Robert Huston — Product Designer

ADT Permissions

Prevent bad actors.

🙌 Promise

Reorient the entire team on user permissions. Ensure we don’t enable bad actor scenarios that put people in harm’s way.

📚 Context

Over the course of 2024 leading into 2025, user permissions became extremely convoluted and fragmented understanding across the entire team.

A perfect storm arose as the team neared a breaking point: fragmented logic, uncertainty about what was built, and siloed discussions without clear resolution amplified team confusion.

⭐ Significance

User permissions are extremely high-risk and critical within the smart multifamily space.

Ensuring we do not enable bad actors to commit crimes is paramount, especially given past fatal incidents. It is absolutely critical that our systems prevent any unintentional misuse.

🧠 Strategy

This project was the outcome of a schedule access project. After I identified major gaps in logic, I took ownership of a new holistic user permission project.

I developed a comprehensive project plan and process to realign the product and engineering teams on future direction.

Flowcharts

Designed detailed flowcharts covering all major use cases, keeping the team focused on flows rather than getting lost in wireframes or mockups.

Collaboration

Facilitated focused and strict working sessions with the product team to define and solidify permission logic, emphasizing real-world use cases over endless “what-if” scenarios.

Cross-Functional

Took ownership of the expanded project plan, partnering with engineering, product and project management to analyze feasibility, review scope, and ensure practical implementation.

🚨 Challenges

The biggest hurdle was introducing a standardized process for the team, following the double-diamond framework.

Over time, the team had inherited inefficient processes that often created more problems than they solved.

⛳ Outcome

The team clearly needed more structure in their product and design processes.

After multiple engaging sessions, the product team aligned on a holistic logic centered around real use cases. A significant task given the circumstances

Early collaboration with engineering proved essential to avoid unintentional project surprises mid-flight. While this process is standard in many agile environments, the team was enthusiastic about adopting it.