Operto Guest Technologies
product design internship
01
At a Glance
Right after my stint at FORM, I found myself pursuing another Product Design opportunity in a new industry with a very different customer base. My objective was to continue gaining industry knowledge from Product teams that were developed but still accelerating, and broaden my knowledge of innovating, researching and communicating with a different user group. Operto’s Product team was made of two-folds; Operto Connect / Guest, and Operto Teams. With my focus on Connect & Guest, I was fortunate to be mentored by a senior designer and two product managers who’ve taught me the importance of cross-functional collaboration, incorporating customer analytics, and inviting engineers to be a part of the design process early on.
interfaces
Desktop, tablet, mobile (iOS & Android)
Timeline
8 months
tools
Figma, FullStory, JIRA
Cups of coffee consumed
105 cups
02
Simple automation. Seamless stay.
Before diving into my experience, I want to briefly introduce you to Operto and the products I’ve worked on. Operto specializes in providing smart solutions for property managers and hosts in the vacation rental and hospitality industry. Their platform offers tools for keyless entry (Operto Boost), property automation and guest communication (Operto Connect), and a custom branded guest experience app, acting as a digital concierge (Operto Guest). All these products are integrated to streamline operations and enhance the guest experience.
03
My Projects
My initial projects of completing a design audit of our design system and SAAS products, and collaborating with our customers to assist them in building their Guest Portals, enabled me to have an in-depth understanding of our design environment and the habits we had to change to meet our customers needs. As I continued to learn how to help our clients improve their guest experience, I was provided the opportunity to work on four low-scale redesigns and product launches that enabled better workflows, usability, and detection for our customers. To end my internship, I was given two large-scale projects to deliver; a redesign of how our customers built their Guest Portals and a UX/UI revamp of our internal tool, the StayMyWay Staff app. The app needed improvements before the beta launch so that our customers could integrate it with Operto Boost, which is used to install and debug keyless doors.
List of product redesign projects
Guest Portal Builder
StayMyWay Staff App
Guest Portal for desktop and tablet Interfaces
List of new features launched
QR code - Scan for Wi-Fi
Disconnected reservation indicator
Feature request and support - customer process
04
Project Showcase.
Design ethnography. Involving stakeholders in our ideating sessions.
Design iteration vs. tech constraints. Test and deliver.
My first project started with a comprehensive exploration of our design ecosystem and user demographic. This involved conducting a meticulous design audit of our existing products and engaging in insightful dialogues with internal stakeholders who actively employ these tools to support our customers.
To propel my knowledge of Operto’s products and user base, I undertook the task of designing Guest Portals tailored to the requirements of vacation rentals and hotel operations. This hands-on interaction allowed me to engage in meaningful conversations, delving into the intricacies of their workflow and the challenges they encounter when delivering a digital guest experience and managing their properties. A significant concern voiced by our customers related to the desire for greater flexibility in constructing a digital concierge that mirrored their brand identity and conveyed the information they considered essential. This requirement was echoed internally, with our team responsible for Guest Portal development expressing a need for more efficient methods and tools to construct portals in alignment with our customer's specific expectations.
Design ethnography. Involving stakeholders in our ideating sessions.
Design iteration vs. tech constraints. Test and deliver.
Before considering any solutions, my lead designer and I took a collaborative approach involving various teams' participation. We engaged the Customer Success team in extensive discussions to leverage the qualitative data at our disposal and address prevalent, high-priority pain points, to mitigate the risk of customer churn. In addition, we sought the input of our product marketing subject-matter expert to evaluate the necessity of introducing changes to our product that not only catered to a niche audience but also aligned with the broader needs of our target users. This collaborative effort extended beyond the mere collection of insights; it presented an opportunity for the product team to enhance transparency regarding upcoming launches and their potential impact on how our teams interacted with existing and prospective customers.
Through our ideation sessions, dialogues, and data analysis, we identified a critical need for a significant overhaul in how pages in our Guest Portal were constructed. The existing system lacked the essential functionality to grant our internal team the autonomy to create guest portals in full compliance with our customers' branding requirements. Beyond the imperative for flexibility and customization, there was a pressing demand to enhance the efficiency of page creation. This was effectively addressed by the introduction of pre-built templates and the incorporation of a system that facilitated the reuse of previously designed pages.
Design ethnography. Involving stakeholders in our ideating sessions.
