Creating Cohesion in Complexity
In 2015, TurboTax undertook a major enterprise replatforming while continuing to support more than 30 million customers through one of the year’s most critical financial moments.
Designers were creating similar patterns in silos. Engineers were rebuilding functionalities. Product teams were focused on delivery. What appeared to be a design challenge was rooted in a deeper organizational problem. It’s already in late September 2014, teams were already under pressure to ship new features towards the next tax year.
During the TurboTax replatforming, I wasn't only thinking about components or consistency.
I was asking three questions:
Where were teams getting stuck?
How could we improve the flow for both builders and customers?
How could we create moments where filing taxes felt less overwhelming and more empowering?
Those questions shaped every design decision.