Plotwren · council allotment booking
Case file / 0
3
Turning an empty plot into a clear next step
Saga
Role
Lead product designer at Latchfield
Team
2 designers, 1 researcher, 3 engineers, 1 service owner
Tools
FigJam, Figma, Notion
Discipline
Service design
Pinned summary
The 30-second version
Residents gave up on allotment applications because the plot list, waiting times and rules sat in different places. I mapped the whole service with council staff and designed one route from plot map to application. Completed applications rose 2.4 times.
1
2.4×
completed applications
−60%
emails about waiting-list position
11 days
average time to re-let a plot
Illustrative demo metrics.
Problem frame
Challenge
Residents could not tell if applying was worth it.
Plot details lived in a PDF and the waiting list in a staff spreadsheet. Applicants emailed the office to ask their position, and staff answered each email by hand. Many forms stopped at the tenancy rules, which ran to eleven pages. Empty plots also stayed empty for weeks between tenants. The council wanted more finished applications without adding staff time.
Evidence → direction
Approach
I mapped the service from both sides of the counter.
In FigJam, I drew the journey from a first visit to the day a new tenant gets the gate key. Under each step, I added the staff work it caused. Two site visits and nine interviews with plot holders filled the gaps. Paper versions of the plot map went to a library drop-in, where residents circled what confused them.
Decision log
Decisions & trade-offs
Each choice weighed what residents asked for against council rules.
01
Show real waiting times
Each site shows how many people are waiting and a typical wait. Busy sites got fewer applications, but fewer complaints.
02
Summarise the tenancy rules
A one-page summary now sits in the form. Forms got shorter, but the full legal text moved behind a link.
03
Keep the paper route
Residents can still apply by post or at the library. It costs staff time, but older applicants stayed on the list.
Gallery / Final flow
The plot screen
The final screen shows the allotment map with the details of an available plot.
After release
Outcome
More residents finished an application, and the office answered fewer emails.
The new service started at four sites in March and covered all sites by summer. Over the first season, completed applications grew an illustrative 2.4 times. Emails about list position fell by 60%. Staff used the saved time to re-let empty plots, now within 11 days on average.
Next iteration
Learnings
Publishing honest waiting times cost the council some applications, and residents trusted the list more. Next I would test a spring reminder that asks plot holders if they still need their plot.
IP
Saga treated our phone calls and paper forms as part of the service from day one.
Sample
Idris Pellow, allotments officer at Plotwren
Next project ·
Northdesk
One support system, fewer workarounds
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