01.
Indiation methods
Whilst we were exploring the product's value proposition, I introduced “How Might We” and “Jobs To Be Done” workshop methods to better expand on our general knowledge, and bake up some realistic scenarios and use cases.
ORIGAMI ENERGY
BATTERY ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEMS PLATFORM
BATTERY ENERGY
STORAGE SYSTEMS
PLATFORM
January 2022 - April 2025
B2B
BRITISH OWNERSHIP
Lay of the land
1
Origami’s business strategy was to focus on the operations and management of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), recognising it as the sector’s fastest-growing asset class.
2
At the time, the company’s financial runway was tightening, having just emerged from a demanding nine-month platform and technology migration.
3
The broader energy industry presented additional challenges: slow progress toward standardisation and poorly documented requirements from manufacturers.
4
Compounding this, no two BESS units operated in exactly the same way — even when their technical specifications appeared similar — creating significant complexity for product development and integration.
4 Backend squads
1 Frontend squad
Developers code bases:
React
Java
Spring
LLM (machine learning)
1 Product Designer
Softwares I used:
Figma & Figjam
Story Book
Jira
Lay of the land
1
Origami’s business strategy was to focus on the operations and management of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), recognising it as the sector’s fastest-growing asset class.
2
At the time, the company’s financial runway was tightening, having just emerged from a demanding nine-month platform and technology migration.
3
The broader energy industry presented additional challenges: slow progress toward standardisation and poorly documented requirements from manufacturers.
4
Compounding this, no two BESS units operated in exactly the same way — even when their technical specifications appeared similar — creating significant complexity for product development and integration.
Developers code bases:
4 Backend squads
1 Frontend squad
React
Java
Spring
LLM
Softwares I used:
1 Product Designer
Figma & Figjam
Story Book
Jira
Lay of the land
1
Origami’s business strategy was to focus on the operations and management of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS), recognising it as the sector’s fastest-growing asset class.
2
At the time, the company’s financial runway was tightening, having just emerged from a demanding nine-month platform and technology migration.
3
The broader energy industry presented additional challenges: slow progress toward standardisation and poorly documented requirements from manufacturers.
4
Compounding this, no two BESS units operated in exactly the same way — even when their technical specifications appeared similar — creating significant complexity for product development and integration.
Developers
code bases:
4 Backend squads
1 Frontend squad
React
Java
Spring
LLM (machine learning)
Softwares
I used:
1 Product Designer
Figma & Figjam
Story Book
Jira
PERSONA - ASSET MANAGER
"Balancing asset's health
over it's ROI lifespan."
Asset managers like Nigella would benefit from a one-stop platform to effectively manage their assets as their portfolios grow. The platform was designed not only for clients’ internal teams but also for third parties involved in operations and maintenance — all working toward maximising the often elusive yield of each asset.
Nigella's challengers
Maximise the profitability of assets (BESS, generators, sites) across their full strategic lifespans (e.g., BESS ≈ 25 years) by identifying and leveraging market opportunities.
Manage asset health by optimising cycling strategies (full discharge to full charge) while mitigating risks such as warranty breaches and battery cell thermal runaway (fire).
Capture reliable performance data — both financial and physical — to demonstrate operational effectiveness, build investor confidence, and support future funding rounds.
Strengthen market positioning by managing relationships and opportunities with Routes to Market (RTMs).
Produce actionable reports for asset owners and investors to inform decision-making.
PERSONA - ASSET MANAGER
"Balancing asset's health
over it's ROI lifespan."
Asset managers like Nigella would benefit from a one-stop platform to effectively manage their assets as their portfolios grow. The platform was designed not only for clients’ internal teams but also for third parties involved in operations and maintenance — all working toward maximising the often elusive yield of each asset.
Nigella's challengers
Maximise the profitability of assets (BESS, generators, sites) across their full strategic lifespans (e.g., BESS ≈ 25 years) by identifying and leveraging market opportunities.
