Each year, Intuit hires thousands of financial experts who must schedule their hours before being officially hired. This is critical for both Intuit and the applicants. Our goal was to enable users to create their schedules while meeting Intuit’s staffing needs. The current schedule tool was unclear and overloaded users with dense content.

Team

3 Digital Delivery Leaders
1 SEO Manager
2 Content Designers (Support)
11 Writers
1 Analytics Manager
6 Subject Matter Experts

A future state of the scheduling tool my visual design partner and I put together.

Design principles

Timing

Deliver the right message at the right moment to guide users effectively.

Upbeat

Keep the tone friendly and encouraging—celebrate the user’s achievement of landing a new job!

Show the way

Simplify the process—guide users through scheduling without adding unnecessary complexity.

First-time use experience

Audit findings

In the original version, the screen shows the user all the information at once. They’re expected to remember everything, placing an undue cognitive load on them at a time when everything is new.

Low-fi draft

During my audit, I took a moment to create a scrappy version of this content with the ideas chunked together. When I tested this concept, this screen performed well, as the subheads made the information scannable and easier to comprehend.

Launched version

Before launching this screen, we cut a lot more copy. I worked with my stakeholders to make sure we included only what the user needed to know at this point.

Future thinking

After the experience launched I had an opportunity to think about a future state. I tightened up the headline, focused on the hierarchy, and moved messages to other contextually relevant areas of the experience.

Address error messages

Audit findings

During the audit, I found some error messages unhelpful—some just repeated the issue, and hourly ranges lacked specificity. To improve clarity, I created a quick mockup and discussed with partners the importance of guiding users to resolve errors independently.

Establishing a pattern

After receiving feedback, I collaborated with partners to audit the live experience, identifying ways to prevent errors. For unavoidable errors, we tailored specific, actionable messages.

First draft

In this iteration, we focused on leading users with clear actions to resolve the issue, though we questioned whether the minimal approach was the best solution.

Launched version

Understanding that personal and unforeseen factors affect scheduling, we launched with a broader headline that allowed for flexibility in error resolution, covering all possible user actions.

In-product guidance

Audit findings

The original screens were overloaded with content. We identified that some information, particularly at the top, would be more effective in other channels outside the product.

Set patterns

We removed terms like “minimum” and “maximum” hours and replaced them with simpler ranges, making the content more readable.

Launched version

Before launch, we repositioned the content to the left, prioritizing the user’s scheduled hours as the most important information.

Future state

With new designers and PMs, we reimagined the experience by eliminating the "rules" panel and replacing it with more contextual, user-friendly messaging.

Learnings

Judging the content’s performance (separately from the design) is very difficult. We overhauled the old experience, and the issues people are having with schedules are very different from last year. In many ways, that’s a success, but a success that was hard to judge quantitatively.

Streamlining experts scheduling

First-time use experience

Audit findings

Low-fi draft

Launched version

Future thinking

Address error messages

Audit findings

Establishing a pattern

First draft

Launched version

In-product guidance

Audit findings

Set patterns

Launched version

Future state