Monzo Staff Weekly Q&A - Edward Woollard (Android Engineer - Savings Squad) 💵

[edwoollard (Edward Woollard)]

I’d actually have to say it’s ‘Split the Bill’. I know it’s not the biggest feature in the app for sure, but it’s definitely made a big impact to my experience. Both my partner and I have Monzo and prior to this feature, our chats would be filled with Monzo.me requests. Not only were they not trackable in the app, but they were also a pain to set up and send. I finally get back all the money I’m owed from her.

I think for me this had to be the Account tab. We had different implementations on both Android and iOS, iOS had horizontal swiping cards and Android had a big long list. We’re now finally getting these back in sync (but with platform niceties) and I’m really glad to be working on this as we speak. Pots have taken up far too much space on my screen for far too long.

I’d actually say not as much as this used to be. This used to be one of my biggest frustrations ever. However now we have ConstraintLayout, this means most screens scale well and stay in proportion to other elements on the screen. OpenSignal stated a few years ago that there was now 24,000 Android devices (admittedly I think only 16,000 odd have access to the Google Play Store) …that is not something I want to cater for. I think it’s important for Google to continue to provide tooling to developers that ensures this problem doesn’t fall onto us.

[edwoollard (Edward Woollard)]

This sounds like a bit of a cop out, but I’ve genuinely enjoyed everything I’ve worked on since joining Monzo and the Savings Squad. Although I have to say in terms of impact, it was pretty amazing to be able to help in offering savings/interest for the whole customer base. This is something that a lot of people were asking for as they expected it from a bank and it also ensured a lot more people went #FullMonzo, which we couldn’t be more excited for!

We’re always looking for more integrations so that we can give a great offering to customers. Hopefully we should see some more over the coming months. There’s also a lot more Pots excitement to come in the coming months. Hold onto your hat!

In general, I’d say no, I often see lots of adverts for banks starting to offer features we’ve offered for a long time. For the most part I think we are setting trends in the industry, so I’m actually more interested to see the amazing features released by other squads in the company, especially since I’m #FullMonzo. You’d be surprised how much is going on and how easy it is to be shocked when you hear of new internal features. One thing I do think is cool is Account Aggregation which I believe Barclays and possibly a few other banks now offer. I’ve mentioned this elsewhere in the thread, but I think it’s pretty powerful to be able to show someone all of their money in one place.

I think I just need to get this Account tab redesign done! Wouldn’t it be nice to see all of your money on one screen without scrolling.

[edwoollard (Edward Woollard)]

Interestingly although my squad does the majority of the Pots work, budgeting and managing bills doesn’t actually come under us. I’ve definitely heard a handful of things with regards to different approaches, but I have no idea what is actually going to be concrete and moving forward to all users. I think I’m just as excited about this as you are!

Back when I was applying to go to university, I had to make a choice in my head between Computer Science or Computing for Business (or similar). I ended up thinking very last minute that maybe it would be a good idea to fully study Computer Science and see where that took me, considering I was already pretty fascinated in my computer. Android development actually started as a thing on the side for me. Once I got accepted into university, I’d never actually done any programming before, so I wanted to start a project over the summer that would teach me a few things. I happened to have an HTC Desire back in the day, so it seemed like a good place to start. That love for Android development continued for many years until I left university and decided it was the career I wanted to pursue full time. For me there’s something about being able to create things from scratch. You can have an idea, develop it and then actually put your work onto peoples’ phones…that just really excited me; the possibilities are endless as there are so many Android users worldwide. My father is also a programmer and I know he was really keen for me to learn programming too, so that definitely helped early on as we could have lengthy discussions about different things. He’s taught me a lot over the years and that’s always been appreciated.

[edwoollard (Edward Woollard)]

I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I’d just really love to see the Account tab redesign finished. I know it’s not strictly Pots themselves, but it makes a huge difference in how we interact with them. This is something that I’m working on currently with my squad. The app has needed it for a while, especially as Pots have grown and grown in functionality. I don’t think back then we perceived Pots could be what they are today…they started as just a simple place you could put money aside to. The Account tab hasn’t really scaled that well due to these Pot changes and therefore it’s time for a new look. I’d definitely love for us to finalise on a way to manage bills with Pots though, that would be brilliant.

There’s lots more to come in Pot land over the coming months, so keep your eyes peeled! Lots of things to get excited about.

I’d love to hear what you’d want to see Pots bring to the table, we’re always looking for new ideas!

[edwoollard (Edward Woollard)]

Thanks for the questions everyone! This has been a really enjoyable experience and something I’ve wanted to do for a little while. It really looks like I’ve gone a bit overboard with my answers. Hope everyone is happy with them though. See you all around the community! Look forward to meeting lots of you in person one day and then we can have some proper discussions. Thanks also to @simonb for running this, it’s a great thing for us to do!

[jtaylor69 (Jordan Taylor)]

Hi Edward

Really appreciate the time you’ve taken to answer these questions and some really great insights into what’s already there, and also what’s to come.
As you know on Slack, I’m very excited to see the new accounts screen launch and can’t wait.

All the best and see you around!
Cheers

[tbowditch]

@edwoollard

I can definitely say I’m glad to have bitten the bullet now.

I can relate!

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Thank you for your answers! Very indepth