Uber Freight Design Vision

Uniting 200 + teammates around a shared North Star for Uber Freight

Team
Role	Design Lead, Design Manager
Date	2018

Highlights

Co‑created Uber Freight’s first North‑Star vision—a narrative artifact still referenced years later.
Ran a 3‑day, 30‑person design sprint in Chicago, mixing brokerage veterans with SF tech teams to surface every perspective.
Addressed automation anxiety head‑on—showed how tech augments, not replaces, freight operators.
Secured leadership buy‑in and rolled the vision out company‑wide, guiding product roadmaps well beyond my tenure.

Context

By late 2017, Uber Freight had shipped MVP tools for drivers, shippers, and ops—but teams lacked a shared picture of “where this is all going.” Rumors swirled that SF engineers would automate Chicago brokers out of jobs, creating cultural tension.

Challenge: Craft a future everyone can believe in

Align three very different user groups: Carriers, Shippers, Internal Ops.
Involve skeptical brokerage staff so they feel ownership.
Produce an inspiring yet realistic story leadership can commit to.

Uber Freight 2020 design sprint — Freight 2020 sprint. Lots of folks and stickies.

Approach: Mass‑participation Design Sprint → Narrative North Star

Sprint Planning
- Partnered with researcher Jess Nichols.
- Invited ~30 cross‑functional voices (brokerage, PM, eng, design).
3‑Day Chicago Sprint
- Lightning talks, “How Might We” mapping, concept sketching.
- Brokerage veterans ideated alongside tech—melting silos and fears.
Synthesis in SF
- Sorted mountains of stickies into three parallel hero journeys (Carrier, Shipper, Operator).
- Wove them into a cohesive “Day‑in‑the‑Life 2020” narrative with storyboards and motion mocks.
Stakeholder Loops
- Iterated with middle managers → Freight execs (Lior Ron) → Uber Design leadership for feasibility & resonance.

Feedback sessions with Freight leadership

Output: “Freight 2020” Design Vision Deck

3 narrative storyboard decks (one per user group).
Clear roles for operators in an automated future—turning fear into excitement.
Guiding principles & opportunity maps that fed directly into 2018 OKRs.

Outcome: Long‑lasting compass

Vision debuted to 200 + Freight teammates; instantly adopted in road‑mapping.
Years later (2020) new Head of Design reported the deck was still a go‑to reference.
Cultural win: brokerage staff felt seen and engaged in shaping their tech‑augmented future.

Reflections: Vision work ≠ pretty decks; it’s change management

Involving skeptics early turned naysayers into champions. A vision endures when every voice sees themselves in it—and when leadership signs on to make it real.