SkoolBag
Helping the team behind a school communication platform used by 40% of Australian schools rebuild their product from the ground up, as development moved in-house.
The role at a glance
- Business
- SkoolBag, a platform used by 40% of Australian schools to share news, notices and forms with parents, through native apps and a web console.
- Hired to
- Lead product design as development moved from an outsourced team to an in-house one, and help refactor the product from the ground up.
- Key wins
- Aligned new management and development teams on one way of working, mapped strategy and outcomes for the rebuild, and set up lean, customer-focused roadmap prioritisation.
- Moved on
- In 2019, to Immutable, as their first product designer.
The link between schools and parents
SkoolBag connected schools with parents: newsletters, notices, events and forms, delivered through a parent app and managed from a school console. Two in five Australian schools used it, so every change reached a lot of families.
Rebuild it, with a new team
The company was bringing development in-house after years of outsourcing, under new management, and planning to refactor the product from the ground up. I joined to lead product design through that change, and to help the new teams find a shared way of working.
One product, one plan, one design language
Aligned new teams on one process
I supported the move from outsourced to in-house development, and aligned the new management and development teams on coordinated processes.
Mapped the rebuild
I led strategy and outcome mapping for the refactor, and communicated its goals and initiatives with customers, stakeholders and the team.
Put customers at the centre of the roadmap
I set up a lean, customer-focused approach to roadmap prioritisation, and facilitated multidisciplinary workshops to frame needs and scope solutions.
Designed one architecture across two countries
Working with remote development and customer experience teams in Australia and Sri Lanka, I defined a common design architecture with product owners and developers, so the apps and the console could grow from the same building blocks.
On to games, and a new platform
The rebuild was still under way when I left in 2019, to join Immutable as their first product designer, on Gods Unchained. A year later the pandemic changed how schools and families kept in touch, and SkoolBag has since been relaunched as Audiri.