Tools · 2026

Google Collabio

Plan a holiday together without the endless group chat.

Status
Shipped
Collabio planning a trip to Mallorca: a list of group suggestions with votes on the left, a satellite map with each friend's places pinned in the middle, and a live group activity feed with a selected beach and an I'm in vote on the right.

Group holidays get planned in the group chat. Dates, budgets, options and opinions, all buried somewhere up the thread.

Collabio puts the trip in one place. Add dates and a budget, propose places, vote, and see the shared plan with open decisions clearly marked.

Group planning is really a coordination service. A vote doesn’t resolve conflicting needs on its own, so the plan has to show the difference between a popular option and a confirmed decision.

Collabio is a personal project and isn’t affiliated with Google.

  1. Problem

    Group trips get planned in group chats. Dates, budgets, options and opinions end up buried somewhere up the thread.

  2. Research

    Planned: ask a small group to plan a low-stakes outing with it, and watch where they fall back to chat.

  3. Prototype

    A shared trip board: add dates and a budget, propose options, vote, and see a summary of what's decided. [Verify: what's built today]

  4. In people’s hands

    Next: test on a phone, with edit conflicts, late joiners, and someone who suddenly can't come.

  5. What happened

    The risk: voting can create a false sense of agreement while budget or dates are still unresolved. A popular option isn't a confirmed decision.

How I’m approaching it

The Double Diamond, as planned. Plans loop back once real people get involved, so this one does too.

  1. Discover

    Map how planning actually falls apart in a group chat.

  2. Define

    Frame the core problem as shared decisions, not shared lists.

  3. Develop

    Prototype options and voting.

  4. Deliver

    Test the whole group flow end to end.

  5. Define

    Rethink the status labels wherever votes read as decisions.

  6. Develop

    Improve mobile use and how the plan handles change.

UX practices

  • Shared visibilityOptions, votes, constraints and confirmed decisions, all in one place.
  • Conflict preventionBudget and date limits show up before the group commits to anything.
  • Responsive designQuick contributions from a phone, deeper planning on a bigger screen.

Service design

  • Decision mappingClear roles for who can propose, vote, decide and update the plan.
  • Exception pathsLate joiners, changed availability and options that break the group's limits.

Privacy notice