Product Design & Research

Product design and research insights are about creating clarity in complex environments.

How design and research create value

Supporting better decisions
Design and research help teams move from opinion to evidence. By grounding discussions in customer insight and behavioural data, they reduce ambiguity and enable clearer prioritisation, trade-offs, and decision-making before teams commit to delivery.

Creating alignment across disciplines
In complex product environments, misalignment is often the biggest source of friction. Design plays a key role in aligning Product, Engineering, and stakeholders around shared understanding, goals, and constraints, helping teams move forward with confidence.

Reducing risk before delivery
Early discovery and validation surface risks while they are still cheap to address. Design and research help identify where assumptions may break down, where complexity needs managing, and where focus will have the greatest impact.

Making complexity usable at scale
As products grow, consistency and clarity become harder to maintain. Design provides the systems, patterns, and principles that allow teams to scale experiences without fragmenting journeys or slowing delivery.

Design and research in practice

Design and research are most effective when they are embedded into everyday product decision-making, rather than treated as a phase or handoff. I’ve typically worked in product organisations where design and research operate as part of squads, contributing throughout discovery, prioritisation, and delivery.

A core focus of this work is shaping the problem before solutions are explored. This includes framing the right questions, validating assumptions, and using insight to inform what should be prioritised, deprioritised, or left alone. The aim is not exhaustive research, but timely evidence that helps teams move forward with confidence.

I work closely with Product and Engineering to ensure discovery feeds directly into roadmaps and delivery plans. This often means balancing speed with rigour, and helping teams understand where additional clarity is needed versus where existing insight is sufficient to proceed.

Discovery and research at scale

Effective discovery and research provide context for decision-making, not just insight for its own sake. I’ve led research practices focused on helping teams understand customer needs, validate direction, and prioritise work that delivers meaningful outcomes for both users and the business.

This includes defining discovery priorities aligned to product strategy, segmenting insight by customer context, and ensuring findings are concise, relevant, and actionable. Rather than exhaustive reporting, the emphasis is on highlighting moments of friction, opportunity, and risk that inform roadmap decisions.

At scale, research needs to be continuous and accessible. I’ve been responsible for establishing the tools, processes, and rhythms that allow insight to flow into squads consistently, supporting prioritisation, iteration, and post-release learning.