Employee Engagement Survey Builder
Lead Product Designer • Push Operations • 4 Quarters
Overview
Context: I'm a product designer at a restaurant management software company. We aim to be a one-stop-shop solution for everything from payroll to scheduling to chat. Some of our larger clients mentioned they were running engagement surveys through third-party tools, which sparked a conversation about building a native survey feature into our app. The goal was to create something simple enough to use without training, flexible enough to support different question types, and powerful enough to deliver real insights. I was the sole designer on the project and owned the entire process — from early research through to final handoff.
Problem
Some of our users had come from platforms that included built-in engagement surveys — but our product didn't offer anything like that yet. So teams were stuck juggling tools like Google Forms or SurveyMonkey, then manually importing results. It was clunky, disconnected, and especially painful for larger organizations. The ask was clear: let them build, send, and analyze surveys directly within Push.
Goals
- •Design a native survey builder that integrates cleanly into the existing product
- •Make it flexible enough for power users, but dead simple for everyone else
- •Allow users to create custom questions, reorder them, and control settings
- •Surface useful data in a way that is easy to act on, not just look at
- •Deliver value quickly with a realistic MVP, but leave room to grow
Constraints
- •Lean dev team with limited front-end resources
- •Legacy code and reused components to work around
- •Complex backend data structures and reporting requirements
- •Need to keep scope tight while still making the feature feel complete
- •Mobile compatibility requested but not prioritized for v1
Process
Research & Discovery
I started by hopping on calls with users to hear how they were currently running surveys. I also combed through customer feedback in Productboard and did a bit of competitor sleuthing. A lot of the pain came down to clunky workflows and a lack of integration. I audited tools like Typeform and SurveyMonkey, but the real insight came from just listening to how people wished it worked.
Design Approach
I kept notes in my usual “brain dump” format — basically a running text convo with myself — and shared early flows and visuals through slide decks to keep everyone aligned. Feedback came in fast, so I kept things loose and iterative, focusing first on core flows and the outcomes we actually needed to hit.
Wireframing & Collaboration
I built some lo-fi wireframes to test layout approaches, question types, and settings workflows. The PM kept stakeholder dialogues flowing while I worked closely with engineering to make sure we were staying in scope. We reused a bunch of components from other areas the product and had to get creative with layout constraints.
Challenges & Solutions
Some originally planned features — like assigning surveys directly to employees — had to be cut from v1. Instead, I compromised with a simple shareable link flow (à la Google Sheets). This saved us about a quarter of development time and let us get the feature into users' hands sooner.
That said, the handoff included a v2 design for selecting recipients and sharing surveys directly — something that's currently in development.
For data visualization, the goal was to give users a way to compare departments (e.g., how are cooks responding vs. waitstaff?). But that introduced massive scope creep, so we leaned on Flexmonster — a tool we were already using elsewhere. It let users view and export CSV files from a simple table layout. Later, we upgraded to GoodData for a more powerful visualization layer.
Instead of building a custom question builder from scratch, we adapted existing input patterns — a game-time decision that saved a ton of scope without sacrificing usability.
Final Product
The final tool let users create and preview surveys, set parameters and deadlines, toggle anonymity, and share via link. Results could be viewed and filtered using GoodData dashboards, and users had full control over export and comparison tools. We even added a lightweight mobile flow via iFrame so surveys could be completed on the go without needing a full app experience.
Results
- •Successfully launched and now in use by several of our largest clients (Earls, A&W, Tim Hortons to name a few)
- •Removed the need for external survey tools — simplifying workflows and improving retention
- •Early data usage is helping inform v2 priorities and features
- •Received positive feedback internally and from key enterprise customers
- •Established a foundation for more in-platform HR tools
Reflection
This project pushed me to work across every part of the product — from component systems to stakeholder storytelling. It taught me how to cut scope without losing value, how to work smart with limited dev capacity, and how to adapt third-party tools into something that feels clean and native. I'm especially proud of how much we accomplished with so little — and how smooth the experience feels now that it's live.