BUSINESS PROBLEM – ENTERPRISE COMPLEXITY
Enterprise software accounts are not just for individual users — they represent entire organizations, with multiple roles, hierarchies, billing needs, and compliance requirements. Atlassian was rewriting its backend customer account infrastructure to better support this complexity.
I was part of the core team translating these backend changes into a usable, scalable front-end experience for enterprise customers.
DEFINING THE PROBLEM SPACE
The redesign touched many interdependent systems — payments, billing, tax, subscriptions, and permissions. To address this, I planned and led a 5-day workshop with a core group (backend lead, product managers, and myself as design lead), bringing in stakeholders from across engineering, finance, ops, and legal.
ALIGNING ON GOALS
We established shared goals, clarified assumptions, and mapped dependencies to ground discussions. This ensured design decisions balanced user needs with backend and business constraints.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Subject matter experts — from engineering leads to finance and operations — joined to share requirements, risks, and edge cases. Their input surfaced the real-world complexity of enterprise accounts.
WHO ARE OUR USERS AND WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM?
Unlike consumer accounts, enterprise accounts involve organizations with layered permissions, multiple admins, and cross-product relationships. Using “How might we” framing, we defined core user problems without jumping prematurely into solutions.
Who are the users?
We mapped the full set of reasons an enterprise customer might access their account — from billing and renewals to role management and compliance — and broke them into actionable tasks.
WHY ARE THEY HERE?
What are all the reasons a customer would come to their account page?
Then further broke down the tasks.
HOW WILL USERS COMPLETE THEIR TASKS?
Tasks were translated into specific features. We identified MVP functionality required for launch, ensuring continuity for customers while building a foundation for future expansion.
COLLABORATION THROUGHOUT
Daily check-ins with leads from across Atlassian created transparency and alignment. This collaboration ensured that frontend designs and backend capabilities stayed in sync.
DESIGN PLANNING
As design lead, I created a timeline that aligned with engineering milestones, tracked dependencies, and accounted for the impact of changes on conversion and customer workflows. This planning also built in time for iteration once real-world usage data came in. The result: a shared roadmap and design foundation for Atlassian’s enterprise account experience — balancing backend feasibility, business goals, and the complex needs of organizational customers.