A bit about me…..

Hi, I’m Tom, an experienced Strategy Principal, Service Designer, Product Manager and Programme Manager with over 18 years experience building and delivering digital products and services.

I have a particular interest in the role of artificial intelligence in products and services and regularly give talks on the topic.

For more on my professional experience check my LinkedIn profile

A few of my recent conference talks and interviews:

• How AI Built This podcast (Aug 2020)
• AI Summit 2019
• Computing Magazine – IT Leaders Summit 2019
• Leading with Confidence in the age of AI Podcast
• Microsoft Ignite 2019
• UX Live 2018
• UX Cambridge 2018
• Video Interview on strategic use of AI
• AI Business Interview
• Computing Magazine Interview

Blog Posts:

• 2020 Saved Articles
  As part of my to-do list, I’ve been cleaning up all the internet links I’ve saved this year and thought I’d share a few choice picks of them here. These are mostly useful articles I’ve referred to multiple times since… Continue Reading →
• How AI Built this
  In August 2020, I was interviewed for the How AI built this podcast. Liam and I discussed my overall career trajectory, experience in large corporates and in the consulting world solving problems using data and AI Listen to the podcast… Continue Reading →
• Using the GDS Agile process for Artificial Intelligence Innovation
  Developing solutions using artificial intelligence techniques should be treated much more like an iterative experimental process than a traditional software development project. In many cases the certainty of the outcome can’t be confirmed until a model has been built, trained… Continue Reading →
• Embedding AI in processes
  To realise value from AI it needs to be integrated in some way into a customer experience and or associated business process. Achieving this in an organisation which isn’t experienced with using AI can be a significant operational challenge needing… Continue Reading →
• Incorporating AI into design – a framework of considerations
  Just recently I’ve been doing some work which involves incorporating AI into design. As part of this work, and because of a broader interest I’ve been doing quite a lot of research and thinking around how we can approach the… Continue Reading →
• Design for Artificial Intelligence
  I’m currently working on a set of design principles when incorporating AI technologies into your design work. Over time I will add a lot more detail to this, but for now here are the high level points: 1) Design for… Continue Reading →
• Indie Game: The Movie – Lessons in delivering great products
  I recently got round to watching Indie Game: The Movie. First and foremost, this is a great documentary about Indie Game development, it gives an insight into the intense world of game development and shows what small passionate teams can… Continue Reading →
• 5 tips for getting User stories to the right size
  One issue I often see in Agile is user stories that aren’t sized appropriately. This can cause issues in completing within a sprint and can create large fluctuations in velocity. It often results in items that are poorly defined and… Continue Reading →
• An Existential approach to Product Management
  It’s amazing how many different disciplines have applications in the world of software development and product delivery. I’ve just finished a book about a philosopher called Kierkegaard, he lived in Denmark in the early part of the 1800’s and is… Continue Reading →
• 5 tips for successful process reengineering
  Over the years there have been many trends revolving around the Six Sigma and Lean methodologies. These methodologies can be hugely successfully in achieving improvements in processes, however too often I have seen them fail because they tend to focus… Continue Reading →
• Why aren't offices more like classrooms
  My 8 year old daughter recently asked me what I’d been doing at work, and I showed her some pictures I’d take in the ‘War Room‘ being used for work in my organisation (unfortunately I can’t post the pics for… Continue Reading →
• Tips on carrying out User Research
  User research was the focus of a recent London Product Tank meetup. There were 3 inspiring speakers as always so I thought I’d summarise the key themes I noted and add some thoughts of my own. 1. Do it, some is… Continue Reading →
• Everything a priority? – Techniques for prioritisation
  Are your stakeholders telling you everything is a priority? Here’s an approach for prioritisation. It was my final term at university and getting close to exam time. I was in a revision class for one of my courses when the… Continue Reading →
• The Product Vision Workshop
  A quick and simple way to get a clear vision for a product to be developed is to use Roman Pichler’s Vision board as part of a product vision workshop. I won’t describe the contents in detail here as there are plenty… Continue Reading →
• Setting expectations when transitioning to Agile
  One of the most important steps when embarking on a transition to Agile is to set expectations for what it actually means, how it will change what the team does and how this will impact the business. Stakeholders will have… Continue Reading →
• Beware – 'We are Agile'
  A phrase I’ve heard a number of times within enterprise organisations is a confident statement of ‘Oh yeah, our teams are all Agile’. This generally fills me with dread, given my experiences of Agile adoption in enterprise organisations. In general… Continue Reading →
• UX London 2015 – A (not-so) brief summary
  I haven’t had a lot of time to write lately, but finally managed to summarise some key points from UX London 2015, which was held at the Laban Centre in Greenwich. I’ve also linked to my sketchnotes which provide more… Continue Reading →