ProductPlan strategic portfolio visualizations

ProductPlan

Driving strategic alignment with 58% retention boost with portfolio visualizations

Enterprise customers were at risk of churning due to inflexible portfolio tools that couldn't demonstrate strategic value to stakeholders. This retention threat required a solution that balanced ambitious user needs with significant technical constraints.

My Role: As the product designer, I led user research across three countries while collaborating closely with engineering to navigate permission architecture limitations. My approach combined user validation with technical feasibility assessment, ensuring we delivered a solution that was both highly usable and realistic to implement.

Key Approach:

Cross-functional collaboration from research through implementation
Early technical constraint validation to avoid costly redesigns
Systematic measurement setup to track business impact

Result: The solution drove 54% retention improvement and secured $350k in enterprise renewals.

Timeline

Sep 2024 - Feb 2025

Role

Product Designer

Team

1x Product Designer

1x Product Manager

4x Full Stack Engineers

Impact

58% MoM retention

20% Decrease in time-to-first use

34% Increase in account adoption

$350k ARR secured in enterprise renewals

Constraints

Permission architecture constraints with the existing code base

Limited pivot capabilities based on data relationships

THE PROBLEM

Legacy Portfolio Tools Threatening Enterprise Customer Retention

Product teams struggled to align on strategic priorities, leading to fragmented roadmaps across multiple organizational structures and missed business goals. Every organization structures strategic planning differently - there's no one-size-fits-all solution.

This problem was discovered through:

Multiple customer complaints to customer success and sales
Feedback submissions on the platform
Continuous discovery interviews

Business Impact: Customer feedback indicated this was a primary factor in churn decisions, with several enterprise accounts expressing frustration during renewal conversations.

RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY

Validating the Problem and Technical Feasibility

Every organization structures strategic planning differently - flexibility over rigid structure was essential. The different user types drive this flexibility and a need for a permissions structure.

Product Managers: Want to plan out their work and present to the company

Executives: Want a simple, clear overview presentation that they can potentially show to external stakeholders

Research Approach

I conducted comprehensive user research with nine participants across the US, UK, and Australia, including product managers, project managers, and implementation managers. Working closely with our PM and engineering team, I designed interview protocols that would validate both user needs and technical constraints.

9 interviews across 3 countries with enterprise and SMB customers
Collaborative analysis with PM to align findings with business goals
Competitive analysis of 6 portfolio management tools
Audit of existing legacy portfolio features

Legacy portfolios

Group data by more than just roadmaps

Share portfolios internally and externally

Clutter-free way to present portfolios

Rearrange elements for priorities and capacity

Early strategic portfolios

Move and hide any lane or sublane

Editable legend

Save the timeline and give a title

Pivotable data

Collaborative Ideation

Working with the product manager, we used Miro boards and story mapping techniques to break work into phases.

Core Features Identified:

Title & Description
Team Assignment
Sharing Capabilities
Present Mode
Flexible Lane Management
Data Filtering & Pivoting

Technical Constraints & Solutions

Throughout the design process, I worked closely with engineering to understand constraints early. These weren't compromises - they were opportunities to create clearer, more intentional user interactions.

Challenge: Form validation issues on multiple fields within one tab
Solution: Break forms into multiple tabs for guided flow

Challenge: Changing groupings after creation would break data structure
Solution: Designed explicit 'save new view' pattern instead of auto-saving

Challenge: User permission system limitations
Solution: Designed within existing boundaries while maintaining functionality

DESIGN SOLUTION

Empowering Users with Better Portfolio Views

Progressive Disclosure: Organization options hidden until data is selected - reduces cognitive load
Multi-Tab Forms: Breaks complex configuration into manageable steps
Real-Time Preview: Shows immediate visual feedback as users make selections
Flexible Data Organization: Adapts to any organizational structure rather than forcing one approach
Explicit Save Actions: Clear control over when changes are saved vs. creating new views

Select the display level and start adding data

Use nested filters to select data to be included

Organize the data groupings and set the format

Select the display level and start adding data

RETROSPECTIVE

Key Learnings and Business Impact

This project reinforced the importance of early technical collaboration in the design process. By involving engineering from the research phase, we avoided costly design changes and delivered a solution that users loved and developers could confidently build.

What Worked Well

Cross-functional collaboration from day one prevented late-stage feasibility issues
Systematic user research across multiple regions provided comprehensive insights
Establishing measurement frameworks early enabled clear success validation

Key Takeaway

The biggest lesson was that understanding technical constraints doesn't limit creativity—it focuses it. Working within the existing permission architecture led to more innovative solutions than if we'd had unlimited technical flexibility.

Business Impact

Using Pendo and Metabase data, to track whether we had strengthened ProductPlan's competitive position in enterprise strategic planning software