Case Studies
Three case studies of work across my career to see how my process, thoughts and actions all work together to drive value for the customer, company and my teams.
HOME DEPOT: ASSOCIATE EXPERIENCE RESEARCH INITIATIVE
Overview
Home Depot associates were using a device with over 40 applications. To complete a single task, they had to navigate between multiple apps. There was no coordination across departments. HR had apps, Finance had apps, Store Operations had apps, Technology had apps. Each silo built what they needed. No one was thinking about the associate's experience.
The company needed to simplify. But more importantly, the company needed to understand what associates actually needed to do their jobs effectively. We had to research the problem before we could solve it.
Vision
I saw that the solution wasn't building another app or reorganizing icons. The solution was to mobilize what we already had: the entire Enterprise UX team across the country.
Instead of creating a special AX team, I went to my peer Directors and asked: "What if we use the power of the entire team across all of the United States? What if we write a common script, bring everybody together, and say: here is the purpose, now execute this. Three days. Nationwide."
This had never been done before. Most teams stay within their silos. I proposed breaking those silos and coordinating at scale.
After we collected the data, we realized we had covered 16 states and over 400 stores.
Influence
When I took over HR UX, no one wanted to be on the team. They were seen as invisible. Not critical.
I changed that. I started calling them "hero makers," the people who empower half a million associates to make customers' dreams come true and solve crises in their homes. I wrote job postings that said: "Come join the hero makers. Help turn our store associates into everyday heroes."
In every meeting, I brought stats showing how our work improved associates' lives. I told them: "It's a privilege to get up every day and fight for half a million people who deserve better tools and better lives."
The perception flipped. And that's why everyone wanted to help.
I convinced peer Directors to give up their people for 3 days. Then I built a balanced core team to look at the problems from all angles. Three Principals (Product, UX, and Technology) would discuss every finding together. Product on how we could roll it out. UX on how to make it useful. Technology on how feasible it was.
With the sheer load of research data, we needed someone focused solely on analyzing it and producing readouts to share with the company. The graphic designer took the data and formatted it so it was easily consumed by all levels.
Full transparency. I never wanted anyone saying "I don't know what the AX team does."
This 6-person core team mobilized 250+ UXers as volunteers nationwide. No one was forced. People volunteered because they believed in the mission. The more visible the work became, the more people wanted in. HR teams, Store Operations, other departments, all reaching out weekly asking to join
Results
Other Impacts
Three days. Sixteen states. Over 400 stores.
The research revealed what leadership couldn't see from headquarters: systemic friction in onboarding, measurement gaps, and communication breakdowns. Associates didn't know where to find information. If they missed a meeting, they had no way to catch up. Leaders were overwhelmed with emails. Associates had no email at all. They relied on their managers and things posted in break areas for information.
We partnered with the Communications team to fix the gaps. We influenced decisions across seven executive divisions: Stores, HR, Supply Chain, Communications, Legal, and more.
The bottom line: short-term attrition dropped 600 basis points. That's $86M in annual replacement costs preserved.
And years later, people were still using our findings. Still asking to restart the work.
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During my tenure, additional results:
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Crisis Leadership: Mobilized COVID-era workforce solutions in 2 months, touchless time-tracking eliminated 1B+ annual physical interactions
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Enterprise Transformation: Directed UX strategy for Workday implementation serving 500K associates across 2,500+ US/Canada facilities
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Innovation: Pioneered voice picking solution achieving 30% increase in pick speed; deployed Spanish language support using AI
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Associate Empowerment: Built scheduling ecosystem achieving 80% adoption among 400K frontline workers with 3-4x weekly engagement
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Operational Efficiency: Delivered 18.7% increase in warehouse productivity (UPH) through Spring Readiness enhancements
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Measurement Infrastructure: Implemented Pendo across Supply Chain; standardized dashboards, aligned OKRs, reported to EVP monthly
WORLDPAY: EMV UPGRADE INITIATIVE
Overview
The U.S. EMV liability shift hit October 1, 2015. Any merchant without chip-enabled terminals was now liable for counterfeit fraud. That deadline had come and gone, and Worldpay was hemorrhaging money.
The company had been working on a solution for over a year with no success. They formed a special 40-person team to finally get it done. I was the only UX professional in the room.
Vision
Influence
The team's plan was a 34-page technical document explaining how merchants could upgrade their point-of-sale systems. If they made a single mistake, the system would brick, completely unusable, requiring a brand-new POS. Their backup plan? Hire a massive customer service team to handle the flood of calls they knew would come.
