Start with why

Understand why we're trying to do what we're trying to do.

Design for real people

Be conscious that the thing the products you're designing and delivering is going to be used by real people, this means we need to ensure that it's been tested with real people and that we stay engaged with real people after the product is delivered. Context is also key here, testing something in a usability lab is ok but there is no substitute for people using the product in their context.

Be courageous, make decisions, move forwards

It's important as a Product person that we move forward with our products to get them live, this will require at times to make decisions based on evidence but it won't be absolute guarantee. It's better to build consensus but sometimes a Product person needs to make a decision to move forward.

Test whats important

We have finite time and infinite questions, prioritise whats important to spend the design, research and technical effort on.

Pragmatism over purist thinking

Being user centred means delivering services that make a difference, don't get caught in worrying about the product being perfect, be pragmatic, deliver the product, add value and iterate.

Prepare to go live

From the start understand your goal is to get the best product live, think about how it will be managed at scale.

Measure what matters

We need to understand how we'll measure the impact of our product, this will always be imperfect, as measures tell one half of a story but, you should always have a clear set of important metrics for your product