Property Tax Acquisitions and Client Tools
LERETA, LLC
LERETA is a company which manages property taxes for lenders. Many processes rely on manual work due to outdated tools and systems. We would provide a modern platform to process acquisitions more accurately and efficiently. This would be the foundation for future opportunities.
Implementing a design culture
I was brought on to help transform the underlying tools and systems our operations employees used today. This would affect the culture of the organization and change the way we interacted with government tax agencies, the lenders, and in turn the homeowners.
To do this I communicated the user-centered design approach to our executives and came up with a long-term strategy that would help the company reach its goals. It included:
-
Large scale presentations to executives and organizational decision makers.
-
Face-to-face instruction on how this strategy might directly affect their teams.
-
Evangelizing how this approach could contribute to market and revenue goals.
-
How we would research internally to understand and improve current processes.
-
Meeting with sales to understand how we sold our services to clients.
Managing a team
I managed a team of 3 researchers, 3 product designers, and 2 visual designers. This would be LERETA'S first design and research team. Not only was I looking for skills and expertise, I also hired for diversity in life experiences and cultures. From my early observations of our operations teams it was clear to me that my team should match those individuals and the experiences they brought to this company.
My objective was to create an effective process for identifying problems, finding solutions, and delivering results. To this end, I believed it would take collaboration and overlapping of skills to achieve these. Mentorship and sharing of knowledge were important to me, both professionally and personally.
Observing users
Understanding loan acquisitions
Before my team came aboard I sat down with users to conduct contextual inquiries. These included 8 users across 3 different departments:
-
Tax Line Setup - this is where loan acquisitions are matched between lenders, LERETA, and tax agencies.
-
Open Items - part of our outsource department, this is where we provide property tax services for our clients.
-
Delinquencies - also part of outsourcing, this is how we track property taxes for either the lender or the homeowner.
It was evident early on that the culture of the company reflected the fragmented state of the existing tools and systems. Departments operated as silos with little knowledge of how their work would affect others either up or down stream. It was helpful to identify users, see the systems they interacted with, and to understand their pain points. From this I was able to map their current user flows and sketch out ideas for future changes.
Early sketches
Sharing duties as a designer
Even though I was a manager, it was also my responsibility to be an individual contributor. My part involved designing a page for users to view and manage all their loan acquisitions within our systems. From the pain points identified during research, I came up with ideas on designing solutions around users' tasks. They would need to see the status of an acquisition and have the ability to make changes to complete the process. This was a highly iterative design process which included sketches, early wires, and prototypes which would eventually be tested with users.
Testing our designs
My researchers and I established a usability plan which included building the prototype, identifying goals, recruiting users, conducting tests, and analyzing and synthesizing data. I ran 1 round of testing with 6 users and provided support for my researchers with ongoing usability tests.
Our organization as a whole was entirely new to the idea of formal testing and we realized quickly that gaining the trust of the users was a design exercise in itself. For example, one of my responsibilities was to get buy-in from our operations managers to reassure employees that there weren't any performance consequences for participating in tests. We were successful in establishing this relationship.
Thinking across the organization
As part of our research and design strategy, it was important to look beyond the standalone tools that were built just for the near term. I directed my researchers to talk with the sales executives and account managers to understand how we were selling our products. In addition, we examined other parts of the organization to understand the various touchpoints a loan would have. Key deliverables from my team included:
-
Research project plans
-
User personas
-
Research presentations for stakeholders
-
Journey maps
Learnings and results
As a first time manager, this was both a challenging and rewarding experience! In the past I'd led teams to build and design products but this was a whole different can of worms. Driving the design strategy for a company, building the makeup of a team, and managing and growing individuals were new tasks for me. Though I'm sure I made plenty of rookie mistakes, I feel this experience has only helped me to become a better designer and leader.
Though my company and I had lofty goals, my executives ultimately decided they weren't at a place to look beyond their immediate issues. Of course, my opinion was that this was the perfect setting and opportunity to set the course for the next several years. However, I learned there were many factors involved that went into these decisions such as budgets, board expectations, and a company's culture.
I believe both the acquisitions application we designed and the client research findings we produced have planted the seeds for when the company is ready for the next step.