Spectora: Design Leadership
Spectora is the market leader in home inspection software. Their SAAS software helps home inspectors generate world class inspection and run their business.
Design
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Product
Enhancements
Spectora: Design Leadership
Spectora is the market leader in home inspection software. Their SAAS software helps home inspectors generate world class inspection and run their business.
Design
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Product
Enhancements
OVERVIEW
Build a design department from scratch, untangle years of UX & tech debt, and support experiments aimed at rapid growth.
I joined Spectora as the first design hire. I was tasked with establishing product design as a function. Prior to my arrival, Spectora had never had a dedicated designer. For the first 8 years the founders, engineers and PM’s had been filling in the gaps. As the company grew, the product itself had become very disjointed and inconsistent. The teams were doing great work but often in silos. Roles I had in the past often revolved around creating, expanding and exploration. I quickly learned that Spectora didn’t really need a wide divergent approach. Instead they needed someone to wrangle what they had and bring forth a cohesive process and user experience.
MY ROLE
Department lead Design Manager
OVERVIEW
Build a design department from scratch, untangle years of UX & tech debt, and support experiments aimed at rapid growth.
I joined Spectora as the first design hire. I was tasked with establishing product design as a function. Prior to my arrival, Spectora had never had a dedicated designer. For the first 8 years the founders, engineers and PM’s had been filling in the gaps. As the company grew, the product itself had become very disjointed and inconsistent. The teams were doing great work but often in silos. Roles I had in the past often revolved around creating, expanding and exploration. I quickly learned that Spectora didn’t really need a wide divergent approach. Instead they needed someone to wrangle what they had and bring forth a cohesive process and user experience.
MY ROLE
Department lead Design Manager
What I did
My time at Spectora was a mix of building, teaching, shipping, and thinking ahead. The product team embraced design early, and the collaboration that followed was some of the best of my career. I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished together. Here are a few highlights from that work.
What I did
My time at Spectora was a mix of building, teaching, shipping, and thinking ahead. The product team embraced design early, and the collaboration that followed was some of the best of my career. I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished together. Here are a few highlights from that work.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Introducing Process
The principle PM had created a chart for their workflow shortly before my arrival. I added the design layer on to help align the team on how we could best work together. I worked with the PM’s to refine this process. This was a helpful tool for getting product and design on the same page.
Introducing Process
The principle PM had created a chart for their workflow shortly before my arrival. I added the design layer on to help align the team on how we could best work together. I worked with the PM’s to refine this process. This was a helpful tool for getting product and design on the same page.
Introducing Process
The principle PM had created a chart for their workflow shortly before my arrival. I added the design layer on to help align the team on how we could best work together. I worked with the PM’s to refine this process. This was a helpful tool for getting product and design on the same page.
Building a design System
Building a design System
Building a design System
Prior to me joining Spectora there was only one page dedicated brand and no other design documentation. In production we had significant inconsistencies between colors, fonts, patterns and interactions. I started by taking inventory of what we had and looking for the least disruptive way to unify elements. This early work became the foundation for the design system.
Later we brought on more designers and that’s when thing really started to take off. Within a year or so we had complex components that were well built in Figma and closely in parity with Storybook. What started as me alone in Figma turned into a full team effort.
Shoutout to Russ, Ian (Design) & Suely (UXE).
Previous Client Portal Admin side
Kill Frank: Future State Vision
Kill Frank was the code name for this multi-pronged approach to address UX debt and modernize the platform. This was a bit of a passion project of mine to help us get the most out of our limited resources. Plus, we were just about to staff up our design team I wanted to make sure the team was set up for success by having consistent elements and north star to work towards.
Kill Frank: Future State Vision
Kill Frank was the code name for this multi-pronged approach to address UX debt and modernize the platform. This was a bit of a passion project of mine to help us get the most out of our limited resources. Plus, we were just about to staff up our design team I wanted to make sure the team was set up for success by having consistent elements and north star to work towards.
Kill Frank: Future State Vision
Kill Frank was the code name for this multi-pronged approach to address UX debt and modernize the platform. This was a bit of a passion project of mine to help us get the most out of our limited resources. Plus, we were just about to staff up our design team I wanted to make sure the team was set up for success by having consistent elements and north star to work towards.
Kill Frank Included
Source of truth for Colors, fonts, and basic patterns. This was contained in the design system.
UX standards and guidelines - This set of rules was meant to align the product team and save time. It began defining things like Icon usage, saving rules, progressive disclosure, alerts and notifications.
Site Architecture- Years of tacking on features had left Spectora disjointed. I created an updated sitemap to logically group items together. We validated this both internally and externally.
Site Scaffolding- I created a high level layout for all major section of the desktop platform. This greatly helped find commonalities across section. The design team used this as a starting spot, not a final solution. Each designer was empowered to push beyond the first looks. I really want all of us designers to consider the broader platform before diving deep on our respective projects.
Key Flows - Since this was vision work, I used this opportunity to design a few key flows that could be greatly improved through design. This included adding/updating a staff member, managing templates & untangling company settings from personal settings.
IC Projects
When I wasn’t working on strategy, coaching, planning & teaching I was working on individual contributor projects. I supported a few different pods, both generally focused on growth.
IC Projects
When I wasn’t working on strategy, coaching, planning & teaching I was working on individual contributor projects. I supported a few different pods, both generally focused on growth.
IC Projects
When I wasn’t working on strategy, coaching, planning & teaching I was working on individual contributor projects. I supported a few different pods, both generally focused on growth.
What I did
What I did
What I did
My time at Spectora was a mix of building, teaching, shipping, and thinking ahead. The product team embraced design early, and the collaboration that followed was some of the best of my career. I’m incredibly proud of what we accomplished together. Here are a few highlights from that work.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Introduced a design process
I worked closely with the Head of Product and PM team to integrate design into existing workflows. Some PMs had experience working with designers, while others did not, so the focus was on creating shared understanding and lightweight, practical processes.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Future State Vision
I led a long-term initiative we affectionately called Kill Frank, focused on de-frankensteining the user experience. The goal was to improve usability for both new and existing users while creating a clear north star for future product work. This three-pronged approach used the design system to address immediate issues while guiding longer-term evolution.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Created a design system
I built the first version of the design system using patterns already in production, prioritizing consistency, clarity, and alignment. As the system matured, I brought on additional designers who later took ownership of ongoing iterations.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Individual Contributor work.
Alongside leadership responsibilities, I remained hands-on as an individual contributor, supporting multiple pods. I worked on key product improvements including the Client Portal, onboarding, and growth initiatives such as Angi integrations, partnerships, and Spectora Advanced in-app upsell.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.
Built a strong design team
One of the highlights of my time at Spectora was hiring and growing a team of three talented designers, supporting their development and watching them thrive.