Sentio Design - Out of Business

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that helps organizations build online communities and audience engagement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sentio Design?

I had a new product leader within my organization. I wanted to bring in someone to provide support to that lead and also help us rethink our product strategy. We wanted them to assess our product roadmap and determine what needed to be added or omitted.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team lead, Yana (Founder, Sentio Design) stripped down our product roadmap into pieces and helped us identify our needs and pain points. She provided us with a rebrushed product strategy and outlined our next steps from an application standpoint. We took a tactical approach towards the end of the engagement, where we came out with an action plan.

What is the team composition?

We just worked with Yana.

How did you come to work with Sentio Design?

I’d worked with Yana on a few other projects when she had been at other organizations. She’d been amazing to work with. When I knew we had to do a reset on our own product strategy, I proactively reached out to her to find out that she had started her own company.

How much have you invested with them?

That discrete project cost somewhere around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The recent engagement began in January 2020, and the project wrapped up as she gave us our primary deliverable. As things are on hold with COVID-19, we’re now looking at how to implement our new roadmap. I anticipate that we’ll bring her back on for phase two.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We met the stated goals of the project, which was to reset our product roadmap. She gave us a plan that addresses our actual needs, which is incredibly important. The project with her also gave us an opportunity to talk about what was working and what wasn’t. As a result, the project strengthened my relationship with the new head-of-product.

How did Sentio Design perform from a project management standpoint?

We used email and Zoom to communicate. We used MURAL for ideation and affinity grouping. It was a great virtual experience, and from our perspective, it worked just as well as working together, face-to-face.

What did you find most impressive about them?

She has amazing facilitation skills. She has the fantastic ability to drill down to the root cause through precise questioning, then surfacing back up in a way that’s understandable and actionable. She also has a firm but caring demeanor that nudges us along in a very busy time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. I keep on seeking her out, which is a testament to how awesome she is.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to be ready to focus and do the work. Ensure that you’ve set aside the appropriate amount of time to focus on what you’re there to do. She’s personable and easy to work with, so it’ll be a great collaboration.