Design Systems · Platform · Cross-ecosystem · Staff IC
A Unified Vision for Work Management
I led the transformation of work management from a secondary feature being built independently by 15+ product teams into a unified, centrally-architected L1 Platform Capability. I solved two problems at once: the product fragmentation users felt, and the engineering redundancy Intuit was paying for across QuickBooks, Mailchimp, TurboTax, and beyond.
My contribution
- Architected the IPTM Design Working Model — a DACI-based governance framework defining how 15+ teams engage with, contribute to, and extend the shared platform
- Defined the universal design principles, responsive component library (330px / 768px / 1024px), and full resilience specs (Empty, Loading, Error states) used across all Intuit SKUs
- Drove cross-ecosystem alignment across SBSEG, Mailchimp, Intuit Practice Management, QBOA, Mint, and TurboTax
- Led the FY23 Development Roadmap and defined the FY24 Discovery Roadmap
The challenge: the fragmentation tax
As Intuit grew its product portfolio, every team was solving the same problem independently. QuickBooks had its own task feature. Mailchimp had its own. TurboTax was building one. Each solution was slightly different, none talked to each other, and collectively they represented enormous duplicated engineering investment — and a user experience that felt incoherent.
The component system
I delivered a responsive component library designed to be resilient across the full range of Intuit's surface area — from narrow sidebar widgets (330px) to tablet views (768px) to full dashboard contexts (1024px).
Design Spec
Responsive Sizes — 330 / 768 / 1024px
Task list is responsive based on the container it is housed in. Name truncates after two lines; description after three. Field ratio differs per size bracket.
I designed comprehensive resilience specs for Empty, Loading, and Error states across all components. The non-happy path is where design systems typically fail in production — building these specs explicitly ensured a consistently high quality bar across all 15+ Intuit SKUs.
Design Spec
Component States — Empty / Loading / Error
Apart from the normal filled state, the task list defines explicit empty, loading, and error states — ensuring every team ships a consistent non-happy path without reinventing these patterns.
Design Spec
Component Variations — default vs. status-aware
Task list variation depends on the variation of individual tasks within it. The left shows the default state — ghost CTAs. The right shows the status-aware state — TO DO, IN PROGRESS, and OVERDUE badges with filled CTAs that match urgency.
The design working model: solving the organizational problem
The hardest design problem wasn't the UI — it was governance. I designed the IPTM Design Working Model to answer how 15+ teams could build what their users need while maintaining platform coherence, defining three engagement scenarios:
Scenario A — Use as-is
Teams with standard use cases plug into existing IPTM components without modification. Zero coordination overhead, maximum consistency, fastest time to implementation.
Scenario B — Co-design shared extensions
When a team needs a capability that could benefit others — like Recurring Tasks — they co-design it with the IPTM team so it becomes a shared platform extension. Governed contribution, distributed benefit.
Scenario C — Partner-led contributions
Offering teams with unique domain needs build their own extensions, with IPTM owning the common UI and services layer. Maximum flexibility at the edges, coherence at the core.
Roadmap leadership
I drove the FY23 Development Roadmap — prioritizing the core services and widget library that would unlock the broadest adoption. For FY24, I defined the Discovery Roadmap focused on the next capability tier: Project Templates, Custom Fields, and Portfolio Health tracking for mid-market users.
Impact
Unified work management across 6 Intuit products and 15+ offering teams under a single design vision and operating model. Established the DACI operating model as the standard for how Intuit platform teams and offering teams collaborate on shared capabilities.
