Owned the end-to-end redesign of inventory dashboard and decision workflows, driving $30M+ in cost savings for a Fortune 500 enterprise.
Despite excess inventory at internal manufacturing sites, Buyers and Planners purchased expensive components from external vendors (tens of thousands of dollars).
I conducted 1:1 interviews alongside bi-weekly stakeholder sessions to gather feedback. I synthesized findings through affinity mapping and prioritized three critical themes from 40+ documented pain points.
Studying user spreadsheets and email chains revealed hidden process flows and manual workarounds users had built to fill product gaps. To measure our success against these issues, I established ongoing NPS, SUS, system performance, and retention benchmarks.
| Part | Location | QTY | C. QTY | Status | Owner | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #A28-X | Detroit | $32,400 | 200 | CONFIRM EXCESS | M. Torres | ||
| #B3921-Y | Cincinnati | $24,600 | 500 | 498 | CONFIRMED | R. Cole | |
| #D2912-A | Phoenix | $18,200 | 320 | 220 | CONFIRMED | L. Park | |
| #E1843-B | Denver | $12,100 | 180 | CONFIRM EXCESS | J. Rivera | ||
| #C1845-Z | Atlanta | $5,200 | 150 | PURCHASE REQ | S. Chen |
I designed a conversational interface to guide users through opportunities found, confirmations, actions, and results. The interface shifted critical decisions from email into the product, alongside relevant data.
Ownership and decision history were made explicit inline at the point of action to eliminate ambiguity and increase trust.
Inventory Cost Savings Within Two Years
This initiative was widely referred to within the organization as a success story. I did multiple share-outs with other teams on approach and was awarded a bonus for this initiative set aside for highest level Individual Contributors.
After launch, many teams made the tool mandatory in their workflows, driven by user trust and efficiency gains.
The improvements and increased engagement resulted in direct cost savings. The initiative received multiple internal accolades from the organization.
Delegate earlier and strategically
By mid-project, I learned to match junior designers to work they were passionate about, accelerating delivery and building ownership.
Make scope tracking granular from day one
Mid-project I rebuilt my scope sheet to document WHY at the element level, linking choices to research—now I start with this granularity immediately.
Investigate user-invented solutions in first research phase
Earlier discovery of custom spreadsheets and workarounds would have surfaced solution patterns faster and shown users we valued their creativity.
User workarounds revealed unmet needs more clearly than stated pain points in many cases. When I saw teams creating threshold rules and shadow contact lists, they were designing their own solutions. My job is to observe these patterns, dissect the underlying need, and design systems that make their workarounds unnecessary.
