Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Build with prototypes: Be a customer-obsessed developer (BWP201)

Summary

Presenters: Sunny Chowdhury (Manager, Solution Architect team for Buy With Prime), Zubin (Solutions Architect), and Marcel Montalbani (Solutions Architect).
Topic: The session focused on the importance of prototype building in accelerating product development and enhancing customer experience.
Service Introduced: Buy With Prime, an e-commerce product that extends Amazon Prime benefits to third-party websites.
Customer Personas: Merchants, Shoppers, and Developers.
Prototype Strategy: The team built prototypes to gather developer feedback and shape the product roadmap.
GraphQL API Accelerator: A prototype built using AWS AppSync to model ByWith Prime APIs, allowing developers to start integration early.
Blueprint Application: A containerized Node.js application that provides code samples and common e-commerce functionalities to aid developers.
Developer Engagement: The prototypes enabled developers to start building integrations six months ahead of API readiness and reduced foundational effort by 30%.
AWS Services Used: Amazon API Gateway, Lambda, DynamoDB, AppSync, EventBridge, SNS, IAM, and CDK.
Outcome: The prototypes helped prioritize high-value features, deliver an elevated experience, and adopt and adjust faster.

Customer Obsession: The team's approach was deeply rooted in Amazon's customer obsession principle, focusing on solving customer pain points and improving the developer experience.
Feedback Loop: The prototypes served as a feedback mechanism, allowing the team to collect insights and iterate on the product before the final APIs were released.
Agility and Efficiency: By leveraging AWS managed services, the team was able to build scalable, fault-tolerant prototypes quickly and respond to feedback with agility.
Reduced Time to Market: The prototypes provided developers with a high-fidelity model of the service, enabling them to plan and develop their integration with confidence and reduce the time to market.
Educational Tool: The Blueprint Application served as an educational tool, helping developers understand and implement ByWith Prime APIs without extensive documentation.
Cultural Shift: The success of the prototype strategy highlighted the importance of a cultural shift towards working backwards from customer needs and embracing iteration over perfection.
Community Engagement: Engaging with the right developer community early in the product development lifecycle was crucial for gathering relevant feedback and shaping the product roadmap effectively.