Intuit, a core player in financial software, recognized the need to rejuvenate its payroll services amidst rising competition and changing business demands. This initiative was not just a technological upgrade but a strategic move to reaffirm Intuit’s market position. By broadening the design team and incorporating more modern experiences and technology, the project aimed to significantly elevate the user experience, ensuring that Intuit’s solutions remained indispensable for small businesses.

The core ambition of this project was to “disrupt” the payroll experience, making it more intuitive, user-friendly, and efficient. The overarching strategic goals were to improve the user experience and expand market share. This transformation was designed to delliver beetter expereinces and more value for both existing and potential customers by providing a seamless, engaging, and reliable payroll management system that not only meets but exceeds their expectations.

The project was executed by a small team of designers, product managers, and engineers, all coalesced around a shared outcome of regaining market share and delivering customer delight. Key stakeholders included Intuit’s senior Payroll Product and Engineering leadership, who were instrumental in channeling resources and support towards the project. Their engagement was a testament to the compelling vision articulated by the cross-functional team who took a design-led approach to delivering customer value.

The Intuit payroll system was constrained by its outdated technological stack and non-responsive design, rendering it inadequate against contemporary business demands and user expectations. This antiquated setup led to significant gaps in user experience and functional capabilities, limiting the system’s appeal and effectiveness.

The complexity of this effort was substantial, encompassing a wide range of technical and design challenges. This included updating the underlying technology to support a responsive design framework, integrating this new system seamlessly with existing financial tools without disrupting ongoing operations, and overhauling the user interface to align with modern design standards. All of these elements needed to be executed while ensuring the system remained reliable and effective for current users.

One of the principal risks involved the potential disruption to the continuity of payroll processing services during the system overhaul. Any measurable downtime or errors could erode user trust and reduce customer satisfaction, directly impacting Intuit’s reputation and financial performance. Additionally, there was a risk that the new system might fail to meet strategic business objectives or incur too heavy code-debt, which could result in a loss of investment and diminished stakeholder support.

• Strategic Direction: Guided the conceptual and practical overhaul of the payroll system, aligning it closely with both user expectations and business imperatives. Advocated for new technologies and methodologies to enhance product functionality and user satisfaction.
• Mobile-First Strategy: Pushed for a mobile-first approach despite initial skepticism, recognizing the growing need for mobile accessibility in payroll management. This strategic pivot proved crucial in meeting modern user demands and expanding the system’s usability.

• Advocating for Mobile: Despite significant initial resistance from product and engineering teams, who were skeptical about users running payroll via mobile devices, we championed a mobile-first approach. The prevailing opinion was that the effort required for native mobile functionality was unjustifiable, as it was believed users would not utilize such a feature extensively.
• Proving the Case: Through user research and testing, we demonstrated the critical need and user desire for mobile access. The shift to a mobile-first design proved to be a pivotal transformation, as post-launch data revealed that mobile experiences were exceptionally well-received by users, contradicting initial doubts and significantly enhancing user engagement and satisfaction.
• Machine Learning Integration: Led the initiative to integrate ML to streamline decision-making and automate complex payroll processes, enhancing operational efficiency and user interaction.
• Team Restructuring: Reorganized and grew the team from 1 to 8 to better support agile development and foster rapid iteration, boosting innovation capacity and responsiveness to user feedback.

• Skill Enhancement: Implemented programs to upgrade the team’s design and technical skills, enabling them to tackle more complex problems and innovate with confidence.
• Cultural Transformation: Cultivated a culture of innovation and ownership, encouraging team members to take initiative and actively contribute to the project’s success, leading to increased engagement and commitment.
• Empowerment through Ownership: Encouraged team members to own their design and implementation processes, fostering a sense of responsibility and pride in their work, which translated into higher quality outputs and innovative solutions.

• Agile Methodologies: We adopted agile methodologies for our design sprints, breaking down complex project goals into manageable sprints that allowed for adaptability and swift responses to feedback and changing requirements.
• Storyboarding: Early in the development phase, we utilized storyboarding to visualize user interactions and service touchpoints, which helped in predicting user flows and identifying potential friction points.
• Graphic Novel Narratives: To compellingly present potential futures of the payroll system, we adopted a graphic novel approach. This creative storytelling method captured the imagination of stakeholders and helped crystallize the vision of what the payroll experience could become.
• Affinity Diagram Exercises: These exercises were pivotal in synthesizing research data, helping categorize vast amounts of user feedback and observations into coherent themes that informed design decisions.
• Experience Mapping: Leveraging a customer value versus company value matrix, we mapped out user experiences to ensure alignment between user benefits and business objectives, highlighting areas for maximum impact.

