Replacing a staffed front desk with a designed welcome — and freeing the team for collisions and connections.
The problem, the objective, the working theory, and what's true about the project today.
The EC's front desk has been Mira's #1 operational pain point. The seat carried ~$40–50K/year in salary for a function whose visible work — answering visitor questions, routing guests, validating parking — is largely soluble by signage and self-service. Treena, who held the role, resigned May 21 with a last day of Friday, June 5.
Replace a staffed front desk with a designed welcome experience — wayfinding signage, self-service Nexudus check-in, a relocated iPad, a static welcome screen, an upgraded coffee setup, and a contract project manager to observe and execute. Test for 25 days (Phase One, Jun 8 → Jul 2). Run an extended observation window through ~December (the six-month "demo the front desk" horizon Sam set). Reinvest the headcount in a Finance & Facilities Coordinator — hiring in progress.
Most visitors are pre-coordinated, already check in via Nexudus, and don't need a person to begin the visit. What they need is clarity. The right tool for that is signage and self-service, not a static seat. The redesign frees staff for what Sam has named the project's narrative: collisions and connections — the relational work that actually moves the EC's mission. The frame is borrowed from Unreasonable Hospitality.
"Think of your org design as a product. Look for opportunities to make a step-function change by imagining the ideal state and working backward from that."
— Jonathan Golden, first PM at Airbnb · Lenny's Newsletter, 2019
Mira sent a team email on Treena's last day introducing the Phase One operating model and naming the core hypothesis publicly: "the biggest question we're trying to answer is whether we need full-time staffing at the front desk." Key elements of the rollout:
#front-desk-transition for questions, observations, and reports throughout the experiment.| In Scope | Out of Scope |
|---|---|
| Signage and wayfinding at the current main entrance | Permanent capital build-out (deferred until after ~Dec 8 horizon) |
| iPad / Nexudus kiosk relocation and prominence | HVAC, security, parking infrastructure changes |
| Welcome screen content (Google Slides v0) | CMS-driven digital welcome wall (Phase 2) |
| Coffee setup (Keurigs, pods, small fridge for creamer) | Member dues, pricing, or program changes |
| Annie's 3-week PM contract (Jun 9 – Jun 26) | Permanent staffing decisions beyond the Finance & Facilities Coordinator hire |
| Finance & Facilities Coordinator JD & hiring | Cafe-entrance pivot (parked; may revisit at six-month horizon) |
| Phone tree, mail flow, package handling, walk-in delight protocol | Public PR / media announcements |
| Member & team communications plan | Long-term naming / sponsorship arrangements |
One active phase, a multi-month observation horizon, and a six-month decision gate.
Test whether the current main entrance can function without a staffed desk — using signage, wayfinding, a relocated Nexudus kiosk, a static welcome screen, an upgraded coffee setup, and Annie as a 3-week contract PM observing and executing.
Steady-state operation with active learning. Finance & Facilities Coordinator hired and onboarded (~August). Weekly metrics review tapers to monthly. Continued iteration on signage, screen content, and operational details. Sam's framing: "we'll demo the front desk in six months" — meaning the lobby/entrance redesign is shown publicly as a finished decision, not a question, by ~Dec 8.
Who's involved and what they own. Authority specifics marked TBD are finalizing at the June 8 planning meeting.
What is RACI? A simple way to show who does what on a project. Each task or workstream gets one of four labels per person:
A working RACI prevents the most common project failure: "I thought you were doing that."
| Name | Role | Engagement | Scope at this stage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sam Davidson | CEO · Project sponsor | Strategic direction, escalation, final approvals | Project sponsor. Sets direction. Final decision authority on cross-team disputes. |
| Mira | COO · Project beneficiary | Facility & budget authority. Events on-site greeting. | Owns facility decisions, budget approvals, vendor contracts. Greets event hosts personally. |
| Rob Williams | Director of Marketing · Project owner | Phase One execution, signage, messaging, briefing maintenance | Owns project execution. All signage, copy, screen content, member comms drafts. Maintains this briefing and the Change Tracker. |
| Annie Klaver | Contract Project Manager | 3 weeks: Jun 9 – Jun 26, ~20 hrs/week onsite | Operational execution, observation, process mapping, documentation. Roving onsite — not at a desk. Will write the staff manual that doesn't exist. Talks to members casually as part of observation. Authority: TBD Jun 8 planning meeting. |
| Danny Pippin | Program Manager · Trea's supervisor | Member-experience voice | Voice on member perception, guest experience, lead/closure approach. Scope per Sam: not technology or process intervention. Authority: voice, not vote — TBD Jun 8. |
| Trea McCoy | Community Manager | Tours, consultations, direct member relationships | Primary tour-giver and closer. Owns 100% of consultations. Member-by-name relationships. Continues 1:1 conversations with named members during transition. |
| Finance & Facilities Coordinator | To be hired | Full-time hire, target August start | Facilities, bookkeeping, event venue rental pipeline. Backup for front-of-house "as needed." Not in seat for Phase One launch. |
The RACI matrix lives in a Google Sheet so the team can edit it in real time.
