Driving Change for Students and Success
HOW A DESIGN TEAM, PROCESS, AND SYSTEM DROVE SUCCESS AT EVERDRIVEN
Executive Summary: I Drove Acquisition Through User-Centered, Data-Driven, Product-Lead Growth
As the Director of UX/UI Design for EverDriven, I massively impacted key business KPIs, including customers, rides, and revenue, and set EverDriven up for acquisition success. I was hired as Director of UX/UI Design to drive user-centered, product-lead growth that would attract investors. I used Dual Track Agile and talent acqusition and growth to double development speed, cut work-in-progress in half, and drive record-breaking results. By building a strong design system and focusing on real user needs, my work setup EverDriven for acquisition and was praised by the CEO as the core of what made the company attractive to investors.
Measurable Impact of My Work
+75%
School districts supported
(400 => 700)
I lead a user-centered and technology focused re-design of school district transportation tools, allowing EverDriven to support more school districts with fewer client success personnel.
+266%
Students transported
(10,800 => 28,000)
I re-designed private vehicle school transportation provider toolsets and a new application that allowed schools to more easily transport students to and from vehicles.
+845%
Rides provided
(225,000 => 1,900,000)
I pioneered a complete data-driven re-design of our driver’s navigation application, with measurable, direct impact on both product lead growth and driver capacity as well as driver recruitment initiatives.
ACQUIRED
after user-centered design drives turnaround from falling revenue and profits to record performance.
My focus on implementing efficient design team practices improved business metrics while substantially reducing WIP and improving development throughput.
Overview
ALC Schools, a provider of private vehicle student transportation services, was looking to up their profile to potential investors.
ALC Schools planned to pivot by re-branding and investing in technology-forward solutions to issues surrounding the student transportation industry.
American Logistics Corporation (ALC) is a provider of transportation and logistics service in the United States.
In 2005, ALC spun off of a portion of its company focused on student transportation to private investors. The new investors looked to continue the good will and continuity included with ALC’s reputation, and named the new company ALC schools.
Between 2005 and 2021, ALC and ALC Schools operated independently of each other.
With the passing of time and installation of new leadership, ALC Schools implemented a new strategy: create technology-oriented solutions the business problems surrounding student transportation with the goal of selling the organization to a larger private equity group.
To this point, ALC Schools had nominally invested in a small development team, but the company lacked design, product, and engineering leadership and talent to make a push to improve their technology offerings.
Role
Director, UX/UI Design
Scope
6 Web & Mobile Apps
Component Library
Research Ops
Design System
Timeline
December 2021 – December 2023
Tools
Figma
Material Design
Why I Was Chosen
At the time EverDriven was looking to make a move, I wasn’t looking for a new gig – I was working away at Western Union, helping them establish their first B2B design team. But EverDriven wanted me for the job, and recruited me with an offer to become their Director of UX/UI Design. Here’s why:
Past Success with the Current CTO
EverDriven’s CTO, Bryan Glenn, had worked with me at E*TRADE, where I had established a similar design practice from the ground up. This was a similar role that needed a similar skill set and attention to detail – and I had done it twice more with similar success since leaving E*TRADE.
My Social Proof Shows Industry Confidence
As a thought leader and mentor to nearly 50,000 designers across my social media channels, Glenn was able to sell my position – and me in it – as a strategic advantage. By putting me, my experience, and the team I would build in place, EverDriven would have a respected professional driving innovation that could put the company on the leading edge of user centered design in the transportation industry.
History of Success in Similar Roles
The practice I was asked to set up at EverDriven would be my sixth. The design practices I set up for four of my previous employers to implement similar strategies were critical to their acquisitions totaling more than $4.1B (Nordstrom fsb – $2.2B, Trust Company of America – $275 million, Western Union Business Solutions – $910 million, and Four Winds Interactive – Undisclosed Amount.)
Goals
ALC Schools made the switch to its new brand – EverDriven – in 2021. Shortly before they adopted the EverDriven moniker, the company hired me as their first design leader. EverDriven charged me three main goals:
- Recruit, install, and leverage a top-performing team of designers capable of implementing a full brand re-design while also designing and implementing innovative solutions while identifying user pain points.
- Drive user-centered research & design to improve key metrics, particularly school districts supported, riders supported, and rides performed per year, as identified in strategy sessions with executive leadership and senior management.
- Attract potential investors with user-centered focus of both new and re-designed technological solutions to industry problems.
