A global nonprofit · Nonprofit · Enterprise experience
Finding the real problem behind fragmented enterprise tools.
Staff described their tools as too complicated. Behavioral discovery showed the problem was bigger: people had to know which system to use, learn several interfaces and stitch tasks together themselves.
- Role
- Executive product leader, through Woodruff & Co.
- When
- 2024–present
- Focus
- Product discovery · Experience strategy · Operating model · Incubation
The principle that came out of the work
“People shouldn't need to understand enterprise architecture to do their jobs.”
The challenge
Over time, critical tools, information, support and workflows had grown across disconnected systems. Technology decisions were often made independently of the experience they created for staff, donors and volunteers.
The initial request was framed as a usability problem with specific applications.
The approach
- 01
Behavioral discovery
Led discovery across HR, development, marketing, operations, finance, technology and field teams, interviewing staff, donors and volunteers about their actual work, not their opinions of the tools.
- 02
Reframe the problem
The pattern wasn't hard-to-use software. It was the effort of navigating many systems to get one thing done.
- 03
Set product direction
Defined an experience strategy that brings information and tasks to people, instead of sending people to systems.
- 04
Build the operating model
Established the organization's first enterprise product operating model: governance, portfolio management, prioritization, product ownership and delivery practices.
The outcome
- A tool complaint became an end-to-end experience strategy with a clear principle behind it.
- The organization now has its first enterprise product operating model, with shared governance, prioritization and product ownership across technology.
- An enterprise incubation capability now explores new opportunities, validates concepts through research and prototyping, and moves the strongest ideas toward delivery.
- The work is ongoing. The direction now guides decisions across platforms, data and AI.
My role
Serving as executive product and technology advisor, partnering with executive leadership on enterprise product strategy, technology modernization, AI adoption and the operating model. I established and lead the incubation capability.