Emily Cutler All work
Case study

Designing a better way to handle flatmate changes

Workflow design at Ailo, a property management platform for real estate agencies, renters and property owners.

My role I was senior product designer and led the discovery, solution design, user testing, pilot and release.
The outcome A new workflow that 95% of target businesses had adopted within a month of release.

A common lifecycle event for shared tenancies is one renter leaving and another joining. I designed a new workflow to help property managers manage the change.

Details on this page are intentionally light for confidentiality and some screens have been redrawn with their content removed. A fuller case study is available on request.

01
Problem definition and research

Mapping what actually happens when a flatmate changes.

What I did
Ran interviews with our subject-matter-expert panel and the support team Audited the existing manual workaround across two projects and 31 tasks Documented and shared my findings and an ideal user flow
User flow Stylised flowchart of the flatmate change user flow, showing the happy path and secondary path
02
Concept design and validation

Designing a solution with engineering and product.

What I did
Workshopped solution concepts and evaluated feasibility with engineering Prototyped the concept in Figma Tested it with the expert panel and built a feedback sheet to code and track findings
Concept designs
Stylised diagram of the change of shared tenancy action checklist Workflows in Ailo are contained in special checklists called a "Project". I designed a new type of project for shared tenancy changes.
Stylised diagram of the process tenancy change form Processing a tenancy change is the core action in the workflow
Stylised diagram of the process tenancy change action, completed When the action is complete it becomes a record of the changes made.
03
Usability design and testing

Identifying usability improvements through targeted testing

What I did
Identified the highest risk step in the workflow and focused testing there Ran usability sessions on that step Iterated the design to match how users thought about the change
Redesigned the screen to opt renters out rather than in
Before: renter selection framed around who is staying Before
After: renter selection framed around who is leaving After
04
Delivery and beyond

The workflow as shipped.

What I did
Led design review with engineering through the build Ran QA against the spec and caught gaps before release Worked with a UI designer to bring the designs into the Ailo design system
Finished interfaces
Finished interface: the change of shared tenancy action list Shared tenancy project overview
Finished interface: process tenancy change action Process the tenancy change
Finished interface: process tenancy change action, completed Completed tenancy change
05
Delivery and beyond

I ran a four week pilot with 10 businesses, then led the soft launch and general release.

What I did
Recruited 10 businesses and ran a four week pilot Prepared walkthrough videos and help collateral Built the rollout plan with support and customer accounts, and ran weekly adoption reviews Hosted a webinar and worked with marketing on release communications
Webinar walkthrough session Webinar invite for the Change of Shared Tenancy project walkthrough session

Want the fuller version?

A more detailed walkthrough of this project is available on request.

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