• Simplifying Navigation: Our redesign focused on creating an intuitive navigation system, making it easier for all types of users to find and use features effectively, enhancing user satisfaction and engagement.
• Personalizing the Experience: By integrating personalized settings and customizable interfaces, we allowed users to tailor the payroll system to their specific needs, enhancing their overall experience and efficiency.
• Ensuring Accessibility: We prioritized accessibility to ensure that the payroll system was usable across various devices and adaptable to the varying needs of a diverse user base.
• Field Research: Spending time with actual businesses provided firsthand insights into the daily challenges and operational needs of users. Intuit calls these “Follow Me Home” exercises and they. are core to the DNA of the company.  This direct engagement was invaluable for grounding our design solutions in real-world contexts and ensuring they effectively addressed user pain points.

• Continuous Testing: Throughout the project, continuous testing cycles were employed to collect user feedback, which was crucial for iterative design improvements. Wee did this with both external Small Businesses, but also got scrappy and tested with internal users who also had side-hustle businesses.
• Feedback Incorporation: We developed a structured process for integrating user feedback into the development lifecycle, ensuring that each iteration responded effectively to user needs.
• System Reliability and Efficiency: Rigorous testing protocols were established to enhance system reliability and efficiency, with each update aimed at optimizing performance and user satisfaction.

• Unified Vision and Execution: Fostered a strong partnership with product and engineering teams to align vision and execution strategies, ensuring that every stage of product development resonated with our shared outcomes. This collaboration was vital in crafting a coherent and seamless user experience from start to finish.
• Triad Leadership Model: Operated as part of a triad leadership team, alongside product and engineering leads, which allowed for balanced decision-making and enhanced buy-in from all technical and business perspectives. This triadic approach was instrumental in navigating internal dynamics and streamlining the design-to-development pipeline.

• Strategic Updates and Feedback Integration: Established a robust communication framework that kept all stakeholders informed through regular updates, integrating their feedback into the development process to ensure alignment with both tactical and strategic goals.
• Narrative-Driven Presentations: Utilized narrative-rich presentations, including a graphic novel format and experiential prototypes, to effectively communicate the proposed vision and functional transformations to senior leadership, securing their endorsement and enthusiasm for the project.

• Leadership and Growth Opportunities: Actively promoted leadership development within the team, providing members with the opportunity to lead segments of the project, which enhanced their skills and bolstered team morale.
• Fostering Collaboration: Emphasized a collaborative work environment that encouraged input from all levels, ensuring that each team member felt valued and was able to contribute their unique perspectives to the project, thereby increasing ownership and dedication to the project’s success.

• Enhanced Customer Acquisition: The introduction of the mobile-first design significantly boosted user engagement, leading to the acquisition of 53k new subscribers, underlining the product’s expanded appeal and accessibility.
• Increased Satisfaction and Usage: Feedback from small businesses highlighted the mobile experience as a game-changer, appreciating the ability to manage payroll remotely. This improvement in user experience translated into higher satisfaction rates and increased daily active users, particularly among self-employed contractors, who grew by 124k.

• Revenue Growth: The innovative features and customer-first design of the revamped payroll system contributed to a $127 million in incremental revenue following its release, underscoring the direct financial benefits of aligning product capabilities with user demands.
• Brand Strengthening: Beyond financial metrics, the project significantly enhanced Intuit’s brand reputation, contributing to its position as a leader in innovative financial solutions for businesses of all sizes, reinforcing customer trust and loyalty in a competitive market.

• Insights on Customer-first Design: The project underscored the critical importance of understanding and implementing user feedback into the design process, particularly the need for mobile accessibility, which was initially underestimated by internal teams.
• Lessons in Cross-Functional Collaboration: Successfully launching a product of this scale provided valuable lessons in managing and aligning efforts across diverse teams, including design, engineering, and marketing, ensuring everyone was aligned on shared outcomes.
• Strategic Technology Integration: The integration of machine learning and mobile-first strategies not only met current user expectations but also set a new standard within the company, highlighting the strategic value of staying ahead of technological curves to drive business success.