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Tim Ferguson

Lead Product Designer Builder Designer Maker Designer Creator

Treating wounds, not scratches
Tim Ferguson
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+20 years design & build
Enterprise AI HR-tech Fintech

My pitch...

I thrive on identifying high-impact problems and proving solutions through rapid, AI-augmented prototyping and validation cycles

When building at scale, you have to build the right stuff. The most expensive mistakes in enterprise product development are treating scratches, not wounds. I compress discovery and validation into rapid cycles – identifying the root problems (the wounds), building working prototypes, and proving solutions before engineering commit to production.

Through AI-augmented research, prompt engineering, and hands-on prototyping, I ensure enterprise teams build with confidence, not assumptions.

What motivates me as a product designer? What motivates me as a product designer? Read more

My unique selling points...

I'm different from most product designers because I've developed resilience and independence - navigating multiple organisational restructures over the past 5 years has honed my ability to operate with incomplete information, drive initiatives without heavy PM support, and evolve my process rapidly to stay valuable despite industry upheaval. I'm comfortable with change and complexity because I've navigated both consistently.

Resilience
Treating wounds, not scratches

Companies hire me when they need someone who can treat the wounds, not just the scratches – identifying root problems in ambiguous enterprise environments where the loudest voices aren't always highlighting the most impactful issues.

I embraced AI-augmented workflows while most designers were still sceptical. The AI-augmented part of my practice means speed without sacrificing depth. AI-augmented research and prototyping lets me: Synthesise multiple user interviews in hours not weeks; Build interactive coded prototypes for validation; Run more iteration cycles in less time; Gives me more time on strategic thinking and user contact, less on the grind of execution.

Speed without sacrificing depth
Before 18 weeks 6 weeks research + 6 weeks synthesis + 6 weeks prototyping
After 6 weeks Research incl. synthesis, coded interactive prototypes and multiple rounds of validation
Concrete example

Agentic Sourcing development – 6 weeks from initial research through 30 user interviews, synthesis, coded prototypes, and validation testing. Traditional process would have taken 3-4 months before even reaching engineering.

High signal-to-noise ratio

Large organisations have a high noise-to-signal ratio - problems being talked about are often symptoms of deeper causes. Treating symptoms (the scratches) might satisfy stakeholders short-term, but addressing root problems (the wounds) delivers lasting value. A research-led, rapid validation approach cuts through organisational complexity to find true leverage points before committing engineering resources to the wrong solutions.

My approach...

Identifying root problems - Not just what users say they want, but the underlying strategic opportunities others may miss.

  • Deep user research + AI-accelerated synthesis
  • Competitive/market analysis
  • Stakeholder mapping & strategic framing

Output: Clear problem identified + hypothesis formulated

Proving solutions rapidly - Building just enough to validate concepts before deep engineering investment.

  • Ideation – Low friction, high energy team sessions
  • Interactive prototyping - Built with AI-augmentation
  • User validation + AI-accelerated synthesis
  • Natural language prompt engineering & testing (MLflow)

Output: (In)validated approach + learnings

Directing the build - Ensuring fidelity from prototype to production, especially where I have deeper expertise.

  • Refine with team - scope deliverables and sequencing, agree on compromises and non-negotiables.
  • Review designs during implementation
  • Own and refine natural language prompts
  • User test both pre-production and production builds

Output: Shipped product matching validated vision

My work...

Agentic sourcing

From boolean searches to conversational AI

Read more

More projects to come...

I will continue to populate the rest of this section over the coming days/weeks

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My reputation...

My prototypes & projects...

🔒 Annotated Listening

Timeline-synced annotations × AI-personalised listening

🔒 School Monitor

When school emails become a second job

Double-blind audio testing

Critical listening comparisons with frame-perfect sync

🔒 Conversational sourcing agent prototype

Interactive chat simulation for rapid validation

🔒 Markdown driven sourcing agent concept

Original concept exploration with structured markdown

My thoughts...