Xero

Founded in New Zealand in 2006, Xero has grown into one of the world's leading online accounting platforms, helping over 3.5 million small business owners and their accountants manage their finances more easily. For many small businesses, Xero is the difference between staying on top of cash flow and scrambling through spreadsheets at tax time.

In 2014, I joined Xero's newly formed mobile team in San Francisco as their first Mobile Product Designer for Payroll. Working across three continents, I helped establish our team culture and design direction alongside the Director of Product Design.

Xero Me

Employees were trapped in a frustrating cycle of submitting time-off requests through clunky web interfaces, then waiting days for responses from managers who rarely checked their computers.

Two previous internal solutions had failed to launch, leaving the team searching for an approach that could actually solve this problem.

Beyond designing the complete iOS experience, I wrote a custom Notification component in Swift that provided instant, clear confirmation, ensuring users never wondered if their actions succeeded.

I also partnered with a researcher to test with real customers. By designing scenarios matching actual workplace situations, we uncovered insights that prevented major usability issues before launch.

Simply put, employees wanted to see the entire date range filled in, not just start and end dates. This simple visual change made sure people could utilize the feature with little hesitation.

We launched 10 months later across iOS and Android, announcing at XeroCon to enthusiastic response. Business owners could approve requests while traveling, and employees could submit requests the moment they thought of them.

The success established Payroll on mobile as a core part of Xero's business, with Xero Me becoming one of Xero's main offerings.