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Product Design

Platform Paper Cuts

Fixing the small things that compound into big problems

Across a platform serving 500K+ operators, small usability issues compound fast. This workstream identified and addressed the highest-frequency friction points — the repeated annoyances that erode trust, slow workflows, and generate support load. More than fixing bugs, it established a cultural norm: quality is everyone's responsibility, and it can be improved safely and continuously.

500K+ operators affectedPlatform-wide impact2020–2023 ongoing workstream
Image coming soon

Client
Geotab
Year
2020–2023
Role
Design Lead
Platform
Enterprise Fleet SaaS

Context & Constraints

MyGeotab had grown into a platform of hundreds of features built across teams, over years, with evolving standards. The result was a surface full of small inconsistencies — labels that didn't match, states that weren't communicated, flows that were almost right but had a rough edge. Individually, none of these were critical. Collectively, they created a sense that the platform was hard to trust. This workstream existed to systematically find and fix them.

No single owner, no clear fix process

Paper cuts crossed team boundaries — meaning no one team felt responsible for them, and fixes required coordination across separate backlogs.

Risk aversion slowed improvement

Teams were cautious about changing anything in production without clear ownership and a safe rollout path — even for low-stakes fixes.

Compounding effect at scale

Each issue was small. But an operator encountering ten of them in a session felt the platform was unreliable — a much bigger problem than any single bug.

Full case study detail — including specific issues addressed, the fix framework, and measurable outcomes — coming soon.