Workstreams down the rows, people across the columns, color-coded by role. Cells marked TBD are finalizing at the June 8 planning meeting.
Live link: to be added once the sheet is live.
The next 30 days and the six-month horizon.
| Date | Milestone | Owner | Detail |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fri · Jun 5 | Treena's last day · send-off | Sam + Mira | Public thanks at team huddle. Card. Send-off moment. |
| Mon · Jun 8 · 10:00–12:00 | Phase One launch + Planning meeting ★ | Sam, Annie, Mira, Rob | Authority map (RACI), Annie scope in writing, Danny scope in writing, escalation rule. The meeting that converts working assumptions into commitments. |
| Mon · Jun 8 | Member email + Slack pin | Mira (email) · Rob + Community Manager (Slack) | Mira's email and Slack pin go out. Unreasonable Hospitality framing. No apology. |
| Tue · Jun 9 | Annie onsite — week 1 begins | Annie | 10–2 daily Tue–Fri. Process mapping, observation, staff manual drafting. |
| Wed · Jun 10 | Day-3 member check-in | Rob | Quick Slack/email pulse: "Three days in. What's working?" |
| Wed · Jun 11 | Rob + Annie working session ✓ | Rob + Annie | Signage priorities locked. A1 pedestal redesigned two-sided. A2 directional gets Stairs + Staff. Phase 0.5 (affirmation easter eggs, Nashville touches) captured. Digital pre-arrival layer scoped. Capital concierge language flagged. |
| Mon · Jun 15 | Annie week 2 begins | Annie | Mon 9–1 (East Bank meeting at 2pm). Tue 9–12. Wed–Fri 10–2. |
| Thu · Jun 18 | Signage install target ★ | Rob + Big Visual Group | All Phase One signage installed (pedestal, directionals, floor decals, door decals, posters). Last working day before Juneteenth closure. |
| Fri · Jun 19 | EC closed for Juneteenth | — | Building closed. No new sign visibility yet from members. |
| Mon · Jun 22 | Annie week 3 begins | Annie | 10–2 daily through Fri Jun 26. |
| Fri · Jun 26 | Annie contract ends | Annie | Final deliverables: observation report, staff manual draft, process map. Decision: renew or close. |
| Wed · Jul 2 | Phase One gate review | Sam + Mira + Rob | Are exit criteria met? Move to extended observation window or iterate Phase One. |
| Throughout June–July | Finance & Facilities Coordinator hiring | Sam + Mira + Rob | JD posted post-Jun-8. Best candidates 2–3 weeks to surface. Target start: August 1. |
| ~Aug 1 | Finance & Facilities Coordinator starts | Mira (manager) | Onboarding into the redesigned model. Inherits the operating manual Annie drafted. |
| ~Dec 8 | Six-month "demo the front desk" horizon | Sam + leadership | The lobby/entrance redesign is shown publicly as a finished decision. Phase 2 considerations begin (cafe pivot, permanent signage, digital welcome wall). |
What's decided and what's still open. Open items surface at the top.
Three distinct QRs go on Phase One signage: (1) Member check-in, (2) Visitor check-in, (3) Parking validation. Confirm each one resolves to the correct flow before sending art to Big Visual Group.
Annie flagged that the "capital concierge" framing isn't clear enough to put on signage. Rob to talk to Amy (Director of Engagement) before any sign uses the term.
Sign list is locked at 26 items in the signage tracker. Need vendor quote against the install-by-Jun-18 deadline. Big Visual Group is the primary vendor.
Annie maps current door access (who has keys/codes for which doors, when each door is open vs. locked). Findings inform signage implications — particularly which doors need "Staff Only" treatment vs. open-flow signage.
Annie experiences the member self-check-in herself end-to-end. Tests the friction point most members will hit. Findings inform the QR sign copy and the member email language.
Floor/wall affirmations ("you're not alone," "build together") and Nashville/Music City visual touches to break up text-heavy signs. Not in Phase One budget but a near-term enhancement.
Beyond physical signage: program the entry monitor (Airtame/Google Slides) to show org name + event room + parking validation 30 min before/after each event. Build a dedicated webpage for renters that fills the pre-arrival info gap. Both deferred from Phase One signage scope but on the radar.
