Homebot · 2019–2022
Homebot helps real estate agents and loan officers stay useful to clients long after closing. I was on the design team for the homeowner digest and the partner admin experience, from discovery through delivery, and built the practices that helped the team learn and decide together.
Mentorship
~12
people took part, quarter after quarter
Research Council
1×/wk
a standing meeting, mostly PMs and designers
Frameworks
2
kickoff tools; one later became my Design Kick-off Doc
Outlasted features
3
structures that helped the team learn and decide together
Most agents lose touch with clients within months of closing.
Not because clients are disloyal, but because the relationship ends with the transaction. Homeownership is a long-term financial journey, and the advisors who stay useful through it are the ones who get the repeat business and referrals.
Homebot sends homeowners a personalized digest about their home's value, their market, and their mortgage, and tells their agent or loan officer when it's a good moment to reach out.
Senior Product Designer on the design team, working from discovery through delivery across mobile and responsive web.
Every quarter we ran the same cycle: identify problem spaces, prioritize by impact, right-size the scope, plan and run research, synthesize, and deliver solutions tied to business goals and user value.
We had four personas, and designed for the least confident one first.
Passive Pete needs nudges. Powerhouse Paul is a top producer who wants ROI fast. Motivated Miranda is growth-minded and already uses the tools. Flustered Felicia has been in the industry less than three years, is overwhelmed, and is slow to adopt new tech.
The principle: if we can build for Felicia, Paul and Miranda will still adopt, Pete will stay engaged, and Felicia won't churn. Designing for the least confident user made the product easier for everyone.
Watering holes
Persona · Designed for first
Flustered FeliciaA loan officer for less than 3 years, unsure she made the right call changing careers, and wondering when all her relationship building will pay off.
“I want to feel confident in this career change.”
 Powerhouse Paul |
 Motivated Miranda |
 Passive Pete |
 Flustered FeliciaDesigned for first |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time in industry | Long | Short / medium | Long | Short |
| Motivation | Passive | Motivated | Passive | Motivated |
| Goal | Go big + retire | Become top performer | Coast + retire | Learn the ropes |
| Need for support | Low | High | Low | High |
| Business feels | Too much to manage | Growing | Change | Overwhelmed |
Homeownership builds wealth, but the finance behind it feels confusing, transactional, and intimidating. The digest aimed to make it easy, actionable, and personal:
Every view and click also became a signal for the advisor.
Advisors couldn't tell which clients to call, or when.
The goal was to make it effortless for agents and loan officers to spot warm leads and act at the right moment. The dashboard ranks the most active homeowners, buyers, and potential sellers based on what they've engaged with that week.
Research kept happening inside one project and then vanishing. So I started a weekly meeting where it couldn't.
I created and ran it every week, mostly for product managers and designers, so one team's findings could inform another team's work.
Two tools with one job: agree on the problem before jumping into solutions.
Both asked up front what we were trying to learn, how big the problem was, and how much research it warranted. An evolved version became the Design Kick-off Doc I publish for other designers.
Research kickoff template
Nine questions before any research starts
Tip from the template: limit yourself to 3–4 core assumptions or questions per study.
Right-Sizing Your Problem
Is the problem secretly a solution?
Starting point“Maximize customer’s time in Customer Admin”
One of nine reframes“How might we transform onboarding for customers, because KPIs and CSS tell us many struggle to get set up?”
I started the Homebot Mentorship Program to give people across the company a light, structured way to learn from each other and work toward their professional goals.
I designed how it worked: matching mentors and mentees, setting goals, agreeing on expectations, and giving each pair enough guidance to make the relationship useful without turning it into bureaucracy. About 12 people took part, and it ran quarter after quarter.
How it works
Every week, design a user interface element for mobile or web. A fun way to build skills and get feedback from the team.
Goals
Create a sign-up page, modal, form, or app screen for signing up for something: a volunteer event, a contest, a giveaway, anything you can imagine.
Design a checkout form or page. Don't forget the important elements: the numbers, dates, security codes.
What's the main focus? A book, an album, a mobile app, a product? Consider the important elements: calls to action, clarity.
Standard, scientific, or a specialty calculator for something like a mortgage. For a phone, a tablet, a web app?
What best represents the brand or product? Does it look great at a distance and stand out on a home screen next to other apps?
Be mindful of the most important data, names, imagery, and placement. A serious profile? A social one? It's up to you.
Design settings for something. Security or privacy settings? Game settings? What is it, and what's important?
Design four iterations of our DM panel. How might it be more accessible, and make it clear how to use the input field and CTA?
It's the same instinct behind my work at Pax8: I'm not the person who always has the answer. I'm the person who makes the problem clear enough for a team to find one.
