My Role
Lead Designer
I was the facilitator and cross-functional coordinator for the design phase of this project
The Team
1 Product Manager,
2 Professional Services Developers,
1 Client Intelligence team Developer
The Punchline
Rescued a Key Account: Unblocked renewal negotiations by designing a solution that met the client's critical needs, directly leading to their contract renewal in Jan 2026.
Created a Scalable Framework: Architected a mapping feature that not only solved the immediate problem but could be adapted for future CRM integrations, turning a client-specific fire drill into a strategic asset.
Earned Client Confidence: Presented designs that were met with high praise from the client, who became re-engaged and provided constructive feedback to finalize the solution.
The Challenge: A Renewal on the Brink
In October 2025, a crisis emerged. Vancity, one of Canada's largest credit unions and a key strategic account, halted all renewal negotiations. Their contract was up in January 2026, and they had a list of critical issues that needed to be resolved before they would even consider continuing the partnership.
The core of their dissatisfaction was a fundamental limitation in our Dynamics 365 integration. Our system sent appointment data (like 'language preference') as plain text. Vancity's CRM, however, required this data to map to specific, predefined options in a pick list. This mismatch broke their internal workflows, requiring their staff to perform manual data correction for countless appointments, undermining the efficiency the platform was meant to provide.
I was brought in by my Product Manager with a vague line item: "Fix pick list mapping." To move forward, I had to take the lead. With the clock ticking, my primary challenge was twofold:
Define the Problem: Rapidly move from a vague request to a deep understanding of the technical constraints and specific user needs.
Design a Dual-Purpose Solution: Create a feature that was robust enough to win back Vancity's trust, yet scalable enough to be a long-term asset for all our CRM integrations.
The Approach: From Ambiguity to Action
With a two-month deadline and no direct access to the client, a traditional research and design process was not an option. We needed to move quickly and decisively. I chose to lead a mini design sprint because it was the most effective way to create shared context, rapidly explore solutions, and align on a feasible technical direction without extensive discovery.
Assembling the Right Expertise
I knew the success of this project depended on balancing immediate client needs with long-term product strategy. Therefore, I brought together developers from two distinct teams for the sprint:
Professional Services (PS): The experts who would build the initial solution for Vancity. Their input was critical to ensure we could design a feature that met the tight deadline.
Client Intelligence (CI): The team that owns our core product and future integrations. Their perspective was essential to guarantee the solution was scalable and wouldn't become tech debt.
Ideas from the mini design sprint
This cross-functional collaboration was the key. The PS team ensured we stayed focused on Vancity's urgent problem, while the CI team acted as architectural advisors, ensuring the solution would work for future CRMs like Salesforce.
Navigating the Key Debate: Scope vs. Speed
The most critical debate during our session centered on failure notifications. If a mapping broke after being set up, how should we alert the admin?
Option A (The Ideal): Build a fully automated, proactive notification system within the app. This was the best user experience but would have required significant development effort, jeopardizing our deadline.
Option B (The Pragmatic): Log failures on the backend and create a manual process where our development team would alert the CX team to contact the client. This was less elegant but ensured we could deliver the core functionality on time.
We made the strategic decision to go with Option B. It was a crucial trade-off. By sacrificing a secondary feature (automated notifications), we could guarantee we would deliver the primary, contract-saving functionality to Vancity on schedule
The Work: From Chaos to Clarity
Armed with the aligned direction from our design sprint, I moved into the design and iteration phase. The goal was to translate our high-level solution into an interface that was both intuitive for users and technically feasible.
Initial Concepts & Early Feedback
My first pass at the design was a straightforward two-column layout with dropdowns for mapping Coconut fields to their Dynamics 365 equivalents. While functional, feedback from our internal design team quickly highlighted a key flaw: it scaled poorly and made it difficult to see all the available Coconut fields at a glance.
Initial iteration presented to the design team
Iteration 1: Solving the Scalability Problem
Based on this feedback, I iterated. The next version listed all the Coconut fields as static labels and paired each with a dropdown for the corresponding CRM field. This was clearer, but it introduced a new challenge. Our solution required users to map not just the top-level field (e.g., "Language") but also the individual options within it (e.g., "English," "French"). Displaying all of these options at once would create an impossibly long and confusing form.
Iteration 2: The "Nested Tags" Breakthrough
The core design problem became: how can we nest the child options under their parent mapping without creating a massive form, while still clearly indicating status and errors?
The solution was a collapsible, nested interface. Child pick list options would appear indented beneath their parent. When collapsed, a series of tags would remain visible, indicating the number of mapped options and, crucially, highlighting any errors if a mapping was incomplete. This kept the interface compact while ensuring no critical information was lost.
The final design introduced a collapsible, nested hierarchy that allows users to manage hundreds of potential pick list options without an impossibly long form. Key: The visible status tags clearly indicate the number of mapped options and, critically, flag any unmapped error states at a glance, ensuring data integrity
The "Aha!" Moment with the Client
When we presented the final, iterated designs to the Vancity team, their confidence was immediately restored. Their "Aha!" moment came when they saw the flexibility of the mapping. I demonstrated that they could map multiple Coconut options (e.g., "English - UK" and "English - US") to a single option in their CRM ("English"). This small detail showed them we hadn't just solved their problem; we had deeply understood their workflow and built a solution that would actually make their lives easier.
The Outcome: From At-Risk to Renewed
The impact of this six-week sprint was immediate and decisive.
Business Impact: We successfully presented the solution to Vancity, who enthusiastically approved the direction. Renewal negotiations were immediately restarted, and they signed their new contract in January 2026, securing a high-value account and protecting significant annual recurring revenue.
Product Impact: The feature is now a core asset. The scalable framework we designed is officially on the roadmap to be implemented for our Salesforce integration, with a target release of mid-2026. This turns a one-time client save into a long-term strategic advantage.
Relationship Impact: Our proactive, collaborative approach rebuilt the trust that had been fractured. Vancity transformed from an at-risk account into an engaged partner, confident in our ability to solve their most critical problems.
What I Learned: A Masterclass in Pragmatic Leadership
This project was a powerful reminder that in high-stakes situations, a designer's role expands beyond the screen. My biggest takeaway was the immense value of strategic facilitation over siloed design.
By starting with a collaborative design sprint, we created a foundation of shared understanding that made every subsequent step faster and more effective. This was only possible because we intentionally brought together a "whole-brain" team—combining the tactical, client-focused expertise of Professional Services with the long-term, architectural vision of Client Intelligence.
Finally, having those diverse perspectives in the room is what empowered us to make the critical, pragmatic trade-off with the notification system. We were able to confidently sacrifice a "perfect" feature to guarantee the delivery of the core functionality that mattered most to the business and the client. This project solidified my belief that the best solutions are found not just in pixels, but in people and process.
