Building software that reduces operational complexity
Most organisations don’t struggle because they lack software. They struggle because the complexity of their work has gradually outgrown the tools supporting it.
That’s the kind of problem I enjoy solving.
Over the past years I’ve worked across enterprise software, AI, publishing, language technology and digital platforms, helping organisations uncover how work actually happens and translating those operational realities into scalable products.
My work has supported everyone from FAANG companies and national governments to startups, nonprofits and family-owned businesses. Different industries, different users, but often the same challenge: too much complexity living outside the software.
My philosophy
I see Product Management as understanding how people work rather than feature delivery.
Most product requests are symptoms rather than problems. Behind every request is usually an operational constraint, a business rule, a workaround, a risk, or a decision someone is forced to make every day.
My job is to uncover those realities, identify the patterns that scale beyond a single customer, and turn them into product capabilities that make work simpler without removing the expertise that makes people good at their jobs.
Technology should reduce unnecessary complexity, not professional judgement.
How I work
Every product is different, but my approach usually follows the same principles.
Understand the work
I spend time with customers, users and stakeholders to understand how decisions are actually made—not just how software is currently used.
The goal is uncovering constraints, workflows, exceptions, risks and opportunities that often remain implicit.
Find the patterns
Enterprise customers are often expressing variations of the same underlying problem.
I synthesise research, conversations, commercial context and technical constraints into product opportunities that can scale across customers rather than solving isolated requests.
Build the right thing
Once the problem is understood, I work closely with Engineering, Design and Commercial teams to shape solutions that balance user value, technical feasibility and business outcomes.
I believe Product works best when discovery and delivery stay closely connected.
Measure what matters
Shipping software is only the beginning. Success is measured through adoption, operational improvements, customer behaviour and commercial outcomes, not simply feature releases.
Selected products & projects
A selection of products, projects and platforms I’ve owned or contributed to, spanning strategy, delivery and scale.
ScheduleAI
Product Manager, 2025–today
As Product Manager for ScheduleAI, I lead Product strategy for an AI-powered enterprise scheduling platform used by organisations in the Testing, Inspection, Certification and Compliance (TICC) industry.
The challenge isn’t just scheduling people, it’s modelling the complex operational rules that govern qualifications, availability, compliance, geography, customer requirements and business priorities, then enabling organisations to make better scheduling decisions in minutes instead of weeks.
My work spans customer discovery, Product strategy and delivery, partnering directly with enterprise customers, Engineering and Commercial teams to translate real operational workflows into scalable AI-powered product capabilities.
The Spectator, Apollo Magazine, UnHerd
Digital Product Manager, 2025
As Digital Product Manager, I shaped the digital experience across OQS Media’s portfolio of publications, balancing the needs of readers, editorial teams, subscribers and commercial stakeholders.
My primary focus was leading the redesign and rebuild of the Apollo Magazine website ahead of its centenary, modernising its digital experience while improving technical performance, SEO and long-term maintainability.
Alongside strategic delivery, I helped streamline Product operations across websites, mobile apps and digital platforms, ensuring teams could prioritise effectively and deliver a better experience for both audiences and internal stakeholders.
The Bot Platform
Product Manager, 2021–2024
As Product Manager, I led strategy and delivery for an ISO 27001-certified enterprise SaaS platform that enabled organisations to build AI chatbots, digital assistants and employee experiences across Microsoft Teams, Slack and Workplace from Meta.
The platform served a broad range of enterprise customers, including Fortune 500 companies, governments, financial institutions, pharmaceutical organisations, telecommunications providers, retailers and hospitality brands, each with different communication needs, governance requirements and operational constraints.
Working closely with customers, Engineering and Commercial teams, I translated recurring enterprise messaging challenges into scalable platform capabilities which dramatically increased MRR and ARPC growth.
🎥 Watch: Meet The Bot Platform
Oxford Languages data products
Product Manager, 2019–2021
As a product manager at Oxford Languages monolingual lexical datasets, I led Product strategy for one of the world’s most widely licensed language platforms, powering digital experiences used by millions of people every day.
The portfolio included richly structured dictionary datasets, configurable wordlists and interconnected lexical databases embedded in products such as Google Search, Apple platforms and Amazon Kindle. Beyond traditional dictionary experiences, these datasets supported applications across Natural Language Processing, Machine Translation, generative AI and language learning.
My role combined Product strategy, commercial partnerships and customer discovery, working with global technology companies to evolve Oxford’s language products, expand licensing opportunities and ensure they continued to meet the needs of rapidly changing AI and language technology markets.
Oxford Dictionaries API
Product Manager, 2019–2021
As Product Manager for the Oxford Dictionaries API, I led the strategy and evolution of a developer platform that made Oxford’s lexical data accessible through a scalable, cloud-based API.
The API provided reliable monolingual and bilingual language data across more than 30 languages, enabling developers and enterprise customers to integrate trusted lexical content into applications ranging from dictionary lookups and mobile word games to natural language processing, AI and machine learning solutions.