Working assumptions are in Section 3. The meeting converts them into commitments — particularly cross-team escalation and the boundary between Annie's execution authority and Mira's facility authority.
What Annie owns vs. recommends vs. observes. Contract closes Jun 26 unless renewed. Contract fee confirmed.
Sam's stated framing: "member-perception POV, not technology or process intervention." Operationalize as: cc'd on member-facing comms drafts, can flag concerns, no veto on tour process unless Sam escalates.
When two stakeholders disagree and can't resolve in 24 hours, decision goes to Sam. Without this, ambiguity stalls Phase One.
Treena currently witnesses cash drops to mailbox #216. Unsupervised drops are a security exposure. Direct conversation needed before Jun 8.
Treena suggested raising the basic tier to allow 1–2x/week drop-ins. Not a Phase One decision. Park for leadership review.
Contract fee TBD. Operational execution + observation + documentation. Roving onsite.
Voice on member perception. Scoped to NOT include technology or process intervention.
$50–60K. 50% finance/bookkeeping + 50% facilities + event venue rental pipeline. Reports to Mira. Target August start.
Saves ~$3K/year. "We lost the privilege."
Anchor line: "freeing staff for collisions and connections." NOT cost-savings framing. Governs Mira's Jun 8 email, all-hands brief, weekly newsletter, signage copy, member Slack pins.
Two daily anchor shifts (Morning 7:45–9:00, Evening 4:15–5:15) signed up for by staff. Custom coverage blocks outside anchors. "Unattended Experiment" for unclaimed gaps. Mira's team email Jun 5 introduced the model and the new #front-desk-transition Slack channel.
Trea stays primary tour-giver and closer. Walk-in volume is too low to justify a tour-trained hire. Walk-ins handled via signage routing + delight protocol.
$18/hr coverage for ~1 walk-in/month is bad ROI. Phase One: signage routes walk-ins to Trea via Slack. If Trea unavailable: Crema coffee voucher + scheduled callback.
Current state already 0%. Don't pretend otherwise. Build toward gamification culture later.
Two existing Keurigs. Variety pack pods. Small fridge for creamer. Trust members.
Members use the Passport app. "Never should have started doing it."
"The desk itself signals come stand here, which is the wrong behavior."
Language around the action, not the place. Guest Services, Welcome, Concierge.
Declined the program team role. Cleaner narrative for the redesign — vacancy reframes the role, not the person.
What could go wrong and how we're guarding against it.
| Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decision-authority ambiguity. Adding Annie and Danny without clear authority creates friction, decision latency, ownership gaps. | High | High | Jun 8 planning meeting must produce written RACI + escalation rule. Section 3 of this briefing updated immediately after meeting. |
| Scope creep on Danny's voice. Sam scoped him to member perception. Danny's existing concerns (tour quality, lead/closure structure) pull him toward process intervention. | Med | Med | Scope in writing at Jun 8 meeting. Escalation rule kicks in if Danny pushes outside scope. |
| Tribal knowledge loss. Treena held vendor relationships, member quirks, recurring patterns. | High | Med | Knowledge capture form completed Jun 4. Specific workflows surfaced and assigned. Annie drafts staff manual during her 3 weeks. |
| Event chaos. 50+ guest events arrive at desk-less entry; Ingram Hall not immediately visible from cafe; people wander. | Med | Med | Event arrival attendant for 40-min window for 50+ events. Mira remains on-site greeter. |
| Brian Lee Nash cash-drop workflow. Walk-ins drop cash to mailbox #216 today with desk staff witness; unsupervised drops are a real security exposure. | Med | High | Direct conversation Rob/Sam → Brian before Jun 5. Redirect to his office or eliminate the workflow. |
| Decluttering function lapses. Treena's daily organizing stops; clutter accumulates visibly. | High | Med | Owner assigned by Jun 8 (Annie or rotation). Weekly visual audit. Annie's staff manual codifies the routine. |
| Specific-member workflow drops. Bill's Friday meeting, Masheka's envelope pickups, Aidan's paper, Jessica's notary visitors, Yeji's team, Jacob's late stays. | Med | Med | Each surfaced in knowledge capture, captured in Change Tracker, with direct 1:1 outreach before Jun 5. |
| Member backlash. "You stripped the front desk." | Low | Med | Mira's email frames it honestly: Treena's choice, new direction, Unreasonable Hospitality. Weekly newsletter through Jul 2 reinforces. |
| Annie's window ends without a successor. Phase One observation runs into August before the Coordinator starts. | Med | Low | Annie's staff manual + observation report are the handoff artifacts. Rob covers operational continuity Jun 27 → ~Aug 1. |
Things we don't yet know — and the meeting, data, or conversation that will resolve them.
