Lost Developers, Lost Sales

This payments company faced a major hurdle—a developer portal that frustrated users, slowed integrations, and risked prospect churn.

The developer portal was the first stop for prospects evaluating integration — but it didn’t inspire confidence. Sandbox setup was unclear. Core steps were missing or out of date. Developers had to escalate just to find the basics.

This wasn’t just a bad experience — it was a risk to the business. Sales flagged it as a blocker in enterprise deals. Integration delays piled up. And internal teams were fielding the same questions again and again with no central place to send users.

We didn’t just need better docs. We needed to rebuild trust in the developer experience — with a portal structured around real-world integration flows, clear ownership, and scalable content.

“We lost two deals last quarter because the prospect couldn’t find what they needed. They assumed we didn’t have it.”
— Solutions Engineer

From Scattered Docs to Scalable Dev Experience

I started by mapping the real developer journey — from integration exploration to sandbox setup — and quickly found that key flows were missing, duplicated, or buried. Developers weren’t failing because the docs were wrong; they were failing because they couldn’t find what they needed.

We reframed the portal as a product, not just a doc site. I led a redesign of the information architecture, introducing structured content types and a modular CMS that made content ownership scalable across teams. We reorganised around real implementation flows, not org charts.

I also redesigned the page templates to surface essential steps faster — using task-focused layouts, contextual links, and clearly scoped guidance to reduce friction. The result wasn’t just cleaner docs — it was a credible, self-serve developer experience that could evolve with the platform.

Approach

Driving Sales & Enabling Developers

Problem
It was unclear what features and information developers need when evaluating payment processors. Project risked lacking critical features that could help differentiate our offerings from competitors.

Strategy & Approach
To solve this, I identified that RFPs and RFIs, which are procurement documents, were a valuable source of information and could be analysed. Secondly, I leveraged customer facing team's technical customer contacts so that I could understand their journey.

Execution
I reviewed numerous RFPs and RFIs to pinpoint specific technologies of particular interest to prospects. I used thematic analysis to quantify the results. I interviewed technical customers to understand their goal in using a developer portal.

Results
The analysis provided clear guidance on essential features, such as detailed API documentation and security information. These insights informed the development of a more competitive and customer-focused developer portal, enhancing our market position.

What contitutes a great developer portal?

Problem
We needed a clear understanding of how our developer portal compared to competitors' offerings to ensure we provided superior features and a better user experience.

Strategy and Approach
I conducted a comprehensive competitive analysis to identify strengths and weaknesses in competing developer portals. Criteria was elucidated by reviewing the developer portal awards website for "Best in Class"

Execution
I systematically reviewed the developer portals of competitors on a myriad aspects incl. positives, negatives, UX, Design and a number of expected capabilities.

Results
These insights informed targeted enhancements to our developer portal roadmap, ultimately revealing our existing strengths and exploitable weaknesses of competitors.

"Imagine you're Assessing a Payments Provider..."

Problem
Recruiting external developers for research was challenging, given the unusual background required and expense of reaching such users. This risked developing features that might not fully align with user expectations.

Strategy and Approach:
I decided to leverage internal developers who could provide valuable insights. This allowed us to still gather relevant feedback and ensure that our developer portal was aligned with real-world use cases.

Execution:
I organised interviews with internal developers from various teams or customers, focusing on their interactions with both our existing portal and competitor portals. We discussed their workflows, challenges, and feature preferences.

Results
The research provided crucial insights, such as the importance of clear and concise API documentation, intuitive navigation, and robust error handling examples.

Information Architecture

Maintaining privacy while showcasing capabilities

Problem
The development environments were complex, making it hard for team members and stakeholders to understand how everything worked together, which could lead to confusion and mistakes.

Strategy and Approach
To make things clearer, I used visual maps to show how different parts of the environment interacted and created low-fidelity flows to outline user journeys in a simple, easy-to-understand way.

Results
The visual maps and low-fidelity flows helped the team better understand the environment and user workflows. This led to better teamwork, fewer misunderstandings, and helped us spot potential issues early on. As a result, we were able to develop a more user-friendly system more efficiently.

Prioritising key information without overwhelm

Problem
Content in this context really matters- there was a need to establish a clear and effective structure to ensure users could easily find relevant information and navigate smoothly.

Strategy and Approach
I used site mapping to design the information architecture from scratch, aiming to create a logical flow of content that meets user needs and business goals.

Execution
I created an initial site map to outline the site's structure, including key pages and navigation paths, based on user research and best practices. After reviewing it with stakeholders to align with user needs and objectives, we tested it with potential users and made adjustments to optimise the information architecture.

Results
The final site map established a strong foundation for the new site’s information architecture, making it easy for users to navigate and find what they need. This well-organised structure improved user satisfaction and supported the overall goals of the site.

Balancing Sales & Developer Needs Through Progressive Disclosure

Problem
Before design started, I wanted to ensure we were building the right thing. Developer portals can be massive, and are critical in the sales process. We were aiming for an "MVP" but I wanted to ensure a scalable experience.

Strategy and Approach
Create the lowest fidelity wireframe possible to validate feature functionality, begin creating layout, navigation and design required wireframes to get a head start on high fidelity.

Execution
The wireframes were shared with stakeholders for feedback and iteratively refined to improve clarity and usability, and features fleshed out in a roadmap.

Results
The wireframes provided a clear blueprint for the design and development teams. This process helped streamline design and development and resulted in a more effective final design.

Developer Portal

The solution for the developer portal focused on creating an intuitive, user-friendly platform that caters to the needs of developers evaluating and integrating payment solutions. We designed the portal with clear, comprehensive API documentation, interactive tutorials, and a robust sandbox environment to allow developers to test features in real-time. The navigation was streamlined to ensure easy access to key resources, while support tools such as a community area and detailed FAQs were integrated to provide immediate assistance & foster a sense of community.

Outcomes & Reflections

Outcomes

I enhanced the developer experience by streamlining access to API resources and sandbox environments, improving usability and receiving positive feedback on the portal’s design and functionality. Effectively showcased API capabilities, helping developers better understand and utilize the technology. Additionally, provided successful integration support by offering clear documentation and resources, making it easier to implement complex payment solutions.

Lessons Learned

This project highlighted the importance of continuous user engagement and iterative design. By maintaining a close feedback loop with developers, we were able to identify critical pain points early and adapt our strategy accordingly. This approach ensured that the final product was not only functional but also met the evolving needs of our diverse user base.