Control Center cards UI

Control Center

Designing a daily work hub for hundreds of contract lawyers.

2026 0 to 1 Vision Work Generative Research AI Prototyping GTM Partnership
Problem

Ontra lawyers, especially those operating at scale, felt immense pain keeping on top of their work and making sense of their day-to-day. This results in more time spent on administrative work and the potential for missing client deadlines.

Solution

Control Center enables Ontra lawyers to quickly see what's in their court & how long they have to act. We surface reminders to follow up with counterparties and an accurate view of where each document is to reduce lawyer overhead in organizing their work.

Results

Our proxy North Star metric — since measuring lawyer time is an ongoing project — was adoption. We saw fast, organic adoption and strong feedback signaling lawyer use and value. Among a notoriously tech-resistant user base, we saw ~60% adoption before significant enablement efforts, an increase post-enablement, and multiple quotes from lawyers saying that it prevented them from missing an obligation.

Solution Preview

3 Approaching Deadline
2 Deadline Misses (Last 30 Days)
4 Firm's Turn
8 Counterparty's Turn
2 Client's Turn
Name Account Last Activity Time Left Turn
Capricorn Acme Corp. Doc received 0h 30m Firm
Orion Acme Corp. Comments received 2h 50m Firm
Aquarius Acme Corp. Comments sent — Counterparty
Pisces Acme Corp. Comments sent — Counterparty
Milky Way Acme Corp. Comments sent — Counterparty
Virgo Acme Corp. Comments sent — Counterparty

The Control Center screen builds up in four stages: first it's bare. Then it immediately lets the lawyer understand the state of affairs of their documents. Then it tracks proximity to deadlines and empowers firm admins with visibility into when deadlines are missed. Finally, it shows automatically-updated statuses for every document, along with how long they have to take action.

One Fun Detail: In-Person Research

I'm really lucky to have gone on three in-person trips to learn more about lawyers' workflows, preferences, and pain points as part of this project. Our foundational research took place in November 2025 at a partner law firm in Dallas, Texas, and we went out to Bogotá, Colombia to do additional testing and broaden our understanding of the similarities and differences in the Ontra Legal Network. Our last trip was back to Dallas, where we had the opportunity to bring engineers and leverage AI for a rapid build-iterate sprint side-by-side with users. Here are some snapshots from the trips.

A paper checklist used by lawyers at our partner firm in Bogotá to track document tasks
An example of a checklist that our partners in Bogotá were using
Another paper checklist showing handwritten task tracking by lawyers in Bogotá
Another checklist
Spreadsheet-based document trackers used by lawyers at our partner firm in Dallas
Trackers that our partner firm in Dallas were using
Lawyers at a Dallas partner firm doing day-to-day contract work, faces obscured for privacy
Observing lawyers day-to-day work in Dallas
A slide from our research presentation shown at our partner law firm office in Bogotá
From a presentation we gave at our partner law firm office in Bogotá ❤
A document tracking spreadsheet used by lawyers at a partner firm in Bogotá to manage contract deadlines
An example of the document tracking spreadsheets from a firm in Bogotá
The team collaborating during a rapid iteration sprint at our partner firm in Dallas
Working with the team during the rapid iteration sprint in Dallas

That's All I Can Say Here.

Confidentiality obligations restrict me from sharing more. Please do reach out, and I'd be happy to chat in detail & walk you through my process.