Talking to users helped me focus on the 3 questions they asked most.

Before jumping into design, I talked to several finance leads and LoB managers to understand how they actually used the dashboard — or why they didn’t. Everyone had a different job title, but nearly all of them were trying to answer the same questions: Are our expenses going up or down? Who’s spending the most? And is that expected or a problem?

That clarity gave me something solid to work with. I wrote those three questions on a sticky note and kept it next to my laptop the entire time I worked on the redesign. Everything I designed had to answer those questions.

I redesigned everything around clarity, with visuals that answered real questions.

I started from scratch. The original dashboard was heavy and overwhelming, so I focused on creating a clearer flow that helped people actually understand their cloud costs. With the new design, I introduced two distinct views.

The first was a leaderboard view that gave teams a quick snapshot of how they were performing against their targets — kind of like a scoreboard for cost visibility.

The second was a chart view, designed for deeper analysis. It showed how spending was trending over time and helped users break down costs by service or team.

The filters were simplified so they didn’t slow people down. And I pushed the dense tables to a secondary view — still there if you needed details, but no longer the first thing you saw.

This redesign wasn’t about making things look nicer. It was about giving people a clearer path to insight, so they could spot problems early and feel more in control of the numbers.

You don’t need to show everything. Just make sure the right things are easy to find.

There was a point mid-project where I kept trying to add just one more thing — one more chart, one more toggle, one more clever breakdown. It felt like more would mean better. But then I remembered what a user told me:

That snapped me out of it. From then on, every design decision was about clarity. What helps people get answers faster? What can I take away so the important stuff stands out? It was a good reminder that simple is not the same as basic. In fact, making something feel simple actually takes a lot more work.

The new design helped users find answers faster and feel more in control.

I tested the new dashboard with 8 users across finance and operations. Most of them found the insight they were looking for in under a minute, compared to three to five minutes before. A few said they’d actually consider checking the dashboard more often now. One of them said, “This finally helps me understand where the money’s going.”

That felt like a turning point. The redesign wasn’t just easier to navigate, it gave people the confidence that they could actually trust what they were seeing.

Interviews. Insights. Iterations. A very happy VP.

I kicked off with user interviews and testing to understand what people needed and where they were getting stuck. Most of the frustration came down to three things. Users wanted more flexibility in how they sliced and diced their reports. They wanted more visual ways to spot trends. And they were tired of refilling 10+ filters just to recreate the same report every time. Below is what the old UI looked like.

The redesign introduced a new multidimensional reporting format with smarter filters, 5 new chart types, and one feature that made a huge difference: saving views.

After multiple rounds of iteration, I presented the redesign to the VP of Cloud Cost Optimization. She loved it. I was recognized with an SAP Appreciate award for owning the end-to-end experience.

I kept adding more until I realized less was what actually helped.

At one point I added nine different chart types and a dozen filter toggles. I thought giving users flexibility to slice and dice their reports meant covering every angle. But during testing, it just overwhelmed people that they don’t even know where to start.

That moment helped me course-correct. I removed three of the chart types, collapsed half the filter options behind a "More" drawer, and simplified the layout. The rest became optional instead of required.

This project taught me that flexibility isn’t about giving people everything. It’s about giving them just enough, and trusting them to ask for more if they need it.

Every smart decision came from editing, not adding.

Editing is everything. The biggest breakthroughs didn’t come from what I added, but from what I cut.

Every design choice that helped the tool feel lighter came from putting myself in the user’s shoes. Most of them weren’t looking to explore. They just wanted to check in, see what changed, and move on. The more I leaned into that mindset, the better the product became.

Also, never underestimate the power of a good save button.