tl;dr

MissPoppins is a marketplace platform connecting licensed parenting practitioners—like lactation, nutrition, and sleep coaches—with parents at every stage, from pre-pregnancy to toddlerhood, making support accessible and affordable.

Who are the users?

Parents

Parents in pre-pregnancy, pregnancy, and toddlerhood can book consultations, access resources, and join webinars through the app.

Practitioners/Coaches

Licensed professionals such as lactation consultants, nutritionists, doulas, and sleep coaches.

The Problem

The practitioner dashboard used by MissPoppins, powered by Tellescope, was overly complex and unintuitive, leading to missed appointments, delayed client responses, and inefficient task management.

Skip to solution

Impact Metrics

Note: The impact metrics were observed after 6 weeks of real-world use by practitioners, through Mixpanel Analytics.

How did I approach the problem?

The Process

phase 01

Research

User Interviews

Contextual Inquiry

Heuristic Evaluation

navigating through challenges

Understanding constraints

Before diving into research, there were certain constrains that were highlighted by stakeholders.

HIPAA Compliance

Ensuring the new internal dashboard complied with HIPAA regulations was a non-negotiable requirement.

Tight deadlines

There was an urgency for the product as delays were no longer an option- the existing system was negatively impacting business performance.

Limited Resources

As Tellescope was a third-party tool, I couldn’t interact with it firsthand, relying instead on observations & dashboard demo videos.

why is this important?

Let's dig deeper into the problem

MissPoppins used Tellescope, a third-party dashboard, for practitioners to manage appointments and clients. While HIPAA-compliant, the tool was overwhelming and inefficient, with cluttered information and confusing workflows. Practitioners struggled to keep up, leading to missed appointments, delayed responses, and frustration.

Key Metrics from Mixpanel

4 minutes avg. task time

to perform key actions like scheduling or managing appointments.

82%

session completion rate, well below the target of 95%.

3x slower

coaches’ response times to client inquiries, impacting client satisfaction.

10/10

practitioners reported frustration with dashboard usability in feedback surveys.

setting a clear direction

Strategy for Research

Before starting research, I created a user story to align decisions with practitioners' needs and MissPoppins' business goals, ensuring a focused design process.

User Story

"As a practitioner, I want to easily navigate the dashboard so I can manage my clients and appointments without delays or confusion.."

Key Questions

What key information do they need most?

What’s slowing practitioners down?

user interviews

What key information do they need most?

To understand what information they valued most, I conducted interviews with all 10 practitioners across six specialties. These conversations revealed their frustrations and the inefficiencies they faced daily, including:

Key Frustrations

Hear it from the users

Lack of clarity in appointment details

Practitioners wanted clear session details to prepare for appointments but couldn’t easily access them in the current setup.

Payment Uncertainity

Practitioners felt unsure about client billing status & details due to unclear organization of information & lack of transparency.

Delayed Notifications

Notifications sent via email were delayed, leading to missed appointment confirmations, reminders, and chat updates.

Overwhelmed by clutter

The dashboard displayed data from other providers, distracting practitioners and increasing cognitive load.

“Finding key information takes forever. It’s like hunting for a needle in a haystack...”

- Sara Morse, Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant

contextual inquiry

What's slowing practitioners down?

I observed their workflows via Zoom to understand what slowed them down and to dig deeper into how practitioners navigated the dashboard. By watching them complete tasks in real-time, I identified bottlenecks like:

Key Challenges

4 minutes avg. task time

Practitioners took an average of 4 minutes to complete simple tasks like scheduling appointments, with multiple unnecessary clicks.

Missing communication features

No tools for file sharing and screen sharing during video consults made client communication slow and inefficient.

Irrelevant information causing distractions

They struggled to distinguish between important and irrelevant information, such as data from other providers cluttering the interface.

heuristic evaluation

Diagnosing usability issues

After conducting user interviews and contextual inquiries, I wanted to further validate the usability issues practitioners were experiencing with the Tellescope dashboard. Since I didn’t have direct access to the live dashboard, my evaluation was based on a recorded demo video provided by the team.

I identified critical pain points with the help of NN Group's 10 Usability Heuristics, combined with insights gathered from contextual inquiry.

phase 02

Define

Affinity Mapping

Product Strategy

User Goals

defining the goals

The Main Challenge

Summarizing all research insights into a central guiding question.

