Skill Set

Skill set

I have spent my entire career (15+ years) working at the intersection of product, design and user research.

At times, I worked in very specific roles, focusing on either product management, strategic design or user research. However, more often than not, I have had to wear multiple hats.

As a result of the past 15 years, I have developed a comprehensive skill set, uniquely positioned for building great products and services.

Strategic Design

  • Strategic design is a discipline that uses design principles and approaches in order to understand markets, users and problems as well as to design and test new, innovative solutions.

    Strategic design as a practice is usually associated with the early phases of products and services. Strategic design precedes the practice of product management.

  • Strategic design usually involves the work associated with the early phases of a product, usually before there is even a clear understanding of what product or service should be made.

    Strategic design usually evolves into, or hands over to product management once the product gains clarity and becomes more tangible.

    Strategic design usually involves the development of an in-depth understanding of the space, users and their needs as well as the development of clear perspective regarding the solutions that could solve the needs and problems at hand.

    The discipline involves user mapping, value proposition design, feature identification and the development of early prototypes. The work often also involves designing the underlying business model.

    Strategic designers balance between two activities, the development of a point of view (using the activities mentioned above) and the testing of this point of view (using qualitative and quantitative research).

  • I have spent my entire career (15+ years) working at the intersection of product, design, business and research.

    As for strategic design specifically, I have spent the past 12 years leading strategic design work.

    This work sometimes evolved into product management, was sometimes handed over to a product manager and was sometime done in collaboration with product managers.

    • I have led the development of dozens of product initiatives.

    • I have developed multiple product and strategic design frameworks and templates.

    • I have led the consulting arms of a product and design agency (Fusion Labs).

    • I have launched and led my own product and design agency (Pebble).

    • I have helped organisations set up product and innovation labs.

    • I have helped many teams improve their product theory, frameworks and ways of working.

    • I have always been passionate about understanding problems, people and needs and thinking through innovative solutions.

    • I was first introduced to the concept of user mapping and researching during high school as part of my studies in Society and Culture. During this time, we learnt how to map out users, turn these views into assumptions, test these assumptions and then adapt our perspective accordingly.

    • During this time and following it (late teens and early 20s) I also volunteered for an organisation that specialised in developing immersive workshops for youth. It was also there that I learnt how to map out users better, think through user needs and experiences and iteratively develop impactful solutions.

    • In my early 20s I completed an undergraduate in Psychology at the University of Sydney. It was there that was introduced to social psychology, behavioural economics and various other psychological frameworks that help better understand people (and users).

    • Towards the end of my undergraduate degree I completed a semester abroad at Maastricht University where I participated in social entrepreneurship subjects that introduced me to more formal user, product and business frameworks.

    • Following my Psychology degree, I completed a Masters program in Management that strongly focused on human-centred design, entrepreneurship and innovation.

    • During this degree, I was introduced to new user, product and business frameworks building upon everything I have learnt thus far.

    • Throughout the degree a few students and I participated in and won a Deloitte business innovation competition with a concept for using passengers’ spare time on flights for user research.

    • Coming out of this competition we tried to turn the concept into a product and a startup applying the frameworks and techniques we have learnt so far.

    • I eventually decided to step away from the startup, realising the space was hard to penetrate and realising that there was a lot more I needed to learn.

    • Upon stepping away, I threw myself into theory, reading every possible book I could find on the topic of product, users and design. I also reached out to others working in the broad space of human-centred design, learning from their experience and frameworks.

    • During this time I did two exciting things. First, I joined a business innovation and design think tank in Antarctica. I was tasked with creating the program and putting together a team of designers and facilitators.

    • Following the think-tank, I joined a different startup, GoFar– a connected car startup that turns normal cars smart and sustainable. I spent my time there applying the frameworks and techniques I have learnt, to better understand the users and improving the product.

    • Next, I joined a product and design agency (Fusion Labs), first as a product lead and eventually as the head of strategic design (the consulting arm of Fusion Labs).

    • During my time at the agency, I led complex projects, developed the agency’s product and design frameworks and ways of working and mentored both internal and client teams.

    • After leaving the agency, I contracted as a product and design lead for a few years.

    • I worked for Boral as the product lead in residence helping them set up their product innovation lab as well as joined the ABC as a product strategy lead.

    • While this work was highly related to product management, it was equally related to strategic design, bringing designing principles, frameworks and techniques and helping teams better think through the space, understand their users and developing great solutions.

