delfos
Delfos
Head of design in-house work for Brazilian renewable energy B2B software startup.
Renewable Energy
High complexity
Desktop
B2B
Reducing Delfos' client implementation time by 83% through a redesigned B2B platform that enables growth
From strategy to execution, reimagining renewable energy infrastructure observability
In a sector where inefficient operations can cost millions and impact environmental outcomes, we created a scalable platform that transformed how energy professionals monitor and maintain renewable assets.
Key result
83% reduction in implementation time
Key result
Record 22 new client implementations in 4 days
Key result
Increased development efficiency
Old (first) vs new (second) dashboard.
Before: onboarding of new customers taking 90 days on average, from signed contract to fully implemented platform
Renewable energy operators face a critical challenge: managing vast arrays of distributed assets generating terabytes of operational data. The previous Delfos platform worked but struggled with:
Lengthy client onboarding (90+ days)
Inconsistent data visualisation across asset types
Fragmented technical infrastructure requiring custom coding for each installation
Complex workflows requiring specialised knowledge
Limited scalability as data volumes increased
Key challenge
Founder-led growth mentality during scaling phase that asks for descentralised decision-making
Key challenge
Siloed and divergent understanding of the company strategy, which led to non-efficient decision-making
Key challenge
Engineering-driven product roadmap more than customer-driven
Implantation process map. Unreadable on purpose due to NDA. Each row is a stakeholder. Each box is a process step. Process length: 90 days.
2 months of Continuous Discovery laid the groundwork to intentional strategic decisions
Over a two-month period, we embarked on a continuous discovery journey led by Teresa Torres' theory. Through weekly interview with clients and key stakeholders, we unearthed critical pain points in the implementation process, documentation and client expectation challenges. This informed the creation of a unified implementation process, standardised data gathering patterns, and a cohesive information architecture.
Continuous Discovery annotations. Unreadable on purpose due to NDA. 8 interviews total, 1 per week.
As Head of Design, I led a cross-functional team to reimagine the platform from the ground up
Led participatory design workshops with engineers, data scientists, and renewable energy operators
Created comprehensive information architecture aligning front-end experiences with back-end structures
Developed standardized data visualization patterns for complex technical metrics
Designed and implemented a cohesive design system for rapid deployment
Facilitated collaboration between technical teams to align product concepts, calculation methods, and data models
Leadership workshop to define company strategy.
Process: Building for Technical Scale
Technical Infrastructure Mapping
I created visual mapping tools to understand the relationship between physical assets (wind turbines, solar arrays) and their digital representations. This became the foundation for a unified data model that engineers and designers could reference.
Technical User Research
Through contextual inquiry with renewable energy engineers, we identified critical monitoring scenarios:
Real-time performance anomaly detection
Predictive maintenance prioritization
Compliance reporting and verification
Cross-asset comparative analysis
Information Architecture Structure
We restructured the platform's information architecture to reflect both user mental models and technical infrastructure:
Created standardised entity relationship models spanning all renewable asset types
Developed modular component architecture that mapped directly to API endpoints
Established consistent nomenclature across UI and technical documentation
Designed scalable navigation patterns accommodating unlimited asset growth
Data Visualisation System
Developed a comprehensive visualisation library addressing the unique challenges of renewable energy data:
Real-time monitoring dashboards with threshold indicators
Temporal comparison views for seasonal performance analysis
Geospatial representations of distributed assets
Technical diagnostic visualization for engineering teams
Anomaly highlighting for predictive maintenance
Design System Adoption
Adopted a comprehensive design system that:
Standardised UI components to accelerate development
Established clear data visualisation guidelines for consistency
Incorporated technical status indicators and alerting patterns
Provided documentation connecting UI components to data models
Enabled rapid implementation across different client environments
Latest module build on new infrastructure in record time.
High-speed project with long lasting learnings
Insight
Proper technical foundations enable meaningful business results
Aligning information architecture with technical infrastructure creates exponential efficiency gains.
Insight
Fast learning of complex theory require continuous collaboration
From how a wind turbine works to which calculations are used to deliver data to the platform, collaboration with key Delfos engineers was crucial to get up to speed.
Insight
Execution without strategy is way too risky, even for fast-paced startups
This project showed that moving fast without strategic clarity can backfire. Even in startup environments, execution without alignment leads to rework, confusion, and missed impact.