Abdullah Alshaker

Product Manager SaaS Internship

Aedifion GmbH – Oct 2024 – Feb 2025 | Cologne, Germany

Cloud-based SaaS platform for energy efficiency in commercial buildings

Overview

During my 5-month internship at aedifion GmbH, a leading PropTech startup focused on AI-powered building optimization, I worked as a Product Manager Intern supporting feature delivery and user enablement across a highly technical B2B SaaS platform.

My role sat at the intersection of product, UX, and customer education—contributing to internal documentation, user-facing onboarding, and interactive content to improve adoption and usability.

What is aedifion?

aedifion is a cloud platform that connects, analyzes, and automates commercial building systems. It empowers building owners and operators to reduce energy consumption and CO₂ emissions using real-time data, advanced analytics, and intelligent automation.

Core features include:

  • Energy dashboarding & reporting.
  • AI-based optimization controls.
  • Meter and sensor data monitoring.
  • Asset management and fault detection.

Internship Goals

As a Product Management intern, my objectives were to:

  1. Support design and delivery of new platform features.
  2. Improve onboarding flows for new users.
  3. Enhance feature discoverability and technical documentation.
  4. Collaborate with development and design teams on UX refinement.
  5. Learn how enterprise-grade SaaS platforms scale and iterate.

Key Contributions

1. User Onboarding & Product Fruits Tour Design

I took ownership of the first-time user experience, designing a structured onboarding tour using Product Fruits. This included:

  • Mapping the key user flows (from login to meaningful actions).
  • Writing and sequencing tooltips, welcome messages, and feature callouts.
  • Tailoring tours to different user types (operators, admins, engineers).
  • Iterating based on user interviews and internal feedback.

🟢 Impact: Increased first-session task completion rates and reduced confusion around complex UI sections.

2. Product Documentation & Glossary

I created and maintained structured product documentation for both internal and external audiences:

  • Documented energy optimization, meter management, and AI control features in simple, searchable terms.
  • Created a glossary of technical platform terms to align dev–product–customer understanding and a changelog for releases.
  • Ensured docs matched UI updates during weekly sprint reviews.

🟢 Impact: Improved onboarding team productivity and made the help center a more reliable resource.

3. Interactive Product Education (Arcade)

To make the platform more approachable, I created step-by-step interactive product videos using Arcade, focusing on:

  • Meter integration walkthroughs.
  • Alert and status dashboards.
  • Optimization setup guides.

These were embedded directly into the platform, help center, and onboarding emails.

🟢 Impact: Lowered learning curve for technical features, increased self-service support.

4. UX/Feature Testing & Cross-Functional Collaboration

I participated in sprint planning and cross-functional working groups with:

  • Designers – giving UX feedback on clarity, hierarchy, and terminology.
  • Developers – testing new platform features and filing structured bug reports.
  • Customer Success – aligning onboarding flows with real user needs.

🟢 Impact: Helped shape more intuitive platform flows and aligned releases with user priorities.

What I Learned

User Empathy

I learned how first-time user experience (FTUE) shapes product retention and how even advanced users benefit from clarity and progressive disclosure.

SaaS Product Architecture

Working on a multi-module B2B platform gave me exposure to:

  • Backend/API coordination.
  • Feature flags and permissions.
  • Modular onboarding for different account types.

Cross-Functional Sync

I practiced translating technical detail into actionable product stories and learned to balance engineering constraints with user outcomes.

Analytics & Success Metrics

I began working with user journey analytics (e.g., Product Fruits dashboards) to monitor how users interacted with tours and where they dropped off.

Tools I Used

  • Product Fruits – Interactive onboarding builder.
  • Arcade.software – Interactive demo creation.
  • Notion – Internal documentation & feature planning.
  • Figma – UI reviews and design handoff.
  • Jira – Sprint planning and ticket tracking.

Reflections

At aedifion, I learned what it means to deliver value in an enterprise SaaS environment. I wasn’t just documenting features, I was helping users understand complex systems and enabling the team to move faster with clarity. It taught me that product management isn’t just about what we build. It’s about how clearly we explain it, how easily users discover it, and how smoothly they get to value.