Design a time-off request and approval tool for office employees

Design a web app that employees at an office-based company use to request and book their time off. ```hint More than one person touches a booking Trace a single vacation request from the moment an employee thinks of it until it is approved and everyone who needs to know does know, then decide whose pain in that journey to fix first. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Is the customer the employer buying this for all its staff, so approving managers and HR admins are also users, or is it a tool an individual employee picks up? - What size of company should I design for: a single office of a few dozen people, or a company with offices in several countries and different leave rules? - Should the app connect to an existing HR or payroll system and to work calendars, or stand alone? - Which kinds of leave are in scope: only planned vacation, or also sick days and longer statutory leave? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A stated goal and a deliberate choice among employees, approving managers and HR admins - Pain points along the request, approval, team coverage and balance-tracking steps - A prioritized first version with a walk-through of its core flow - Success metrics, including at least one guardrail - Risks such as policy complexity, privacy of leave reasons and getting people to stop booking by email ### Follow-up Questions - Several people on a small team ask for the same week off. How should the product handle it? - How does the design change for a company with offices in several countries? - How would you get managers to approve in the app instead of replying to emails?