Core Challenge

Immediate goals for users

"How might we create a personalized, intuitive dashboard that enables practitioners to efficiently manage their clients, access relevant information easily, and improve communication workflows?"

Quick Access to Key Information

View client schedules, appointment details, and relevant data without unnecessary steps.

Personalized Dashboard

Tailor the dashboard experience to show only the information that matters most to each practitioner.

Streamlined Communication

Provide tools for seamless communication with clients, such as chat, notifications, and file-sharing features.

This was the first internal dashboard for practitioners at MissPoppins. It was important to also understand that the users weren't too tech-savvy and prioritized achieving their goals in the fastest and easiest way possible.

Design goals

Improved Usability

A clean, easy, intuitive interface that minimizes confusion and reduces cognitive load.

Streamlined Workflows

Simplify repetitive tasks like managing appointments and communicating with clients.

balancing user and business needs

Product Strategy

Given the tight three-week timeline, I needed to balance urgency and quality. I took an MVP-first approach that allowed us to address critical needs quickly. This ensured that practitioners could continue serving clients effectively while leaving room for incremental improvements over time.

Strategy

Key Success Metrics

Session Completion rate

Increase completed sessions from 82% to the target of 95%.

Practitioner Satisfaction

Improve satisfaction scores via post-implementation surveys.

Error Reduction

Decrease missed or delayed appointments caused by usability issues.

phase 03

Ideation

Sketches

Moscow Analysis

Lo-fidelity wireframes

ideation approach

Prioritizing must-haves & should-haves

I began by brainstorming ideas to address practitioner pain points, then collaborated with stakeholders to prioritize features for the MVP.

giving form to the ideas

Rough Sketches

With the MVP features defined, I created initial sketches, that focused on must-haves & should-haves.

using sketches as a guide

Sketches to low-fidelity wireframes

I created low-fidelity wireframes, involving stakeholders and engineers early on for feedback on technical feasibility and business alignment.
Here's some of the key feedback received.

phase 04

Design, Deploy, Test & Iterate

High Fidelity Prototypes

Usability Testing

bringing the vision to life

Launching Motherboard (MVP)

Once I refined the designs based on feedback, I opted to defer usability testing given the timeline until after the MVP was shipped to gather practitioner feedback, enabling iterative improvements post-launch.

After launching the MVP, I conducted moderated usability testing with all 10 practitioners to gather feedback and address usability concerns.

Hear it from the users

“The new dashboard is so clean, beautiful and easy to navigate. Everything I need is right there—no extra steps, no confusion.”

- Cerina Butler, Certified Pediatric Nutrition Consultant

iterating beyond the MVP

Key iterations and final designs

With insights from usability testing, I refined the MVP further and we added advanced features, enhancing navigation, task efficiency, and communication tools.

Additional HIPAA Compliance Enhancements

Data Encryption

Protected sensitive client data with industry-standard encryption.

Role-Based Access Control

Ensured practitioners could only access relevant patient information.

Secure Notifications

Removed personal health details from alerts to prevent accidental data exposure.

Note: Sensitive patient data has been replaced with mock data in the designs for HIPAA compliance. This is what Motherboard looks like today, live and shipped.

retrospection

What I would do differently today

I’d Involve Practitioners Earlier in the Design Process

While the final solution addressed many pain points, I realized involving practitioners earlier in ideation could’ve uncovered deeper insights. Next time, I’d co-create with them from the start to ensure every design decision directly aligns with their needs.

I’d Test Iterations with Real-World Scenarios

Usability testing focused on task efficiency, but real-world scenarios could’ve revealed edge cases and hidden challenges. Moving forward, I’d simulate real workflows during testing to design solutions that hold up under actual use.

looking back

Key takeaways and reflections

Adapting to the Startup Mindset

Working in a startup environment pushed me to think beyond just design. I had to balance creativity with practicality, making quick, informed decisions while aligning with business goals. This experience taught me the importance of agility and adaptability in delivering impactful solutions under tight timelines.

Embracing Ownership in Design

As the sole designer, I had the opportunity to own the end-to-end process—from research to delivery. This role strengthened my ability to work independently, trust my instincts, and wear multiple hats. It reinforced my confidence in taking on challenging projects and delivering meaningful results.

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