    • During this time I also started my own product and design agency, attempting to bring a new approach to the space of design-led innovation. My vision was to bring together the best of strategic design, product management, product design and user research into a coherent framework and approach.

    • I led multiple projects, mentored multiple teams, developed a handful of frameworks and templates and attained invaluable learning and experience.

    • Throughout this time I also started guest lecturing on the topic of product, users and ventures at the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands).

    • At the end of 2023 I decided to step away from the agency world and instead focus on working in-house, focusing on specific products long term.

    • In 2024, I joined the Department of Agriculture, the federal government agency responsible for overseeing Australia’s agricultural goods and exports. I have since focused on using the theory I have learnt and developed within my team and sharing it with other product and design teams throughout the department.

Product Management

  • Product management is a discipline that focuses on leading and managing the creation and constant evolution of digital products, whether brand-new or existing products.

  • Product management usually involves leading the product development process as well as running and managing the product team.

    Product management is usually occupied with developing a point of view regarding the user and their needs, the product, the features, the vision, the roadmap and the strategy.

    Concurrently, product management involves the coordination and leading of the team.

  • I have spent my entire career (15+ years) working at the intersection of product, design and research.

    As for product management specifically, I have spent the past 12 years officially leading and spearheading product work.

    During this time I have worked on both developing brand-new products as well as improving and innovating on existing products.

    • I have led the development of dozens of product initiatives.

    • I have developed multiple product frameworks and templates.

    • I have helped many teams and organisations set up and improve their product theory, frameworks and ways of working.

    • I have led the consulting arm of a product and design agency (Fusion Labs).

    • I have launched and led my own product and design agency (Pebble).

    • I have always been passionate about products, technology and innovation.

    • During my Undergraduate (Psychology at the University of Sydney) I participated in multiple entrepreneurial programs and competitions where I was first introduced to elements of product, buiness thinking, management and design.

    • Towards the end of the degree I completed a semester abroad at Maastricht University where I participated in a few subjects on entrepreneurship and was properly introduced to user, product and business frameworks.

    • Later, I completed a Masters degree in Management at the University of Sydney. The degree strongly focused on human-centred design, entrepreneurship and innovation. During this degree I was further introduced to user and product frameworks and theory.

    • During this time, a few students and I won a large product innovation competition that was run by Deloitte. As a result, my team and I tried to build a product and launch a startup around the concept with me leading the product management efforts. The Product was CrowdFlight– a digital platform that uses passengers’ spare time on planes for user and market research.

    • I eventually gave up on the startup but fell in love with the process of creating digital products.

    • Next, I joined another startup, GoFar– a connected car startup that turns normal cars smart and sustainable. My role involved assisting with product management work, better defining our users and product offerings, improving out product experience as well as leading go-to-market efforts.

    • In my next chapter, I joined a product and design agency that focused on helping organisations launch new products, services and ventures. The agency was called Fusion Labs and was considered to be one of Sydney’s leading product agencies, before Merging with Deloitte.

    • I first joined as a product lead responsible for leading client teams through high-intensity projects trying to launch new products and ventures. I eventually grew to lead the entire consulting arm of the business.

    • As part of my role I was responsible for developing our product and design framework and ways of working, mentoring client and internal teams as well as leading our more complex product initiatives.

    • Reaching a limit in terms of my learning and impact and believing there was a better way to do this kind of work, I decided to leave the agency.

    • I spent the next few years contracting as a product lead.

    • During this time, I became Boral’s product lead in residence, helping them launch their innovation lab, develop their ways of working and mentoring their teams. During my time there I also lead multiple product initiatives, one of them being Found, an on-demand concrete ordering and management app, which we referred to as ‘the Uber for concrete’.

    • For a while, Found was considered by many as one of Australia’s most successful examples of corporate digital ventures.

    • After Boral, I joined the ABC as a product strategy lead. I was tasked with improving their product and design process, developing a 3-year product and people strategy, re-thinking ABC’s product portfolio, exploring new product ideas and re-thinking the organisational product vision.

    • While working on these contracts, I also started working on my own product and design agency— Pebble. My vision was to push the boundaries of the way product work was being done.

    • During this time I worked on developing and publishing product, design and research frameworks and mentoring internal and external teams. I also led various product initiatives working on both creating new products as well as improving on existing ones.

    • During my time running Pebble, I got to crystallise my product approach and grow immensely as a product manager, designer and researcher.

    • During this time, I also started guest lecturing on the topic of products, users and ventures at the University of Maastricht, The Netherlands).

