Services, deliverables, and outcomes.
I've been privileged to work with Dan across multiple organisations, he's a talented design leader, visionary, and drum and bass DJ.
ā What
Discovery and research
User-interface design (UI)
User experience design (UX)
Cross-functional collaboration
Senior stakeholder management
Workshop planning and facilitation
Preparing for organisational investment
ā How
Wireframes
User journey maps
Ideation workshops
Functional prototypes
User-interface designs
Programme funding pitches
Discovery workshops and synthesis
š Outcomes
Building on a foundation of user-centric digital transformation, Tesco boosted efficiency and satisfaction, optimising a Ā£15bn revenue stream by ensuring customers access the right products at the right time.
The client
Tesco isnāt just a household name, itās a global powerhouse.
Its Own Label ranks as the 24th biggest brand worldwide, generating Ā£15bn in sales which surpasses Adidas, Ford, and IKEA, generating Ā£5bn in profit. Tesco employ more than 330,000 colleagues supporting an infrastructure of 4,942 stores worldwide.
Unique own-label products
New products developed annually
Budget for new products annually
Managed on spreadsheets
Digital transformation at Tesco
Digital transformation is more than a necessity, itās a strategic evolution designed to enhance efficiency, agility, and decision-making.
The approach is built on four key pillars. Growing revenue by offering the right products at the best prices, building brand equity through innovation, boosting efficiency by reducing overheads, and adapting faster to market changes. These priorities drive better decisions, turning insights into proactive actions while strengthening internal governance.
Programme goals
Under the banner of Product Lifecycle Management our north star was to converge a diverse range of enterprise tools, integrating digital and operational capabilities across pricing, cost attribution, range setting, quality control, and new product development.
Shifting from fragmented systems to a human-centred solution, using data science to anticipate customer needs, ensuring the right product reaches them at the right time.
Behind the process
Challenges of a legacy system
Tescoās new product development relies on an internal enterprise tool called Develop, supporting 15 core user groups.
While powerful, Develop had its challenges. The complexity of the platform and supporting systems often made the process confusing and time-consuming. Many users struggled with its inefficiencies, compounded by a poorly designed interface.
A research-led approach to improvement
By focusing on user insights and validating needs with qualitative and quantitative data, the approach ensured design decisions relating to the governance process or wider experience were evidence-based.
Using the PACT framework, which considers People, Activities, Context, and Tools, helped define key themes. This was applied to human-centred design principles using the Double Diamond methodology.
Cross-functional collaboration
For the first time, governance processes were refined through collaboration with Product Managers, Engineers, Business Stakeholders, and Material Experts.
Penny the Product Developer
Penny represents the real challenges faced by product developers. She became an icon, she told her story, and she captured the imagination of stakeholders across the organisation. She is our primary user.
Discovery
Uncovering key challenges and opportunities
The discovery highlighted critical pain points, inefficiencies, and user needs impacting the business, product portfolio, and customer experience, with an estimated Ā£75 million in annual operational costs. To uncover key insights, themes were synthesised and refined into distinct user groups based on well-defined needs.
These groups provided a clear view of essential interactions, including workflow dynamics, cross-functional collaboration, governance structures, optimisation, and the growing need for data-driven design.
Pain points
An average project coordinates 30 people
A delay of 11 days costs Tesco Ā£25k in sales
All tasks are actioned via spreadsheets and email
Developers lack insight into their colleagues' tasks
7% of product lines get delisted shortly after launch
More effort goes into admin than actual development
Initiatives take 32 weeks from conception to supplier handover
Delays lead to rushing, compromising quality and missed sales
Each user handles 10-15 initiatives, 1,400 data fields, across 4 trackers, equalling 20,000 data entries.
Deep dive into user workflows and pain points
Group sessions and one-on-one interviews using a cognitive walkthrough approach uncovered key behaviours, pain points, and decision-making processes. Engaging suppliers, artworkers, manufacturers, and colleagues in planning and operations provided a comprehensive workflow overview.
Open-ended discussions identified inefficiencies, while real-world observations deepened insights. Structured discussion guides and active listening ensured meaningful, actionable findings.
