What we learned watching office managers plan
We sat beside twelve people while they planned real trips. None of them started where we expected.
Every month the design team spends a day with customers. Last spring we did something slower: we sat beside twelve office managers while they planned a real trip, from the first idea to the last booking.
Nobody starts with dates
We had built the planner around dates and destinations. Every person we watched started with a budget and a headcount, then a feeling, something like “somewhere warm, not too far”. Dates came last.
The spreadsheet next to the planner
Ten of the twelve kept a spreadsheet open beside Vandra. It held the things we did not: who eats what, who shares a room, who needs to leave early. We had treated it as a sign that people did not trust us. It was a list of what we were missing.
What we built
The planner now opens with a budget and a headcount. Guests have their own page for food and room notes, and the spreadsheet is slowly closing. We will sit beside another twelve people this autumn.
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 Elsa
Design 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
