

cove.tool is a web-based platform that hosts a suite of tools designed to save architects, engineers, developers, and contractors time and money with computer-aided simulation. The primary innovation of the organization was the overwhelming aggregation of various building performance analysis (BPA) studies into one platform. Some of the notable capabilities included estimating construction costs, calculating embodied carbon, mapping daylight and glare access, and measuring occupant comfort.

Because of its technical complexity and scientific veracity, additional planning and review stages were needed early and often throughout the planning and design stages. The changes we would make to the existing workflow would add clarity and set priority to the order of operations. To address cross-functional concerns, we also imbedded more required stages of Minimum acceptance criteria (MAC), launch campaigns, and sales/customer-success training into the process. The implementation of the R2D2 had over whelming success and even award recognition, with the company and its products winning the Architect Magazine's R+D Award.

02// Overview of R2D2 Workflow

R2D2 stands for Research, Review, Develop, and Deliver. This workflow is designed to target organizational priorities like documentation, return on investment (ROI), quality assurance, marketing campaigns, and establish cross-functional minimum acceptance criteria (MAC). There are seven stages in the R2D2 with 17 sub-steps.

The seven steps of the R2D2 workflow:

Intent Summary
Product Discovery
Present: Pitch & Review Notes
Pipeline & Schedule
Mockups, Data Structure & Description
Marketing Work
Conclusion

The R2D2 actually takes form in a power-point presentation file. This is done to:

Establish a primary document for cross functional organization.
Provide an easy handoff process between teams for aligning on objectives and language.
Compile findings like precedents, market research, and more into one location.
Organize links to files from miro, monday, & figma boards, and other online accounts.
Use during presentations, ie. internal meetings or focus groups
Keep a record as features are revisited over time.
To archive shelved and sunset features, decisions, and recall project shortcomings.

03// Proving Added Value

Step One of the R2D2 is to qualify a new feature by proving its added value to the users or to the product(s). Prior to entering the Qualifying Stage, a proposed feature either sits in the Backlog Features List or is a Customer Request made top priority with the discretion of the SDR and CSM teams. This stage is also meant to take 4-8 hours max and once ready will be presented to the product team and CPO in a weekly 30 minute planning meeting. Based on the answers to the six questions below, the feature will follow one of these paths:

approved to begin the design stage
given additional questions to answer before moving forward
added to the Backlog list to reassess in the future
rather than becoming a software endeavor, an alternative method is chosen like creating new help article or video tutorials that sufficiently addresses the problem.

04// Determining Priority

As a proposed feature begins the Design Stage, we use the chart below to determine priority of each feature and estimate timeline. Meetings to determine the priority will happen at the beginning and end of the Design Stage. These meetings are kickoff calls held between the appointed product owner and designer(s) and the software team leads. This meetings will...

Determine technical complexity based new and existing frameworks in the platform,
Estimated anticipated hours of work and size of team
Evaluate workload for the next 3-6 months to determine likelihood of when feature could go into a Sprint.

Once these factors are considered, the feature will then be placed in the chart below. Depending on their placement a combination of events will occur.

High Impact, Low Effort features are added into the upcoming sprint planning cycle. Upon availability of the a software developer
High Impact, High Effort typically take six months to a year to complete. They typically will have new software teams designated to oversee full time with weekly reoccurring planning and review meetings

05// Creating Feature Mockups

As Senior Team Lead and later Director of the Research and Product Team at Cove Tool, I developed the R2D2 workflow to refine our product handoff and software development cycle. Prior to this, our team attempted to

06// Onboarding new researchers and product managers

Building occupants who can visually connect with outdoor environments while performing everyday tasks experience greater satisfaction, attentiveness, and productivity. Library patrons seated at computers, who often develop eye strain or dry eyes from looking at their screens for extended periods without a break, find relief in attractive distant views. The analysis above shows the "Quality Views" from inside the library and their use to evaluate the effectiveness of a building's design to provide building occupants with substantial and beneficial views.

07// Cross-functional Success Metrics

Building occupants who can visually connect with outdoor environments while performing everyday tasks experience greater satisfaction, attentiveness, and productivity.

Standardized research handoff procedure to cut SDLC and maintained a 6-month lead time on software development, a 100% improvement from the prior year. Increased feature launches by 316% while reducing new bug reports to a company-record-low 16%.
Developed a multi-year roadmap for 80% vertical integration of Building Performance Analysis (BPA) tools, as well as executed detailed quarterly plans, conducting weekly releases averaging 50 features/year and 1 product suite/biannually.
Maximized organizational strengths to increase Company Growth Rate (by ARR) by 60%, increase the closing ratio by 14%, shorten the sales cycle by 76%, and increase Annual NNARR by 36.5%.
Upskilled the Support and Live chat team to keep customer satisfaction above 90%. This resulted in 127% NRR, and 10% higher expansion rates, with churn rates below 5% - an industry outlier for a Series B B2B SaaS company.
Organized cross-functional, one-time and reoccurring meetings to improve problem-solving, centralized communications and decision-making, and fast-track solutions into actionable items.

08// R+D Award Recognition