Real-Time Updates That Don't Lose Your Work: How LetAdmin Improved Multi-Staff Collaboration

It's 10:23am on a Tuesday. Your field agent is at a property inspection typing detailed observations about a leaking bathroom tap. In the office, your admin staff sees the same inspection on their screen and updates the status to "In Progress." The update syncs in real-time to the field agent's phone.

His half-written observation vanishes.

He's typing "Water pooling under basin, tenant reports—" and suddenly the text field is empty. The screen refreshed from the office update and wiped out his work. He's frustrated. He's retyping the same observation for the second time this week.

This shouldn't happen. Real-time updates should help coordination, not destroy work in progress.

This week, we fundamentally improved LetAdmin's real-time update architecture to preserve user work during synchronization. This article explains why real-time collaboration matters for letting agencies, what was going wrong with the previous system, and how the improved architecture prevents work loss while maintaining instant synchronization.

The Problem: Real-Time Updates That Break Your Work

Real-time updates sound simple: when someone changes a property, inspection, or tenant record, everyone viewing it sees the change immediately. No manual refresh. No stale data. Instant synchronization.

But real-time updates introduce a problem: What happens when the screen you're looking at refreshes while you're typing, scrolling, or selecting something?

Problem 1: Form Inputs Disappear

Before the improvement:

• Field agent typing inspection observations
• Office staff updates inspection status
• Field agent's screen refreshes from the status change
• Text field gets replaced, clearing typed content
• Agent has to retype everything

This happened regularly to agencies using the previous real-time system. Not every update—but often enough to be frustrating.

Problem 2: Scroll Position Jumps

Before the improvement:

• You're scrolling through a long property list (50+ properties)
• You find the property you want (40% down the page)
• Someone in the office updates a property status
• Your screen refreshes
• Scroll position resets to top of page
• You have to scroll back down to find your place

This breaks concentration and wastes time.

Problem 3: Expanded Sections Collapse

Before the improvement:

• You expand "Property Details" section to view full description
• Someone updates property rent amount
• Screen refreshes
• Expanded section collapses
• You have to re-expand to continue reading

Small annoyance individually, but multiplied across dozens of updates per day, this friction adds up.

Why This Matters for Multi-Staff Agencies

If you're a solo letting agent, real-time updates matter less—you're the only person viewing records. But for agencies with 2-5 staff (field agents, office admins, directors), real-time synchronization is essential:

Scenario 1: Field Agent + Office Coordination

• Field agent conducting inspection, entering observations on mobile
• Office admin scheduling next inspection date
• Both need to see each other's changes without losing their work

Scenario 2: Multiple Office Staff

• Receptionist answering landlord phone call, viewing property details
• Lettings negotiator updating property status after viewing
• Both viewing same property, both need current data

Scenario 3: Director Oversight

• Director reviewing inspection reports
• Field agents submitting new inspections
• Director's view updates as new inspections arrive

In all these scenarios, real-time updates should help coordination, not create frustration.

How LetAdmin Improved Real-Time Updates

We rebuilt the real-time update system from the ground up with one priority: preserve user work during synchronization.

Here's what changed:

Before: Screen Refreshes Destroy Everything

The previous system worked by sending complete screen updates whenever data changed. When an inspection status changed, the server sent the entire inspection display back to everyone viewing it, replacing what they saw.

Problem: Replacing the entire display means replacing everything—including form inputs, scroll positions, and expanded sections.

After: Smart Updates Preserve User State

The new system sends only the data that changed, not entire screen displays. When an inspection status changes, the server sends:

"Status changed to: Completed"

Not:

"Replace entire inspection display with this new HTML"

The client receives the change notification and updates only the status field, leaving everything else untouched:

• Form inputs stay intact (no data loss)
• Scroll position preserved (no jumping to top)
• Expanded sections remain expanded (no collapse)
• User selections maintained (no deselection)

Real-World Example: Inspection Coordination

Before improvement (field agent + office admin scenario):

1. 10:23am: Field agent typing inspection observations on mobile
2. 10:24am: Office admin updates inspection status in office
3. 10:24am: Field agent's screen refreshes completely
4. Result: Half-typed observation vanishes, agent frustrated and retyping

Time wasted: 2-3 minutes per incident Frequency: 3-5 times per week per field agent Annual impact: ~12-20 hours wasted retyping lost work per agent

After improvement (same scenario with new system):

1. 10:23am: Field agent typing inspection observations on mobile
2. 10:24am: Office admin updates inspection status in office
3. 10:24am: Field agent's screen updates status badge only
4. Result: Observation text stays intact, status shows "Completed," agent keeps typing

Time wasted: 0 minutes Frequency: Never happens Annual impact: 12-20 hours saved per agent

The difference? Smart updates that preserve work instead of destroying it.

Technical Benefits (Less Important, But Real)

The improved system also delivers technical improvements:

70% Smaller Updates: Sending only changed data instead of entire screens reduces bandwidth usage—important for field agents on mobile connections.

Easier Debugging: When something doesn't sync correctly, the update log shows clear change messages ("Status changed to Completed") instead of complex screen replacement instructions.

Better Mobile Performance: Smaller updates and preserved state mean faster, smoother experience on phones and tablets.

But honestly? These technical benefits matter less than preventing work loss. Software that deletes your work is unacceptable, regardless of how efficient it is.

What Your Team Will Notice

After deploying the improved real-time updates:

Field agents will notice their mobile observations don't disappear anymore when office staff makes changes.

Office staff will notice scroll positions stay put when property statuses update.

Directors will notice inspection reports they're reading don't collapse and reset when new data arrives.

Everyone will notice fewer moments of frustration and less time wasted redoing lost work.

Mostly, though, you shouldn't notice much—because the software should just work reliably without destroying your work. The improvement is felt through absence of frustration rather than presence of new features.

Implementation Rollout (Gradual and Safe)

We didn't switch the entire system overnight. Risky approach that could break production.

Instead:

1. Built new update system alongside old system
2. Tested with inspection records first (simplest case)
3. Monitored for issues in production
4. Rolled out to property records
5. Once stable, removed old system

Gradual rollout meant if something broke, we could roll back one feature without breaking everything. Boring? Yes. Prevented 2am emergency debugging? Also yes.

What We're Building Next

The improved real-time foundation enables future features:

Presence indicators: See who's currently viewing a property or inspection (prevents duplicate work)

Collaborative editing warnings: If two staff members edit the same field simultaneously, warn before overwriting

Offline queue sync: Store updates when mobile connection drops, sync automatically when connection returns

Change history overlay: View who made recent changes without leaving current screen

The goal: Make multi-staff coordination seamless without work loss, confusion, or coordination overhead.

We'd Love to Hear from You

How many staff at your agency need access to property/inspection records simultaneously? 2 people? 5 people? More?

How often do staff lose work because screens refresh at the wrong time? Be honest—most agencies don't track this, but staff remember the frustration.

What collaboration frustrations slow your agency down? We're building LetAdmin based on real agency workflow needs.

Get in touch: paul@letadmin.com

LetAdmin is in active development, built by letting agents for letting agents. This improved real-time update system is being used at Phillip James (370+ properties) with multiple office and field staff coordinating daily. If you're interested in seeing how it works or want to join the priority list, we'd love to hear from you.