Making complex systems feel simple

ProcServe developed the UK’s electronic procurement platform, helping government departments purchase goods and services through approved supplier contracts.

When I joined ProcServe, the platform was already solving a genuinely complex problem.

It helped thousands of users across government departments buy from approved contracts through a familiar, ecommerce-style experience, while giving procurement teams the visibility they needed to manage contracts, suppliers and spending across the public sector.

The complexity of the underlying procurement rules was unavoidable.

The complexity of using the system wasn’t.

Working alongside developers, business analysts and stakeholders from multiple government departments, I helped shape workflows and interfaces that made a highly regulated process feel familiar and understandable. Much of the inspiration came from consumer ecommerce, applying patterns people already knew to a domain that most people found intimidating.

One project in particular has stayed with me.

We worked with the Department for Education to roll the platform out to schools across the UK. The product was ready, but our contract meant we weren’t allowed to contact schools directly. Adoption depended entirely on the department promoting the service on our behalf.

Our success depended on someone else’s incentives.

Curious how experiences like this have shaped my approach?

Working on products like ProcServe reinforced the importance of understanding both the system you’re designing and the environment it needs to succeed in. Many of the principles on my Approach page were shaped by projects where the product itself was only one part of a much larger system.