Role UX Research and Design
Duration 4 months
Project type Industry Sponsored Project
Team
2 Project Sponsors (Salesforce)
8 Designers
Contribution
Additional Background:
Worked with Salesforce product designers on a sponsored project over the course of my HCI master’s at Indiana University.
Context
What does automation looks like in Salesforce
Picture this: you sign up for a service, and seconds later, a welcome email lands in your inbox automatically. This is automation! handing off repetitive tasks like sending emails or updating records to technology, for speed and efficiency.
Automation workflows in Salesforce are built and managed by Salesforce Admins using Flow Builder, a powerful drag-and-drop tool.
It involves involves multiple stakeholders working together across multiple stages to build workflows.
High level goal
How might we make collaboration easier for Salesforce Admins and stakeholders, so they can save time and focus on building better workflows?
Research insights
Semi Structured Interview
Rounds of User Testing
Collaboration Challenges
Insights
Lets look at the current collaboration landscape
Collaboration in building automation workflows involves multiple stakeholders working together across different project phases. Mapping out these interaction points helps highlight the complexity and challenges of this process.
which led us to these challenges
Solution
and here's what we designed
Admins can now instantly generate a simple flowchart, edit it and share it with their clients
Generate Basic Flowchart with a button click
Admins no longer need to spend hours manually recreating workflows for stakeholder understanding
All notes in one place
Keep relevant insights, decisions, and feedback directly within the workflow for easy reference
Easily save and share process flows in multiple formats to simplify documentation and reporting
Admins can share simple flowcharts directly with clients, no need to recreate them, and gather feedback in one place
ADMIN VIEW
CLIENT VIEW
Proof of concept
But can even AI really simplify flowcharts? We tested it!
We wanted to see if AI could handle creating simple flowcharts from complex workflows, so we ran a proof of concept. The results? It worked! AI tools showed they could save admins time by generating clear, easy-to-understand diagrams without the need for manual effort.
Impact
Admins loved the features for their practicality and impact on collaboration
We conducted unstructured interviews with several Salesforce Admins to test our solution in real-world scenarios.
"It makes explaining the flow to stakeholders easier because using the actual flow as a visual aid is often too technical and hard to communicate.”
– Salesforce Admin
"The simple diagram is not just for documentation but a space where sense-making happens for admins and collaboration starts with stakeholders."
– Salesforce Admin
"Imagine spending hours recreating 500 elements in Lucidchart, and now it gets done in a single click"
– Salesforce Admin
We even got the chance to pitch to the Salesforce UX team! 🥳
We had the incredible opportunity to showcase our work to the Salesforce UX team. They appreciated how we navigated from broader goals to identifying a focused problem and designing a solution with real potential to transform collaboration.
The team recognized the professionalism of our presentation, even mentioning that it was at the level where it could be shared with Salesforce product leaders and considered for implementation.
Reflection
Here’s what I learned through this journey
Adapting to Real-World Constraints
I realized that industry projects don’t follow a textbook approach. I had to adapt to tight timelines, specific client needs, and work within practical limitations.
The Power of Storytelling
I learned how important it is to build a strong narrative. Whether it was teammates or stakeholders, explaining my ideas as a story helped me bring everyone on the same page.
Less Is More
I discovered the importance of narrowing focus. At first, I thought we weren’t doing enough, but testing and feedback showed me that solving one real issue well makes a bigger impact.