02 / Business applications
Leading the tools behind day-to-day work
A portfolio supporting employees and clients, with competing priorities and the ongoing work of keeping essential applications running.
- My role
- Product direction, stakeholder alignment and delivery coordination.
- Context & stage
- Application portfolio
Connecting business needs with what we delivered.
I led the product work across a portfolio of business applications, from understanding what people needed and setting priorities to coordinating stakeholders and engineering through rollout. The engineering team built the applications; my responsibility was to connect business needs with what we delivered.
The portfolio supported how employees managed their work and how the firm worked with clients. It covered risk screening, work management, deliverables, collaboration and employee communication.
Balancing growth with reliability.
The hardest part was keeping up with competing stakeholder priorities with a team averaging four developers. New features mattered, but so did maintenance, security and version upgrades across the applications people already depended on.
Criticality and timing drove the decisions.
The applications continued to grow, but we adjusted the pace around the business. During tax season, we eased back on new development and focused more on maintenance, scheduling updates outside business hours and on weekends to limit disruption.
When there was room to build
Move new capabilities forward while keeping ongoing maintenance in view.
During tax season
Ease back on new development. Emphasize maintenance and carefully timed updates.
For me, leading the portfolio meant knowing when to push something forward and when to protect what was already working. It wasn’t just about delivering more features. It was about putting the team’s time where it mattered most to the people relying on those tools.
Explore the applications
Work & deadline managementJobs, responsibilities, due dates and progress.
- The need
- Give professionals a clearer way to organize work and understand what needs attention.
- My role
- Connect stakeholder needs with product priorities and coordinate the work with engineering.
- Capabilities
- Work and deadline tracking, responsibilities and progress visibility.
- Product consideration
- Balance requests for new capabilities with the reliability of a tool people depend on for day-to-day work.
Client collaborationWorkpapers and conversations, organized by engagement.
- The need
- Give clients and professionals a shared place to exchange information without losing the context of the work.
- My role
- Understand client and professional needs, shape priorities and coordinate stakeholders through delivery.
- Capabilities
- Workpaper exchange, chat and document request lists, with separate context for each engagement.
- Product consideration
- Keep the experience understandable for both sides of the engagement, not just the internal team.
Deliverables & e-signaturesFinished work and document signing in one place.
- The need
- Help clients find their deliverables and complete related signatures.
- My role
- Lead the product work from needs and priorities through stakeholder and engineering coordination.
- Capabilities
- A centralized view of client deliverables with e-signature functionality.
- Product consideration
- Make the client-facing experience clear while accounting for the firm’s delivery workflows.
Conflict & sanctions screeningSupport for conflict-of-interest and incoming-client risk checks.
- The need
- Support professionals evaluating conflicts across service lines and sanctions risk for incoming clients.
- My role
- Work with stakeholders and engineering to translate risk-related requirements into a usable product.
- Capabilities
- Conflict-of-interest workflows and screening against U.S. sanctions lists.
- Product consideration
- Keep risk requirements visible without making the process harder for the people responsible for using it.
Employee intranetNews, people, publishing and a place for new ideas.
- The need
- Create the company’s first intranet as a shared place for employee information and communication.
- My role
- Shape priorities and coordinate stakeholders and engineering as the application grew.
- Capabilities
- News, a visual content editor, an employee directory and idea submissions, with functionality expanding over time.
- Product consideration
- Support growth without losing sight of the employee experience or the cost of maintaining it.
A shared authentication foundation.
A common authentication library supported access across the applications. It was a shared foundation beneath the portfolio, rather than another standalone product story.
The product responsibility extended beyond individual feature lists. Maintenance and changes to shared capabilities also had to be considered alongside the needs of the applications that depended on them.
Let’s talk.
If you’re looking for someone to lead software and AI products, I’d like to hear what your team is working on. If you need help making a process work better or figuring out where to start, I’m open to consulting conversations too.
yorence@whetstonedigital.io