My name is Tom. I lead multi-disciplinary product development teams at the intersection between strategy and design, across consumer products, medtech, retail, FMCG and packaging.
I am passionate about empowering teams, fostering critical thinking, driving collaboration, hiring the right talent and investing in quality mentorship.
I currently work as a director at frog, a leading global product strategy and design firm. I also act as a product development advisor to Ocean Bottle, one of the UK’s fastest growing start-ups.
Previously, I have worked at other top product agencies, including The Alloy and DCA Design.
Belief
My belief is that innovation has the power to enhance people’s relationships with the world, with each other and with technology. To deliver it is essential to balance creative freedom with purposeful direction that speaks to people’s needs of today, but also their unknown aspirations of how they will want to live tomorrow.
After 15+ years of multidisciplinary product design and development, I have learnt that strategy and design can be ‘the difference’ and yet, to be different is not enough. Product experiences that people love must also be relevant and hold emotional meaning, and go beyond simply solving existing problems or current ‘user needs’.
There should be a dose of novelty that breaks the norm, speaks to a long-term compelling vision which redefines how and why we should use something. It should embody a new value proposition that interprets what is relevant and meaningful in a market in order to set a new direction.
Key skills
Project management
Product strategy
Creative direction
Team empowerment
Multidisciplinary collaboration
Critical thinking
Responsibilities
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Leading strategic programs with competitive insights and trends
Creation of strategic product visions, roadmaps and MVP features
Establishing quality standards aligned with goals and constraints
Driving user research, actionable insights and opportunities
Facilitating concept ideation and design for user value
Ensuring development aligns with design intent
Guiding user archetypes, journeys and product architectures
Establishing customer feedback loops for learning
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Bringing teams together and orchestrating collaboration
Empowering teams for best performance, timelines and harmony
Mentoring, guiding, and supporting growth with actionable feedback
Leading product team recruitment and serving as a hiring manager
Facilitating knowledge sharing through internal project share-outs
Creating and contributing to tools to upskill and align teams
Crafting new methods for sustainable product development
Facilitating global product communities to feel as one
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Bridge communication with key stakeholders (internal & external)
Project planning of activities, milestones and deliverables
Resourcing allocation of skills required across multiple projects
Management of project budget and delivery with profit margins
On-going project health checks to identify and mitigate risk
Proposal steering with compelling sector points-of-view
Expanding projects by identifying new client opportunities
Serving as a lead for offers and positioning in ‘Connected Products’
Brands
Award-winning, breakthrough products for international clients, from small start-ups to established global tech companies, helping them to build business value for scale.
