We’re building software for one of the hardest, messiest parts of healthcare - and we do it by staying close to the people doing the work.
This guide outlines how we build product at Joyful: how ideas become decisions, how decisions become shipped work, and how we move fast without sacrificing trust.
Product is everyone’s job here. This is how we make that work in practice :)
🔍 (1) How We Decide What to Build
🚦(3) Triage, Interrupts & Incoming Feedback
We’re building something that doesn’t really exist yet - which means we’re constantly making decisions with incomplete information. Our goal isn’t to be perfect; it’s to build the right things, learn quickly, and protect what truly matters.
These principles guide how we think about product at Joyful. They’re meant to be practical guardrails we can use as we’re building, and will of course evolve as we grow.
We don’t immediately build what people ask for - we solve the underlying job they’re trying to get done.
Requests often come in as specific solutions (“can we export a CSV?”), but the real job might be something entirely different.
Understanding how things work today is critical - but we don’t anchor our solutions to current workflows. Instead, we step back and ask:
Users know what they’re used to. They don’t always know what’s possible - that’s our responsibility :)