Inside Buildertrend: No cell service, no problem

Charley Burtwistle:

What is up, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of “The Building Code.” I’m Charley Burtwistle.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Zach Wojtowicz here.

Charley Burtwistle:

And that was my first ever intro. How’d it go?

Zach Wojtowicz:

I don’t know how. I think it went well. I loved it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, that’s the only validation I need then. We are back today with another minisode. Again, this is something new we’re trying this year. Comes out every other week, mixed in the schedule of our other weeks normal podcast that we’ll be releasing. If you didn’t check out the first one, go check it out. It’s with us and Russ Lane, who’s a director of product here at Buildertrend. It was great. And who do we have today?

Zach Wojtowicz:

Austin Eilers, product manager here at Buildertrend. I know Austin fairly well. He was on the account team, I’m sure he’ll talk all about his intro but he’s a wonderful man. He’s going to talk to us about offline capabilities with our “Inside Buildertrend” series. I’m really excited to get him in here and kind of learn more about it and what problems it’s going to solve for our users.

Charley Burtwistle:

Let’s do it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Austin. Welcome to “The Building Code,” our second minisode. We’re going to get into some of the product inner workings and things that are happening inside of Buildertrend. First time on the podcast, I believe?

Austin Eilers:

Sure is. Thanks for having me guys.

Zach Wojtowicz:

First time ever on a podcast.

Austin Eilers:

Yes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Nice.

Charley Burtwistle:

There we go.

Austin Eilers:

First time.

Charley Burtwistle:

Truly honored that you chose “The Building Code” to make your debut here. For our listeners, tell them a little bit about yourself, how long you’ve been at Buildertrend, what’s your role in kind of what your day-to-day looks like.

Austin Eilers:

Yeah, for sure. Again, my name’s Austin Eilers, I’m a product manager here at Buildertrend. I guess, backing up a few years, I started with Buildertrend in 2016. Started with the company as an account manager, as a lot of our product folks did. Worked in the support department, really communicating and speaking and coaching our builders on how to use Buildertrend, learning the inner workings of the industry and really understanding what their problems and inefficiencies are. And that kind of naturally led me over to the product department. That’s where I’ve currently been for the past, I guess, four years already. In the past two years, I’ve specifically been working on the mobile team. It’s been a lot of fun learning that side, supporting the iOS and Android apps. Again, really trying to focus in on how our users are utilizing our mobile apps and what value we can provide our users and make their lives easier through the mobile app.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I love it. I like that you mentioned that a lot of our product people come from our support team, which is a natural growth area because you talk to the customer, you get to know and really deeply understand what they’re doing and then you go and then you shape the product. It makes a lot of sense. We had a, a bit of a lead in on accident in our episode with Russ Lane. Russ, and we kind of kicked off our …

Charley Burtwistle:

Dropped an absolute bomb, at the very end of the episode, we’re like okay, that all about does it and then he mentions offline.

Zach Wojtowicz:

And then we kind of went off on a tangent.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. For everyone else that listened to that episode a couple weeks ago, I’m sure have been at the edge of their seats. Perfect timing. Shout out our production team for getting you in here right away.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s almost like we planned it.

Charley Burtwistle:

Almost like we planned it a little bit. Let’s talk offline capabilities, obviously something people have been asking you for – for a long time. Kind of a huge development here. I guess, to kind of back up, where did this come from historically? What were some of the challenges that people were seeing? And how did this kind of get prioritized?

Austin Eilers:

Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I guess just generally speaking, some of the challenges that our Buildertrend users face on a day-to-day basis really comes down to the efficiency or maybe lack thereof in communication and alignment. Creating that alignment throughout the organization of what is happening on the job site, so those in the office can stay involved and stay informed is critical. And then, I guess, at the topic of hand, the offline capabilities, many of our customers work on the job site at job sites in rural areas without internet connections. That throws a wrench into things if they can’t access Buildertrend through the mobile app. Our customers rely on Buildertrend to make their processes efficient, to save them time, to save them money, to create alignment throughout the organization. Again, if they can’t access Buildertrend in various areas due to lack of internet connection, that’s a problem.

Long story short, it really came from listening to our customers, hearing from our customers over the years. And this issue has been historically one of the most requested pieces of functionality from our customers. We knew this was a gap in our product currently, and we spent quite a few months in 2021 really prioritizing that, really planning. Planning this out and executing on that, and we still are executing on providing this functionality to our customers.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah. I believe the first feature it’s rolling out to, it should be live, is daily logs, is that correct?

Austin Eilers:

That’s right. That’s right. It’s not live yet for all of our builders. We’re actually in a beta release right now with the, I guess, amount of work and the impact that this is going to have on our current app, as well as our customers, we want to make sure we’re rolling out a good product. We decided to roll this out in various phases. I would say, maybe about 10% or 15% of our customers have this functionality currently. Within the next couple weeks, our users will have the ability to add logs offline when they don’t have internet connection. They’re going to be able to use Buildertrend to document job progress, document delays, what’s happening on the job, at any time. That issue that’s been kind of a pain point for our customers over the years should no longer be there as far as accessing the app when they don’t have internet connection. We’re really excited about it. We think it’s going to be a hit for our customers and really excited to get feedback as well.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well yeah, especially how instrumental the Daily Logs feature is, and something that you don’t want to spend a ton of time doing. You want to get in there, you want to take notes, you want to take a picture, you want to upload it. You’re saying people can be out in the field, zero cell service, pull out their phones, record a daily log and is it when they get cell service again, that’ll be in their account? Is that how that works?