Manage asset health by optimising cycling strategies (full discharge to full charge) while mitigating risks such as warranty breaches and battery cell thermal runaway (fire).
Capture reliable performance data — both financial and physical — to demonstrate operational effectiveness, build investor confidence, and support future funding rounds.
Strengthen market positioning by managing relationships and opportunities with Routes to Market (RTMs).
Produce actionable reports for asset owners and investors to inform decision-making.
PERSONA - ASSET MANAGER
"Balancing asset's health over it's
ROI lifespan."
Asset managers like Nigella would benefit from a one-stop platform to effectively manage their assets as their portfolios grow. The platform was designed not only for clients’ internal teams but also for third parties involved in operations and maintenance — all working toward maximising the often elusive yield of each asset.
Nigella's challengers
Maximise the profitability of assets (BESS, generators, sites) across their full strategic lifespans (e.g., BESS ≈ 25 years) by identifying and leveraging market opportunities.
Manage asset health by optimising cycling strategies (full discharge to full charge) while mitigating risks such as warranty breaches and battery cell thermal runaway (fire).
Capture reliable performance data — both financial and physical — to demonstrate operational effectiveness, build investor confidence, and support future funding rounds.
Strengthen market positioning by managing relationships and opportunities with Routes to Market (RTMs).
Produce actionable reports for asset owners and investors to inform decision-making.
Top 3
pain point themes
Following a self-driven UX/UI audit, I developed a clear overview of how the product looked and functioned. This process also surfaced the most pressing issues — effectively identifying the “worst of a bad bunch.” Below are three examples of these recurring themes.
1 - No Informational architectural hierarchy.
Report generation appeared to be the primary reason users accessed the platform. However, this feature was neither unique nor supported by a strong business case. More importantly, the reports were siloed — none of them shared data or insights with each other. As a result, users were left to manually piece together meaning across multiple files: DC market data → separate file Power data → separate file Connectivity data → separate file
2 - Crowded view from options overload.
3 - No financial, market or asset health data.
Top 3
pain point themes
Following a self-driven UX/UI audit, I developed a clear overview of how the product looked and functioned. This process also surfaced the most pressing issues — effectively identifying the “worst of a bad bunch.” Below are three examples of these recurring themes.
1 - No Informational architectural hierarchy.
Report generation appeared to be the primary reason users accessed the platform. However, this feature was neither unique nor supported by a strong business case. More importantly, the reports were siloed — none of them shared data or insights with each other. As a result, users were left to manually piece together meaning across multiple files: DC market data → separate file Power data → separate file Connectivity data → separate file
2 - Crowded view from options overload.
3 - No financial, market or asset health data.
Top 3
pain point themes
Following a self-driven UX/UI audit, I developed a clear overview of how the product looked and functioned. This process also surfaced the most pressing issues — effectively identifying the “worst of a bad bunch.” Below are three examples of these recurring themes.
1 - No Informational architectural hierarchy.
Report generation appeared to be the primary reason users accessed the platform. However, this feature was neither unique nor supported by a strong business case. More importantly, the reports were siloed — none of them shared data or insights with each other. As a result, users were left to manually piece together meaning across multiple files: DC market data → separate file Power data → separate file Connectivity data → separate file
2 - Crowded view from options overload.
3 - No financial, market or asset health data.
PARTS I PLAYED IN
PARTS I PLAYED IN
SOME OF THE PROCESS
SOME OF THE PROCESS
My most impactful contributions:
Introduced a Design System with a token-based method for managing UI component styles—reducing development time and costs while ensuring consistency.
Coached Product Owners on “Jobs To Be Done” and “How Might We” methods for hypothesis testing in customer interviews, which boosted the volume and quality of qualitative user feedback by 50–60%.
My most impactful contributions:
Introduced a Design System with a token-based method for managing UI component styles—reducing development time and costs while ensuring consistency.
