Impartner: Business Planning

Turning a time-consuming planning process into something partners would actually complete.

My role UX designer responsible for defining the updated experience, translating prior research into actionable workflows, and delivering UI and copy that fit the existing Impartner product ecosystem

Scope Product + engineering | Feature update cycle | Templates and cloning, plan structure and progress visibility, QBR support within existing patterns

Challenges Inherited research rather than running discovery from scratch, an existing feature with established patterns to respect, and the need to introduce QBR capabilities without increasing setup time or cognitive load

Impact Clarified user goals through a proto-persona and journey map, improved the planning flow with templates and cloning, and made the path to creating and assigning plans more structured and repeatable

Skills Synthesizing inherited research, journey mapping, proto-persona creation, workflow optimization, template and cloning UX, maintaining consistency with an existing product ecosystem

I inherited prior research and turned it into a clear picture of where users struggled in Business Plans. I created a proto-persona and journey map, then designed updates to support Quarterly Business Reviews inside the existing feature.

Working within the Impartner ecosystem also meant contributing to the design system that underpinned it. The team was working from a Tailwind-based foundation when I joined. I extended it by introducing grid conventions for layout consistency, clarifying and documenting typeface usage and hierarchy, and aligning design system language with the terminology already established by the Marketing team.

That last point mattered more than it might seem: when the words designers use to name components match the words the rest of the organization uses to describe the product, decisions move faster and reviews require less translation.

Key decisions Summary: templates and cloning, clearer section structure, QBR support in existing patterns

Replace blank-slate planning with templates and cloning

DecisionIntroduced templates and cloning so partners could start from a known-good structure instead of rebuilding each cycle

TradeoffMore up-front product complexity in exchange for lower ongoing effort and repeatability

WhyThe process was time-consuming enough that partners avoided completion

ResultMore repeatable creation-to-submission behavior and less setup time each cycle

Use section prompts and progress visibility to improve completeness

DecisionRestructured sections and added prompts so partners understood expectations while working

TradeoffMore guidance in the flow instead of leaving requirements in documentation

WhyBaseline submissions were low signal because requirements were unclear

ResultMore complete plans and fewer abandoned drafts

Add QBR support without breaking the interaction model

DecisionIntroduced QBR capability within existing patterns so users did not need to learn a new model

TradeoffAvoided a full redesign in favor of pattern-consistent additions

WhyConsistency within the ecosystem mattered for adoption

ResultNew capability added with lower learning cost and better ecosystem fit

"The process of creating a business plan is very time consuming."
— Interview subject

Outcomes Summary: higher completion, better plan quality, faster repeat cycles

Plan completion rate — Planning took long enough that partners avoided completing plans, leaving low signal submissions. Templates and cloning reduced setup effort per plan and made the path repeatable. Journey map synthesis confirmed friction points.
Quality of plans — Incomplete submissions due to unclear section requirements and no guidance on what "good" looked like. Clearer section prompts and progress visibility added scaffolding for completion. Updated IA validated against existing product patterns before implementation.
Cycle time — Partners restarted from scratch each planning cycle, adding repeat work and delays. Cloning from prior plans and a more structured editing experience. Journey mapping confirmed the repeat-work pattern and validated the workflow choice.

What changed in the product

Templates and cloning replaced a blank-slate creation model
Section structure and progress visibility reduced abandonment mid-flow
QBR support introduced within the existing feature without a new interaction model

How we measured

Inherited research synthesized into a proto-persona and journey map as the baseline, with design decisions validated against existing product patterns before implementation