Operate

Case Study:

Operate is a service app designed for Account Managers in the commercial landscaping industry, aiming to simplify daily operations and improve communication across teams. Drawing from my background in landscaping, I supported the design process by leading usability testing and collaborating closely with the front-end team to ensure the interface reflected real-world workflows.

In an industry where poor communication with property managers is the leading cause of contract loss, Operate solves this by centralizing communication and task management in a single, streamlined platform. By reducing the need for multiple tools and manual steps, the product helps crews, account managers, and clients stay aligned—ultimately improving retention and service quality.

While I wasn’t the primary UX designer on the project, I played a key role by leading all usability testing and collaborating closely with the front-end development team to ensure the product was intuitive, efficient, and aligned with real-world workflows in the landscaping industry. My background as an Account Manager directly informed these efforts, helping to bridge the gap between user needs and product design.
I worked on this project over a 6-month period in late 2024.

User Problems
Account Managers in the commercial landscaping industry often rely on a patchwork of tools—email, spreadsheets, phone calls, and paper notes—to coordinate between crews and property managers. This fragmented communication leads to missed tasks, repeated follow-ups, and delays in service delivery. There was no single, centralized system that supported the day-to-day workflows of AMs, making their jobs inefficient and reactive rather than proactive.

The lack of streamlined communication with property managers is a major issue in this industry—and one of the top reasons for client dissatisfaction and contract cancellations. Without visibility into what work was completed, scheduled, or outstanding, companies struggled with accountability and retention. Operate was created to address these gaps, giving landscaping businesses a tool to improve service quality, build trust with clients, and reduce churn.

Account Managers using Operate want to efficiently coordinate with crews, track service completion, and keep property managers informed—without juggling multiple tools or chasing updates. Their main goal is to stay organized, responsive, and proactive in managing client expectations. From a business perspective, Operate aims to reduce contract cancellations by improving communication and transparency with clients. Product goals focused on creating a centralized platform that simplifies daily workflows, ensures real-time visibility for all stakeholders, and ultimately supports better service delivery and stronger client relationships.

As a former Account Manager in commercial landscaping, I brought deep industry knowledge into the product development process—but my primary role on the Operate team was as a usability tester and front-end collaborator, not a designer. My goal was to ensure that what we were building truly solved the pain points I knew firsthand—and that it worked seamlessly for the real people using it in the field.
Usability Testing: Grounding Design in Reality
I led all usability testing efforts, working closely with the design team to test early wireframes, clickable prototypes, and staging builds. Many of our test participants were current Account Managers or field supervisors—giving us highly relevant, actionable feedback.
During testing, I identified several key friction points:
• Too many clicks to log a completed service
• Confusion between crew notes and client-facing updates
• Lack of clear visual hierarchy in scheduling features
I compiled this feedback into structured reports and worked with both the designers and developers to prioritize refinements. These insights led to clearer action buttons, simplified task logging, and improved labeling—especially for features that bridged communication between crews and property managers.
Front-End Collaboration: Shaping the Details
I worked directly with the front-end development team to ensure UI decisions aligned with user behavior and field conditions. For example, we adjusted button sizes and spacing after learning many users were on mobile devices with gloves or in sunlight. I also advocated for collapsible views and offline caching, based on feedback from AMs working in remote areas.
Many small but meaningful changes—like reordering content in the daily dashboard or tweaking notification settings—came directly from real-world testing and my direct communication with the dev team.

Although the product was still in development during my time on the team, the usability testing and front-end improvements I helped implement were focused on solving one of the most critical issues in commercial landscaping: miscommunication with property managers. By streamlining the way Account Managers log updates, track tasks, and share information, Operate aimed to reduce friction, increase client transparency, and ultimately improve contract retention.
If launched, I would measure success through metrics such as:
• Reduction in client complaints or missed service reports
• Increase in property manager engagement (e.g. logins, acknowledgements of updates)
• Time saved per Account Manager per week (by consolidating tools)
• Improvement in contract renewal rates over time
• Feature adoption rates, especially for logging, messaging, and scheduling
These metrics would directly reflect how well the product addresses the core operational and communication breakdowns that cost companies business in this industry.