A complete redesign of OpenBlend's most critical feature — used for 70,000+ conversations a year — to transform transactional 1:1s into a genuine performance tool.
Since its 2014 launch, OpenBlend has rapidly gained prominence in the UK's performance management and HR space, facilitating over 70,000 1:1 conversations annually by 2023. The 1:1 tool, launched in 2018, was the company's most-used and most critical feature — and the primary reason customers signed up.
But it was struggling to gain traction. Managers and employees weren't using it the way it was designed, causing customer churn and becoming the company's main focus for retention. I was the sole designer on this project from December 2023 to July 2024, working closely with a Product Manager — handling research, design, prototyping, and usability testing end-to-end.
At the start, we only had feedback from the customer experience team. I partnered with the Product Manager to go deeper, speaking to 14 customers — Talents, Managers, and Admins — from various companies.
Five clear patterns emerged from those conversations:
Challenging navigation — The journey from homepage to direct reports to specific items was long and cumbersome. Rigid scheduling — Booking a 1:1 was difficult enough that customers held meetings outside OpenBlend entirely. No control over topics — Talents and managers couldn't control what they discussed or how often. No unified agenda view — Agendas were prepared separately and not shared, so both parties entered meetings blind. No way to log conversations — Customers were using notepads (digital or paper) to capture outcomes.
"My manager can't see the agenda I created. I can't create a recurring booking. I am creating notes outside of the OpenBlend system."
I used Mixpanel to analyse event data on the current experience, measuring drop-off rates at key points. The data confirmed what users were telling us: most users don't add an agenda before starting a 1:1, book fewer regular meetings than expected, cover only about 45% of agenda topics during discussions, and rarely take notes.
* Actual metric values omitted for confidentiality
Consolidated snapshots, tasks, manager's 1:1s, and booking actions into a single homepage. Managers can now book a 1:1, start an ad hoc meeting, create an agenda, and view talent snapshots without navigating away.
The new booking flow lets users specify frequency, start and end dates, and ownership of recurring 1:1s — replacing a rigid, single-booking system that actively discouraged regular meetings.
A full-screen agenda preparation experience with AI-assisted smart suggestions based on interaction data. Both talent and manager see the same agenda and can edit it at any time — no more entering meetings blind.
A split-screen 1:1 experience: agenda panel on the left, discussion panel on the right with embedded user data. The GROW model (Goal, Reality, Obstacles, Way Forward) structures each agenda item, with notes embedded directly into Way Forward.
A summary page at the end of every 1:1 showing all notes taken, action items created, and the date of the next session — turning each meeting into a documented record with continuity.
Developed in collaboration with a leadership coach, the GROW model structures each 1:1 agenda item to move conversations from intent to action.
What does the talent want to achieve? Setting intent before the conversation begins.
Where are they now? An honest assessment of current progress and context.
What's in the way? Surfacing blockers that prevent progress toward the goal.
What are the next steps? Where notes and action points are embedded and captured.
"The biggest UX wins aren't always about adding features — they're about removing the decision points that make people give up. The blank agenda was the real enemy."