RACI for cross-team escalation, Annie scope, Danny scope, escalation rule. All marked TBD in Section 3 until this meeting.
Raise basic membership tier to include 1–2x/week drop-ins (vs. current 1x/month). Not a Phase One decision; parked for leadership review.
The core Phase One hypothesis. Annie's observation report at Jun 26 is the primary data input. Gate review Jul 2.
Current work items, sorted by Phase One launch dependency. Live tracker in the Change Tracker Google Sheet (see References).
| Deliverable | Owner | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Desk + chair physical removal | Facilities + Rob | To do | Professional removal Jun 6–7. |
| Standing wayfinding sign + floor stickers + window decals | RJ Young / FastSigns | In progress | Backup vendor activated if RJ Young can't deliver. |
| Most-asked questions signage | Rob + vendor | To do | Bathrooms, cafe/coffee, wifi, parking, member lookup. |
| Static welcome screen content (Google Slides v0) | Rob | To do | 5-block rotation. |
| Nexudus iPad relocation | Rob | To do | Unavoidable position with "Here to see someone? Start here" sign. |
| Coffee setup — Keurigs out, pods, small fridge | Rob + Operations | To do | No announcement. |
| Phone tree configuration | Rob | To do | Branches: membership, events, accounting, voicemail-to-info@. |
| Tour-confirmation email footer update | Rob | To do | "Feel free to wait in the cafe…" |
| Mira's Jun 8 member email | Rob (draft) → Mira (send) | To do | Unreasonable Hospitality framing. No apology. |
| Slack pin + community manager coordination | Rob + Community Manager | To do | Pinned Mon morning. Daily reinforcement during launch week. |
| 1:1 conversations with named members | Rob + Mira + Trea | Urgent | Bill, Masheka, Jessica, Aidan, Yeji, Jacob, Brian Lee Nash. |
| Password migration to Keeper | Rob + Operations | Urgent | Credentials currently stored "behind the keyboard." |
| Confirm anchor shifts claimed for week 1 | Mira | To do | Morning + Evening Anchors signed up by team via shared Front Desk Schedule calendar. |
| Deliverable | Owner | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 8 planning meeting — written RACI, scopes, escalation rule | Sam + Mira + Annie + Rob | Urgent | 10:00–12:00. Briefing Section 3 updated immediately after. |
| Website contact form routing audit | Rob | Urgent | Connect / Consultation / Contact / Room Rental — confirm or redirect. |
| Walk-in delight protocol — Crema partnership | Rob + Trea | To do | Coffee voucher + scheduled callback. |
| Black Chamber Friday — standing reservation in LBMC | Operations | Urgent | Recurring booking for Bill McCleskey. |
| Annie onboarding handoff | Rob | To do | Briefing access, Change Tracker access, project folder tour, Mon Jun 8 kickoff. |
| Marketing materials handoff inventory | Rob | Urgent | List every recurring one-pager, deck, template Treena owned. |
| Opening/closing checklist (formal protocol) | Annie | To do | From Treena's 5-step open + 5-step close routine. |
| Decluttering ownership assignment | Sam + Mira → Annie / rotation | Urgent | Treena's hidden daily work. |
| Weekly member newsletter — issues 1, 2, 3 | Rob + Community Manager | To do | One per week through Jul 2. |
| Day-3 + Day-10 + Day-20 member pulse checks | Rob | To do | Light Slack/email touches. |
| Phase One metrics dashboard (Google Sheet) | Rob | To do | Weekly tracker for Section 9 metrics. |
| Deliverable | Owner | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process map — guest arrival end to end | Annie | Pending kickoff | Including the "press a button → who gets alerted" flows. |
| Staff Operating Manual — first draft | Annie | Pending kickoff | Doesn't exist today. Annie creates from observation + Treena's knowledge capture + Front Desk 101. |
| Observation report — friction points + recommendations | Annie | Pending kickoff | Final report Jun 26. Feeds the Jul 2 gate review. |
| Member conversations log | Annie | Pending kickoff | Casual observation, not formal survey. Themes summarized weekly. |
| Deliverable | Owner | Status | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Finance & Facilities Coordinator — JD post | Sam + Mira | To do | JD finalized Jun 4. Post window opens Jun 8. |
| Sourcing & interviews | Sam + Mira + Rob | Pending JD post | 2–3 weeks to surface candidates. |
| Onboarding plan + first 30 days | Mira | Pending hire | Inherits Annie's staff manual. |
"Measure less but track more." Sam's framing.
