Context
As the marketplace evolved, notification capabilities were being introduced through different entry points across the platform. Some notifications were triggered manually through the UI, while others were generated automatically by individual services. This created inconsistencies in how notifications were created, targeted, delivered and managed, making the experience fragmented for both administrators and end users. To address this, we defined a centralized notification framework capable of supporting the entire notification lifecycle across the platform.
The Challenge
- Different notification flows across services
- Limited control over targeting and receiver scope
- Lack of centralized notification management
- Inconsistent user experience
- Limited visibility into notification status and delivery
- No standardized receiver preferences
The challenge was not simply sending notifications. It was creating a scalable platform capability that could support all current and future notification use cases.
My Role
- Leading discovery with stakeholders and engineering teams
- Defining the notification framework vision and roadmap
- Mapping existing notification processes across the platform
- Prioritizing delivery through a phased rollout
- Aligning business and technical stakeholders
- Defining requirements for creation, targeting, preferences and lifecycle management
Product Approach
Instead of expanding isolated notification solutions, we designed a centralized framework supporting both manual and automated flows. Core capabilities included API-driven creation, manual UI creation, centralized lifecycle management, flexible receiver targeting, a notification center, user preferences and frequency settings, email and in-platform channels, and future analytics. Delivery was phased, starting with API-driven notifications before expanding into administration and end-user capabilities.
Outcome
The initiative established the foundation for a scalable notification ecosystem across the marketplace. It standardized creation and distribution, replaced fragmented solutions, centralized management, improved targeting and visibility controls, and created a foundation for future analytics.
Measures of Success
- Notification delivery success rate
- Email open rate
- User engagement with notifications
- User preference adoption
- Notification management efficiency
- Reduction of duplicated notification solutions
The Transformation
The Notification Framework transformed notifications from isolated features into a shared platform capability. Instead of each service solving communication challenges independently, teams could rely on a consistent framework for creation, targeting, delivery and management.
What I Learned
One of the biggest lessons from this initiative was that communication is a platform capability, not a feature. When multiple teams need to reach users, isolated solutions create inconsistency, operational complexity and higher maintenance costs. A shared framework improves the user experience and gives future teams a reusable foundation.