2 weeks from Product Design Workshop to a Maritime VDR Tool

When a company with nearly 50 years of maritime expertise decides to build its first software product, the stakes are high and the path is unclear.

Our client, a global provider of marine electronics and navigation solutions, had deep domain knowledge but no previous experience in digital product development. They knew the industry needed a smarter, unified way to replay, analyze, and audit VDR data – but turning that idea into a functional, market-ready MVP required guidance, structure, and strategic clarity.

In just two weeks, SmartCat helped them transform a rough concept into a fully defined MVP, complete with functional requirements, technical architecture, and an execution-ready roadmap.

Here’s how we approached it.

Problem

Despite their strong position in the maritime industry, the client faced several challenges:

• No prior software product experience – Their team had never built a digital product and needed support navigating the entire process.
• Fragmented VDR analysis tools – Existing solutions required multiple separate players to interpret data.
• Poor UI/UX in legacy systems – Current tools were outdated, unintuitive, and not aligned with modern user expectations.
• Slow audit workflows – VDR audits were time-consuming and manual, without intelligent automation.
• Missed potential of LLMs – The client knew AI could accelerate analysis but didn’t know how to apply it.
  

They needed a partner who could pull together domain expertise, map out the product vision, and define a clear, feasible MVP that could go into development immediately.

Solution

We kicked off the engagement with an initial online discovery session to understand the maritime domain, regulatory context, and client’s product ambition.

Then we entered a 2-week Product Design Workshop, beginning with a 3-day on-site session in SmartCat’s offices – where four client stakeholders worked closely with our:

• Software architect
• Data & ML engineers
• Product delivery managers
• UX/UI expert
  

Together, we translated raw ideas into a structured, actionable product plan.

Our approach included:

• Mapping product vision & constraints: We documented objectives, scope boundaries, risks, and critical domain nuances that shape the VDR audit process.
• User Story Mapping: A collaborative mapping process helped us define the full spectrum of user interactions, workflows, and technical dependencies.
• UX/UI design & prototyping: Using Figma, we turned whiteboard sketches into interactive prototypes that clarified features, validated flows, and aligned all stakeholders.
• Technical feasibility & architecture planning: We evaluated data ingestion, LLM use cases, real-time visualization options, and scalability requirements – forming the backbone of the technical roadmap.

By the end of the workshop, the team had a unified, validated understanding of what the MVP needs to achieve and how to build it.

Results

The workshop produced a complete blueprint for implementation, including:

• Clear, prioritized MVP requirements
  
• A detailed roadmap outlining milestones, timelines, and dependencies
  
• Defined data pipelines for ingesting and processing VDR data
  
• Interactive UI prototypes ready for handoff to engineering
  
• A proposed architecture leveraging modern microservices, scalable storage, and integrated LLM capabilities
  

Most importantly, the client left with clarity and confidence – a structured plan to move from idea to implementation without uncertainty or scope drift.

About the Client

Our client is a long-established leader in the maritime electronics industry, founded in the late 1970s.

With 11-50 employees, the company serves ship owners and operators worldwide, providing:

• Navigation & communication equipment
• Technical maintenance & support
• Annual regulatory inspections (e.g., VDR APT, radio inspections)
• Digital services such as e-navigation and vessel optimization
• Remote VDR data analysis and navigation assessment
  

Their ambition: transform decades of expertise into a modern software solution that enhances operational safety, efficiency, and compliance.

Technologies Used

Workshop tools: Whiteboards, sticky notes, sharpies, flipcharts -the essentials for fast ideation and alignment.

Design & UX:

• Figma for interactive prototyping
• Wireframes and user flows translated from physical workshop output
  

Technical architecture (proposed):

• Frontend: React (D3.js, Mapbox)
• Backend: Java/Python/Go microservices (Spring, FastAPI)
• Storage: PostgreSQL / TimescaleDB
• AI/ML: Python with PyTorch/TensorFlow, pretrained LLMs (OpenAI, Gemini), LangFuse monitoring
• Infrastructure: Docker, Kubernetes (EKS/GKE), Argo Workflows, NATS messaging
  

This architecture positions the client to build a scalable, AI-powered maritime intelligence platform.

If you are interested in turning your ideas and concepts into a viable product that can actually help your business, sign up for our workshops and let our team build a working solution in a matter of weeks!