Product Strategy

 
 

Need help getting over that UX/Product hurdle? I’m here to help.

Leveraging over 20 years of experience in building user-centric products, my process provides actionable insights to enable products to increase value to users and unlock growth. I have deep experience in fintech, pharma/medtech, DTC, 2-sided marketplaces and logistics workflows as well as online communities and message boards. As a result I bring cross-industry insights and best practices to help startups grow and engage users.

While every engagement is unique my overall philosophy is best described as Determined Agency Design - allowing a combination of user and platform decisions to drive the user’s experience.

What is Determined Agency Design?

The key virtue of Determined Agency Design (DAD) is a balance between user and platform in determining an individual user’s experience. This balance matches a societal balance in transparency and agency Determined Agency Design allows the user to determine the amount of input and instances where algorithms and AI play a key in consuming content. DAD then gives the platform the opportunity to lean into algorithmic and AI generated UX when users are creating content. In my experience people tend to create content similar to the content they’ve created before, however for a more robust society users should experience content created outside of their bubble. Thus the balance between transparency and agency at the point of user/platform interaction inherent in Determined Agency Design.

The Engagement

A typical initial engagement lasts 6 weeks. The offering can also be divided into separate line items depending on the needs of the organization and can of course be extended if needed.

All interviews are recorded using Fathom and all recordings are made available to you.

  • Onboarding consists of a series of meetings with senior management and other stakeholders at the organization about the product being reviewed. These interviews form the initial lens through which a product evaluation occurs. The meetings focus on the following questions:

    • Tell me about your product.

    • Tell me about your target user base.

    • Tell me about your current users.

    • Tell me about what’s limiting your product.

    • Tell me what your product will be.

    1. Materials Review

      1. Gather and review all product materials available, including but not limited to:

        1. PRD

        2. Market Research

        3. User Interviews

        4. User Data

        5. Previous third party reports

        6. Product Roadmap

    2. User Interviews

      Similar to the Stakeholder interviews, these focus on the user’s experience with the product, diving into specific issues, needs and wants.

    3. UX Review

      1. User flow Review

      2. Product layout Review

    4. Design Reviews

      1. Design System Review

      2. Design Accessibility Review

  • Following the analysis a series of recommendations are compiled. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:

    1. A written document with all recommendations broken down by screen/step in the user flow.

    2. UX 

      1. Wireframes

      2. IA mapping

    3. Design 

      1. Accessibility recommendations

      2. Design system recommendations

    4. Product

      1. Roadmap recommendations

      Recommendations based off of user feedback and current roadmap/trajectory

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