Blog

I’ve led or advised on the launch of over 30 digital products in the past two decades. From early-stage apps scrabbling for product–market fit, to established SaaS platforms plateauing after initial success, there’s one recurring pattern I see time and again: Teams...

Recently I was brought in to audit a dating application, with one huge caveat - for some reason the team couldn’t get access in time to any dashboards, activations rates, retention curves, drop-off funnels. Nothing! Being able to see the shape of a user journey in...

I’ve always thought of myself as a product designer or strategist at heart and wound up a CPO almost by accident. Over the last 20 years the world of product development has accelerated rapidly as a discipline. Designers from 20 years ago found themselves taking on...

Whilst Figma has been around for years, I saw design teams fall in love with it and ditch Sketch in droves during COVID. Long story short, the UI always felt more intuitive to me but the browser based collaboration was a game changer. Whether you’re tired of it or...

Why Evidence-Based Research is Crucial for Health Tech Products — Even Lifestyle Apps Whilst working with a stealth start up recently we found in early stage research with potential users that they wanted evidence based content. There was some pushback on this as it...

With Ai being such a buzzword in health tech in 2025 I hark back to my days at Healthily where I quoted Garry Kasparov from his brilliant talk at WebSummit 2018 where he enthused about AI alternative definition as: ‘Augmented Intelligence’. I still stand by this -...

I remember a designer in a start-up I co-founded years ago would always ask about our exit strategy. Being one of the first employees he seemed obsessed with the potential to cash out if the company was sold. A few months in we had a great discussion. I discussed...

XR is moving fast. I remember seeing IKEA’s ‘Space’ product years ago and it made total sense. Cut to today and there are tons of great XR design examples - all designed to enhance our experience in what problem is being solved. Product design is constantly evolving,...

AI and LLMs like ChatGPT are revolutionising the world of product design (Amongst other things!). Whether you’re sketching wireframes, crafting user journeys, or iterating prototypes, these tools can really help for speed, creativity, and efficiency. Here are just...

  In 2010, designer Harry Brignull coined the term dark patterns to describe user interface (UI) designs that deliberately manipulate users into taking actions they might not otherwise choose. Over a decade later, dark patterns are widespread in product design...

As a product person with over two decades of experience, I’ve witnessed product roadmaps evolve from static plans to dynamic tools for alignment, prioritisation, and storytelling. I've also seen insanely detailed and unrealistic roadmaps with ludicrous stretch goals...

I love minimalism, I hate clutter. I love the gov.uk website for example - it really IS the best place to find government services and information. I find the design beautiful. It is so simple but the UX and UI work well together to create the path of least resistance...

I guess it had to happen in the design world at some point. Much in the same way that tech teams have moved away from hardcore Scrum, the one size fits all approach to development in the design world is also undergoing something of a renaissance. Frameworks are great...

Amazingly I see product teams continue to ignore or pretend accessibility standards don’t exist when building mobile applications. One of the most important foundations of any product team should be diversity, inclusion and a deep understand of accessibility...

When I started out as a product designer many years ago I never imagined that one of the most wonderful aspects of the world of product management and leadership would be storytelling. It became apparent to me that the glue that helps teams work wonderfully together...

I remember the transition to Figma a few years ago. Facilitated and encouraged almost by remote working, COVID and a need for better online collaboration, Figma is now the go-to for so many design practitioners. Design systems have become a critical part of modern...

Although no-code or low-code platforms have risen to prominence over the past few years I have fond memories of using some of the first variants over 25 years ago! Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks were my go-to when I wanted to build websites in my twenties....

A while ago a service designer told me about an incredible music app start-up she was working on. The app in question was well funded and had some of the smartest minds on the project. From kick off, the team set about building a raft of incredible features that wowed...

It is amazing to think that Design Sprints were first introduced by Jake Knapp over 10 years ago! Once the buzzword in product teams as a surefire way to bring cross-functional teams together for successful ideation, I often get asked about the relevance of design...

I remember reading ‘Trillion Dollar Coach’ and being fascinated by Bill Campbell and how he coached some of the world’s greatest leaders. Something I realised later in my career in product is that continuous learning allows us as leaders to both take and receive...

I’m late to the party on this one but I recently started watching HBO’s brilliant series ‘Industry’. The premise ‘Young finance graduates venture out in the cut-throat competitive world to get a job during the recession times that followed as a result of the 2008...

It seems that every few months there are a bunch of shiny new tools to help us build products, design stuff or manage projects or teams. What’s your go-to stack for product management / development? Over the past few years remote work has been thrust to the fore....

We’ve all been there - you work tirelessly for months (or even years!) on the most groundbreaking new product or release but as soon as users get their hands on it all hell breaks loose. There are so many stories of disastrous product launches but also quite a few...

I spent the last week with my 16 year old son on holiday. It was amazing to have that uninterrupted time with him and we spoke on so many subjects. Both my children have been brought up in North London and I love how this has shaped their values when it comes to...

Ring-fencing product managers from the realities of the business is no longer acceptable. It is not enough to task product leaders with vision and strategy remits without tying these closely to the overarching business goals. Additionally it is now imperative for...

'Product-led' has been such a buzzword in recent years. The story goes that product-led companies not only harness great work cultures but are also set up for commercial success by this very culture and way of working. But what does it mean to be 'product-led', and...

There have been so many analogies and directives around what the role of a product manager entails. One minute it is being 'CEO of the product' and then not, another being 'data-driven' or product-led and so on. In reality the role of product managers has become...