Context

A leading localization SaaS platform was facing mounting external pressures forcing a fundamental rethink of its direction and value proposition - with an internal initiative emerging at the intersection of product strategy, platform architecture, and cross-product coherence.

Problem

The initiative had no clear definition. A director-level ambition had conflated several distinct problems. Before anything could be designed, the work was to figure out what the initiative actually was - and whether it was sound enough to build on.

Design response

Part of the work was making sense of existing strategic research that had never been synthesized - C-suite and director interviews containing valuable signal. Combined with my own interviews with customer-facing teams and competitive analysis, I triangulated internal vision, external market forces, customer reality, and cross-product coherence into three outputs: a research report, a strategic pitch document underpinned by evidence across desirability and viability dimensions, and rapid prototypes to make the direction actionable.

Impact

The research narrowed a sprawling, undefined initiative into a focused, evidenced direction - feeding organizational discussions, shifting scope in the direction I advocated for, and credited by design leadership as bringing clarity to "the most complex and broad topic" the team was facing.