End of term
End of term
Redesigning the AWS Outposts end of term experience from a multi-week support process to a five minute self-service flow
Redesigning the AWS Outposts end of term experience from a multi-week support process to a five minute self-service flow
Amazon
2025
tldr
tldr
Product
Product
AWS Outposts
AWS Outposts
Role
Role
Customer experience lead
Customer experience lead
Problem
Problem
When an Outpost contract ended, customers had no self-service path to renew or return their hardware. Both options required support tickets, back and forth communication, and weeks of waiting.
When an Outpost contract ended, customers had no self-service path to renew or return their hardware. Both options required support tickets, back and forth communication, and weeks of waiting.
Outcome
Outcome
I designed a self service end-of-term experience that let customers renew for 1, 3, or 5 years or decommission their Outpost directly in the console, reducing a multi week operational process to less than five minutes.
I designed a self service end-of-term experience that let customers renew for 1, 3, or 5 years or decommission their Outpost directly in the console, reducing a multi week operational process to less than five minutes.
Overview
Overview
Managing the hardware horizon
Managing the hardware horizon
From 2024-2025, I owned the end-to-end customer experience for AWS Outposts, a service that extends AWS infrastructure into customer data centers.
When a 1, 3, or 5-year term ends, customers must decide whether to renew, move to month-to-month, or return the hardware.
I led design for that end-of-term experience, transforming a complex, support-driven workflow into a clear, self-service path.
From 2024-2025, I owned the end-to-end customer experience for AWS Outposts, a service that extends AWS infrastructure into customer data centers.
When a 1, 3, or 5-year term ends, customers must decide whether to renew, move to month-to-month, or return the hardware.
I led design for that end-of-term experience, transforming a complex, support-driven workflow into a clear, self-service path.
Problem
Problem
Two options, zero self-service
Two options, zero self-service
Before this project, customers could not meaningfully handle end-of-term actions in product. If they wanted to renew or return an Outpost, they had to rely on support tickets, account teams, and manual coordination across multiple stakeholders. A process that should take minutes took weeks.
That created a bad experience at exactly the wrong moment. These are high consequence decisions involving infrastructure, contracts, billing, and live workloads.
What should have felt clear and procedural felt vague, slow, and risky.
Before this project, customers could not meaningfully handle end-of-term actions in product. If they wanted to renew or return an Outpost, they had to rely on support tickets, account teams, and manual coordination across multiple stakeholders. A process that should take minutes took weeks.
That created a bad experience at exactly the wrong moment. These are high consequence decisions involving infrastructure, contracts, billing, and live workloads.
What should have felt clear and procedural felt vague, slow, and risky.
Discovery
Discovery
High anxiety and high stakes decisions
High anxiety and high stakes decisions
Through user research, I identified that the primary barrier wasn't just technical complexity—it was psychological.
Decommissioning a 42U rack or renewing a six-figure contract is a high-anxiety event. Users felt "blind" in the manual process, fearing that a mistake would either delete mission-critical data or lock them into another multi-year financial commitment they weren't ready for.
The solution needed to provide functional automation and, equally as important, emotional reassurance.
Through user research, I identified that the primary barrier wasn't just technical complexity—it was psychological.
Decommissioning a 42U rack or renewing a six-figure contract is a high-anxiety event. Users felt "blind" in the manual process, fearing that a mistake would either delete mission-critical data or lock them into another multi-year financial commitment they weren't ready for.
The solution needed to provide functional automation and, equally as important, emotional reassurance.
Solution
Solution
One entry point, two guided paths
One entry point, two guided paths
I created a self service end-of-term experience that gave customers a clear choice: renew their Outpost or decommission it.
For renewals, the flow let customers select a new contract term, compare options, and move forward without needing to leave the product.
For decommissioning, I designed a guided multi-step workflow that surfaced dependencies, helped customers resolve them, and safely moved the Outpost into a decommissioning state.
The experience combined structured decision making, status visibility, and system feedback. Customers could review their details, understand the implications of their choice, and complete the process in a way that felt controlled rather than intimidating.
To address user anxiety, I also integrated custom illustrations at key stages of the process. This wasn't decorative. The illustrations were used to lower cognitive load, add emotional softness to an otherwise technical workflow, and make the process feel more human.
I created a self service end-of-term experience that gave customers a clear choice: renew their Outpost or decommission it.
For renewals, the flow let customers select a new contract term, compare options, and move forward without needing to leave the product.
For decommissioning, I designed a guided multi-step workflow that surfaced dependencies, helped customers resolve them, and safely moved the Outpost into a decommissioning state.
The experience combined structured decision making, status visibility, and system feedback. Customers could review their details, understand the implications of their choice, and complete the process in a way that felt controlled rather than intimidating.
To address user anxiety, I also integrated custom illustrations at key stages of the process. This wasn't decorative. The illustrations were used to lower cognitive load, add emotional softness to an otherwise technical workflow, and make the process feel more human.
Impact
Impact
From weeks to minutes
From weeks to minutes
This work moved a painful, support-heavy lifecycle event into the product itself.
The result was a self service flow that reduced a process that previously took multiple weeks to less than five minutes for the customer to complete. It also aimed to reduce support dependency and operational overhead at scale.
Key success metrics:
• 99%+ reduction in time-to-completion, from an average 2+ weeks to under 5 minutes
• 80% reduction in support tickets, reclaiming hundreds of hours for AWS account teams
• <5% total error rate
This work moved a painful, support-heavy lifecycle event into the product itself.
The result was a self service flow that reduced a process that previously took multiple weeks to less than five minutes for the customer to complete. It also aimed to reduce support dependency and operational overhead at scale.
Key success metrics:
• 99%+ reduction in time-to-completion, from an average 2+ weeks to under 5 minutes
• 80% reduction in support tickets, reclaiming hundreds of hours for AWS account teams
• <5% total error rate
This work moved a painful, support-heavy lifecycle event into the product itself.
The result was a self service flow that reduced a process that previously took multiple weeks to less than five minutes for the customer to complete. It also aimed to reduce support dependency and operational overhead at scale.
Key success metrics:
• 99%+ reduction in time-to-completion, from an average 2+ weeks to under 5 minutes
• 80% reduction in support tickets, reclaiming hundreds of hours for AWS account teams
• <5% total error rate
Reflection
Reflection
Designing for the human, not just the admin
Designing for the human, not just the admin
One of the most useful reminders from this project was that enterprise customers are still just people trying not to make expensive mistakes.
A lot of operational UX is really trust design. The interface has to help users feel oriented, informed, and safe enough to act.
If I were extending this work, I’d push more lifecycle visibility upstream so customers could prepare well before their contract end date. By the time someone reaches end of term, the best experience is often one that started earlier.
One of the most useful reminders from this project was that enterprise customers are still just people trying not to make expensive mistakes.
A lot of operational UX is really trust design. The interface has to help users feel oriented, informed, and safe enough to act.
If I were extending this work, I’d push more lifecycle visibility upstream so customers could prepare well before their contract end date. By the time someone reaches end of term, the best experience is often one that started earlier.
Working on this project is a reminder that sometimes the most important design decisions happen below the surface. The banner is simple.
The hard part is the metadata schema underneath it, and getting hundreds of service teams to describe their features the same way. It's a systems problem.
When should a recommendation appear? When should it stay quiet? When should it never come back? Those decisions get made in the schema, not the UI.
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