Building better products

Product Design Leadership
& UX Management

Product Design Leadership

I apply a design thinking model called the double diamond, popularised by the UK Design Council (see design process), which focusses on two main objectives:

  1. Build the right thing

  2. Build the thing right

Makes sense, right? Who wouldn’t build products this way?

The double diamond design process is a framework used by designers to solve complex problems and create innovative solutions. It consists of four stages: discover, define, develop, and deliver.

In the discover stage, we explore and gather insights to understand the problem and its context. In the define stage, we synthesize the findings and define a clear problem statement. The develop stage involves generating a wide range of ideas and prototyping potential solutions. Finally, in the deliver stage, we test and refine the prototypes to create a final solution.

The double diamond process emphasizes divergent and convergent thinking to encourage exploration and iteration, ultimately leading to more successful product outcomes.

Product Design Management

Applying the double diamond model to organisations is much more difficult than explaining it; it often requires cultural change, and mindset shifts. It also requires diligent ways of working that support this model: luckily it can work well with the Agile and Scaled Agile frameworks.

Managing product design in scaled organizations (500+ employees) requires a structured system to maintain a consistent level of product design standards + practices. Over time, I have developed a product design system, based on a mix of industry-standard systems & practices, to ensure a strong product design and innovation infrastructure.

Read about my UX Architecture approach to scaling product design.