ORIGINAL APPROACH
Fill everything in first.
Organisation, employees, equipment, work centres, items and integrations. Only then comes the first order.
A LOT OF EFFORT BEFORE THE FIRST RESULT
smena
First order.
First plan.
First value.
Let a small manufacturer see the product’s value before getting tired of setting it up.
FIRST ORDER / WORKSPACE
PRODUCT DESIGN — 01ORDER #0048 / NEW
LINE shelving / 120 units
Customer: Sever · Dispatch: 28 October
OPERATIONS3
PLANNED LABOUR36 h
BUFFER BEFORE DISPATCH2 days
OperationAssigned toPlanStatus
01CuttingAlexey K.8 h / 21 OctScheduled
02AssemblyMaria S.20 h / 22–24 OctScheduled
03PackingIlya P.8 h / 26 OctScheduled
The order is on schedule.
Next step: hand the plan to the foreman. Everything else can be configured later.
CONTEXT
Came to plan an order. Got a questionnaire.
Smena brings together orders, operations and capacity for small manufacturers. Its main user is an owner or foreman who keeps the plan in a spreadsheet and discusses changes in messages.
The concept explores a specific tension: accurate planning needs data, but a new user has no reason yet to spend time entering it. Value has to come first.
- First segment
- Small make-to-order manufacturers: furniture, metalwork and retail fixtures.
- Core task
- Understand who will complete the order and when, without promising the customer an impossible deadline.
- Constraint
- No dedicated implementation specialist and no time to migrate every reference list.
PRODUCT DECISION
One real order matters more than a configured system.
We defined first value precisely: the user sees a plan for their order, understands the sequence of work and can discuss the deadline with the foreman. Creating an account is not that result.
CHOSEN SCENARIO
See your own plan first.
Add one order, choose operations from a short template and get a draft plan. Refine settings as needed.
ORDER → OPERATIONS → PLAN
DECISION LOGIC
What needs to come together for this to make sense.
We set working parameters for the design: a segment, a path to value and viable economics. These are initial model assumptions that need validation with real users before investment.
01 / WHO WE START WITH
SMB
The first segment is small make-to-order manufacturers. Capacity planning is a recurring need, and the owner or production manager makes the buying decision.
02 / WHERE USERS DROP OFF
72% → 49%
In the initial model, 72% of users understand the offer and 49% reach their first plan. This gap sets the focus for validation.
We test the first steps: creating an order, choosing operations and viewing the finished plan.
03 / IS IT WORTH FIXING?
4.4×
LTV / CAC
The modelled scenario allows investment in activation. Before scaling acquisition, we need to validate margin, customer lifetime and implementation cost.
CAC ₽4,200 · LTV ₽18,600 · payback 3.8 months
04 / WHAT WE DO NOT KNOW YET
Can a foreman get a useful plan without help?
Working confidence estimate:
27 / 100
This is the central untested assumption. If the first plan requires an implementation specialist, we need to shorten the workflow itself, not just remove a few fields.
05 / WHAT WE DO NEXT
Shorten the path to the first result to 5 minutes.
Test the workflow with one real order: enter the inputs, choose operations and get a plan without prompts from the moderator.
we expect:
activation ↑ · retention ↑ · payback ↓
DESIGN → ENGINEERING
Simplify the start.
Keep the depth.
A short first workflow does not mean stripping down the future product. Separate what is essential for the first decision from what can be refined along the way.
01 / INTERFACE
Show the next step.
One main workflow per screen, clear defaults and a saved draft. Users always know what is done and what remains.
02 / ARCHITECTURE
Do not wait for integrations.
The first order is created manually or imported from CSV. Reference data, roles and accounting systems are connected separately and do not block the first plan.
03 / ANALYTICS
Measure the result.
The events order_created, operations_confirmed and plan_viewed trace the path to value. Errors and requests for help are analysed at each step.
NEXT VALIDATION
The first plan —
without our help.
Next, owners and foremen try the workflow with their own orders. We observe where they need a prompt, how clear the plan is and whether they are willing to use it at work.
- Target time to a plan
- <5 min
- Moderator assistance
- 0
- Workflow to test
- 01
First, prove the plan is useful.
The criterion is not click speed but whether someone can get a usable result independently. If they cannot, we revisit the workflow and the quality of the plan. New features come after first value is validated.
/ YOUR NEXT MOVE
Where does your product
lose its users?
We will examine the journey, economics and constraints, then identify which change is worth testing first.