Listen
Start with people, context, behavior, and the language around the problem.
My 10-step design process
Mess in.
Meaning out.
A process isn’t a checklist that does your thinking for you. It’s a shared language that helps a team ask the good, cheap questions before the expensive answers show up.
Map
Externalize the system: actors, constraints, moments, flows, and unknowns.
Frame
Turn broad mess into a precise problem worth spending energy on.
Research
Test assumptions with users, data, competitors, and adjacent systems.
Prioritize
Choose the smallest meaningful intervention, not the smallest possible feature.
Explore
Generate multiple structures before polishing the first idea that appears.
Prototype
Make the risky parts tangible enough to challenge and understand.
Validate
Watch what people do, not only what they say they would do.
Systemize
Create patterns, language, and documentation that support the next decision.
Ship & learn
Release with intent, measure reality, and feed the learning back into the system.
The operating principle
Clarity is a
team sport.
A good process makes evidence visible, decisions easy to follow, and collaboration less painful. It should bend when it needs to, without turning into wallpaper.