No-Code Builder

The problem

In late 2023, Convin was onboarding a major enterprise client with deeply conditional QA workflows: nested exceptions, multi-layered logic, and split flows for edge cases. The existing system required custom Python for every client. Each template took engineers 7–14 days and produced logic that could not be reused elsewhere.

What I did

Research & discovery

I shadowed engineers writing rules line-by-line across 3–8 templates, each with more than 10 parameters, and reviewed past delivery tickets. The core issue was not logic alone; it was a lack of modularity and traceability. Nobody could understand a rule without reading code.

I looked outside Convin at Salesforce, Zapier, Webflow, and internal tools I had seen at IBM. Salesforce’s workflow engine was powerful but painful to use. That became the experience to avoid.

Design iteration

The first version was a classic drag-and-drop builder. It broke immediately in testing because many users ran Windows browsers at 125–150% zoom, leaving the canvas too tight for reliable drag actions.

I pivoted to a modal-based choose-block flow with support for single blocks and grouped logic. It was less visually impressive but more reliable across screen sizes and zoom levels — the right tradeoff for a tool people would use daily.

What didn’t work

I underestimated the build. It took more than 120 days to stabilize, well beyond the MVP scope. I learned rule parsing by working through how each visual block mapped to JSON that the backend could validate and execute.

Product wanted to launch sooner with fewer features. I pushed back: shipping raw would only move the bottleneck. We delayed a few weeks for reusable blocks and proper test and debug views, cutting complex features rather than shipping them half-working.

Leading it

I was the sole designer, but I ran the work like a design lead: mentoring a visual designer on systematic thinking, guiding an intern who now owns iterations, running internal walkthroughs and client training, and protecting usability and traceability in scope and copy decisions.

Where it’s headed

The Rule Engine is now a mini-platform inside Convin: a framework for building logic for AI systems, not just auditing. Versioning, rollback, and per-execution audit logs are in progress, with early adoption across multiple clients.