Building Design & Product Operations
[Overview]
The Context
When I joined the Coachi project, the founders had a strong vision but no product delivery structure.
They were new to software development, unclear on MVP scoping, and had no shared workflow for design or engineering.
I stepped into a dual role — Head of Design and Product Operations Lead — to design both the product and the process.
My goal was to build a repeatable system for collaboration, delivery, and strategic focus.
The Context
When I joined the Coachi project, the founders had a strong vision but no product delivery structure.
They were new to software development, unclear on MVP scoping, and had no shared workflow for design or engineering.
I stepped into a dual role — Head of Design and Product Operations Lead — to design both the product and the process.
My goal was to build a repeatable system for collaboration, delivery, and strategic focus.
The Challenge
Coachi faced several early-stage startup challenges:
No MVP, roadmap, or prioritisation framework.
Founders unfamiliar with agile and UX workflows.
Fragmented communication via email threads.
No defined tech stack or development team.
Poor version control and inconsistent documentation.
The Challenge
Coachi faced several early-stage startup challenges:
No MVP, roadmap, or prioritisation framework.
Founders unfamiliar with agile and UX workflows.
Fragmented communication via email threads.
No defined tech stack or development team.
Poor version control and inconsistent documentation.
My Role
As the company’s first design and product leader, I:
Defined the product strategy and delivery roadmap.
Educated founders on UX process, agile principles, and MVP thinking.
Created the tech stack overview to guide developer hiring.
Led the hiring process for the Lead Developer — from writing the brief to designing interview tasks.
Built a collaborative environment through Google Workspace, Notion, and Miro.
Facilitated daily stand-ups, weekly founder reviews, and operational boards to maintain momentum and alignment.
My Role
As the company’s first design and product leader, I:
Defined the product strategy and delivery roadmap.
Educated founders on UX process, agile principles, and MVP thinking.
Created the tech stack overview to guide developer hiring.
Led the hiring process for the Lead Developer — from writing the brief to designing interview tasks.
Built a collaborative environment through Google Workspace, Notion, and Miro.
Facilitated daily stand-ups, weekly founder reviews, and operational boards to maintain momentum and alignment.
Skills Demonstrated
Product strategy
Product strategy
MVP definition
MVP definition
System thinking
System thinking
Notion
Notion
Miro
Miro
Cross-functional leadership
Cross-functional leadership
[Impact]
Built Scalable Design Ops in 3 Months
Established Coachi’s first structured product delivery system — including tools, rituals, and cross-functional workflows — transforming an ad-hoc startup into a delivery-ready organisation with clear velocity and alignment.
Defined MVP Strategy Aligned to User Value, Not Assumption
Led founders through a structured discovery process to define a validated MVP scope, replacing vague feature ideas with prioritised user stories and a clear release roadmap tied to coaching value.
Unified Product Teams via Agile & UX Coaching
Educated non-technical founders in agile, UX, and product strategy, building a shared language and toolset that enabled effective collaboration, faster decisions, and reduced communication breakdowns.
[My Process]
1. The Starting Point
Building the Foundation:
Mapped out the required tech stack and clarified what skills were needed in a lead developer.
Created a skills matrix and hiring criteria to align founders’ expectations with technical reality.
Hiring & Onboarding:
Ran the full recruitment process with directors and recruiters.
Developed a presentation-based technical exercise where candidates explained how they’d implement the Coachi app concept.
Educating the Founders:
Introduced the end-to-end digital product lifecycle — strategy, research, design, testing, and delivery.
Held collaborative sessions to define MVP scope, user stories, and epics.
1. The Starting Point
Building the Foundation:
Mapped out the required tech stack and clarified what skills were needed in a lead developer.
Created a skills matrix and hiring criteria to align founders’ expectations with technical reality.
Hiring & Onboarding:
Ran the full recruitment process with directors and recruiters.
Developed a presentation-based technical exercise where candidates explained how they’d implement the Coachi app concept.
Educating the Founders:
Introduced the end-to-end digital product lifecycle — strategy, research, design, testing, and delivery.
Held collaborative sessions to define MVP scope, user stories, and epics.
2. Getting Traction
Implementing Tools & Rituals:
Built a Notion-based management system to link design, dev, and operational work.
Established daily stand-ups (design + dev) and weekly syncs with founders.
Introduced the Segway check-in: each member shares one highlight and one blocker from the week.
Created an Operational Task Board for non-technical work (e.g. legal, marketing) to give visibility across departments.
Embedding Communication Discipline:
Designed a Google Workspace environment for version control and collaboration.
Standardised naming and saving conventions.