Coached Product Owners on “Jobs To Be Done” and “How Might We” methods for hypothesis testing in customer interviews, which boosted the volume and quality of qualitative user feedback by 50–60%.
01.
Indiation methods
Whilst we were exploring the product's value proposition, I introduced “How Might We” and “Jobs To Be Done” workshop methods to better expand on our general knowledge, and bake up some realistic scenarios and use cases.
01.
Indiation methods
Whilst we were exploring the product's value proposition, I introduced “How Might We” and “Jobs To Be Done” workshop methods to better expand on our general knowledge, and bake up some realistic scenarios and use cases.
02.
Discovery 1/3
I was teamed up with an energy industry expert Dan Brimelow, tasked with looking at Asset Availability and Maintenance concepts. Key findings 1: Displaying engineer on sight. 2: Adding Reasons for maintenance work were of particular importance.
02.
Discovery 1/3
I was teamed up with an energy industry expert Dan Brimelow, tasked with looking at Asset Availability and Maintenance concepts. Key findings 1: Displaying engineer on sight. 2: Adding Reasons for maintenance work were of particular importance.
02.
Discovery 1/3
I was teamed up with an energy industry expert Dan Brimelow, tasked with looking at Asset Availability and Maintenance concepts. Key findings 1: Displaying engineer on sight. 2: Adding Reasons for maintenance work were of particular importance.
03.
Qualitive insights
BESS was the target segment, but we needed to become more familiar with the potential customers and their actual needs. So under Crystal He's leadership the PO’s set out conducting potential user interviews that helped us to build a richer picture of their pains and needs.
03.
Qualitive insights
BESS was the target segment, but we needed to become more familiar with the potential customers and their actual needs. So under Crystal He's leadership the PO’s set out conducting potential user interviews that helped us to build a richer picture of their pains and needs.
03.
Qualitive insights
BESS was the target segment, but we needed to become more familiar with the potential customers and their actual needs. So under Crystal He's leadership the PO’s set out conducting potential user interviews that helped us to build a richer picture of their pains and needs.
04.
Crystal clear
After 2.5yrs of value proposition exploration we were a dizzy bunch. Enter Crystal He who sorted the focus, giving us a clear tangible goal (image example “Configuration mind map”) from which we could both size and work into the products shape. Was a revelation for me and so the products experiments began, good times.
04.
Crystal clear
After 2.5yrs of value proposition exploration we were a dizzy bunch. Enter Crystal He who sorted the focus, giving us a clear tangible goal (image example “Configuration mind map”) from which we could both size and work into the products shape. Was a revelation for me and so the products experiments began, good times.
04.
Crystal clear
After 2.5yrs of value proposition exploration we were a dizzy bunch. Enter Crystal He who sorted the focus, giving us a clear tangible goal (image example “Configuration mind map”) from which we could both size and work into the products shape. Was a revelation for me and so the products experiments began, good times.
05.
Design Inspiration
Now that we had a clear notion of what the product may entail - the design language was a long ways off. So I turned to good old desk research and formulated a language based off what interfaces service engineers engage with on a daily basis, largely manually operated service dashboards and barebones basic user interfaces.
05.
Design Inspiration
Now that we had a clear notion of what the product may entail - the design language was a long ways off. So I turned to good old desk research and formulated a language based off what interfaces service engineers engage with on a daily basis, largely manually operated service dashboards and barebones basic user interfaces.
05.
Design Inspiration
Now that we had a clear notion of what the product may entail - the design language was a long ways off. So I turned to good old desk research and formulated a language based off what interfaces service engineers engage with on a daily basis, largely manually operated service dashboards and barebones basic user interfaces.
06.
Discovery 2/10
The business flirted with notion of global markets as a scalable proposition. Whilst I was also experimenting with consol/dashboard concepts from industry experts interview insights. The PO's and I worked up light weight narratives for use cases, which I wizzed up into figma clickable prototypes for the next monthly/weekly interview round of concept and proposition validation sessions.
