The Plot
Every product tells a story.
Not the one in the launch deck - the one that emerges from constraints, trade-off, timing , and human behavior.
I think about products the same way I think about photographs:
you don’t manufacture meaning, you frame it, wait for it, and decide what matters.
Why “The Plot”
Most portfolios list outcomes.
Mine traces decisions.
Each case study here follows a plot:
a context
a tension
a choice
and what that choice sets in motion
Because products don’t succeed or fail in isolation, they evolve inside systems, organizations, markets, and moments.
And so do people.
How I Work
I’m drawn to inflection points:
when a product hits a plateau
when teams optimize locally and lose coherence
when speed competes with correctness
when utility stops being enough
My work lives in those moments.
I don’t optimize for feature completeness.
I optimize for decision velocity, coherence, and long-term leverage.
Sometimes that means shipping.
Sometimes it means not shipping.
Sometimes it means changing the frame entirely.
Why This Shows Up in My Work
Across very different domains — platforms, marketplaces, intelligence systems, consumer products — the pattern is the same:
The hardest problems aren’t technical.
They’re about interpretation, trust, and alignment.
What should this product mean to the people using it?
What should it remember?
What should it ignore?
And what happens if we get that wrong?
Those are plot questions, not roadmap ones.
Why Photography Is Part of This
Photography taught me restraint.
You can’t control the scene, only where you stand, when you press the shutter, and what you leave out.
Product work is the same.
The best outcomes I’ve had came from:
saying no early
choosing principles over convenience
and letting systems compound instead of chasing short-term wins
The image doesn’t need more elements.
It needs a clearer frame.
The Throughline
Every case study here is different in surface area.
They all share the same underlying belief:
Products become durable when they respect how people actually experience time, emotion, and uncertainty.
That’s the plot I keep returning to,
in products, in systems, and in my own work.
— Gabi
