The Vision:
A unified data model for digital twins—layered data, version history, continuous sync. Think GitHub for the built world.
The Reality:
We couldn't rebuild the architecture overnight. So we found pragmatic shortcuts—embedding the WebGL editor in native iOS, enabling source data downloads—that closed the workflow gap while the longer-term work continued.
The Outcome:
Customers got workflow completeness. The org got a north star. And the product became more unified as the teams did.
Summary:
I joined as one of three designers, each siloed in a different product. We barely used each other's products, and it showed. This transformation took hundreds of meetings and countless small decisions, and was a triad effort between myself, our VP of Engineering, and our VP of Product. Our mobile-first push in year 2 is one example of what made the native app embedding possible in year 3.
Design Sprint:
One of the first things I did when I moved from design lead to director was kick off a one-month design sprint to articulate this unified experience concept, create designs, and test with some of our Enterprise customers. The designs and research helped sell a major platform investment directly to our CEO. At the time, my "team" was just myself and one other designer. By the time I left, I was managing 5 designers, and we had a more unified product, engineering and design team.
