Introduction

Nice to meet you. I’m Kondo, the manager of the Owned Media & Incubation Development Group at KINTO Technologies.

Our group name is so long that no one in the company ever says it correctly. So please feel free to call us Media Incube G.

In this post, I'd like to introduce what our group is all about.

Group Overview

Establishment

Media Incube G is a newly formed group that was established in August 2022.

Originally, we were part of the KINTO Development Group, which was solely responsible for developing the customer-facing website for KINTO ONE, our subscription-based car service. As our group gradually grew, it became necessary to provide more focused management for each sub-team. In response, the original group was split into two in August 2022.

One became the KINTO ONE Development Group and the other became our group, the Owned Media & Incubation Development Group.

Products We Handle

Here are the main products that each group is responsible for developing.

KINTO ONE Development Group

Product	Overview	URL
KINTO ONE	Develops features for onboarding to the new vehicle subscription service and providing aftercare support.	https://kinto-jp.com/customer/login

Owned Media & Incubation Development Group

Product	Overview	URL
KINTO ONE	Produces content for the top page of the new vehicle subscription service, including vehicle listings, terms of use, and landing pages.	https://kinto-jp.com
KINTO Magazine	A media website that provides MaaS-related information from KINTO.	https://magazine.kinto-jp.com
Mobility Market	A service website where users can discover the joy of new forms of mobility.	https://mobima.kinto-jp.com
Prism Japan	An AI-powered app that provides inspiration for places to go.	https://ppap.kinto-jp.com/prismjapan/index.html
Used Car Product	A new mobility service from KINTO focused on used cars.	-
Dealer Product	Develops sales promotion tools for KINTO ONE, designed for Toyota dealership staff.	-

Mission

Our mission at Media Incube G is to deliver the value of KINTO to our customers to the fullest by leveraging the power of technology and creativity in both owned media and new business creation.

As our group name suggests, we focus on two main pillars: owned media (our in-house digital media) and incubation (supporting the creation of new businesses).

Owned Media (Our In-House Digital Media)

We create media that effectively reaches customers with the value of KINTO's mobility services and products.

Relevant Products: KINTO ONE (user-facing content), KINTO Magazine, Mobility Market, Dealer Product

Incubation (Supporting the Creation of New Businesses)

Together with KINTO, we create and support new mobility services that follow in the footsteps of KINTO ONE, using technology to bring them to life.

Relevant Products: Prism Japan, Used Car Product

What We Are Working On and Aiming For

Quality Assurance Initiatives

The user-facing content for KINTO ONE provides customers with essential information during the contract process.

In line with frequent business updates, such as new vehicle listings or service changes, our average delivery span is one week. Depending on the timing, we sometimes deliver even faster.

Under such conditions, we must maintain a certain level of agility while still ensuring content quality.

That’s why we are constantly exploring and implementing initiatives to enhance quality assurance. Here are some of the measures we have implemented:

Automatic Checks in Our CI/CD Pipeline

We have an in-house QA team, and when requested by product teams, these testing professionals can conduct quality checks.

However, due to business constraints, there are cases where content or materials cannot be fully prepared in time for QA testing.

In such cases, how can we still deliver without missing anything, even in situations like this?

Here’s the approach we’ve taken:

1. When a change is needed, we first commit a temporary version containing a specific dummy string.
2. Once the final content is ready, we replace the dummy text and deploy it to the test environment.
3. If the content is ready in time for QA testing, the QA team checks it on the assumption that it is finalized.
4. If the content is not ready in time, we inform the QA team which parts are still dummy text, and they test it with that understanding.
5. We have set up a test job in GitHub Actions to check for the presence of specific dummy strings. This check is triggered when merging into the main branch.

This allows us to pass QA testing while also preventing dummy content from being accidentally deployed to production.

Pair Programming Required for Resolving Merge Conflicts

Since wide-ranging content updates are often made within a short time frame, merge conflicts occasionally occur.

In such cases, we have established a rule that conflicts must not be resolved by a single person. Instead, multiple members must work together through pair programming, viewing the same screen to confirm each change as they go.

Additionally, even for pull requests without conflicts, we have configured GitHub to prevent merging unless at least one reviewer approves the changes.

Skill Development

Media Incube G is made up of members with diverse backgrounds and skill sets. However, it can be difficult to know what members outside of your own product team are working on, or what kinds of challenges they’re facing, just by going through your daily tasks.

