THE UX LEADER'S TOOLKIT
The UX Leader's Toolkit
No fluff included.
Everything I wish I'd had on day one.
17 years of frameworks, references, tools, and thinking distilled into one page. Take what's useful. Leave what isn't. No email required.
Templates that actually work
Built from real projects. Not made for this page.
UX Audit Framework
The exact 47-point heuristic checklist I use for client audits. Covers information architecture, interaction patterns, trust signals, mobile parity, and accessibility. Copy it, adapt it, ship it.
Get the template ↗Design Brief for Stakeholders
A one-page brief format that aligns design, product, and business before a single wireframe gets made. Covers problem statement, success metrics, constraints, and non-goals. Saves weeks of misalignment.
Get the brief ↗Research Synthesis Toolkit
From raw interview notes to actionable insights in 3 steps. Includes affinity mapping template, insight statement format, and the 'So what?' framework for converting findings into design decisions.
Get the toolkit ↗UX Metrics Dashboard
The metrics I track across every project: conversion funnel, task completion rate, error frequency, NPS, and time-on-task. Pre-built Mixpanel dashboard template + manual tracking sheet for teams without analytics tools.
Get the dashboard ↗Books worth your time
Honest annotations. Not just cover images.
Don't Make Me Think
Still the best single book on UX. Read it before anything else. Then read it again after 5 years — you'll understand different things.
"Clarity trumps consistency."
For: EveryoneHooked
Essential for understanding engagement loops. Read it critically — the same model that builds healthy habits builds addiction. Know which you're building.
"Technologies are just habits in a different form."
For: Product designersThinking, Fast and Slow
The foundational text for understanding how users actually make decisions versus how we assume they do. Every UX principle has roots here.
"Nothing in life is as important as you think it is, while you are thinking about it."
For: Senior designers & researchersThe Design of Everyday Things
If you only read one book on design cognition, this is it. The concept of affordances alone will change how you see every interface.
"Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design."
For: EveryoneSprint
The 5-day design sprint format is genuinely useful for high-stakes decisions. I've used it 8 times. Works best with real users on day 5 — many teams skip this and miss the point.
"Work alone together."
For: Design teams & product leadsContinuous Discovery Habits
The best modern book on connecting research to product decisions. The opportunity solution tree is the most useful framework I've adopted in the last 5 years.
"Discovery is not a phase. It's a habit."
For: Product designers & PMsTools I actually use and trust
Honest about what each tool is good and bad at.
Figma
Design
Primary design tool. Everything from wireframes to shipped components.
Auto Layout took 3 weeks to click. Now I can't design without it.
Claude AI
AI
Research synthesis, UX copy variants, audit analysis, rapid prototyping prompts.
Changed how I do research synthesis. 3-hour affinity mapping → 40 minutes.
Mixpanel
Analytics
Funnel analysis, event tracking, cohort analysis for retention work.
Only useful if engineering instruments events properly. Get that conversation early.
Hotjar
Research
Session recordings, heatmaps, funnel visualisation.
Session recordings are worth 100 surveys. Watch 20 sessions before writing a brief.
FigJam
Collaboration
Journey mapping, affinity diagrams, design critiques, retrospectives.
Replaced Miro for me. Better Figma integration. Worse sticky note physics.
Notion
Documentation
Design system documentation, research repositories, project wikis.
Great for docs. Terrible for tasks. Use it for one, not both.
Gemini AI
AI
Image analysis, competitor research, accessibility checks on screenshots.
Better than Claude for visual analysis tasks specifically.
Jira
Project Management
Sprint tracking, design task management, cross-team alignment.
Nobody enjoys Jira. But everyone uses it. Learn the keyboard shortcuts.
How I think about design
Models I've developed over 17 years. Click to expand.
Questions with direct answers
No "it depends." Specific numbers. Real answers.
Minimum mobile tap target size?
Answer44×44px (Apple) / 48×48dp (Google). Use 52px for operational/fatigued contexts.
How many items in a nav menu?
Answer5–7. More than 7 and users start missing items (Miller's Law).
Minimum readable font size on mobile?
Answer16px for body. Never below 12px for anything. 14px is the real-world minimum.
How long should a loading state wait?
AnswerShow feedback at 100ms. Show progress at 1s. Explain delay at 3s. Offer cancel at 10s.
When to use a modal vs a new page?
AnswerModal: quick action, doesn't need history/bookmark. New page: complex task, shareable, needs back button.
How many questions in a user survey?
Answer5–7 max. More than 10 and completion rate drops below 40%.
Ideal line length for body copy?
Answer65–75 characters. Below 45 feels choppy. Above 85 loses the line on return.
How many A/B variants to test?
Answer2. Maximum 3. More than that and you don't have enough traffic to reach significance.
What's a good NPS score for apps?
AnswerAbove 30 is good. Above 50 is excellent. Below 0 means you have serious work to do.
How long should onboarding take?
AnswerUnder 3 minutes to first value. Every step beyond that loses ~15% of users.
Empty state: what goes there?
AnswerThe next best action + why it matters + an example of what it looks like when filled.
Error message formula?
AnswerWhat happened + Why (if useful) + What to do next. Never blame the user.
Want more than a toolkit?
Let's apply these frameworks
to your actual product.
Frameworks are only useful when applied to real problems with real constraints. That's what working together looks like.