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ASSESSMENT

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HOME

SERVICES

WORK

ASSESSMENT

ABOUT

CONTACT

UX/UI AUDIT + DESIGN SOLUTIONS

SAAS

STARTUP

RBAC

AUDIT + DESIGN SOLUTIONS

SAAS

STARTUP

RBAC

Feb 19

Hard MVP deadline

7

Internal user groups

0 -> RBAC

From open access to tiered

An admin panel built by engineers — turned into a tool the whole company could actually use.

An admin panel built by engineers — turned into a tool the whole company could actually use.

The brief was deceptively simple. Take an internal console shaped by database tables, and turn it into something seven different teams could trust. Ship the free tier by February 19th. Non-negotiable.

The brief was deceptively simple. Take an internal console shaped by database tables, and turn it into something seven different teams could trust. Ship the free tier by February 19th. Non-negotiable.

EXPERT WALKTHROUGH

One screen. Seven jobs. Zero separation.

One screen. Seven jobs. Zero separation.

I walked the console the way each team would — as a security lead, a content editor, an auditor, an ops manager. Same problem everywhere: the interface was built around the database, not the person using it.

I walked the console the way each team would — as a security lead, a content editor, an auditor, an ops manager. Same problem everywhere: the interface was built around the database, not the person using it.

EXPERT WALKTHROUGH

Everyone sees everything

A marketing copywriter saw the same controls as IT. No separation of concern, no trust model.

Navigation by data model

Labels matched table names. Users had to translate their goal into schema before they could act.

Top tasks buried

The flows each team used most lived three or four clicks deep, behind engineer-written labels.

A growing interface tax

Every new feature was bolted on top — and routed back to engineering as another support ticket.

MAPPING MENTAL MODELS

7 teams, 7 ways of thinking — translated into 7 archetypes.

7 teams, 7 ways of thinking — translated into 7 archetypes.

Discovery interviews with every team lead — goals, friction, what "done" looked like — collapsed into seven cognitive archetypes. Each one became the seed of a role, a permission ceiling, and a point of view the dashboard could speak to.

Discovery interviews with every team lead — goals, friction, what "done" looked like — collapsed into seven cognitive archetypes. Each one became the seed of a role, a permission ceiling, and a point of view the dashboard could speak to.

The Vigilant Guardian

SECURITY, ADMIN, IT

The Future Architect

PRODUCT MANAGERS & OWNERS

The Future Architect

PRODUCT MANAGERS & OWNERS

The Creative Messenger

MARKETING & CONTENT

The Creative Messenger

MARKETING & CONTENT

The Firefighter & Insight Miner

OPS, SUPPORT, ANALYTICS

The Firefighter & Insight Miner

OPS, SUPPORT, ANALYTICS

The Objective Witness

GRC, LEGAL, AUDITORS

The Strategic Observer

BUSINESS & STAKEHOLDERS

The Quality Scientist

DESIGNERS & UX RESEARCHERS

+ Room to Grow

Future roles slot into the same model

The Quality Scientist

DESIGNERS & UX RESEARCHERS

+ Room to Grow

Future roles slot into the same model

The Creative Messenger

MARKETING & CONTENT

The Firefighter & Insight Miner

OPS, SUPPORT, ANALYTICS

EXECUTION

THE DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Velocity, structure, and access — built in parallel.

Velocity, structure, and access — built in parallel.

AI didn't replace the work — it collapsed the cost of being wrong.

AI didn't replace the work — it collapsed the cost of being wrong.

Navigation, data tables, and filters were AI-augmented so every weekly check-in had something tangible to stress-test. That pressure surfaced what no spec doc would: several top workflows were buried far too deep.

Navigation, data tables, and filters were AI-augmented so every weekly check-in had something tangible to stress-test. That pressure surfaced what no spec doc would: several top workflows were buried far too deep.

5x

5x

Iteration velocity vs. manual cycles

7

7

Weekly check-ins

100%

100%

Users shaping the work

Layered permissions — complex underneath, simple on the surface.

Layered permissions — complex underneath, simple on the surface.

Each archetype carries both leadership and team-level responsibilities. The tiered model gives every action a clear owner, and scopes the dashboard to whoever is looking at it.

Each archetype carries both leadership and team-level responsibilities. The tiered model gives every action a clear owner, and scopes the dashboard to whoever is looking at it.

Inclusivity, not a checklist.

Built alongside the design system owner: color, focus order, motion, and content patterns reviewed together. WCAG 2.2 AA was met at launch, not patched in after.

RESULTS

Shipped on the date. Owned by the teams.

Shipped on the date. Owned by the teams.

Shipped on time

Launched on the deadline with no scope cuts to the core RBAC model.

Engineering unblocked

Department leads now self-serve — interface tickets stopped flowing back to engineering.

Foundation to build on

Finance, Ops, and future modules slot directly into the same permission system.

"Wow! This is exactly what we needed. It's much better to use."

— DEPARTMENT LEAD, POST- LAUNCH

REALITY CHECK

The honest version of how this got built.

The honest version of how this got built.

Every project has the version on the slides and the version that actually happened. Here's what shaped the work as much as the strategy did.

Every project has the version on the slides and the version that actually happened. Here's what shaped the work as much as the strategy did.

Designing while the floor shifted

The product roadmap and the engineering backlog kept moving. Decisions had to ship before the ground stopped moving under them.

Trust earned one team at a time

Seven leads, seven sets of opinions. Buy-in came from showing tangible prototypes weekly, not from circulating decks.

Designing while the floor shifted

The product roadmap and the engineering backlog kept moving. Decisions had to ship before the ground stopped moving under them.

Trust earned one team at a time

Seven leads, seven sets of opinions. Buy-in came from showing tangible prototypes weekly, not from circulating decks.

Permissions that wouldn't break later

The hard part wasn't day-one access — it was modeling it so Finance, Ops, and roles that didn't exist yet would slot in cleanly.

Holding the line on scope

A hard date plus a long wishlist meant saying no a lot. The MVP shipped only what protected the core RBAC model.

Permissions that wouldn't break later

The hard part wasn't day-one access — it was modeling it so Finance, Ops, and roles that didn't exist yet would slot in cleanly.

Holding the line on scope

A hard date plus a long wishlist meant saying no a lot. The MVP shipped only what protected the core RBAC model.

Have a tool your team has outgrown?

Have a tool your team has outgrown?

UX/UI/CRO audit and design solutions for SaaS, web apps, and early-stage startups — built around the people actually using it.

UX/UI/CRO audit and design solutions for SaaS, web apps, and early-stage startups — built around the people actually using it.

LET'S CHAT

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.

c

2026 SB - Product Design Strategist.

EMPATHETIC.

SYSTEMATIC.

OBSERVATIONAL.