To address this, we set aside time outside of day-to-day work for skill-sharing sessions and technical knowledge exchanges among team members.

Study Sessions

Most recently, we’re planning a "Design System + Atomic Design Study Session" led by front-end engineers.

Since back-end engineers don’t often get the chance to explore these topics in their day-to-day work, they seem to be looking forward to it.

Technical Exchange Meeting

We’re also planning a technical exchange meeting with participation from all front-end engineers, including members of the KINTO ONE Development Group.

Those attending in person will enjoy snacks and coffee, and the event will also be available online so remote participants can join as well.

Teams and Members in the Group

As mentioned earlier, Media Incube G handles a variety of products. Within the group, we are organized into three distinct teams.

We'll introduce each team next. For clarity, we’ll refer to them based on the main product they handle. Please note that these may differ slightly from their actual team names.

1. KINTO ONE Team

Members (as of December 2022):

8

How the Team Works

As engineers working closely with the business side, our most important role is to understand the KINTO ONE business and determine how best to shape it through our systems.

Rather than simply doing what we’re told, we aim to fully understand each task ourselves, ask questions whenever something is unclear, and move forward based on our own judgment regarding the scope of impact and the optimal logic.

Team Atmosphere

The team has a strong desire to learn. While individual skill levels vary, no one is content with the status quo. Many of the team’s half-year skill development goals are quite ambitious.

Here’s a blog post by our tech lead, who helps drive this culture of continuous learning across the team:

Insights from using SvelteKit + Svelte for a year

2. Used Car Team

Members (as of December 2022):

4

How the Team Works

Due to various reasons, we can’t share too many details about this product. However, one notable aspect of how we work is that we function as one team, where everyone is encouraged to share their opinions regardless of department or company.

We hold seven weekly recurring meetings, each focused on a specific theme, and also meet weekly with the KINTO business side. In addition to those meetings, we also communicate regularly through Jira and Slack.

Team Atmosphere

Our product manager and lead engineer actively engage with the business-side product owner. To be honest, not every engineer has been able to keep up with that pace, but each of us is working to deepen our understanding and improve our skills within our respective roles.

Actually, I’m the lead engineer myself. I joined the company in September 2021, and this project kicked off right after that. I've been serving as the lead engineer ever since.

That said, as of November 2022, we’ve added more engineers to the team, and I believe we’re now entering the skill transfer phase. I’m looking forward to seeing a new leader step up and guide the team forward.

3. Prism Japan Team

Members (as of December 2022):

5

How the Team Works

The team consists of one project manager, one product manager, and three engineers.

Prism Japan was launched in August 2022 and is now in the operations phase.

We’ve adopted an agile approach for the operations and refactoring phase, and to support this, we’ve assigned a dedicated QA member from our QA team.

Team Atmosphere

This is a team where everyone takes ownership and works independently. There’s a strong sense of mutual respect among members, and they each play to their strengths while supporting one another across areas of expertise.

I often hear lively discussions right behind me, as the team frequently exchanges ideas about challenges and potential improvements.

We’re Looking for Teammates Like You

1. KINTO ONE Team

Product Manager (PdM)

We’re working to build a PdM team that can define and propose the ideal form of the product from a system development perspective.

Click here to apply for the Product Manager (KINTO ONE Team) position

Front-end / Back-end Engineers

To bring our ideal product vision to life, we also need engineers who can build it with their own hands.

We’re looking for members with the potential to eagerly learn new technologies, understand KINTO's business, and grow alongside KINTO as true partners.

Click here to apply for the Front-end Engineer (KINTO ONE Team) position

Click here to apply for the Back-end Engineer (KINTO ONE Team) position

2. Used Car Team

Front-end / Back-end Engineers

We’re looking to grow our team with engineers who can deeply understand the used car business and work hand-in-hand with KINTO to drive system development forward.

The knowledge and experience you gain here will not only benefit current products but also play a vital role in shaping KINTO’s future services and offerings.

In other words, working on this used car product gives you the opportunity to become an engineer who makes a significant contribution to the value of both KINTO and KINTO Technologies.

Click here to apply for the Frontend Engineer (Used Car Team) position

Click here to apply for the Backend Engineer (Used Car Team) position

3. Prism Japan Team

Back-end Engineer

If you’re interested in contributing to the development of a native app and helping to pioneer a new mobility market, we’d love for you to join us.

Click here to apply for the Backend Engineer (Prism Japan Team) position