The Challenge

We needed to quickly deliver value to customers at risk of churn because of customers struggling with board tenure management. But there was a deeper complexity: implementing a full board tenure feature meant adding time criteria to every action a board member could take.

The problem? Every board has its own governance policies. Automating tenure workflows across different policy frameworks risked creating more problems than we solved.

The time pressure was real, but we couldn't afford to guess at what would actually solve their problem, especially when the full solution carried significant technical and policy risks.

My Approach

As User Researcher + Designer, I led both research and design efforts in close collaboration with the PM and Sales team. Given the tight timeline, I applied Lean UX by running research and design in parallel, eliminating the gap between insight and action. This let us move quickly without sacrificing insight.

Research: understanding the real problem

I conducted focused user interviews to understand:

• What specific pain points customers faced with board tenure tracking

• How they currently managed tenure (within the product or outside of it)

• What mattered most to their workflow and their "jobs to be done"

• Why these needs were critical to their organisation's success

This revealed not just feature requests, but the underlying motivations and frustrations - the insight that would guide both MVP scope and design decisions.

Key Findings

The research uncovered two core problems:

1. Lack of automation - Users received no automatic alerts when board members' terms were ending. The nomination and onboarding process itself was time-consuming, but they had no system to flag when action was needed.

2. Fragmented information management - Customers tracked board member data across disconnected systems: offline spreadsheets and our platform. This duplication wasted time and created a high risk of errors.

Neither problem was about interface design. Both were about workflow efficiency and system fragmentation.

Strategic decision: MVP first, vision second

Instead of trying to solve everything, the research informed a focused, phased approach:

MVP Solution (short term): Address the most pressing pain points immediately

• Automated tenure alerts - Notify administrators when terms are ending, based on their organization's nomination timelines

• Centralised tenure tracking - Allow users to manage all tenure data in one place, reducing spreadsheet dependency

Long term vision: Build the comprehensive solution

• Fully integrated board member profiles with custom fields

• Data syncing and import tools to connect external systems

• Seamless, intelligent board management

This staged approach was critical: it let us deliver immediate value to prevent churn while mapping the path to a more robust solution.

Impact

Although I left before the official release, the research and MVP design had real impact. We handed off clear user insights and a solid design to the Sales team. They felt confident using our materials to engage customers - confident enough that they were able to support subscription expansion conversations based on the strength of the proposed solution.

This demonstrated a key principle: research-informed product decisions aren't just better for users; they're better for business. When you solve the right problem, sales, product, and customers all align.