Head of product design for end-to-end operations technology in 1000+ last mile warehouses worldwide, shipping billions of packages annually. My work supports 200k+ associates and 260k+ drivers. Starting as an individual contributor, I built a team of product designers and user researchers, to support a business growing at over 50% a year. Our work encompassed service design for all warehouse workers, providing the necessary tools to conduct shipping operations. We platformized dozens of disparate technologies into standardized, extensible touchpoints – setting up warehouses for effectiveness and scale. Created a research program encompassing field visits, research guides, surveys, usability tests, interviews and interpretation frameworks. I use an agile design methodology, relying on my technical background, that we scaled to a 50+ design studio. My team's work is projected to lead to savings in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
My team supports operations for warehouses known as delivery stations, which process packages from upstream warehouses and prepare them for drivers to deliver to end customers. Each station has hundreds of personnel who use technology to do their work, aided by monitoring technology for managers to keep track of large-scale operations. These stations are supported by central operations centers, where another team of associates conducts planning and exception management using technology my team designs.
Each package is encoded with information relevant to dozens of individuals that touch it. My team owns this entire labeling and encoding process, from when products are packed to when they are delivered to customers.
The full package journey showcases the nunmber of steps, personnel and locations involved when delivering a package. My team's research program documents and understand customer needs.
Warehouse associates use mobile devices to scan packages and understand what processing they require. We build simple tools that are easy to understand for low-literacy working staff, with quick auditory and visual feedback.
Safeguards are built to keep associates safe and aware.
Simultaneously we also invest in new technology that uses experimental hardware, such as LiDAR arrays, cameras, and wearables to remove procedural hurdles.
Managers can be stuck to their screens constantly monitoring for issues. My team designs technology to proactively alert managers, and provide the right resolution tools. This allows managers to be on the floor with associates, and know the right workflows without recalling complex training in a crisis.
Operational dashboards provide detailed information about the warehouse, associates, and each package. Managers use this information to assign personnel, keep processes in balance, and make preparations.
With network growth, we centralize the conducting of repetitive planning and assistance tasks that don't require geographical proximity, into the hands of associates at dedicated Central Operations centers. Associates in these teams monitor the entire network and assist where needed.
The development of these workflows with the organic growth of our network meant that hundreds of associates were quickly adapting to new tasks by using a mix of tools historically developed for a different-looking network. My team has designed all the tooling to enable future-proof growth through efficient centralized monitoring, planning and assistance.
At the core of this work is a way to notify associates of work that needs their attention. To do this, we built tooling that allows the business to manage how work is diverted to the right person on the team. To ensure quality of work, we built a modular and extensible wizard creator to encode complex SOPs used to deal with recurring operational issues. Associates are notified of issues, and follow a pre-defined workflow without the need for consistent, difficult training.
Managing a network this large requires the maintenance of configuration across warehouses, van types, and drivers (among other constraints). Conducting this planning in a reliable, error-free and understandable fashion required complex in-house tooling.
For managers, central operations staff, as well as independent Delivery Service Providers, we build fleet management tools that allow vehicles and drivers to be monitored and aided during the day.
With the expansion of our electric vehicle fleet, my team also designs software we use to manage EV charging and power consumption.