Austin Eilers:

Exactly right. Exactly right. The goal for us on the product side was really when we were thinking about how to execute on this and the functionality. We wanted to keep this functionality as close to what our users are familiar with as possible, so they’re not going to need to understand or refamiliarize themselves with a new workflow. If they’ve created an, online daily log before when they’ve had an internet connection, they’re going to be able to do that for the most part, the same exact way when they don’t have internet connection.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow.

Austin Eilers:

They open their app, they’re going to see a banner that you don’t have online access. Go ahead and create that log just as you previously would, that log is in a pending sync once they get in range. And once they reestablish that internet connection, those pending sync logs are going to automatically sync to the server and then business as usual from there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I imagine as a product manager, that’s one of the hardest parts of your job is how do I innovate without completely undoing everything that our current users are already doing? And so, what was that experience like when you were designing this feature? Or in general, when your project, what’s it like to have to kind of think through that product management perspective?

Austin Eilers:

Yeah, yeah. That really, when people ask me what a product manager does, what are their primary responsibilities? It really comes down to, I always start with our primary role is identifying opportunities to improve our customers’ day to day operations. And it all boils down to really being the voice of the customer, really empathizing with our customer. Every decision that goes into our product and our execution of providing our product to our customers should go through the lens of how it’s going to impact our customers and what value does this provide our customers? And this is a perfect example of that. Again, out of the gates, we wanted to create this functionality or provide this functionality without requiring them to need to reestablish what they’ve already accustomed to, of creating that log while online. They should be able to pick up right where they’re at now and be able to move that train forward.

Charley Burtwistle:

Wow. Well, I’d say this lived up to the hype. Russ teased it. Austin came out, absolutely knocked it out of the park.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Now, it’s like, okay, Austin set up the next episode. Just kidding. You don’t have to. No pressure. The last thing I’ll kind of leave before we have to run on these little shorter episodes.

Charley Burtwistle:

Mini episodes.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s so easy to get into a 45 minute conversations about this. Are there plans to expand this offline functionality to other features if you are allowed to say or not. I know that might be frowned upon.

Austin Eilers:

Yeah, yeah. No, I’m certainly glad you brought that up. To answer a question, yes. Yes we are. And what I am going to say is we’re starting off with daily logs and what I can say at this point is we’re going to allow our users to be able to utilize the Time Clock functionality as well.

Austin Eilers:

When we were doing a lot of research providing offline capabilities, we needed to understand from our customer’s perspective, what are the most valuable pieces of the app that we can provide our customers as efficiently as possible, both from a business perspective, as well as again, how can we provide our customers value quickly? We decided that there are two areas in the app that our customers need. It was kind of the no brainer, the Time Clock and the Daily Logs.

Austin Eilers:

We started with the Daily Logs. That’s going to be available here very shortly. The Time Clock is going to be available here soon after that. We’re actually in development work for that right now, where our users are going to be able to clock in and clock out. We’re really excited about that. And after that, we’re really going to stop and reevaluate what’s next? A big part of a product manager’s role is to layout a roadmap that isn’t going too far in which we’re wasting resources and taking time away from another project but also going far enough to where we’re hitting the mark, we’re providing value for our customers. That’s what we’re going to do is stop and evaluate after that Time Clock functionality is available and out there for our customers and really ask customers, “What’s next?”

Zach Wojtowicz:

I love it. Keeping the customer focused as well. Because we can make assumptions, but it’s better if they just let us know.

Charley Burtwistle:

Well, and then also I liked, when you talked about let’s stop and evaluate. That was something that Russ talked about in the last episode, where we went through kind of the whole process. If anyone listening didn’t hear that episode, go check that out. I think it’s a good lead into this one. He had the classic “Jurassic Park” quote, it was like, “Just because we can, doesn’t mean that we should.” I feel like that has to apply to product. Yeah, let’s go offline capabilities for the entire platform. Well, does that really make sense? And should we do that? I love that that’s where your head’s at.

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s got to be easy. It’s just an on/off button.

Charley Burtwistle:

Super easy.

Zach Wojtowicz:

No problem.

Austin Eilers:

Yeah. And that’s something that we’ve really been diligent about in the product department is not necessarily building everything that we assume could be valuable right out of the gates and then delivering it but delivering that in iterative phases and validating along the way to make sure and to kind of reassure ourselves that we’re on the right track and the best way of doing that is contacting our customers and getting that feedback.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Austin, one thing I want to ask is with these offline capabilities, was there a core problem or use case that you were trying to solve for? Or is there any specific instances of when someone’s on the job site, why offline capabilities would be beneficial?

