My journey at SafetyCulture began in 2015 when I joined as a Senior UX Designer. Little did I know that this role would become the foundation for a transformative path in design leadership that would shape my career for years to come. Moving to the picturesque regional city of Townsville, Australia, was a delightful change from the bustling cities of Dubai and Bangalore. The tranquil surroundings, with Castle Hill at the city's heart, became my sanctuary for morning meditations and hikes.
The Attraction to SafetyCulture
What initially drew me to SafetyCulture was its flagship product, iAuditor. This mobile app was a game-changer for businesses, particularly in construction (safety management and compliance) and retail (quality). iAuditor empowered users to conduct inspections and identify issues for correction, aligning perfectly with my career aspirations. Moreover, it left room for innovation, with plans to incorporate issues and analytics in the future, a prospect I found enticing.
Challenges and Opportunities
Starting as a Senior UX Designer on a small team of three, including a design researcher, we immediately recognized a challenge. Our backlog of "Mira" tickets, logged by engineers for bug fixes, kept us focused on the day-to-day but left little room for innovation. Competitors were introducing innovative features, and we risked falling behind. To make matters more interesting, one of our designers was poached by a competitor.
Around this time, I was given the opportunity to define a vision for the fourth design function and expand the design team and processes. We began by reevaluating our roadmap, as there was no dedicated product management function at the time. Once the roadmap was established, we identified knowns, unknowns, and assumptions, paving the way for a customer-focused design revolution.
Customer-Centric Design Revolution
Our research process was thorough, involving surveys, contextual interviews, and data synthesis. One significant outcome was the "traffic light report," an analytical view categorizing what worked well (green) and what didn't (red). Initially, we considered redesigning the analytics to fit this reporting style. However, our research led to a different approach. We revamped our analytics to provide foundational features that enabled customers to identify issues and take action while offering granular insights at the inspection item level. This overhaul garnered customer engagement and played a pivotal role in securing a Series B round of investment in 2017.
Innovating Incident Reporting
Our product portfolio continued to expand, including the development of Incidentaly, an incident reporting application. While it was comprehensive, we noticed a gap in its user experience, especially concerning quick incident reporting. I proposed a simplified, modern approach that streamlined the process to just three steps and enhanced the experience. This innovation paved the way for quick issue reporting, a core feature in iAuditor and a fundamental part of the workflow for users.
Zero to One: Taking Ideas to Market
A recurring theme in my tenure at SafetyCulture was the journey from zero to one, where we took concepts to market and then validated them, contributing to the company's success.
My time at SafetyCulture profoundly shaped my approach to design leadership. I learned to blend innovation with customer-centricity and to lead teams in transforming challenges into opportunities. This experience reinforced my commitment to driving impactful change through design and will continue to guide my approach as a design leader.
What initially drew me to SafetyCulture was its flagship product, iAuditor. This mobile app was a game-changer for businesses, particularly in construction (safety management and compliance) and retail (quality). iAuditor empowered users to conduct inspections and identify issues for correction, aligning perfectly with my career aspirations. Moreover, it left room for innovation, with plans to incorporate issues and analytics in the future, a prospect I found enticing.
Designing SafetyCulture
My journey at SafetyCulture began in 2015 when I joined as a Senior UX Designer. Little did I know that this role would become the foundation for a transformative path in design leadership that would shape my career for years to come. Moving to the picturesque regional city of Townsville, Australia, was a delightful change from the bustling cities of Dubai and Bangalore. The tranquil surroundings, with Castle Hill at the city's heart, became my sanctuary for morning meditations and hikes.