Onboarded founders to Miro for business model mapping and ideation.
2. Getting Traction
Implementing Tools & Rituals:
Built a Notion-based management system to link design, dev, and operational work.
Established daily stand-ups (design + dev) and weekly syncs with founders.
Introduced the Segway check-in: each member shares one highlight and one blocker from the week.
Created an Operational Task Board for non-technical work (e.g. legal, marketing) to give visibility across departments.
Embedding Communication Discipline:
Designed a Google Workspace environment for version control and collaboration.
Standardised naming and saving conventions.
Onboarded founders to Miro for business model mapping and ideation.
3. Challenges & Leadership Approach
Educating non-technical founders required patience and clear communication. Scope creep and vague task creation were frequent hurdles.
Managing Scope Creep:
Anchored all discussions in user needs and business outcomes.
Used visual artefacts (journey maps, prototypes, and release plans) to ground decisions.
Maintained a decision log in Notion to record rationale and avoid re-litigation.
Coached founders on writing clear acceptance criteria for tasks.
3. Challenges & Leadership Approach
Educating non-technical founders required patience and clear communication. Scope creep and vague task creation were frequent hurdles.
Managing Scope Creep:
Anchored all discussions in user needs and business outcomes.
Used visual artefacts (journey maps, prototypes, and release plans) to ground decisions.
Maintained a decision log in Notion to record rationale and avoid re-litigation.
Coached founders on writing clear acceptance criteria for tasks.
[Key Learnings]
Design Ops Is Strategic Leadership
By setting up delivery rituals, hiring practices, and collaborative systems from scratch, I demonstrated that design leadership goes beyond pixels — it shapes how teams think, work, and deliver.
Coaching Enables Change
Educating non-technical founders was critical to momentum.
I translated complex product concepts into clear, actionable frameworks — from MVP scoping to agile delivery — turning hesitation into confidence and aligning decisions with user and business outcomes.
Process Is a Product Too
Operational clarity was designed, not assumed.
From Notion dashboards to decision logs and team rituals, I created the infrastructure that enabled scalable collaboration — transforming chaos into a repeatable, high-functioning workflow.
[Persona]
Jhon Roberts
Marketing Manager
Content
Age: 29
Location: New York City
Tech Proficiency: Moderate
Gender: Male
[Goal]
Quickly complete purchases without interruptions.
Trust the platform to handle her payment securely.
Access a seamless mobile shopping experience.
[Frustrations]
Long or confusing checkout processes.
Error messages that don’t explain the issue.
Poor mobile optimization that slows her down.
[Overview]
The Context
When I joined the Coachi project, the founders had a strong vision but no product delivery structure.
They were new to software development, unclear on MVP scoping, and had no shared workflow for design or engineering.
I stepped into a dual role — Head of Design and Product Operations Lead — to design both the product and the process.
My goal was to build a repeatable system for collaboration, delivery, and strategic focus.
The Context
When I joined the Coachi project, the founders had a strong vision but no product delivery structure.
They were new to software development, unclear on MVP scoping, and had no shared workflow for design or engineering.
I stepped into a dual role — Head of Design and Product Operations Lead — to design both the product and the process.
My goal was to build a repeatable system for collaboration, delivery, and strategic focus.
The Challenge
Coachi faced several early-stage startup challenges:
No MVP, roadmap, or prioritisation framework.
Founders unfamiliar with agile and UX workflows.
Fragmented communication via email threads.
No defined tech stack or development team.
Poor version control and inconsistent documentation.
The Challenge
Coachi faced several early-stage startup challenges:
No MVP, roadmap, or prioritisation framework.
Founders unfamiliar with agile and UX workflows.
Fragmented communication via email threads.
No defined tech stack or development team.
Poor version control and inconsistent documentation.
My Role
As the company’s first design and product leader, I:
Defined the product strategy and delivery roadmap.
Educated founders on UX process, agile principles, and MVP thinking.
Created the tech stack overview to guide developer hiring.
Led the hiring process for the Lead Developer — from writing the brief to designing interview tasks.
Built a collaborative environment through Google Workspace, Notion, and Miro.
Facilitated daily stand-ups, weekly founder reviews, and operational boards to maintain momentum and alignment.
My Role
As the company’s first design and product leader, I:
Defined the product strategy and delivery roadmap.
Educated founders on UX process, agile principles, and MVP thinking.
Created the tech stack overview to guide developer hiring.
Led the hiring process for the Lead Developer — from writing the brief to designing interview tasks.
Built a collaborative environment through Google Workspace, Notion, and Miro.
Facilitated daily stand-ups, weekly founder reviews, and operational boards to maintain momentum and alignment.
