2018-21
Ready for export
2018-21
Ready for export
Contributions
Product strategy
User research
Product design
Team
1 product designer
1 product manager
1 tech lead
2 front-end engineers
1 QA
Overview
Back in 2019, bookkeepers using Pleo had no clear way of knowing what needed their attention. The original export page showed a single list of expenses with a date-range filter, which meant bookkeepers had to piece together their own understanding of what needed to be done. They'd check export history to figure out when they last ran an export, return to the main view, apply filters, and try to reconstruct the context they needed. All before any real accounting had started.
The goal was to design an experience that made the current state of things legible at a glance.
Back in 2019, bookkeepers using Pleo had no clear way of knowing what needed their attention. The original export page showed a single list of expenses with a date-range filter, which meant bookkeepers had to piece together their own understanding of what still needed to be done. They'd check export history to figure out when they last ran an export, return to the main view, apply filters, and try to reconstruct the context they needed — all before any real accounting had started.The goal was to design an experience that made the current state of things legible at a glance.
Approach
As early as 2018, I started exploring what a better experience for bookkeepers could look like. These early concepts were a first attempt at articulating the problem and imagining a different direction, a foundation that would later inform the more defined work that followed.
We spent real time with bookkeepers. Multiple rounds of interviews kept surfacing the same core need: a clear sense of what needs my attention right now. That shaped how we framed the problem and where we focused the design.We introduced a view that surfaced unexported transactions by default, so bookkeepers could land on the page and immediately understand what to work on without any setup. Removing the need to configure filters or dig through export history meant the cognitive overhead that had built up before any real work could begin was simply gone. The experience was designed around ease, simplicity, and encouraging a more real-time approach to bookkeeping where Pleo helps close the gap between a transaction happening and it being reconciled.
A year later after focusing efforts elsewhere, we introduced a view that showed unexported transactions by default, so bookkeepers could land on the page and immediately understand what to work on without any setup. Removing the need to configure filters or dig through export history meant the cognitive overhead that had built up before any real work could begin was simply gone. The experience was designed around ease, simplicity, and encouraging a more real-time approach to bookkeeping where Pleo helps close the gap between a transaction happening and it being reconciled.
We spent real time with bookkeepers. Multiple rounds of interviews kept surfacing the same core need: a clear sense of what needs my attention right now. That shaped how we framed the problem and where we focused the design.We introduced a view that surfaced unexported transactions by default, so bookkeepers could land on the page and immediately understand what to work on without any setup. Removing the need to configure filters or dig through export history meant the cognitive overhead that had built up before any real work could begin was simply gone. The experience was designed around ease, simplicity, and encouraging a more real-time approach to bookkeeping where Pleo helps close the gap between a transaction happening and it being reconciled.
Outcome
Finance teams moved faster. The time it took bookkeepers to get set up and start working dropped, and the rate of export errors went down. Bookkeepers told us the experience fit more naturally into how they already worked. The improvement was significant enough that it became a reference point for how we thought about designing for bookkeepers going forward.
What happened next
This project became the foundation for a dedicated Bookkeeper experience team. In 2021, as I transitioned into Design Ops, I facilitated the handover of this product area to the incoming team, making sure the work and its context were in good hands to continue building on.
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© Made by Martín, 2026
© Made by Martín, 2026
© Made by Martín, 2026
© Made by Martín, 2026