My focus was balancing the needs of developers, commercial partners and internal stakeholders, expanding the API’s language coverage, improving its commercial offering and ensuring it remained a trusted platform for organisations building language-enabled products.
Human Made
Product Manager, 2013–2019
Human Made was where I learned Product Management in practice. Although known as an enterprise WordPress consultancy, much of the company’s work was approached with a Product mindset.
During my time there I worked across a wide range of internal products, client platforms and strategic initiatives, contributing to Product discovery, research, roadmap definition, documentation and delivery. I was later involved with the Growth team foundation, helping identify recurring customer problems and productise bespoke solutions into scalable offerings, supporting the company’s transition from a services-led consultancy towards a more product-led organisation.
Looking back, many of the principles that still shape how I work today—customer discovery, systems thinking, iterative delivery and close collaboration with Engineering—were developed during these years.
Happytables
Product Specialist, 2013–2017
Happytables was a website builder for restaurants, owned by Human Made, designed to help independent restaurants establish a professional online presence and compete with larger chains without requiring technical expertise.
As my first Product role, I worked across almost every aspect of the business—from customer support, content and partnerships to product marketing, customer experience and Product Management. It was an invaluable introduction to the realities of building and growing an early-stage SaaS product, where understanding customers and wearing multiple hats were just part of the job.
Community involvement
WordCamp London
Organiser, Communication Lead, 2018
WordCamp London was one of Europe’s largest WordPress conferences, bringing together hundreds of developers, designers, product professionals and digital leaders from across the community.
As Communications Lead, I led a team of four volunteers responsible for the event’s communication strategy, building awareness and engagement across attendees, speakers, sponsors and the wider WordPress ecosystem.
Our campaign contributed to a sold-out event, fully subscribed sponsorship programme, record volunteer interest and a high-quality speaker lineup, demonstrating the impact of clear messaging, community building and cross-functional collaboration at scale.
Out of Office
Marketing, 2016–2017
Out of Office was a virtual conference exploring the future of remote work, organised by Human Made well before distributed teams became the norm.
As part of the organising team, I led communication and marketing activities, helping attract attendees, speakers and community engagement across two successful editions. The event brought together practitioners from around the world to share experiences, challenges and ideas about building effective remote organisations, with all talks made freely available on YouTube—2016, 2017.
Working on Out of Office reinforced my interest in community building, clear communication and creating spaces where knowledge can be shared openly.
Italian WordPress Slack workspace
Founder, 2015–today
Together with my friend Francesco Di Candia I co-founded the Italian WordPress Community: a Slack workspace created to give the Italian WordPress ecosystem a central place to collaborate, share knowledge and organise community initiatives.
What started as a simple communication hub grew into a community of more than 2,000 members, becoming the primary space for discussions around WordPress, local meetups, translations, contributor activities and support. The community has played an important role in enabling both online and in-person events across Italy.
Looking back, this project reinforced something I still believe today: great products and communities grow in similar ways—they create the conditions for people to help one another and make participation easier.
Personal projects
Live side projects where I experiment with ideas, build quickly, and ship products people can actually use.
FairNest
Builder, 2026–today
A lightweight personal finance planner for families that helps set fair monthly joint-account contributions using salaries, split strategy, and customisable fairness guardrails, with clear per-person impact analysis before you commit.
INKSPO
Builder, 2026–today
A minimalist prompt generator for fountain pen enthusiasts who want to practise consistently and with intent. It serves fresh, varied handwriting and calligraphy exercises on demand, plus optional 10-minute timed sessions that keep momentum high by rotating prompts at each minute if needed. Built as a lightweight web app, it helps turn casual pen time into focused, repeatable practice.
Deal Readout
Builder, 2026–today
A custom GPT that turns raw sales call transcripts into structured, high-signal insights. Instead of re-listening to calls or skimming notes, it extracts what actually matters: deal risks, buyer intent, next steps, and cross-functional learnings for Product, Marketing, and beyond.
SCRAPer GPT
Builder, 2025–today
A custom GPT that works as AI-based communication assistant. It rewrites rough ideas and messy, emotional, overly casual, or disorganised messages into clear, actionable, and professional ones using the SCRAP framework that I’ve talked about here and here.
Product Briefs
Founder, 2025–today
A practical content website for Product Managers who want to communicate with more clarity and confidence. From templates and writing guides to messaging frameworks and phrasebooks, it helps PMs share updates, pitch ideas, and explain decisions—without rambling, fluff, or second-guessing.
Franz Drinks
Founder, Editor-in-chief, 2017–today
A website that I’ve built for myself, on drinks (boozy or not) and travels. It also features a collection of my writings on how to build a pretty legit home bar, in case you needed some inspiration.
Labuonativu.com
Founder, Editor-in-chief, 2011–2012
An Italian speaking news site about the television industry I built during the last semester at Uni. It got some traction for its uniqueness—whilst most TV-related sites would cover everything, mine was focused only on high-quality TV content.