My Approach
I Accelerated Growth Implementing Dual Track Agile
Dual Track Agile is an approach to eliminating the bottleneck that design teams sometimes create when they join a design-nascent organization.
Dual Track Agile splits the research and design efforts from the development efforts.
This system splits design and development work into separate agile workflows: discovery and delivery. This helps eliminate silos.
Tested and vetted designs are then quickly developed by the engineering team to facilitate additional quick iterations and follow-ups, saving huge amounts of development time & effort.
Within the first week, I met with the CEO to pitch this process. With his agreement, I took the ideas to the rest of the C-suite and senior leadership team.
By gaining a quick consensus and moving decisively based on past success, I was able to help EverDriven quickly implement a system that would eventually double development throughput while halving Work in Progress (WIP).
I Identified, Hired, and Mentored a Truly Talented Team
I used my international network of 50,000+ design professionals to advertise, identify, and recruit top-level design talent.
I built my team quickly, and we were up and working to solve for user wants, goals, needs, and pain points in no time. We identified usability issues affecting school district success, driver capacity, and more.
I lead a generative research effort that resulted in the development of a school-staff-focused application that would be key to continued success.
I grew the team 4x in less than 1 year and provided EverDriven with user-centered, data-driven insights, leading innovation across the industry.
I built a team that focused on personal and professional growth that included weekly check-ins on goals and paths to improvement. Through dual-feedback mechanisms, my team and I both grew as we helped the company reach its full potential.
I Designed a Design System That Saves Time & Money
In order to get our design and development teams moving quickly, we needed a set of components that would allow us to design consistently and coherently.
I used Figma to build a custom, Material Design-based Design System that focused on
minimizing the time and effort that design and development spent trying to understand each other and maximizing the time we spend solving problems and putting together well-developed solutions.
As part of driving team growth, I eased new design, product, and development team members into the system through a series of brown bag talks, one-on-one trainings, and hands-on paired experiences to help build understanding and adoption across teams.
Overcoming Obstacles
Convincing Senior Stakeholders with Dollars & Cents
Senior leadership was hesitant to adopt a new approach with new practices.
By building a business case that showed conclusively that design would pay for itself simply by the impact it would have on our development team, initially hesitant stakeholders jumped on-board.
Mentoring Junior Designers Into Top Performers
I utilized my proven talent identification and acquisition strategies to hire junior designers with the ability to learn and apply new skills quickly.
I utilized a circular feedback process and fostered an environment of learning and trust by setting, reviewing, and achieving personal and professional development goals. These tactics allowed me to quickly grow raw talent to skilled veteran level.
Paired Research Bridges Gaps to Product & Development
As the organizations first design hire and leader, I inherited a product and development structure that had been in-place for more than a decade without design input.
From the beginning, I included them early in stakeholder and user research processes – a critical step to gaining product buy-in and development engagement.
Impact
The team I hired had an immediate impact on EverDriven’s success.
I implemented an improved research, design, and development process that halved development WIP while nearly doubling throughput and also eliminating development re-work of failed projects.
The impact was shown in full force in the words of our users, clients, and executive team.
“[The EverDriven VIP app will] tell me just like an Uber — Toyota Corolla, the driver’s name, the license plate number — so I know for sure she’s getting in the right car, I’m not putting her in a strangers car.”
Ashley Grullon-Perez, Parent of an EverDriven Rider
“The two most hectic times of day at a school are always pick-up and drop-off. Knowing exactly which child is being dropped off or picked up, and the arrival status of their driver, is a gamechanger. The EverDriven VIP app has been great in helping us keep the pick-up and drop-off lines moving.”
Matt Creasman, Chester Lewis Alternative High School
Our executive team, lead by CEO Mitch Bowling, was effusive in their praise for my work in shaping our company’s practices, highlighting the impact of my approach to user-centered, data-driven design fostering product-lead growth that made us so attractive to potential investors.
Mitch Bowling, CEO, EverDriven
“Developing innovative solutions based on the needs of districts, schools and families is what we do best, and we are thrilled to have Charlesbank by our side as we continue to revolutionize the industry.”
Artifacts
Figma: Design System Sample
A sample of the design system I created and implemented while working for EverDriven.
Research Plan
A research plan that lays out my team’s approach to researching a new application for the company.
Executive Research Presentation
A presentation my team created and used to pitch new app functionality to C-level and senior leadership within the company.
6 Month Design Team Plan
A summary of my initial plan to build, mentor, and scale a design team at EverDriven.