Design iteration vs. tech constraints. Test and deliver.
Upon synthesizing our research and insights, I started crafting low-fidelity wireframes, and throughout this process, I maintained a consistent feedback loop with my lead designer to ensure that I was effectively capturing an intuitive interface, while simultaneously addressing all usability, accessibility, and functionality requirements. Before proceeding to the development of high-fidelity mockups and prototypes, I conducted a design review session with our lead Customer Software Engineer and the QA Engineer. This discussion was focused on identifying potential technical constraints and evaluating the project timeline. However, as I failed to maintain ongoing engagement with them during the subsequent phases as I worked on the Hi-Fi wireframes and prototype, it led to extensive changes when the majority of the interfaces and interactions were refined and ready to be handed off.
The adjustments were focused on new technical constraints and a compressed development timeline, which required a fresh design that wouldn’t hinder the anticipated user experience. Had I maintained a continuous dialogue with the development team, we could have identified constraints earlier in the process, thus minimizing iterations during the high-fidelity prototype design phase.
Here are some illustrative examples of the evolution from early concepts to the final prototype:
Lo-Fi | one of many designs from ideation process
Med-Fi | screens that went through extensive iteration
Hi-Fi | one of many screens in the final prototype
Design ethnography. Involving stakeholders in our ideating sessions.
Design iteration vs. tech constraints. Test and deliver.
Before the design hand-off process, I conducted comprehensive user testing that involved a diverse set of participants within our internal team. This group included colleagues responsible for constructing Guest Portals for our customers, our solutions engineer, and a selected cohort of our customers who had been selected to participate in the beta testing of this feature. Specifically, these were individuals associated with short-term rentals, operating a substantial number of units, and having a preference for developing their Guest Portals.
Furthermore, I had the opportunity to present a demonstration of the redesigned feature during our bi-weekly company product showcases. This platform allowed me to explain the enhancements and impacts of the new Page Builder on various workflows within our team, as well as how customers might engage with this revamped tool.
Unfortunately, my internship concluded before I could witness the realization of my redesign efforts. However, I am pleased to report that the project was successfully developed and subsequently launched in the third quarter of 2023.
Please reach out if you want to discuss my design process for this project and view the final prototype.
Illustrations from Undraw
05
Key Takeaways.
“Time flies when you’re having fun!” That’s a phrase I would use to recap the past 8-months. Working at an accelerating, growth-stage organization has taught me so much beyond the product and design domain. I’ve shared many conversations with my colleagues in the development, marketing, sales and customer success teams, which has helped me better understand product-market fit, customer consultation, technical pain points for our developers, and synthesizing specific metrics to avoid churn.
Avoiding design debt with data-driven design
I have gained invaluable knowledge during my internship, attributable not only to the guidance received from seasoned designers but also to the insights gained from the challenges faced by various teams and colleagues. Among the considerable challenges inherent to startups, managing technical debt stood out as one of the most formidable, and this issue was no different at Operto. However, as we were on a growth trajectory and enlisted the expertise of subject-matter specialists, we reevaluated and restructured many of our processes, including our approach to design debt.
Rather than exclusively focusing on launching features tailored to a limited subset of users, we shifted our perspective to address the root causes and issues hindering the majority of our user base. This transformation involved extensive communication with our customer success team and direct engagement with our customers. We also conducted thorough examinations of data collected through FullStory and Google Analytics, in addition to rigorous user testing conducted prior to development. I learned that in the realm of design, it is not merely important to craft effective solutions, but it is imperative to do so in a data-driven manner.
Communicating designs to non-designers
During my time at FORM (my previous internship) I was introduced to Toastmasters, and the thought of public speaking was nerve-wracking and uncomfortable for me. When I joined at Operto, I knew I had to continue challenging myself and find another uncomfortable environment, yet applicable situation to practice public speaking. I’ve led design hand-offs previously and was familiar with communicating with software developers/engineers, but rarely had the chance to communicate design process and demos with other teams.
Thus, I requested to present my projects to different sets of stakeholders, and later found myself taking a significant leap by presenting in bi-weekly product demos to the whole company. Comparing my experience with Toastmasters to presenting design concepts, I discovered several differences; presenting design processes and rationale to individuals from diverse professional backgrounds demanded more extensive preparation and a deeper understanding of how to establish connections and craft a narrative that resonated with their specific fields of expertise.
