Neighborhood Finance

A nonprofit client that could describe the outcome but not the system. I led stakeholder interviews with non-technical staff and delivered a tool that saves them $100,000+ a year.

Neighborhood Finance Corporation decides loan-program eligibility from a map. I led four people. The client’s staff are not technical. Success was a tool they still use, and documentation they can follow when a boundary changes.

Problem

The client could describe the outcome, “tell me if this address qualifies,” and could not describe a system. If we had built something only we could update, the savings would end at handoff. They also had two cities and more than one program, which is how scope quietly doubles.

Process

I sat with staff and wrote the jobs: search an address, see the zone, switch city, switch a program view. Editing zones became a separate, written procedure, because that is the job after launch. The team shipped against that list. I cut anything that did not answer eligibility or let them maintain it.

Solution

• A single question on the homepage of the tool: does this address qualify?
• A maintenance guide in the order a non-technical person gets stuck: add, rename, cut a hole, undo.
• One team of four, one client, a written definition of done that included the guide.

Results

• $100K+ Saved each year
• 4 People, one lead
• 2 Cities in scope, not a third
• Handoff They can change a zone after we left

Justin Moran · Business Development Representative · Chicago, IL · LinkedIn · Resume (PDF)