    • At the end of 2023, I decided that I wanted to step away from the agency side of product work and instead move in-house, focusing on one specific product at a time.

    • Following this decision, I joined the Department of Agriculture, Department of Agriculture, the federal government agency responsible for overseeing Australia’s agricultural goods and exports.

    • I was placed into a team that was tasked with building internal platforms for the department. I would go on to spearhead the development of a brand new internal platform that oversees all of Australia’s agricultural goods, exports and business entities (~80b worth of goods and exports).

    • Currently, I’m still working at the department, now working on taking a very old but important platform and re-thinking and re-designing it for the modern age. The system oversees all of Australia’s agricultural production and is considered to be be the beating heart of the department.

User Research

  • User Research is a discipline responsible for developing an understanding of users and products through the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques.

  • User research can take various forms. It can start with a process of open discovery, trying to learn enough in order to then form a point of view.

    It can also take an existing point of view, break it into assumptions and put these assumptions to the test.

    The process then continues by synthesising the findings and iterating the initial perspective based on what you have learnt.

  • I have spent my entire career working at the intersection of product, design and research.

    As for user research, I have spent the past 12 years leading and spearheading user research work.

    In my experience, user research was usually involved in broader product and design work that I have been responsible for, though at times, I have taken up the role of the user researcher properly.

    • I have run over 1000 user interviews.

    • I have developed multiple templates and frameworks to better help run user research.

    • I have helped many teams and organisations either set up or improve their user research work.

    • I have led the consulting arms of a product and design agency (Fusion Labs), which involved a lot of user research work as well.

    • I have launched and led my own product and design agency (Pebble).

    • I have always been passionate about understanding problems, people and needs and thinking through innovative solutions.

    • I was first introduced to qualitative user research during high school as part of my studies in Society and Culture. During this time, I was introduced to frameworks of qualitative research which included user interviews, user immersions and observational research.

    • In my early 20s, I completed a Psychology degree at the University of Sydney. During this time I was also trained in research framework thinking in general, learning how to break points of view into clear, testable assumptions. I was also trained in quantitative research. Learning during this time complemented and built on an evolving user research skill set.

    • Following my Psychology degree, I enrolled in a Master of Management at the University of Sydney. It was there that I was first introduced to the space of human-centred design and was re-introduced to user interviews and qualitative research.

    • During this time, I started applying these frameworks and techniques to create a product and later a startup (CrowdFlight). The concept came out of a business competition that a few students and I participated in and won.

    • I eventually decided to step away from the startup, thinking that there was a lot more I needed to learn.

    • Upon stepping away, I threw myself into theory, reading every possible book I could find on the topic of product, design and user research. I also reached out to others working in the broad space of human-centred design, learning from their experience and frameworks.

    • I later joined a different startup (GoFar– a connected car startup that turns normal cars smart and sustainable). I spent my time there applying the frameworks and techniques I have learnt, to better understand the users and improve the product.

    • Next, I joined a product and design agency (Fusion Labs), first as a product lead and eventually as the head of product consulting.

    • During my time at the agency, I led complex projects, developed the agency’s product and design frameworks and ways of working and mentored both internal and client teams.

    • One common thread of the work during this time was user research, and by the time I eventually left Fusion Labs, I completed hundreds of user interviews, developed the agency’s research framework and mentored dozens of teams on how to conduct user research.

    • After leaving the agency, I contracted as a product and design lead for a few years. As mentioned in the product management journey, I worked for Boral as the product lead in residence as well as joined the ABC as a product strategy lead.

    • While this work was highly related to product management and strategic design work it also involved deep user research at every turn.

    • During this I also ended up starting my own product and design agency, attempting to bring a new approach to the space of design-led innovation. The vision was to bring together the best of product management, strategic design, product design and user research into a coherent framework and approach.

    • I led multiple projects, mentored multiple teams, developed a handful of frameworks and templates and attained invaluable learning and experience.

    • I also started guest lecturing on the topic of product, users and ventures at the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands). This included how to conduct impactful, efficient, user research.

    • At the end of 2023 I decided to step away from the agency world and instead focus on working in-house on specific products.

    • In 2024, I joined the Department of Agriculture, the federal government agency responsible for overseeing Australia’s agricultural goods and exports.

    • I have since focused on using the theory I have learnt and developed and the experience I have attained to apply to the work within my team. I have led the user research efforts across two product teams within the department.

    • I have managed to build an effective process to build, test and iterate upon our points of view regarding the users, the product and the space.