Ascend Clarity - Feedback Platform for Knowledge Work

Ascend Clarity - Feedback Platform for Knowledge Work

A Voice-Based Feedback Platform for Knowledge Work. Turning conversation into insight, clarity, and action. In 2024, the core team at 4th Down Solutions were doing R&D for a new set of features centered around conversations. When I joined the project, we had a scaffold that allowed us have phone conversations with users and generate a summary. The work that followed would be the most interesting and satisfying product development of my career, allowing me to execute using a wide range of skills. The result is Clarity — a voice-first system designed to help organizations surface real-time insights from their teams. Built for knowledge workers in complex enterprise environments, Clarity enables natural, low-friction conversations about progress, blockers, and emotional tone — turning everyday feedback into structured, actionable intelligence for leaders.

A Voice-Based Feedback Platform for Knowledge Work. Turning conversation into insight, clarity, and action. In 2024, the core team at 4th Down Solutions were doing R&D for a new set of features centered around conversations. When I joined the project, we had a scaffold that allowed us have phone conversations with users and generate a summary. The work that followed would be the most interesting and satisfying product development of my career, allowing me to execute using a wide range of skills. The result is Clarity — a voice-first system designed to help organizations surface real-time insights from their teams. Built for knowledge workers in complex enterprise environments, Clarity enables natural, low-friction conversations about progress, blockers, and emotional tone — turning everyday feedback into structured, actionable intelligence for leaders.

Category

May 15, 2024

Feedback Platform

Feedback Platform

Services

May 15, 2024

Product Design

Product Design

Client

May 15, 2024

Ascend

Ascend

Year

May 15, 2024

2025

2025

The Challenge

Most enterprise tools don’t capture the full picture of team health. Surveys are static. Dashboards show lagging indicators. And informal updates often miss the human context behind performance. Leaders struggle to spot emerging issues early — especially in hybrid or distributed settings. They need better visibility into sentiment, alignment, and systemic friction.

The Solution

Clarity introduces a new model: ambient voice check-ins powered by AI. Employees speak freely — sharing what’s going well, what’s unclear, or what’s getting in the way. The system transcribes, analyzes, and synthesizes responses into visual summaries and trend insights. Leaders gain a clearer picture of their teams — not just tasks, but tone.

Research and Insights

We conducted qualitative research across five enterprise teams, including:

  • Stakeholder interviews with HR, product, and team leads.

  • Voice diaries and feedback logs from pilot users.

  • Shadowed stand-ups and retros to understand real-world team dynamics.

Key findings

  • Employees prefer speaking over typing - it’s faster, more expressive, and feels more personal

  • Leaders need more than data - they need patterns, stories, and early warnings

  • Trust and psychological safety are essential - users want clarity on how insights are shared and used

  • We were able to build a system-driven approach to qualitative insights — translating unstructured voice input into repeatable, structured summaries that surface trends over time

Design Process

Our design process combined systems thinking with emotional intelligence:

  • Ideation & Flow Mapping - Structured around contributor and consumer roles

  • Rapid Wireframes - Mapping out conversation flows, prompts, and summary views

  • Voice Prototypes - Testing interaction models with real scripts and recorded input

  • Visual Design - A calm, neutral interface using optical and auditory metaphors

  • User Testing & Iteration - Conducted weekly sessions with test teams, refining tone and flow



Final Designs - The Clarity platform includes:

  • Voice Experience: A configurable, adaptable voice agent designed to deliver engaging conversations that adapt to participant communication style.

  • Insight Experience: A collection of adaptable output summaries made up of a mix of narratives, action items, and metrics. Able to deliver alternate outputs optimized for different team roles. 

  • Organization Intelligence: Group teams into organizational hierarchies that deliver insights across company siloes.  

  • Manager Tools: User interfaces to configure teams, initiatives, and routines. Easy navigation of Insights with graph connections to major entities.

Reflection

Clarity challenged us to rethink how organizations listen — not just at scale, but with empathy and nuance. Designing for voice meant balancing openness with structure, and building trust into every interaction. We had to go beyond simply capturing feedback to creating a system that interprets tone, flags uncertainty, and respects user intent.

One of the biggest lessons was that insight alone isn’t enough. Leaders need context, contrast, and continuity — the ability to see not just what’s being said, but how things are shifting over time. We found that even small design decisions — like how summaries are framed, or how language is softened — had a measurable impact on user trust and willingness to share.

This project reinforced the importance of blending qualitative depth with system-level thinking. It also reminded us that the best tools don’t replace human judgment — they amplify it.

Let's talk

Time for me:

Email:

james.seaborn@gmail.com

Reach out:

© Copyright 2025

Let's talk

Time for me:

Email:

james.seaborn@gmail.com

Reach out:

© Copyright 2025