WeWork: Account Management

Classically, the WeWork model has been small groups or “1 user to 1 desk.” Meaning that account management has been relatively simple, and often times done with the assistance of Community Managers or Account Managers. However, with the ever growing sm-lg business and enterprise account segments (Roughly 50% by end of the 2019) self management of account services has become a top priority for the company - with the first version to begin testing by the Jan of 2020.

WHere to start?

Forming a small working team and partnering with design research, we got to work with interviewing account managers, support, and community members. In our sessions we noted their observations, pain points, current software limitations, and what they commonly hear from members and users. It became VERY apparent that there were some major holes, lots (like for real) of people hours, lack of static locations for documents, and MANY moments of frustration that a self serve account platform could help with. Our team met weekly, checking in with stakeholders to share findings, sketches, flows, and concepts.

Whiteboard, Sketch, COncept Repeat

Using the research as a lightening rod, I began to work cross functionally to being to understand account or company hierarchy, which in turn would influence the navigation, features that needed to be built and the features or products already within the company to be aggregated into 1 tool.

Starting a conversation

After creating simple mock screens, positioned as conversation starters, I worked in parallel with research to assist with more in-depth interviews and information gathering. Throughout the process, our squad also explored company hierarchies and how the interplay of associated features could work.

Refining Navigation

After many interviews with many different sized companies, the information was synthesized and shared amongst a broader team. Top line findings (such as consolidation of multiple accounts into 1, delegating actions/roles,VERY strong focus on tasks-to-be-done, robust notification system) were prioritized to help inform the v1 of the tool, wherein we’ll begin usertesting.

Presenting and Buy In

After working on account hierarchy, we focused on the action sections of the screen. I created some concept mocks of what the tool could be, to present to the executive stakeholders. After reviewing the work, and communicating the importance and need for enterprise self serve tools that include various powerful features, our team began the process of working with other verticals and relevant product lines to gain momentum.

Polish, Priorities, and a Global Design TEam

Working together with all involved PMs, our small team zeroed in on the first round of features: Billing and Invoice payment, Contract access + management, and Roster management. Knowing that this was a larger effort, I created a multiple discipline global design team to hit all the involved verticals. We meet weekly to share, review, and discuss work - with monthly checkins with stakeholders for more formal approval.

Design Systems and Engineer Handoff

I also collaborate with the design systems team to review proposed new design patterns and contribute to the overall growth of new library. New work is shared with engineering once a solid product recommendation is reached, walking thru the proposaL, discussing feedback & edge cases, and then sharing annotations via Zeplin.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Having phased features out, I’ve began creative development of the next round of features: Admin policy creation and delegation, how reduced admins view the app and features, and a powerful task oriented notification system.