App Management 2.0

App Management 2.0 is a revamp of Sauce Labs’ current app storage solution, offering users a centralised hub to store, manage, test, and distribute mobile applications. This project lays the foundation for Sauce Labs’ long-term vision of becoming a comprehensive Mobile SDLC Platform for Testing.

I came up with the initial design concept, I designed and collaborated with the product manager to define milestones and work packages. Additionally, I worked closely with product and engineering leadership to coordinate the cross-functional team effort.

The Challenge

App storage service has long been the starting point for mobile developers testing their applications on Sauce Labs. Whether performing manual tests on local devices or running automated tests in cloud environments, everything begins with uploading the app. All testing processes revolve around the app itself.

However, app storage service has seen minimal improvements over time. The limited app and permission management structure leading to increasing friction for enterprise clients who need to manage dozens of projects, each with thousands of app versions across multiple teams.

Observed customer behaviour from screen recordings in MS Clarity

Understanding the users and problem space

Sauce Labs caters to a wide range of users, but by cross-referencing Weekly Active Users (WAU) of the app storage service with revenue impact, we decided to prioritise enterprise customers, especially those large organisations who are managing 10+ unique apps, each with thousands of versions across multiple teams running various tests.

For these organisations, quickly locating the correct app version to initiate tests is critical, yet many users reported mistakenly starting test pipelines on the wrong version, blocking pipelines and causing release delays. Additionally, large organisations often require cross-team collaboration, but our platform’s lack of app sharing between teams forces users to upload the same app multiple times, increasing network load and slowing down testing. Organisations also face challenges with users modifying key settings like default device environments and app configurations, leading to further inefficiencies.

Aggregated customer requests and insights from Productboard

These issues emphasise the need for more robust app management and permission control to streamline workflows and improve efficiency.

Defining the vision and scope

While collaborating with the mobile product team, we realised that enhancing our current app storage service was necessary to address immediate user needs. However, we didn’t stop there. After conducting in-depth research, the product leads and I mapped out the entire mobile Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) and performed a gap analysis. We discovered that most customers use Sauce Labs primarily for regression testing, addressing only one phase of the mobile SDLC.

This insight led us to extend our focus beyond immediate needs. Instead of focusing solely on short-term fixes, we made the deliberate decision to broaden our scope, recognising a significant opportunity to expand into areas like app distribution and post-production monitoring. By covering the full SDLC, we could better serve our customers while aligning with the company’s vision of becoming the platform for testing.

Drawing the blueprint and the initial concept

To kick off the design process, I researched competitors tackling similar challenges to understand how users organise their apps across different platforms. This insight helped shape my initial design concepts, where I documented both the limitations and benefits of each approach. I also anticipated future features to ensure the design would scale with our product vision.

[Data model and concept pic]

I then presented these concepts to the product team and stakeholders to build alignment, gather feedback, and explore collaboration opportunities. After several iterations, we finalised a solution that allows users to organise their mobile applications into projects, incorporating tagging and project-based access control. Combined with enhanced search functionality, this approach aims to reduce app discovery time, improve findability, and offer a more flexible permission system.

Proof of concept

I conducted both internal and external concept testing to put my design concept under test. Internally, I tested with customer-facing roles due to their extensive knowledge of our enterprise customers, such as technical account managers, customer support engineers, and solution engineers.

[internal concept testing pic]

Externally, I recruited users through an in-app survey powered by Pendo. I asked users to go through a clickable prototype built by Maze with 4 tasks and report if they believe they completed each task, how hard they would rate them, and their thoughts along the way.

[external concept testing pic]

The new design concept got relatively positive feedback. People were able to understand the new hierarchy model as it aligned well with how they manage their projects within their organisation. It was a relief for us because we ensured that we are heading in the right direction.

Building the MVP

I worked together with the product manager to turn parts of our vision into objectives and milestones. We ensured each milestone has ownership assigned to it and I also worked closely with the product team to make sure the work packages are manageable and that we can deliver consistent on time.

[Hi-fi design mockup]

[Opportunity doc milestones]

Outcome

Impact & Reflection

I am grateful for the trust from the team to let me take on the responsibility of designing this project with this magnitude and give me timely help during the process. According to our product vision, we will add app distribution and post-production monitoring functions to this project in the future. There are still lots of potential and improvement for this and the impacts are expected to be significant as well.