DoorDash internal tools
company
doordash
my role
product design lead
year
2024
timeline
6 months
context
In the first part of my time at DoorDash, I led the Internal Tools Design team in a hybrid manager/IC role. I balanced managing the designers on my team and their career growth with driving the high-level strategy of DoorDash internal tools, and taking on high-impact initiatives in an IC capacity.
DoorDash operates on a network of more than 100 internal tools powering mission-critical workflows across Support, Fraud, Logistics, Merchant Operations, Growth, and Engineering.
These tools enable operators, agents, and engineers to manage the health of a complex three-sided marketplace in real time.
challenges with internal tools
I worked with research to do countless cross-functional interviews and ecosystem-wide audits, that helped identify systemic issues across our internal tools platform and experiences.
Internal tools were built in silos, leading to fragmented UX and inefficient, error-prone workflows.
Without shared frameworks or governance, engineers rebuilt core infrastructure repeatedly — driving duplication and long-term technical debt.
These inefficiencies cascaded beyond internal teams, ultimately degrading experiences for consumers, Dashers, and merchants.
mission for unity
I worked with our other internal tools designers at an in person workshop to start to shape a new approach to deal with these systemic issues with internal tools.
The solution we ultimately landed on is Unity: DoorDash’s new internal tools ecosystem.
With Unity we set out to build a cohesive ecosystem for internal tools, make tools easy to build and maintain, and up-level of the overall quality and craft of the internal tools experience – all to help DoorDash scale into the next stage of growth.
Unity is not only a huge win for DoorDash in terms of efficiency productivity and cost, but a huge win for consumers, Dashers and merchants in helping them have the best experience possible using DoorDash.
building a cohesive ecosystem
We restructured internal tools into a cohesive platform model.
A new global navigation organized tools into suites aligned to industry, specialty, and jobs-to-be-done — transforming a scattered collection of apps into a structured ecosystem.
We introduced a new homepage that functioned as a personalized command center. Users could curate frequently used tools, discover new apps, and request access through a centralized workflow.
Beyond UI, this established shared governance and a clear mental model for how tools should be organized and extended over time. Unity shifted internal tools from tactical utilities to a scalable product platform.
up-leveling craft
Internal tools don’t have to be boring and bland.
We launched “Internal Tools Next,” a new subsystem and theme designed specifically for complex enterprise workflows.
Through audits of dozens of internal tools, we identified enterprise-specific interaction patterns and built reusable, high-density components optimized for operational speed and clarity — accompanied by a brand new theme that brought new flavor and energy to internal tools.
These components enabled engineers to spin up new tools quickly while maintaining a cohesive, high-quality experience.
results
Unity drove measurable platform-level impact.
Shared frameworks enabled the deprecation of expensive tools like Salesforce while improving efficiency across high-volume systems such as Support.
Unity components saved engineers an average of 1–2 weeks per build. Multiple zero-to-one tools launched in record time using the ecosystem.
Adoption was strong, and user satisfaction increased as teams experienced consistent interaction patterns and elevated visual quality across workflows.
By reducing duplication, accelerating development, and raising the bar for craft, Unity strengthened the internal operating system behind DoorDash’s marketplace — improving outcomes for consumers, Dashers, and merchants alike.
special thanks to
Design: Lauren Prasad, Sam Szerlip, Gerardo Torres, Andrew Hahn
Product: Nelly Daniel, Mauricio Steinbruch, Andrew Lisy
Engineering: Abhinav Mummidi, Kishore Guruswamy, Kumaril Dave, Han Huang, Noah Christiano, Hui Luan
Research: Minal Jain