Accountability is an issue and therefore timelines are not met
Teams are not able to leverage learnings and see past performance easily
The current workflow is inflexible to the point of blocking progress
Visibility of team progress is an issue at scale
Mapping the current state
The in-depth analysis revealed significant misalignment between the current workflow, systems, governance, and user support when compared to best practices. Cognitive walkthroughs exposed a fragmented and disjointed process, making it challenging to transition a concept smoothly from ideation to in-store presentation.
A single design file was often duplicated
Rigid logistics delayed swift modifications
Supply chain ordering lacked real-time data
Printing depended on an external third party
Each project relied on 10 separate spreadsheets
5 PowerPoint presentations led to inconsistencies
Artwork was stored separately, complicating access
Three internal systems operated with redundant code
Ideation
Defining the vision
During the develop phase, three strategic vision workshops were held with key stakeholders to define how the integrated Develop platform would align with Induct and Quality within the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) ecosystem.
These sessions shaped the enterprise suiteās vision, focusing on enhancing customer experiences through informed decision-making and seamless tool integration.
Outcomes
De-risk projects with unified, data rich approvals.
Track market trends, highlight and trigger new opportunities.
Deliver all projects on time with flexible project management.
Build on successes and learnings with performance monitoring.
Provide centralised insight and project collaboration for internal teams and suppliers.
Workshops
A series of co-design workshops with stakeholders and users uncovered key innovation opportunities. Using MoSCoW prioritisation, dot voting, and mock investment exercises, critical challenges were identified. Framing central problems, employing How Might We questions, Crazy 8ās, and the Anti-Problem technique. This approach ensured collaboration and shared insights drove product innovation.
Storytelling journeys
Storytelling the product story of over 80 million weekly customer interactions through videos and storyboards brought concepts to life. Co-creative ideation sessions with key user groups shaped user journeys and applied key narratives. Using pop-up paper prototyping from the SAP Culture Matters: The Innovation Culture Toolkit, these journeys were visualised and refined into a format everyone could understand.
Wireframing &Ā rapid prototyping
In Figma, a visual project management interface was designed with a clear hierarchy for instant project visibility. Multiple iterations were sketched, wireframed, and prototyped, each refined for usability testing. This process ensured a deeper understanding of user needs and validated whether the product effectively met expectations.
Storytelling
Achieving executive buy-In
To secure funding for Develop, I used evidence-based storytelling to create a compelling vision of its impact.
Storyboards illustrated the future experience, paired with financial projections to strengthen the case. I brought Penny, our Product Developer, to life through sketches, refining them into digital visuals with the help of a very talented UIĀ designer. This narrative-driven approach won executive support and inspired other programmes.
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Delivery
Reforming the governance process
A refined governance process became the backbone of each project, addressing a key challenge faced by Product Developers: limited visibility into ongoing work. Research revealed a gap in real-time insights, leading to the introduction of a notification centre. This feature flagged shifts in sales trends and logistical challenges, ensuring teams could act proactively.
By leveraging available APIs, Develop helped identify market trends, enabling informed decisions such as adjusting pricing or introducing new products based on market research.
Defining features
Collaboration was central to the platformās design, ensuring users stayed informed on project milestones while fostering seamless teamwork.
To reduce administrative overhead, auto-generated documentation and digital approvals streamlined workflows, allowing teams to focus on high-impact tasks. Supplier briefs were automatically generated and sent based on project criteria, while an embedded asynchronous chat facilitated real-time query resolution. A structured scoring system for supplier submissions further reinforced data-driven decision-making.
Daisy, the design system
One of the biggest challenges was simplifying and automating 20,000 input fields into essential datasets. To tackle this, the wireframes were built using Tescoās evolving internal design system, Daisy, which incorporated a variety of D3-powered charts.
As Daisy was in its early stages, it was deployed across multiple projects, with ongoing feedback driving continuous improvement and refinement of the system.
Usability testing
Testing focused on rapid iteration and continuous usability evaluation. Moderated one-on-one tests identified pain points, highlighting areas where users struggled. Sharing findings aligned stakeholders on evolving priorities, reinforcing user-centric design.
Observing Develop users in real-world interactions built empathy, ensuring each iteration refined the interface, improved workflows, and enhanced overall user experience.
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