Understanding the Whole Picture
Every project starts with curiosity. I ask A LOT of questions. Not just about the problem, but also about the ecosystem surrounding it. Before diving into research or analysis, I begin with stakeholder interviews to gain a clear understanding of objectives, constraints, and existing knowledge. This gives me the best chance to spot the right signals during competitive analysis and ask the right questions when conducting discovery user research.

Once I have gathered insights, I categorize findings into themes and distill them into user stories, flows, and personas. Here, I analyze pain points and opportunities, framing them into "How Might We" questions that guide the design process.

Balancing User Needs & Business Goals
User-centered design should never exist in isolation from business strategy. I believe in incremental improvements, ensuring that we identify and act on low-hanging fruit while making sustainable progress toward long-term goals.

This balance requires strong stakeholder communication. I advocate for the user, while product and business teams focus on overarching strategy. Aligning these perspectives means:

Prioritizing features that emerge from user research.
Communicating opportunity gaps found in discovery research.
Highlighting competitor implementations to identify market gaps.
Presenting clear opportunity costs and benefits within existing constraints.
By continuously iterating and aligning, we create products that are both user-friendly and commercially successful.

Collaboration & Cross-Functional Teams
Collaboration is at the heart of my process. Design is not a solo endeavor—great products emerge when UX designers, developers, product managers, and researchers work together.

However, collaboration doesn’t mean design by democracy. While everyone’s input is valuable, clear decision-making ensures efficiency and innovation. My goal is to foster a shared understanding of design thinking, where everyone feels heard and invested in creating the best possible product.

Iterating Based on Feedback
User research and usability testing provide valuable insights, but only if they are meaningfully integrated into the design process. I use an iterative approach, where testing informs refinements at every stage. Stakeholder feedback also plays a role in shaping the product direction. By continuously validating and improving, we ensure that the final product meets both user needs and business objectives.

Frameworks & Process
I follow the Double Diamond framework as a structured yet flexible guide:

Discover: Understanding the problem space through stakeholder interviews, user research, and competitive analysis.
Define: Synthesizing research into clear user problems and defining the project scope.
Develop: Exploring multiple solutions, prototyping, and testing concepts with users.
Deliver: Refining the final solution and working closely with engineers to bring it to life.

While I follow these four stages, I adapt them as needed based on project constraints. Design isn’t always linear, and sometimes we need to revisit earlier stages based on new insights.

Other Frameworks I Use
Beyond the Double Diamond, I also leverage:

Lean UX & Agile UX: Rapid iteration and collaboration with development teams.
Design Thinking: Problem-solving with empathy and experimentation.

Recently, I have also been introduced to the Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) framework. I'm particularly interested in the social and emotional drivers behind decisions. Understanding the functional and emotional motivations behind user behavior will complement the current frameworks I use as well as allow me to grow as a designer and better identify opportunity gaps in those spaces.

Continuous Improvement (Kaizen)
I believe in continuous improvement, both personally and professionally. The concept of Kaizen ("change for the better") resonates with me, as it aligns with iterative design—small, consistent refinements that lead to meaningful impact. Every project is an opportunity to refine not just the product, but also the way we work and collaborate.