Behind every well-designed product is a leader making hundreds of decisions that shape how teams work, how products feel, and how people experience the world. Yet in the rush to ship and scale, few have the space or support to pause, reflect, and be intentional about those choices.
This advisory exists to create that space. A space to think deeply, lead confidently, and keep growing without burning out. It’s the evolution of everything I’ve learned from coaching design leaders and operating as a fractional head of design, distilled into a format that’s emerged through experience with the leaders I’ve supported. Over time, this has proven to be the most valuable and sustainable way for them to grow and create long-term leverage.
What makes it work is deep context. I take time to understand your world, the dynamics of your company, the nuances of your team, and what makes you and your product unique. From there, we blend the reflection and growth of coaching with the practical support of design leadership: one part thought partner, one part experienced guide.
What begins as clarity and confidence in you becomes momentum for everyone around you, shaping how teams think, how products evolve, and how your company shows up in the world.
I’ve crafted this offering to address the three pain points I most consistently hear from founders and design leaders looking for expert advisory: depth, momentum and access.
Each month you'll get
A 90-minute Live Session
Crafted together, in advance, and oriented toward your top priorities, we’ll get into the details in a fast-paced working session. Whether that’s zooming out to make sense of a big picture challenge, or getting into the design details, this is our time to go deep, shaping direction and driving decisions together.
All meeting transcripts, future agendas and async artefacts live in a shared, private Notion space for easy reference and collaboration.
Async Action
Typically one per month, these are small, high-leverage tasks that I take on to boost momentum on your top priorities. They are often oriented around our live sessions—either prepping for or accelerating progress afterward—not leaving everything on your plate. I’ll often pro-actively suggest ideas, based on the themes in our live sessions, though you can always flag what you’d find most useful.
Examples include: comms checklists for re-org rollouts, a draft interview guide for design hiring, PDP templates for your team.
Ongoing Quick Asks
Need a gut check, second opinion or supportive sounding board? Drop me a WhatsApp message and I’ll get back within 48 hours (usually sooner) so you don’t need to wait until we speak to unblock progress, or feel supported in the challenge you’re facing. You don’t have to do this alone.
Great for sense-checking important messages to the team, making tricky UI decisions or prepping for difficult conversations.
I’ve been fortunate to work with leaders from Monzo, BuzzFeed, Babylon Health, and a range of fast-growing, VC-backed startups. Here’s what a few have said about the impact of our work together.
Intentional Partners is Tom Harman
A fractional design leader and advisor based in London, working globally
hi@intentional.partners
