How LaunchDarkly Boosts Productivity and Accelerates Product Development with Loom

Challenges

• Communicate with 100s of colleagues and stakeholders spread across multiple functions and disciplines
• Keep remote workers engaged and aligned on project goals
• Produce video content that is quick to record and easy to share and scale

LaunchDarkly’s Principal Product Manager, Brandon Mensing, performs the ultimate juggling act. He has to guide hundreds of colleagues, distributed across multiple functions and disciplines, through every step of product development — and bring products to market on time and budget. Keeping teams aligned and product roadmaps on track is no easy feat.

Brandon and other PMs in the business need to communicate and collaborate constantly on everything from presenting research and reviewing objectives, to sharing project updates, and walking stakeholders through product specs and demos.

Traditionally, Brandon used live meetings when feedback needed to be gathered or project decisions taken. He recognized that synchronous meetings weren’t always the best way to move fast and stay productive, so he began to produce video content to make the process more efficient. He wanted to communicate more by video, but the tools at his disposal were complex and made the task too laborious to scale. Software limitations also forced Brandon to make compromises on his video content.

“I wanted to produce bespoke content for the dozens of different roles and functions spread across the different audiences I need to report to,” he says. “But because creating async videos was so labor-intensive, I had to make trade-offs and record longer presentations that were broad enough to be applicable to a very wide number of functions.”

Brandon had another roadblock. Sharing the videos he produced was long-winded and frustrating.

"After I’d finished a video, what came out the other end was an MP4,” he says. “I’d need to make a Drive folder, then upload the video, give access to the right people, and then hope that people downloaded and watched it. It all took up too much of my time.”

The busy Product Manager was keen to find a better solution — but he had high demands. He wanted a fast learning curve, absolute ease of use, and instant ROI.

Solution

• Effectively communicate asynchronously with Looms and work more efficiently
• Produce bespoke videos, laser-targeted at specific functions, quickly and easily
• Use Loom, not meetings, to solve project roadblocks and issues which drives faster execution of problems
• Share content with any number of colleagues and stakeholders in seconds

Brandon began using video communication platform Loom after LaunchDarkly ran a trial. After years of wrangling with complex software, Loom’s ease of use was refreshing.

“Loom instantly cuts out all the complexity of communicating asynchronously with video,” says Brandon. “I simply click a button to record and it automatically overlays my webcam. I can include what’s on my screen, my face, or both. As soon as I’ve finished, I get a link that’s ready to share, so I don't have any production work in the middle. Why wouldn't any Product Manager want that?”

Brandon stopped worrying if creating async videos warranted his time. Instead of making trade-offs, he can produce exactly what he needs for each audience: whether that’s quick updates to keep projects on track, context ahead of meetings so they can dive into discussions faster, or sharing knowledge to upskill teams with less effort.

“With Loom, I quickly produce several three or four-minute videos, each one targeted to specific functions,” he says. “That’s a game-changer for me. It means I can get a lot more done, because I can communicate more effectively across different kinds of situations.”

Loom videos give Brandon the most value whenever there’s an urgent project issue to solve. Instead of waiting for every stakeholder to be available for a meeting, he records a video, links in the relevant people, and asks for feedback within a deadline. So Loom speeds up the feedback cycle and drives swifter execution of problems.

Plus, sharing Looms is a breeze. As soon as Brandon finishes recording, a link is created that he can send to any number of people in seconds to watch and engage with. It’s easy for the recipient, too. They can watch, interact with emojis, and leave feedback at a convenient time for them, instead of being pulled away from project work for a meeting.

Results

• Better collaboration and alignment across business functions
• Productivity skyrockets and product lifecycle accelerates
• 523 fewer meetings in 90 days, saving time for developers, sales, and marketing teams — and reducing effort and disruption

Loom makes cross-functional working easier, improves team collaboration and alignment, and increases productivity for LaunchDarkly.

“Loom speeds up every project that I work on,” says Brandon. “It accelerates those moments where I say to myself, I can't have a live meeting with my team right now, but I need to show them something while it’s in my head! I instantly roll the camera, check everything’s working right in a few seconds, and send off the link when I’m done.”

In 90 days alone, LaunchDarkly avoided 523 meetings thanks to Loom. Every avoided meeting saves significant time and reduces effort and disruption for Brandon and his colleagues.

Looms that focus on knowledge sharing have been particularly successful. Some 542 Looms have scaled and been viewed by multiple people. Meanwhile, 442 Looms have been reused allowing for institutional knowledge to be captured and shared. Loom is an ideal tool for Product Managers, according to Brandon.

“I can guarantee you that every product manager I work with, who needs to send a video about something to someone, is going to be able to use Loom, be effective with it, and be productive with it,” he says.

Because Brandon is such a fan and regular user of Loom, other colleagues are increasingly adopting it.

“My design colleagues and developers use Loom to deliver product demonstrations instead of giving them live,” he says. “Loom gives them the option of presenting this key step in their operations without the overhead and without the headache.”

Overall, Loom makes the product lifecycle smoother and boosts business efficiency for LaunchDarkly.