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Product teams love to say they're "customer-driven" and "feedback-focused." But when you submit a feature request or complaint, what actually happens to it?
Welcome to the Mailbag from the Smarter Care Lab, where we open up real feedback from our product roadmap and give you honest answers. The wins, the work-in-progress, and the features we're not building yet (and why). Here's what we're addressing in this first edition.
Question 1: Why is everything so slow?
The feedback: "It's taking my carers 5 or 10 minutes to go through the tasks on the app. Why does everything take forever to load?"
The answer: It was slow. Past tense.
We recently completed a major upgrade to our Care Planning API (Application Programming Interface - a common language that lets different software systems communicate smoothly). The result?
- Old performance: Average 1 second load time
- New performance: Average 200 milliseconds
- That's 80% faster
Every carer uses this feature daily, and faster load times mean fewer connection failures on poor networks.
Question 2: What about GP Connect?
The feedback: "With the old system we had access to GP Connect which is helpful when doing health conditions. Why don't you?"
The answer: We do! GP Connect is live in Birdie.
GP Connect gives you instant access to GP records directly from Birdie Agency Hub. No more phone calls or chasing GPs for medication histories.
We also recently launched a CM2000 integration, the electronic call monitoring system mandated by many local authorities. Now you can work entirely in Birdie while data flows securely to CM2000 in the background.
Our vision? Birdie as your central hub where everything connects. We're always evaluating new integrations based on your feedback, so submit suggestions on our product roadmap here.
Question 3: Take me back to the old finance UX
The feedback: "Take me back to the old UX."
The answer: We hear you. Change is hard, especially when you've mastered a familiar workflow.
In September, we rolled out significant finance user experience improvements with more streamlined navigation and funding setup. The old system worked, but it was full of "landmines" - easy places to make mistakes. The new improvements removes those landmines.
Once adjusted, feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. But we also know we need to support change better. This was our first time using user-triggered testing, you may have noticed a period where you could switch between experiences.
Based on feedback, we added more training resources and improved onboarding. Change requires patience from our partners and better change management from us.
Question 4: Full control over templating
The feedback: "It would be great to have full control over templating instead of Birdie deciding the template."
The answer: The revolution is here. Power to the people!
Upgraded Rostering is coming soon, and flexible multi-week templating is a huge part of it. The old system didn't match how care coordinators actually think about scheduling. The new system gives you control, turn rostering from a weekly task into "one and done."
What you can expect:
- Multi-week templating: plan once, applied repeatedly
- 75% faster than competing solutions (based on early adopter data)
Some customers have early access and are saving hours per week. Full rollout is coming soon.
Question 5: Why not Google Maps?
The feedback: "Why don't you use Google Maps? These travel times are whack."
The answer: Fair question. Honest answer.
We currently use a different provider (GraphHopper), and you're right, the estimates aren't always accurate. We'd love to integrate Google Maps, but it's not our top priority right now.
We're a small team with limited capacity, currently focused on upgraded rostering and getting templating right. It's about solving the bigger problem first and doing fewer things well.
Keep voting on our product roadmap though, your votes genuinely shape our priorities.
Question 6: AI-powered assessments
The feedback: "It would be amazing if there could be something that has a transcribe function so that they can talk to client and gather info for care plan and then this can be inputted to the assessments super quickly."
The answer: This is EXACTLY what we're building.
Meet SmartPlans, our intelligent assessment assistant that turns conversations into care plans.
How it works:
- Record your client consultation in the Birdie app
- AI transcribes your conversation
- AI summarises it into an initial assessment
- You review and adjust, all within Birdie
SmartPlans could turn a 2-hour assessment into 20 minutes of review and adjustments. We're currently testing with select partners. Sign up to the Smarter Care Lab mailing list to stay updated.
Keep the feedback coming
Your feedback whether it's a question, suggestion, or frustration, helps us understand what matters most.
Got feedback or questions for the next Mailbag? Submit them on our product roadmap here. The product team reads every submission, and your feedback directly shapes what we build.
Want more transparent updates on what we're building? Visit the Smarter Care Lab for the latest from our product and innovation team.
Published date:
December 4, 2025
Author:
Rachael from Birdie
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