I had been doing research with merchants on the NCR point-of-sale system Worldpay partnered with. I saw firsthand where complexity tripped them up. These weren't technical entrepreneurs. These were families who started an ice cream shop because they had a great recipe and loved delighting customers.
A 34-page technical document was not going to work.
I brought the issue to the team. Their answer was to throw people and money at the problem. I told my boss this was unacceptable. When I dropped a printed copy of the document on his desk, he asked how I thought it could be solved.
My answer: Simplify. Don't describe what they need to do, show them. And push back on technology about the 40-minute upgrade time. That wasn't acceptable either.
My boss gave me the green light to gather evidence, knowing the CMO and COO would push back.
I went to a handful of merchants and had them try to complete the upgrade on a POS connected to our staging environment. They all failed. And they all had scathing words for the process.
I edited the video and scheduled a meeting with the CMO and COO. After just three customers ranting about the process, the COO told me to stop. "You made your point. What do you suggest?"
I pitched bringing in an agency to create an IKEA-style visual guide, step-by-step illustrations instead of pages of technical instructions. I also pushed technology to compress the upgrade time.
I got the approval.
Results
Within three months, we distilled the process down to a one-page illustration. Technology found three ways to run the upgrade depending on the store setup, reducing the time from 40 minutes to 8-12 minutes.
We ran campaigns to set expectations before merchants received their thumb drive and instruction sheet. When the upgrade day came, we all sat waiting for the calls.
We didn't staff up. No additional customer service hires. Because in our usability lab, we had a 100% success rate. One of our participants was a wonderful 80-year-old lady who ran the church store. Her only complaint? Plugging in the thumb drive might break a nail. She became a favorite among the entire team. We loved that we made this easy for her.
The results in the first month:
- Zero support calls for the upgrade
- $1 million saved in support costs
- 60%+ open rate on campaign communications
- 125,000+ merchants successfully upgraded their terminals
TRAVELPORT: FUTURE OF TRAVEL BOOKINGS
Overview
Universal Desktop was supposed to revolutionize the travel industry by solving two major problems. First, the long runway to train new agents. The workforce was aging, and younger people weren't interested in spending months memorizing 600+ codes just to book travel. Second, bringing data from multiple sources into a single interface so agents could answer customer questions faster.
But here's what leadership didn't fully understand: travel agents are paid based on bookings completed. If a system slows them down, both the agent and the agency lose money. Speed isn't a nice-to-have. It's everything.
When I joined Travelport, the company was ready to launch Universal Desktop with a beta client, FlightCentre, based in Australia. Millions had already been invested. This was the "flagship" application that would transform the industry.
Vision
My first exposure to Universal Desktop was at the Travelport Technology Center in Colorado where most of the development team sat. As I watched the demo, I started pointing out all the ways this system wasn't going to work. I didn't know the agency representatives from FlightCentre were in the room.
Luckily, they agreed with most of my assessment. They had been saying the same things but couldn't convince anyone to listen.
I was sent to Brisbane, Australia for three weeks to observe agents using the platform during the next release. The data confirmed what I saw in Colorado. The graphical interface was too slow. Using a mouse instead of keyboard commands cost agents precious seconds on every interaction. The design was heavy with unnecessary graphics. Agents couldn't complete as many calls. Bookings dropped.
The train had already left the station. I couldn't stop it. But I could propose something better.
I brought my idea to my boss and the VP of Product in London. Instead of forcing agents into a fully graphical interface, I proposed a hybrid: let them keep their 600+ memorized codes and keyboard-driven speed. But when a customer asks a question that NEEDS a visual answer, seat features on a flight, trunk space on a rental car, amenities at a hotel, let the agent open a just-in-time popup with illustrations.
Don't take them away from the keyboard unless the customer needs it.
Galileo (Green Screen) Booking System
SmartPoint - GUI Popups to provide data not seen in Galileo
SmartPoint - Integrating seat data
Influence
I was the new kid. I had just stuck my foot in my mouth in front of agency stakeholders. But my assessment matched theirs, and that gave me credibility.
We traveled to London and I presented my findings and proposal. Leadership saw this hybrid approach as a steppingstone, a way to get agencies comfortable before eventually moving them to Universal Desktop. Some agencies weren't bought into a purely graphical interface, and with good reason. The speed difference was real.
They gave me the green light to develop the concept.
Results
That concept became Smartpoint, the fastest and best-selling product Travelport ever created.
I designed version one. Today it's on version 11.5.2. It's now their flagship product.
Universal Desktop? As of September 2025, it was removed from Travelport's support systems entirely. No active customers. The "flagship application that would revolutionize the travel industry" is gone. The product I proposed to replace it is still running.