A Note : Dunio is a freelance project currently in active development. The product has not yet shipped. All outcome metrics are from moderated usability testing or explicitly labelled as projected benchmarks - not live data.
Freelance · Product Design · Enterprise SaaS · 2026
Dunio - The OS for Modern Work.
My Role
Product Designer
Timeline
7 Weeks End-to-End
Research
15 Interviews · 200 Surveys · 25h Observation
Output
250+ Screens · 10 Modules · Dev Handoff
Status
In Active Development
Design Process
00 — BEFORE WE STARTED
The original brief was wrong.
Research killed it in week one.
THE BRIEF, REWRITTEN
01 — THE PROBLEM
Teams aren't unproductive.
They're invisible to each other.
01B — ORG REALITY
The harder problem isn't
the product. It's the organisation.
Enterprise teams don't resist bad tools — they resist change. Every unified platform fails for the same predictable reasons. Understanding these shaped every decision in Dunio.
WHAT THIS PRODUCT INTENTIONALLY DOES NOT SOLVE
✗
Dunio integrates with Jira; doesn't replace it. The operational layer on top is the value, not Jira itself.
✗
Notion and Google Docs own this well. Dunio supports file linking, not authoring.
✗
The Employees module handles operational people management only. Regulatory complexity is outside Dunio's domain in v1.
✗
Dunio is an internal operational layer. Slack remains the right tool for external channels.
ROLLOUT PHASES
Dashboard, Notifications, read-only integrations. Teams see the operational picture without changing how they work.
Goal: one screen replaces 4 status meetings
Projects, Chat, Scheduler, Employees. Cross-team workflows consolidated. Blockers surface before they escalate.
Goal: context lives inside the work
AI-assisted status, smart scheduling, notification routing. Purple (#a78bfa) reserved in the color system from v1.
Goal: work that should be automatic, is
02 — RESEARCH & DISCOVERY
The tools weren't failing.
The space between them was.
15 in-depth interviews. 200 surveys across 8 companies. 25 hours of shadow sessions, observing actual behaviour, not reported behaviour. I went in expecting tool complexity to be the problem. Week one killed that assumption.
PM / Team Lead - composite from 15 interviews
JOURNEY MAP
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
KEY FINDINGS
Honest responses. Uncovered blind spots
The assumption research killed
03 — COMPETITIVE
I studied their failure modes,
not their feature lists.
One week using each tool for real tasks, plus 30-minute shadow sessions with 6 existing users per tool. The gap wasn't incremental — it was structural.
04 — DEFINE & DIRECTION
From observation to direction.
How Might We
"
— MAHESH VADAKATTU, PRODUCT MANAGER
USER PERSONAS
STORY BOARD
05 — ARCHITECTURE & IDEATE
Before any screen,
the system was locked.
1.5 weeks of Ideate produced IA, user journey, and design tokens before any visual work began. Three directions explored — two rejected through testing.
The IA that got thrown out — week 3:
The first information architecture had 15 modules. Projects, Tasks, Goals, Documents, People, Departments, Chat, Calendar, Analytics, Admin, Settings, Integrations, Reports, Notifications, and Time Tracking.
I thought comprehensiveness was the point. If you're replacing 8 tools, you need to cover everything those tools do.
Card sorting with 8 participants destroyed this logic in two sessions. 6 of 8 participants couldn't locate basic things. "Where would I find my team's schedule?" got 7 different answers. The architecture was organised around features, not around how people actually think about their work.
WHAT I GOT WRONG
USER FLOWS
AI MOCKUPS ( I used AI to do the quick mockups as its faster and easier to show to stakeholders)
From AI prototype to product:
The first build proved one idea: put everything in one place, organized by project, and people stop chasing updates. The thesis held. But once I showed it around, it was clearly a demo, not a system. So I went back in.
I finished the surface. Added Admin, Settings, and Notifications. No real org runs without governance and a place for signals to land.
I made it livable. Light and dark themes, plus the accessibility work I'd skipped. People live for eight hours a day.
I designed the messy parts. Confirm before delete, clean ownership transfer, painless offboarding. The edge cases are where trust gets built.
I made it something you do, not just read. A real board, threaded chat, files, and settings, all in one project context.
I made chat replace tools, not gesture at them. DMs, channels, threads, and video calls.
I made analytics answer a question. Rebuilt around the decisions people were actually trying to make.
The bet was never wrong. It just wasn't finished.
Design System
06 - TESTING
Three rounds.
What changed between each one.
Testing ran across the full design process. Each round produced concrete changes. Every metric in this case study traces back to a specific round and observation.
THE DISCUSSIONS & ARGUMENTS
The business fought back.
Three times. Hard.
I want to document the real disagreements - not the polished "we considered multiple options" version, but the actual arguments. Because these were the moments where Dunio almost became a different, worse product.
07 — DECISIONS
Six calls that shaped the product.
None were obvious at the time.
Each decision had a real alternative. Each was pushed back on. These are the stories.
The Brutal Tradeoff — What We Consciously Sacrificed
WHAT GOT CUT
Three features that were right
but couldn't ship.
The things that don't make it into v1 tell you as much about the product's thinking as the things that do. Here are the three cuts that I think about most.
08 — PRODUCT
What shipped.
