Intercom Product Principles: How Connected Modular Systems Help Us Focus on the Decisions That Matter

When I joined Intercom eight years ago, I knew nothing about system design.

I designed and presented my ideas using high fidelity mockups. They were quick to put together, so I assumed even the wireframes were a waste of time, let alone the system design schematics.

This is the second article in a series exploring the principles of our products. Here, Gustavs discusses our design principle of "connected and modular systems".

But often when I shared these designs with other people for feedback, we were distracted by seemingly minor interaction design decisions when in reality we just had different mental models of how the system should work.

Months after the delivery of the solution, we learned that we had made a fundamental error in our solution. Since I was designing at the UI level, not the system level, we weren't focusing on the most important decisions.

Our Chief Product Officer Paul Adams introduced me to the idea of ​​creating systems, not destinations. This idea was at the heart of our design process, initially implicit, but later formalized in a design principle: connected and modular systems.

Let's break it down and look at each part of this design principle in more detail.

Focus on the decisions that matter most with system design

The system design is a representation of the conceptual operation of your solution: what are the objects in your system and how does data flow between them? As a rule, it is presented in the form of a diagram.

For example, here is a system design diagram that we used to design our Articles product. It shows how teammates manage their Help Center content, how users consume this content, how teammates can send this content when responding to users, and how a feedback loop continuously improves content quality. Without the distraction of a screen mockup, we were able to align with how the product works.

System design for intercom items

By focusing on the system first, not the interaction design, you can ensure that you are debating the most important questions first and aligning with how the solution will work. a high level, without getting bogged down in minor details.

The same system can be implemented in different ways when it comes to interaction and visual design. By gradually working through the system, interaction, and visual design layers, you can ensure that the right feedback is given at the right time. For example, there's no point in sweating visual design details if you're not already aligned with the system.

Increase efficiency with the modular system

By designing systems first, you focus on the most important issues without getting bogged down in the finer details. But designing too many systems can also lead to a product that is difficult to understand and expensive to maintain. This is where modular systems come in.

"A modular system is a system that you create once but reuse in many different contexts"

A modular system is a system that you create once but reuse in many different contexts. This idea is not new and is used in many industries, from home construction to standard shipping containers, to increase efficiency and reduce costs.

In 1908, Sears Roebuck and Co. took advantage of a modular system when they began selling entire homes through their mail-order catalogs. They were prefabricated and all the parts needed to build the house were shipped to customers...