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Case studies

We’re partnering with AnywhereWorks to deliver an amazing customer experience through engineering and design system services.

Since 2022 we’ve been helping AnywhereWorks transform their code and customer experiences with a full-service partnership involving front-end, back-end, design system, and training services.

Services provided

Technology used

Tagged in

  • Performance Optimisation,
  • DevOps
AnywhereWorks Design System website and design system components interfaces juxtaposed side by side AnywhereWorks Design System website and design system components interfaces juxtaposed side by side

Highlights

  • Crafted a multi-brand design system to power AnywhereWorks’ suite of products.
  • Using the design system, rebuilt their most trafficked app with improved speed, accessibility, and a user-configurable branding capability.
  • Reduced cloud hosting costs through performance optimisation and caching (supporting up to 1 billion requests/month).
  • Facilitated a company-wide uplift in front-end development capability through a "learn-by-doing" training methodology.
3+
Year collaboration
7
Client teams partnered
18
Thinkmill contributors

The right ideas + the right people make all the difference and Thinkmill ticks both boxes with the latest in design thinking combined with incredible people who care.

Michael Payne avatar Michael Payne avatar

Michael Payne

CEO, AnywhereWorks

Overview

AnywhereWorks’ vision is to help the world work… anywhere.

They deliver their vision through a platform of team collaboration tools and services that enable successful remote collaboration.

As their collaboration platform grew, so did the need for consistency and scalability. Without a system-centric approach to delivery, they found themselves solving similar problems in different ways, which impacted productivity and led to inconsistent interfaces and user experiences.

Since 2022 we’ve helped AnywhereWorks build a multi-brand design system, modernise their most trafficked app, and elevate their engineering ways-of-working to improve the quality and quantity of their output, in service to their bold vision.

Earth: a multi-brand design system for global collaboration

A collection of components and elements from AnywhereWorks’s Earth Design System docs site A collection of components and elements from AnywhereWorks’s Earth Design System docs site

Our partnership started with the challenge of bringing a more systems-led approach to their design and front-end engineering practices. After understanding their requirements in detail we aligned on a plan to establish a solid foundation for design and front-end in the form of a design system.

We set up a token architecture for colour, spacing, sizing, and theming using Tailwind CSS. Read more about the approaches and tradeoffs we explored before aligning with Tailwind for this multi-brand system.

On top of this, we crafted a suite of base components that prioritise accessibility and developer experience – enabling fast, high-quality implementation across products.

To support learning and adoption, we built a companion documentation site with Next.js, featuring live-editable code examples and prop API specs.

Modernising their most trafficked app with solid foundations

With Earth Design System’s foundations ready to support front-end projects, we set out to integrate it into their public facing booking page app – the most heavily trafficked part of AnywhereWorks’ platform serving over 80,000 global appointments every day.

Side by side view of the old AnywhereWorks booking page interface, vs the new interface Side by side view of the old AnywhereWorks booking page interface, vs the new interface

This modernisation effort did more than validate Earth, it transformed the product:

  • A design system-powered brand customisation feature empowered customers to configure the booking page’s colour palette, logos, and even button shapes, allowing the page to align with their brand identity.
  • A new GraphQL layer reduced frontend API request waterfalls, dramatically improving load speed.
  • A smart response caching mechanism was introduced to handle up to 1 billion requests/month, slashing backend load and cutting cloud costs substantially.
  • A new payments integration set the stage for new monetisation features.
  • Web accessibility was significantly improved, which opened bookings up to a larger customer base.

Setting the gold standard for infrastructure as code

The booking page modernisation initiative provided an opportunity to implement a range of improvements to their Google Cloud Platform (GCP) configuration including:

  • Introducing Infrastructure as Code as a standard for infrastructure and deployments.
  • Low cost preview deployments with Cloudrun.
  • Improvement of CI/CD pipelines.
  • Docker containerisation with multi-stage builds for faster build time and leaner containers.
  • Strategies to keep hosting costs down without compromising performance and scaling.

These changes allowed AnywhereWorks to better handle traffic spikes, and scale in a more predictable manner – setting the gold standard for future GCP deployments.

Elevating engineering teams through delivery

Throughout our partnership with AnywhereWorks we’ve helped level-up their internal capabilities wherever possible. Over the 3+ years we collaborated with leadership on a range of approaches including: documenting best practices via text and video, remote and in-person training, and co-designing a front-end skills matrix to grow and hire great engineers.

Together we’ve found that an immersive learn-while-doing model provides the most impact. This current approach involves Thinkmillers parachuting in to existing engineering teams to collaboratively ship products alongside them to build speed, consistency, and confidence throughout. We continue to operate in this mode today, levelling up new and existing teams based on priorities set by the client.

Thinkmillers training AnywhereWorks Staff onsite around the world Thinkmillers training AnywhereWorks Staff onsite around the world

An ongoing partnership in cross-continental collaboration

We continue to adapt to AnywhereWorks’ changing needs: identifying and delivering value where it matters most. We remain grateful for an enriching relationship built on trust and shared ambition that spans code, continents, and many deep conversations.

A collection of selfies with Thinkmill and AnywhereWorks people together at many locations around the world A collection of selfies with Thinkmill and AnywhereWorks people together at many locations around the world

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