Skills Demonstrated
Product strategy
Product strategy
MVP definition
MVP definition
System thinking
System thinking
Notion
Notion
Miro
Miro
Cross-functional leadership
Cross-functional leadership
[Impact]
Built Scalable Design Ops in 3 Months
Established Coachi’s first structured product delivery system — including tools, rituals, and cross-functional workflows — transforming an ad-hoc startup into a delivery-ready organisation with clear velocity and alignment.
Defined MVP Strategy Aligned to User Value, Not Assumption
Led founders through a structured discovery process to define a validated MVP scope, replacing vague feature ideas with prioritised user stories and a clear release roadmap tied to coaching value.
Unified Product Teams via Agile & UX Coaching
Educated non-technical founders in agile, UX, and product strategy, building a shared language and toolset that enabled effective collaboration, faster decisions, and reduced communication breakdowns.
[My Process]
1. The Starting Point
Building the Foundation:
Mapped out the required tech stack and clarified what skills were needed in a lead developer.
Created a skills matrix and hiring criteria to align founders’ expectations with technical reality.
Hiring & Onboarding:
Ran the full recruitment process with directors and recruiters.
Developed a presentation-based technical exercise where candidates explained how they’d implement the Coachi app concept.
Educating the Founders:
Introduced the end-to-end digital product lifecycle — strategy, research, design, testing, and delivery.
Held collaborative sessions to define MVP scope, user stories, and epics.
1. The Starting Point
Building the Foundation:
Mapped out the required tech stack and clarified what skills were needed in a lead developer.
Created a skills matrix and hiring criteria to align founders’ expectations with technical reality.
Hiring & Onboarding:
Ran the full recruitment process with directors and recruiters.
Developed a presentation-based technical exercise where candidates explained how they’d implement the Coachi app concept.
Educating the Founders:
Introduced the end-to-end digital product lifecycle — strategy, research, design, testing, and delivery.
Held collaborative sessions to define MVP scope, user stories, and epics.
2. Getting Traction
Implementing Tools & Rituals:
Built a Notion-based management system to link design, dev, and operational work.
Established daily stand-ups (design + dev) and weekly syncs with founders.
Introduced the Segway check-in: each member shares one highlight and one blocker from the week.
Created an Operational Task Board for non-technical work (e.g. legal, marketing) to give visibility across departments.
Embedding Communication Discipline:
Designed a Google Workspace environment for version control and collaboration.
Standardised naming and saving conventions.
Onboarded founders to Miro for business model mapping and ideation.
2. Getting Traction
Implementing Tools & Rituals:
Built a Notion-based management system to link design, dev, and operational work.
Established daily stand-ups (design + dev) and weekly syncs with founders.
Introduced the Segway check-in: each member shares one highlight and one blocker from the week.
Created an Operational Task Board for non-technical work (e.g. legal, marketing) to give visibility across departments.
Embedding Communication Discipline:
Designed a Google Workspace environment for version control and collaboration.
Standardised naming and saving conventions.
Onboarded founders to Miro for business model mapping and ideation.
3. Challenges & Leadership Approach
Educating non-technical founders required patience and clear communication. Scope creep and vague task creation were frequent hurdles.
Managing Scope Creep:
Anchored all discussions in user needs and business outcomes.
Used visual artefacts (journey maps, prototypes, and release plans) to ground decisions.
Maintained a decision log in Notion to record rationale and avoid re-litigation.
Coached founders on writing clear acceptance criteria for tasks.
3. Challenges & Leadership Approach
Educating non-technical founders required patience and clear communication. Scope creep and vague task creation were frequent hurdles.
Managing Scope Creep:
Anchored all discussions in user needs and business outcomes.
Used visual artefacts (journey maps, prototypes, and release plans) to ground decisions.
Maintained a decision log in Notion to record rationale and avoid re-litigation.
Coached founders on writing clear acceptance criteria for tasks.
[Key Learnings]
Design Ops Is Strategic Leadership
By setting up delivery rituals, hiring practices, and collaborative systems from scratch, I demonstrated that design leadership goes beyond pixels — it shapes how teams think, work, and deliver.
Coaching Enables Change
Educating non-technical founders was critical to momentum.
I translated complex product concepts into clear, actionable frameworks — from MVP scoping to agile delivery — turning hesitation into confidence and aligning decisions with user and business outcomes.
Process Is a Product Too
Operational clarity was designed, not assumed.
From Notion dashboards to decision logs and team rituals, I created the infrastructure that enabled scalable collaboration — transforming chaos into a repeatable, high-functioning workflow.