250+ screens. 10 modules. 7 weeks. Every screen traces back to a specific research finding or design decision.
This is where your entire organization comes to life - at a glance
Dunio’s dashboard offers real-time visibility into your team’s performance, response times, active projects, and engagement score - all in one place. Track productivity trends, task distribution by department, and project completion status without digging. Upcoming deadlines are highlighted, recent activities logged, and smart quick actions make it effortless to navigate between teams, schedules, analytics, and more.
Everything you need to manage work - simplified, centralized, and always in sync.
This is where your entire organization comes to life - at a glance
Dunio’s dashboard offers real-time visibility into your team’s performance, response times, active projects, and engagement score - all in one place. Track productivity trends, task distribution by department, and project completion status without digging. Upcoming deadlines are highlighted, recent activities logged, and smart quick actions make it effortless to navigate between teams, schedules, analytics, and more.
Everything you need to manage work - simplified, centralized, and always in sync.
Projects
Dunio’s Project Management is more than a tracker - it's where work comes alive. Every project has its own space, encompassing Tasks, Team Chat, Activity, Files, and Settings, all in one seamless flow.
With clear progress bars, status tags, and real-time updates, your team stays aligned - without needing to dig or switch tabs.
It’s built to reduce noise, increase clarity, and keep teams moving — together.
Departments
Structure doesn’t slow you down. It lets you fly faster, together."
With Dunio’s Department Management, every team has a clear home - a space to create, assign, and align. Manage your departments, link them to projects, and instantly organize employees under the right umbrella.
From General Settings, Notifications, and Permissions to the bold Danger Zone, every setting is crafted for clarity and control. It’s not just about managing teams — it’s about orchestrating
Focus at scale.
Schedule
The future doesn’t wait. Your calendar shouldn’t either."
Dunio’s Smart Scheduler is more than just a calendar - it’s a command center for time. Create events, tasks, or appointments with a tap. Seamlessly edit or reschedule, whether it’s internal planning or synced with Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, or in-house meetings.
Every feature you’d expect - and a few you didn’t - wrapped in one clean, unified view. Plan smarter. Move faster. Never miss a beat.
Employees
Structure doesn’t slow you down. It lets you fly faster, together.
With Dunio’s Department Management, every team has a clear home - a space to create, assign, and align. Manage your departments, link them to projects, and instantly organize employees under the right umbrella.
From General Settings, Notifications, and Permissions to the bold Danger Zone, every setting is crafted for clarity and control. It’s not just about managing teams - it’s about orchestrating
focus at scale.
Team Chat
“When communication flows, everything else follows."
Dunio’s Team Chat turns scattered conversations into focused collaboration. From direct messages to group threads, every exchange is built for clarity and speed.
Check availability, launch calls, or schedule meetings — without switching context. With status indicators, file sharing, and real-time sync, your team stays connected, aligned, and efficient.
Advanced Analytics
You can’t improve what you can’t see. So we made everything visible."
With Advanced Analytics in Dunio, performance isn't just tracked - it's illuminated. Dive into Team Velocity, Code Quality, Bug Resolution Time, and Productivity Trends.
From Sprint Burndown to Resource Utilization, every metric fuels smarter decisions. With Project Health, Team Insights, and Quality Indicators, you don’t just measure - you understand. Instantly.
Admin Dashboard
"Great systems don’t need to shout - they just work."
Dunio gives admins the power and precision to oversee everything without friction. From a high-level glance at Total Users, New Signups, System Load, and Active Sessions, to the ability to act swiftly through User Management, Roles & Permissions, and Activity Logs - control is seamless.
Inside System Health, you don’t just get status - you get clarity. Access the System Health Overview, monitor Service Status, and analyze Response Times to ensure your digital workspace never skips a beat.
Settings
From customizing your profile and theme to tight security controls like 2FA and active session tracking, every user feels in control - without needing to think twice.
"You don’t build walls between tools. You build bridges that disappear."
Dunio integrates seamlessly with the ecosystem teams already use. From webhook notifications to full API control, it’s ready for builders, thinkers, and doers.
One-click connect to calendars, messaging, and more. Not friction. No IT ticket required.
Add Webhooks & API Keys – For automation, event syncing, and external dashboards. It’s developer-first, not developer-only.
"Power only works when it’s given, not hoarded."
Dunio’s advanced settings were designed not to overwhelm, but to offer peace of mind and audit-ready control.
Roles & Permissions – Tailored access based on job role. Every click is intentional.
Team-Level Overrides – Admins can enforce rules for teams or override notification and access policies.
Danger Zone – For when things must be reset, archived, or removed — clearly labeled, heavily protected.
Notifications
Noise is easy. Signal is rare. We built for the signal."
The centralized Notifications Hub brings clarity to chaos - capturing every update across projects, teams, calendars, and systems. Whether it’s a task assigned, a meeting rescheduled, or a system alert, you’ll see it all in one place. No hunting, no toggling — just awareness. Every message is context-rich, time-stamped, and tailored to your role, so you can act without distraction.
THE GAP
What shipped vs
what was designed.
No product ships exactly as designed. Here is the honest account of what changed between the Figma file and the delivered product - and what I think about each gap.
09 — OUTCOME
Every metric traces back
to a specific decision.
10 — REFLECTION
What I got wrong.
What I carry forward.
