Sarah Mahoney is a Product Designer at Lavanda. She took some time out of her busy schedule to tell us a bit about how her role directly supports our customer base, and what she gets up to outside of work.
Please explain your role, and where that sits within your team?
As a Product Designer at Lavanda I’m deeply involved in the finer details of solving the problems faced by our 3 user groups – landlords, property managers and residents. I work primarily with the Product and Engineering teams to design UIs and workflows that solve the many challenges faced by these customers. My work includes designing new features that are still under development and optimising the existing customer experience across our suite of apps.
I love being able to collaborate with a wide variety of roles and people. It’s a huge team effort and an endlessly fascinating exercise to build and design solutions to scale globally! Within that I have the creative freedom to experiment with different ideas and designs.
In your role, how do you personally create value for Lavanda customers and contribute to their overall experience of working with us?
My work directly impacts the users of our software, so a significant portion of my time is spent studying and understanding how they are using various parts of the platform and what they are actually trying to achieve. This process ensures that any changes I put forward are always adding value, and doesn’t take away key functionality. My goal is to minimise the workload in every flow, give clear feedback that aids decision making in the context of further developing our PMS, and save our users as much time, effort and cost as possible enabling them to focus on their core business of delighting residents.
Tell us a little bit about yourself? e.g. what is your professional experience? Where are you from / where do you live? What hobbies or passions do you enjoy outside of work?
I have worked in fashion for most of my life. First in stores, then as a merchandiser planning and forecasting trends and managing profitability. I re-trained in user experience research and design a few years ago with a view to having closer contact with users, being able to directly improve their experience, and unleashing my creativity. I then worked for a seismic exploration company before moving to Lavanda. So far it’s been an amazing experience, and I’m so glad I made the move!
I recently bought my first house, an Edwardian mid-terrace, and I love setting up my moodboards for each of the rooms as I start renovating. Haven’t found any hidden gems yet though! The garden was in such a state when we moved in, I’ve had learn to become more green fingered. However I now find being out there weeding, snail hunting or planting a really nice way to relax and enjoy the outdoors.
Before we were busy with the house I loved baking and decorating cakes, or going for long countryside hikes – especially when there’s a good hill involved!
What has been your most recent achievement at Lavanda?
I’ve absolutely loved working on our recent branding project. It’s been a great moment to really reflect upon what Lavanda stands for, who we are and what we want to achieve. I personally see Lavanda as a toolkit that helps property managers breathe life into the communities that inhabit their buildings. This in turn delights residents, fosters their loyalty, and ultimately drives up NOI for the landlord – a win win for everyone.
What do you most enjoy about working at Lavanda?
The people and the trust I have from the team. I have never worked with such a collaborative and fun team before, although we are remote I feel like I have already made some great friends here. Everyone is open to ideas, exploring new concepts, continuous improvements and experimentation. Ultimately this type of culture isn’t only a catalyst for innovation internally within Lavanda, it plays an important role in nurturing innovation across the entire residential sector – and that’s something I’m super proud to be a part of