| Metric | Target | How we measure |
|---|---|---|
| Wayfinding complaints (visitor or member) | ≤ 2 / week | Slack channel, member emails, Trea's tour feedback |
| iPad self-check-ins as % of visits | ≥ 80% | Nexudus check-in data |
| Walk-in tour handoffs (Slack ping → Trea or scheduled callback) | ≥ 90% of walk-ins resolved | Slack channel + Trea log |
| Event arrivals without confusion | ≥ 95% of guests find their room within 60 sec | Mira + event host observation |
| Coffee usage (pod consumption) | Track baseline, watch for runs | Operations supply log |
| Member sentiment (informal) | Net neutral or positive | Annie's casual conversations + Trea/Mira anecdotal |
| Phone calls handled without a human | Track baseline | Voicemail count vs. forwarded |
To move from Phase One to extended observation, all of the following must be true:
If any fails, iterate Phase One before advancing.
Who hears what, when, and from whom. Frame: Unreasonable Hospitality.
| Audience | When | Who delivers | Message |
|---|---|---|---|
| EC team — Front Desk Schedule rollout | Fri Jun 5 · sent | Mira (email + #front-desk-transition Slack) | Introduces the Phase One operating model. Names the core hypothesis (full-time staffing question). Establishes Morning & Evening anchor shifts, custom blocks, and the "Unattended Experiment." Asks team to claim shifts via the shared Front Desk Schedule calendar before Monday. |
| Trea + Danny | This week + ongoing | Rob + Sam | Concerns acknowledged. Walk-in protocol, event attendant, signage in flight. |
| Annie | Mon Jun 8 · 10:00–12:00 | Sam, Mira, Rob | Project context, working assumptions on her scope, what to observe in week 1. |
| EC members | Mon Jun 8 morning | Trea (email) | Unreasonable Hospitality frame. "Freeing staff for collisions and connections." No apology. |
| EC members (weekly cadence Jun 8 – Jul 2) | Weekly newsletter + Slack | Rob + Community Manager | Weekly during Phase One. Reinforce changes, highlight what's working. Tapers back to monthly after Jul 2. |
| Specific members with 1:1 workflows | Before Jun 5 | Rob, Mira, Trea (split) | Brian Lee Nash (cash drops), Bill McCleskey (Friday standing), Masheka Turner (envelope pickups), Jessica Cammock, Yeji's team, Aidan Antonio Lay, Jacob Clark. Each gets a relevant, warm heads-up. |
| Vendors with Treena relationships | Before Jun 5 | Treena → Rob follow-up | "Treena is moving on. Here's your new point of contact." |
| Board / leadership | Next regular meeting | Sam | Brief update on the redesign and Phase One status. |
| Public / press | Not yet | — | Hold. Tell the story at the six-month "demo" moment. |
Expert thinking the project draws on. Use these in any conversation where the project gets challenged.
Applies here: We're not patching a desk — we're redesigning a function. Storyboard the ideal arrival, then place the fixtures.
Applies here: A static seat doing static work is a design failure. New scope automates routine work and redeploys to higher-leverage tasks.
Applies here: Hospitality at the EC means equipping members and staff — not a person at a door.
Applies here: Chesky brought hospitality into tech. We're bringing tech into hospitality — the warmth has to go up, not down. Unreasonable Hospitality is the through-line.
Applies here: Phase One isn't a launch — it's a pilot. Annie's observation is the data input that makes Jul 2 a real gate, not a checkbox.
Applies here: Phase One is fully reversible. We can move fast. The six-month horizon decisions are harder to reverse — slow down for those.
Project files and the live Change Tracker.
#front-desk-transition · Slack channel · Operational hub for questions, observations, and reports during Phase One.updates-060426/Finance & Facilities Coordinator Job Description (June 2026).pdfFront Desk-101.pdf — Treena's operational map of the role (Jan 2026)Treena Knowledge Capture-answers.md — completed Jun 4Treena Exit Interview.mdconsultations-tours/ — 2025 + 2026updates-060426/sam-call-060426.md, sam-rob-front-desk-060326.mdMember Comms Strategy.mdSource Library.md — verbatim excerpts from Golden, Winters, Modi, Conley, Baxter, ShahExecutive Summary.mdComparable Precedents.md — Industrious, Convene, Bell Works, Capital Factory, 1871Vendor and Cost Notes.mdThis briefing is the single source of truth for project state. The Change Tracker Google Sheet is the single source of truth for individual change execution. Edit ec-pages/ec-front-desk-redesign/index.html and push via GitHub Desktop → Cloudflare Pages deploys.