Austin Eilers:

Yeah, I guess it really comes down to there’s two major problems this lack of internet connection and lack of being able to access Buildertrend causes our customers. One is the time waste. If our builders can’t access Buildertrend, they need to do that at some time. A lot of times when they get back to the office in the evening or get back home in the evening and then record that daily log or send that message. Once again, one is the time waste but I think more importantly is the human error of just forgetting something. Daily logs are crucial, clocking in and clocking out is extremely crucial. If that’s not done on the job site, there’s a lot more room for users to forget that something was delivered or there was a delay on the job site at some point during the day. Those are really two things that come into play. One is the error piece of it and then number two is just the time waste.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. I think those are huge benefits. And I just think to your point, there’s that anxiety when you’re supposed to do this as part of your job and you don’t have internet connection, there’s literally nothing you can do. And now it’s rather than the app being a problem itself because it doesn’t work, and I’m being required to do it, I can now continue to move on, keep the people in the office informed when the internet connection comes in, and I don’t have to worry about down the line being bothered by someone asking, “Why didn’t you do daily logs?”

Charley Burtwistle:

Crossing your fingers the whole way home, so you don’t forget, daily log, daily log when I get home. Daily log when get I get home.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I painstakingly remember talking to, we would bring the field crews in on sites and stuff and talk to them, and they’d be like, “I don’t have internet on the job site. How am I supposed to do any of this if it doesn’t work?” And it’d always kind of be like, “Well, you might want to talk to someone about getting a hotspot.” Or like trying to solution mode it. And now it’s like, we’ve just solved that.

Charley Burtwistle:

Yeah, you should have told them to talk to Austin Eilers. Fixed it right then and there.

Zach Wojtowicz:

I should have given Austin’s phone number out.

Austin Eilers:

Yeah, that’s a great point. And we have a lot of users out in the field who don’t want to use Buildertrend or fail to adopt Buildertrend for that reason specifically. Because they’re hit with at times when they can’t use Buildertrend when they need it most. This was really going to fill that gap.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Love it. Well, Austin, that’s it for your time on “The Building Code.” How would you rate your first podcast experience?

Austin Eilers:

It was great. Five stars, 10 out of 10 when what’s the rating scale here?

Charley Burtwistle:

Both.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Well, we do all of the above.

Charley Burtwistle:

We do a combo of stars and tens. That’s actually the highest one.

Austin Eilers:

Fantastic.

Charley Burtwistle:

Thank you very much. I like these mini episodes. This is awesome. I hope our listeners like it as much as I do but this is great for me just to hear more about what’s going on and all of the awesome stuff coming down the pipeline. Appreciate the time today. And thanks again.

Austin Eilers:

Yeah. Thank you, guys.

Charley Burtwistle:

See you.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We just had Austin Eilers talking about offline capabilities. What’d you think Charley?

Charley Burtwistle:

I think it lives up to the hype. When Russ first dropped that because I know that’s something they say they don’t want to come on the podcast here and just be, oh yeah, we’ll do this, this and this and over promise. When Russ first said that I was like, wait, you’re being serious? We’re actually going to have offline? Because that’s something you know, people talk about all the time. It was fun to see that kind of come to fruition and talk to Austin about the pain points they were experiencing and what this is going to solve. I think it’s a no brainer.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Yeah. I love talking to the people who get to work on these ideas. Because you can really see their measured approach, the feed of all the information they have to consider and it’s stuff that is easy to kind of be, yeah, just change it. And it’s like, well, if we do that, we have all these people who do all these things. And luckily offline capabilities is not a technical ease, but I love that you pointed out, you don’t have to do anything. That’s really elegant.

Charley Burtwistle:

Same experience.

Zach Wojtowicz:

Same experience. And it’s just adding this additional functionality and it’s only kind of shows that we’ve got some really top tier people who are working on these projects, and I’m really excited to continue these series to kind of see what’s happening next. And of course, all of our other friends around the Buildertrend ecosystem and kind of what we do to make it work.

Charley Burtwistle:

Are these going to be product people every time? Or are we switching them up?

Zach Wojtowicz:

No, they’ll have all types of different people.

Charley Burtwistle:

Anything inside Buildertrend?

Zach Wojtowicz:

It’s about inside Buildertrend, Mr. Burtwistle.

Charley Burtwistle:

I’m going to start recruiting some science people. I know everyone loves when we talk data.

Zach Wojtowicz:

And now, we’re a data science podcast. Welcome to the pivot table episode.

Charley Burtwistle:

Hey.

Zach Wojtowicz:

No, I’m joking.

Charley Burtwistle:

Title right there. The pivot table episode. Oh, t-shirt. Sorry, I should have said t-shirt first instead of title. I love it.

Zach Wojtowicz:

We’re all in. Thanks for joining us on “The Building Code.” Zach Wojtowicz.

Charley Burtwistle:

Charley Burtwistle. We’ll catch you next time.

Zach Wojtowicz:

See you.