GET /candidate/projects/lastpass_connect

{
  "title": "Exploring a passwordless future",
  "summary": "LastPass Connect turned an acquired hardware login key into touchless login with the phone already in your pocket. Its public beta drew 4,930 sign-ups from one email, and 52% of users were still active in week 2.",
  "details": {
    "company": "LogMeIn, LastPass Connect: touchless login to your computer using your phone (an Innovation incubator project)",
    "role": "[Title; e.g. Product Designer, lead UX on LastPass Connect]",
    "team": "[PM], [N engineers] from the acquired AuthAir team, [other designers or researchers]",
    "stakeholders": "LastPass product leadership, the LogMeIn Innovation incubator, the email marketing team",
    "methods": "Workshop, persona, interviews, prototype demos, public beta, email funnel, diary studies, weekly recommendation scores, surveys, analytics",
    "tools": "[Sketch, InVision, analytics tool, survey tool]"
  },
  "overview": {
    "problem": "LogMeIn acquired AuthAir, a hardware key that logged healthcare workers in as they walked up and out as they walked away. The challenge: make that technology something LastPass users would want, using the phone they already carry instead of extra hardware.",
    "solution": "Defined a persona through a workshop and interviews, validated a prototype with matching users, and released a public beta: the phone unlocks the computer on arrival and locks it on departure. Kept the MVP lean and let usage data show what to fix.",
    "impact": [
      "4,930 beta sign-ups from one email campaign (81K sent; 43% opened; 8.7% clicked; 70% of clickers signed up)",
      "52% retention in week 2; 470 daily active users after two weeks",
      "8.2 / 10 recommendation score from beta users"
    ]
  },
  "context": {
    "business": "AuthAir made a thumb-drive-sized proximity login device for healthcare providers. LogMeIn acquired it in March 2017 for its parallels with LastPass; the touchless login work joined LastPass and LogMeIn’s Innovation incubator.",
    "customer_problem": "Typing passwords to unlock a computer many times a day is slow and annoying, and people in shared or open offices often forget to lock their screens. [Top frustrations from interviews.]",
    "design_problem": "The technology worked but was built for one niche market and needed separate hardware; it had to fit into LastPass on a device people already had.",
    "quote": "[Interview quote] — [Role, company type]",
    "problem_statement": "How might we let people unlock and lock their computer just by being near it, using the phone already in their pocket, without making setup a burden?"
  },
  "role": {
    "owned": "[Confirm: e.g. the workshop, persona and interviews, desktop and mobile designs, onboarding, measuring the beta.]",
    "partnered_on": "Beta launch email and landing page with the email team; reliable login and logout with engineering.",
    "constraints": [
      "New technology: proximity login built for hardware had to work on phones, across desktop and mobile",
      "Incubator budget: a small team with a mandate to move fast and test a real product in the market",
      "Reliability: inaccurate login or logout broke trust and hurt retention",
      "Platform: the beta was Mac-only; most enterprises use Windows"
    ]
  },
  "process": {
    "define_problem_and_mvp": "Workshop to narrow the problem and MVP scope; persona “Open Office Oliver” (open office, daily computer use, protects sensitive work data, wants security and convenience with little mental space). Interviews shaped the adaptation; an updated prototype was checked with matching users. Key insight: [interview insight].",
    "get_into_real_world": "Internal testing wasn’t giving honest feedback, so an email to LastPass users and a simple landing page offered an early public beta.",
    "rough_onboarding_on_purpose": "Onboarding spanned computer and phone, sometimes app to email to browser and back. Effort went only to critical steps; real usage showed what wasn’t working.",
    "measure_every_angle": "Weekly recommendation scores, diary studies, follow-up interviews, surveys and analytics, including login and logout accuracy, which directly affected retention."
  },
  "decisions": [
    { "decision": "Which device", "options": "Dedicated hardware key / the phone", "chose": "The phone, which everyone already carries, to reach far more people than healthcare workers", "tradeoff": "Dependence on phone sensors and battery; less control over accuracy" },
    { "decision": "Who to build for first", "options": "Individual users / enterprise", "chose": "Individual users, reachable quickly through the LastPass base", "tradeoff": "Enterprise needs (Windows, IT admin, rollout) left for later" },
    { "decision": "How to test", "options": "Internal testing / public beta", "chose": "A public beta, for honest feedback from real work environments", "tradeoff": "People saw a rougher product, onboarding included" },
    { "decision": "Where to spend design time", "options": "Polish every step / focus on critical moments", "chose": "Critical parts of onboarding and logging in; let data show the rest", "tradeoff": "Some setup friction stayed in the beta" }
  ],
  "solution": [
    "Desktop login: the Mac login screen greets you by name, searches for your phone and offers “Unlock with mobile”; typing a password is still an option",
    "Mobile notification: approve the login in one tap without opening the app",
    "Mobile app: shows which computer the phone is connected to",
    "Guided setup on both devices: install, pair, turn on location, with clear progress and why each permission matters"
  ],
  "demo_video": "https://youtu.be/_iyNom1Qnd8",
  "impact": {
    "funnel": [
      "Emails sent to LastPass users: 81K",
      "Open rate: 43%",
      "Click rate: 8.7% (~7K clicks)",
      "Sign-up rate from clicks: 70% (4,930 sign-ups)"
    ],
    "metrics": [
      "Daily active users after 2 weeks: 470",
      "Retention in week 2: 52%",
      "Recommendation score: 8.2 / 10"
    ],
    "quote": "[Quote from a diary study or follow-up interview] — [Beta user, role]"
  },
  "reflection": {
    "next": "Enterprise planning proved much harder (most enterprises run Windows, among other obstacles). Despite the strong beta, LastPass Connect was deprioritized for urgent core LastPass work; LogMeIn kept exploring touchless login for other uses.",
    "learned": "Shipping something rough to real users taught more than months of internal testing would have. Reliability mattered as much as the interface for retention.",
    "do_differently": "[e.g. look into enterprise and Windows requirements earlier.]"
  }
}