lock

Password Protected

This case study is password protected. Enter the password to view it.

arrow_back Back to portfolio Michal Lenik

Case Study — Grubhub

Strategic Design & OBD Framework

Bringing Outcome Based Design to Grubhub to help support Design/Product partnerships.

A strategic design partnership presentation.

Background

Background — Grubhub's shift from product-led to a stronger Design partnership

Historically, Grubhub has been an incredibly product-led organization. However, business metrics and falling adoption numbers indicated to leadership that a stronger Design influence and partnership was needed to help merge business and user goals for product roadmaps.

I was brought to Grubhub amidst this restructuring to help bridge the partnership gaps between Product and Design, and coach the Design team on ways to show up as strategic business partners for our Product and business peers.

My Role & Objectives

As a Sr. Manager at Grubhub I oversee our design teams for Care, Post Purchase Experience and Fulfillment. My goals are:

  • Build organic relationships between Product and Design
  • Introduce frameworks to help designers think strategically about business goals
  • Coach and empower the design team on how to merge business and user goals and communicate Design business value
  • Advocate early and often for Design thinking
  • Scale processes across GH to build strategic Design influence and partnerships

The OBD Framework

I introduced the Outcome-Based-Design framework as a method to help merge the gaps between Product and Design languages and introduce design-thinking methods upstream in the product development process.

The framework "starts at the end" by enabling designers to work with product managers to define "outcomes" or business goals that a project — or series of projects — will achieve after launch.

The framework ensures that designers working through design thinking exercises consistently check their work against previously aligned-on business goals and make sure their designs drive those goals forward.

The OBD Framework — Product and Design workflow

OBD & Increased Reorders

One of the areas my Care Design team successfully implemented the Outcome Based Design framework was in trying to solve our merchant-led cancellation problem.

Outcome

Increase same-day reorder rate among diners who experience a merchant-led cancellation — 3% of Grubhub cancelled orders. These diners have a historically lower reorder rate than other diners.

Phases

1

Design/Product/Business align on business outcomes

2

Design conducts user research to identify core user needs and problem origin

3

Team aligns on MVP and North Star opportunities

4

MVP is scoped for upcoming quarter, to then be iterated on as a fast follow

5

Design creates visual concepts to test theories of most likely opportunities against expected business outcomes

6

Design leads ideation session for Design/Product/BI/Eng to align on the opportunities that are most feasible and drive the business outcomes forward

Example: Final Designs

The final design concept was a 3-part solution to drive the business outcomes the team had aligned on:

1

More transparent messaging to give the user context around why their order was cancelled

2

An automatic, good-faith concession for users to apply towards another order

3

Clear next steps — in the form of AI-driven, pre-built carts similar in nature to the original order placed. This removes the "cold start" experience from the reorder process and takes the onus off the user of finding another solution for dinner.

OBD final design — carts

Final Outcomes

$1.05mm Opportunity

In beta testing we saw an increase in reordering of 500–1000 bps when users encountered this new landing page — netting GH a forecasted $701k–$1.05mm revenue growth from this project alone when released to 100%.

Designer Promotion

Due to the overall success of this project I was able to advocate for the promotion of one of my senior designers — who was the first to use the OBD framework — to a Staff role.

Design Influence

Having Design show up as a thought leader on this project played a huge role in Design's overall growth at Grubhub, earning a stronger seat at the leadership table and regular collaboration with BI and biz-dev teams.

Scaling OBD

The OBD framework is now being used across multiple teams at Grubhub as a tool to help designers engage with their cross-functional teams as business partners as well as user advocates.

Logistics Design Team

Used the OBD framework to help define the 2025 roadmap for our "Driver Engagement" workstream.

Merchant Design Team

Currently using the OBD framework to align on a north star vision for our merchant-facing promotions tool, a key differentiator for GH's merchant partnerships.

Some Takeaways

handshake

Relationships are key

Building trust and organic relationships with people is truly the only way to change hearts and minds.

trending_up

Create tangible success

The best way to get people on board is to show a track record of success — proving the value of design influence and partnership is what really moves things forward.

emoji_objects

Design is a business tool

Introducing design as a business partner — using business goals directionally in the work — helped designers communicate better with Product Managers.

sentiment_very_satisfied

Thanks for listening!

Back to portfolio