06.
Discovery 2/10
The business flirted with notion of global markets as a scalable proposition. Whilst I was also experimenting with consol/dashboard concepts from industry experts interview insights. The PO's and I worked up light weight narratives for use cases, which I wizzed up into figma clickable prototypes for the next monthly/weekly interview round of concept and proposition validation sessions.
06.
Discovery 2/10
The business flirted with notion of global markets as a scalable proposition. Whilst I was experimenting with consol/dashboard concepts from industry experts interview insights. Then the PO's and I worked up light weight narrative for a use case which I would then wiz up into a figma clickable prototype for next monthly/weekly interview slot.
07.
Token ready components
Big thanks to Ben Neal champion engineer, we realised a “Story Book” design system, and I provided the hi-fidelity components from which the styles could be lifted and added to his development branch/schema.
07.
Token ready components
Big thanks to Ben Neal champion engineer, we realised a “Story Book” design system, and I provided the hi-fidelity components from which the styles could be lifted and added to his development branch/schema.
07.
Token ready components
Big thanks to Ben Neal champion engineer, we realised a “Story Book” design system, and I provided the hi-fidelity components from which the styles could be lifted and added to his schema.
My most noticeable positive impact:
1: Introduced Design System, token method for the UI component style's management saving on development time/costs.
2: Coached PO's on "Jobs to be done, How Might We“ methods for hypothesis testing in customer interviews. This drove the level of qualitative feedback up significantly.
PARTS I PLAYED IN
PARTS I PLAYED IN
SOME OF THE PROCESS
EXAMPLES OF MY POSITIVE IMPACT ON
EXAMPLES OF MY POSITIVE IMPACT ON
OVERVIEW ENHANCEMENTS
< SLIDE >
BEFORE
No commercial data or insight given per single asset.
Flying blind is an appropriate term when you don't know the financial cost/loss/impact of running your asset. Never mind the fact that this is only for a single asset, so scalability is ruled out at the get go.
Flying blind is an appropriate term when you don't know the financial cost/loss/impact of running your asset. Never mind the fact that this is only for a single asset, so scalability is ruled out at the get go.
No physical data or insight.
Having a blind spot of not knowing in real time how your asset is functioning physically can be detrimental in 3 main ways. 1: Heat runaway (fire) if an asset is "thrashed" to hard, means cycled from empty/negative to positive/full charge to aggressively (eg 4+ cycles per day is high), 2: Warranty impact and 3: Maintenance engineers time wastage/cost.
Having a blind spot of not knowing in real time how your asset is functioning physically can be detrimental in 3 main ways. 1: Heat runaway (fire) if an asset is "thrashed" to hard, means cycled from empty/negative to positive/full charge to aggressively (eg 4+ cycles per day is high), 2: Warranty impact and 3: Maintenance engineers time wastage/cost.
AFTER
Portfolio of assets in multiple markets
At a glance, Nigella can now track an asset’s real-time trades across different markets and revenue pools.
At a glance, Nigella can now track an asset’s real-time trades across different markets and revenue pools.
Realtime physical data
A simple traffic-light system now visualises warranty, cycles, and availability (with targets), giving Nigella an instant read on performance.
A simple traffic-light system now visualises warranty, cycles, and availability (with targets), giving Nigella an instant read on performance.
Financial Targets
With performance clearly summarised through a traffic-light system, Nigella is motivated to dive into the areas that need her attention.
With performance clearly summarised through a traffic-light system, Nigella is motivated to dive into the areas that need her attention.
MWh granular dta
MWh data was now available, thanks to the development team’s excellent work integrating new data into the front end through patches, connectors, sub-bus routines, relays, and API calls. This gave Nigella the ability to participate in intraday markets, diversifying her portfolio’s revenue streams.
MWh data was now available, thanks to the development team’s excellent work integrating new data into the front end through patches, connectors, sub-bus routines, relays, and API calls. This gave Nigella the ability to participate in intraday markets, diversifying her portfolio’s revenue streams.
