The number we stopped reporting
For two years, trips booked was our main number. It went up every month and told us almost nothing.
When I joined, every monthly report opened with the same number: trips booked. It went up nearly every month. People were happy, and I was suspicious.
What the number hid
Trips booked counted a team lunch the same as a three day offsite for eighty people. It also counted trips that were cancelled a week later. When I split it up, almost all the growth came from small trips that cost us more to support than they earned.
A better question
We stopped asking how many trips were booked and started asking how many teams came back for a second one. It is a slower number and a less flattering one. It is also the one that matches how the business really does.
What changed
The planner team now works on what makes a second trip easier, and Sales talks about returning customers first. My monthly note opens with the new number, and nobody has asked for the old one back.
More stories
Ludovica Benedetti, Staff engineerFrom one slow page to the whole planner
I joined to fix a search page that took eight seconds to load. Three years on, I lead the team that rebuilt the planner.
Henrik Sjöberg, Staff engineer, paymentsOne invoice instead of four hundred receipts
Our customers paid for every booking on a card. Finance teams hated it. This is how we moved 2,400 companies to one monthly invoice.
Ida Wennberg, Trips leadForty people and a cancelled flight to Tromsø
At six in the morning the flight was gone. By nine, forty people had a new route, new rooms and a dinner that still started on time.
Work with Giulia
Product is hiring. Every role shows its salary band and where you can work from.
- The salary band is on every role
- Work from Stockholm, Milan or anywhere in Europe
- Two team trips a year, paid for
- An answer within two weeks of applying
