T-Mobile / Substantial / 2017–2018
T-Mobile: Redirecting A Platform Through Research
T-Mobile wanted to create a simpler way for business customers to manage communications. Large enterprise was the initial market hypothesis, but research exposed a stronger entry point among smaller organizations with lower switching costs and fewer implementation barriers.
Executive Summary
T-Mobile hired Substantial to help design a new platform for managing business communications. As one of two lead designers on a five-person agency team, I led research across enterprise and mid-size participants that challenged the original large-enterprise hypothesis and supported an SMB-focused direction before design work began. That finding shaped the admin architecture, prototype strategy, and stakeholder narrative that followed.
Operating Context
The team had to align stakeholder groups with different priorities while working within an eight-month agency engagement. The experience needed to simplify administration for smaller organizations without removing the enterprise-grade telecom controls, reliability, and service expectations required for the platform to scale.
Decisions That Shaped The Work
- Test the original brief before designingWe treated the large-enterprise direction as a hypothesis and used the first month of research to evaluate it before design began.
- Design around how SMB owners actually workedInterview participants handled IT, office management, decision-making, and daily communications without seeing themselves as systems administrators.
- Use observed mental models to organize controlsCard sorting and affinity diagramming informed how lines, permissions, voicemail, routing, call management, and push-to-talk activation were grouped.
- Use interactive prototypes when behavior mattersMobile and desktop prototypes showed navigation, microinteractions, and menu behavior that static screens could not communicate as clearly.
From research to product direction
Outcomes
What Changed
- Product focus shifted before design beganEleven interviews across enterprise and mid-size participants challenged the original hypothesis and supported an SMB-focused direction.
- SMB mental models shaped the admin architectureCard sorting and affinity diagramming informed how lines, permissions, voicemail, routing, call management, and push-to-talk activation were organized.
- The product direction became tangibleInteractive mobile and desktop prototypes demonstrated navigation, microinteractions, and menu behavior for stakeholder evaluation.
- A self-service activation path was designedThe platform concept included a way to activate existing services such as push-to-talk without relying only on customer support calls.
Principles I Carry Forward
What I Learned
- Research and strong evidence can set the path to change direction.Strong evidence validates that it can modify the original plan before too much time is invested in execution.
- Prototype fidelity should match the communication need.The right level of detail depends on what needs to be understood, tested, or aligned around, not on a preference for polished work.
- Early feedback improves alignment.Sharing an emerging direction sooner gives teams more room to challenge assumptions and shape the work before the direction becomes harder to change.