AVAILABILITY OVERHALL
< SLIDE >
BEFORE
Simple dimensions of data
With limited data you limit your options, here having simple asset location and energy out put figures are reassuring but are not money makers.
With limited data you limit your options, here having simple asset location and energy out put figures are reassuring but are not money makers.
No market data
With no market data you can't tell if what energy you produced was worth the effort. Additionally this weakens a producers power in conversations with root to market (RTM's) traders.
With no market data you can't tell if what energy you produced was worth the effort. Additionally this weakens a producers power in conversations with root to market (RTM's) traders.
AFTER
Rich insights on realtime data.
Rich insights on realtime data
With Daily Availability & Revenue Impact data now coming through, Nigella can now see instantly how her asset did with delivery in direct comparison to the new Within Day Availability & Market Prices, meaning Intraday tradings was on the cards for Nigella so she could maximise here portfolio in variable markets.
Nigella can get a clear view of were she may have lost most revenue opportunity and then give her a time period to investigate for availability or fault issues.
With Daily Availability & Revenue Impact data now coming through, Nigella can now see instantly how her asset did with delivery in direct comparison to the new Within Day Availability & Market Prices, meaning Intraday tradings was on the cards for Nigella so she could maximise here portfolio in variable markets
Nigella can get a clear view of were she may have lost most revenue opportunity and then give her a time period to investigate for availability or fault issues.
Tracking assets trends in daily markets.
Tracking assets trends in daily markets
Portfolio of assets daily availability and revenue impact is clear to track over various time ranges, giving Nigella the opportunity to adjust her strategy to better meet targets.
OVERVIEW ENHANCEMENTS
< SLIDE >
EXAMPLES OF MY POSITIVE
IMPACT ON
BEFORE
Having a blind spot of not knowing in real time how your asset is functioning physically can be detrimental in 3 main ways. 1: Heat runaway (fire) if an asset is "thrashed" to hard, means cycled from empty/negative to positive/full charge to aggressively (eg 4+ cycles per day is high), 2: Warranty impact and 3: Maintenance engineers time wastage/cost.
No physical data or insight.
Flying blind is an appropriate term when you don't know the financial cost/loss/impact of running your asset. Never mind the fact that this is only for a single asset, so scalability is ruled out at the get go.
No commercial data or insight given per single asset.
AFTER
MWh data was now available, thanks to the development team’s excellent work integrating new data into the front end through patches, connectors, sub-bus routines, relays, and API calls. This gave Nigella the ability to participate in intraday markets, diversifying her portfolio’s revenue streams.
MWh granular dta
At a glance, Nigella can now track an asset’s real-time trades across different markets and revenue pools.
Financial Targets
A simple traffic-light system now visualises warranty, cycles, and availability (with targets), giving Nigella an instant read on performance.
Realtime physical data
With performance clearly summarised through a traffic-light system, Nigella is motivated to dive into the areas that need her attention.
Portfolio of assets in multiple markets
AVAILABILITY
OVERHALL
< SLIDE >
BEFORE
With no market data you can't tell if what energy you produced was worth the effort. Additionally this weakens a producers power in conversations with root to market (RTM's) traders.
No market data
With limited data you limit your options, here having simple asset location and energy out put figures are reassuring but are not money makers.
Simple dimensions of data
AFTER
With Daily Availability & Revenue Impact data now coming through, Nigella can now see instantly how her asset did with delivery in direct comparison to the new Within Day Availability & Market Prices, meaning Intraday tradings was on the cards for Nigella so she could maximise here portfolio in variable markets
Nigella can get a clear view of were she may have lost most revenue opportunity and then give her a time period to investigate for availability or fault issues.
Tracking assets trends in daily markets.
Portfolio of assets daily availability and revenue impact is clear to track over various time ranges, giving Nigella the opportunity to adjust her strategy to better meet targets.