Business Context

The business scaled rapidly and manual workflows couldn't keep up. This led to delays in decision-making and blocking access to important customer data.

Project Scope

4-month end-to-end design affecting multiple internal teams and executive leadership (20+ daily users).

Technical Integration

Built on Retool, operational database (AWS), Slack API and Monday.com API

My Role

Lead Product Designer and Project Manager. I owned end-to-end design and rollout - from discovery through to implementation and change management.

I led stakeholder interviews and workflow mapping, created alignment between leadership and technical teams, and designed the interface whilst coordinating on API integrations.

I also managed rollout through SOPs, training and support channels.

Zero visibility into business performance

Missing key insights into pricing, customers, and supply chain to help inform leadership for strategic and growth decisions

Fragmented 4-tool workflow

Teams switched between Google Sheets, Slack, Monday, and email which created context loss and made project management difficult

Teams were stuck doing repetitive admin instead of strategic work

Duplicate briefs with almost 70% identical information had to be filled out separately each time

The workflow couldn't scale

The process, had unclear terminology and no data validation which caused bottlenecks that was getting worse as the business grew

Research Approach

• Conducted user interviews and focus groups with affected internal teams to map current workflows
• Analysed previous 2 months brief data to identify information architecture patterns and inefficiencies
• Created multiple process map iterations polished through stakeholder feedback rounds

Requirements Definition

• Translated business needs into user stories defining functional and non-functional requirements
• Facilitated stakeholder review sessions and sign-off before solution development
• Mapped integration touchpoints with existing database and third-party tools

Trade-off #1: Familiar UX vs optimised workflow

Mimicked existing Google Sheets information architecture for initial launch

Rationale

Reduced change management friction to ensure adoption while planning workflow optimisation for v2

Trade-off #2: Full automation vs quick delivery

Built MVP with core automations, planning optimised features for future iterations

Rationale

The business needed immediate data capture capability. We could then use it as a foundation to iterate off

Trade-off #3: Custom platform vs low-code solution

We chose Retool for it's custom UI features and API integrations

Rationale

Balanced development speed with customisation needs and future scalability requirements

Technical Implementation

Coordinated with data architects to design API systems to bridge the database and frontend, as well as automated integrations with Slack and Monday.com

User Experience Design

Created simple dropdown navigation to replace open text fields, with structured data validation and automated brief generation capabilities

Change Management Strategy

Developed rollout plan using documentation, small-group workshops, and dedicated Slack support channel (#support-formulation-briefs) for ongoing feedback

Understand before designing

Invest time upfront in stakeholder interviews and process mapping - it helps with buy-in and uncovers critical requirements that shape technical decisions.

Don't skip the people part

Focus on change management from day one - create proper training plans and track adoption metrics instead of assuming people will just figure it out despite a similar UX.

The bigger picture

This project showed how strategic design doesn't just improve user experience - it can unlock insights to make smart business decisions and scale better.