Coming Soon: Find Your Work the Moment You Log In

When we first built Giraffe, we made a sneaky little assumption: that everyone thinks in maps. Open a map, find your site, start drawing. Great if you're hunting for a new site. Not so great if you're not. So a fair few people were stuck wading through a map just to check on a project they already had.

Spotting what needs fixing

Here's how we know it wasn't just a handful of people finding this awkward.

• Usage patterns. Anonymised data on how people actually move through Giraffe, no personal info, just where people click, pause, or get stuck.
• Support conversations. Every chat with GiraffeBot, plus every direct conversation Holly and Adam have with customers.
• Direct feedback. Calls and check-ins with the people using Giraffe day to day.

We also weigh what we find against established usability principles, like Nielsen's heuristics, so we're fixing things that genuinely help, not just reacting to noise.

What we found in the data

In this case, all data pointed the same way: people getting stuck in a Space when they just wanted their project list, and admins asking, in plain terms, for a simpler view of their own workspace.

• Getting your bearings. People kept getting lost, and not just a little. Chats with GiraffeBot show it clearly: more than 50 conversations where it had to explain "you're in a Space, that's why you can't draw." Not a one-off. A proper pattern.
• Finding what you've already done. Close to 180 conversations were just people trying to track down projects they'd already made. Most never even found the project switcher on their own.
• Doing things the way other tools do. Most software gives you a simple home screen, not a map. If site search isn't your main job, you shouldn't need a map just to see your own project list.
• Staying in control. Admins told us straight: "I just need to see all of our projects." Right now that meant building a whole space just for a list. Way too many steps for something this simple.
• Getting basic numbers without a spreadsheet. We've heard the same thing from bigger teams too, admins wanting an easy way to check basic numbers, like how many projects got made last month, without digging through spreadsheets or manual exports.

What we built

The new home screen shows your recent projects and quick actions the second you log in. No map required. Admins get a clear view of the whole workspace too, without needing to open a project first.

What this means for you

If your day is mostly about projects, not hunting for new sites, you don't need to think in maps anymore. Your recent work, your quick actions, everything you need is right there when you log in. That includes your own stuff, your admin tools if you've got them, and your personal settings too.

This is one part of a broader look at what's changing in Giraffe 6.0. Curious about the thinking behind the changes? We put together a bigger-picture look at why we're making these changes across the whole product.

Read the full story →