Danny Hearn
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The thinking AI can't do for you

Someone else's AI story won't tell you yours.

I can help you get clarity on what your team is great at, and what more it can do with AI.

Apps for iOS and UK government

Vibe coding pioneered in government

AI expert Tech for Good South West

Training inspiring UK gov teams

Where it starts

Stuck on what AI means for you?

This is usually where it starts

  1. Told to “Do something with AI”?

    The pressure is clear, but what that looks like in practice is not.

  2. A team that is anxious, or quietly opting out

    Some fear for their jobs. Some have decided it is hype.

  3. No one can say what it means for you

    Not for the team, not for the jobs people do.

  4. It has to be done responsibly

    Your data, your rules, and how right the output has to be.

  5. Starting with AI and working back is the wrong way round.

    Start with the problems worth fixing and what your people are great at. Then help them do more of that, and less of the repetitive admin.

The point of it

This is more than making people more productive. It is about what your organisation is capable of.

Start with what AI can't do.

I help organisations get clear on what AI can't do for them, and on what their people are great at: the judgement, the relationships, the knowledge of how the work really runs. Then we find the AI opportunities around that, and shape a way of doing AI that is yours, not borrowed from someone else's playbook.

How it works

People, the map, experiments, then the habit

In that order, because the order is the argument

  1. People and principles

    Agree the principles before the tools.

    What the change is for, and what will not change. Without that, whatever you adopt does not get used.

  2. Finding your opportunities

    See where AI helps, and where people matter most.

    We map how the work really runs, with the people who do it: what AI could take on, and what needs their judgement, relationships and know-how. Then we choose what is worth doing first.

  3. Try it on real work

    Small experiments, early.

    Your team tries AI on their own tasks, on the tools you already have, to learn what it is good for and what it is not, before anyone buys anything.

  4. Embed and hand over

    Make it how the team works.

    • Champions from your team, trained along the way
    • Rules for checking AI's work, agreed with the people who do it
    • Everything documented and handed to your team

What changes

What you and your team come away with

Ways to start

Each one stands on its own.

  • A workshop with your team

    One day

    A hands-on session using AI on your team's real work, on the tools you already have.

    You leave with a team that has used AI on its own work, and a shortlist of what to try next.

  • Find your AI opportunities

    A couple of weeks

    Research and mapping with the people who do the work: where AI would help, where people matter most, and how you want to do AI your own way.

    You leave with a shortlist your team chose, and an approach to AI that fits you.

  • Upskill your team

    A few weeks

    Hands-on training and coaching, so people use AI well in their own work and know what to check.

    You leave with a team that uses AI with confidence, and champions who can teach others.

  • Coaching for leaders

    Alongside the change

    A critical friend who can tell hype from reality, and coaching on bringing your team with you.

    You leave with clarity, confidence and competence, and a team that trusts you with what comes next.

In other people's words

Danny is by far the best consultant in his category that I have ever worked with. Truly great digital experts, for me, have been hard to come by. Danny is different. He is principled, rolls up his sleeves, has a plan, sticks to it, is flexible, but knows his science, and OWNS the deliverable as if he’s a part of your business. I would have him back in a heartbeat.
Marcia Kilgore Entrepreneur, Investor, Founder, Beauty Pie, Fitflop
Danny is a passionate, intelligent, and hardworking team member with a wide range of UCD expertise. The excellent work he did to set up a large, diverse user panel at DfT will have a long term impact, helping us and the client carry out quality research for a long time to come. Thank you Danny!
Paul Tait Senior Delivery Manager, Methods (for Dept for Transport)
Danny was exactly what our early-stage startup needed. He brought a hands-on, strategic, and detail-oriented approach to product and design, with a genuine investment in our success, particularly in the critical area of women's health and menopause solutions.
Ann O'Niel Co-Founder and CEO, Adora Health
Danny is a joy to work with - he is a highly skilled UX professional who is passionate about bringing the best of that discipline to drive consumer-centric transformation - he is tenacious, compassionate and has a relentless drive to make things happen.
Lucy Calver Director of Digital, Clarks
I have learnt so much from working alongside Danny at DOT PROJECT as have the incredible charities we support. Danny has taken on so many new challenges with such focus, commitment, energy, but most importantly empathy.
Annie Leggie Co-Founder, DOT Project
Danny is an energetic and passionate UX leader. He has a tenacious attitude and won’t accept the status quo when there is opportunity to do things better. He is a positive agent for change, brings people with him and is a great manager widely respected by his team.
Lewis Badcock Head of Product, John Lewis
Danny introduced innovative ways of working, demonstrated solid and imaginative design thinking and built a good rapport with our clients.
Richard Rutter Co-Founder, Clearleft
Danny brought fantastic and such valuable insight to the Fitflop Digital re-platform. His approach to understanding the required customer experience and interpreting it through our digital platform has been first class.
Simon Wright Chief Operating Officer and Board Director, FitFlop
Danny was instrumental in helping to push the product development process forward. It was impressive to see how he was able to introduce and embed a range of innovative tools and methodologies. I would highly recommend him for guidance, coaching and leadership with product design teams.
Duncan Turner Product Manager, John Lewis
Working alongside innovation strategists and insight leaders, Danny has been crucial in identifying and architecting a number of disruptive new digital and retail propositions for our most senior clients.
Katy Sephton Co-Founder and COO, Future Foundry
Danny was instrumental in shaping our health app, contributing to both graphic design and user experience. Over a year, he refined our UI, improved usability through user testing, and helped create a visually engaging product. His creativity, attention to detail, and collaborative approach made a real impact. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for a designer who combines aesthetics with user insight.
Ed Smith Co-Founder and CTO, Adora Health
I have worked on several projects with Danny now and would highly recommend him for large, complex, goal driven UX projects. He has a great ability to work alongside the client, develop a rapport, gather requirements, keep the design focused and deliver results.
Simon Parbutt Head of User Experience, Splendid
Danny is extremely bright and versatile and was able to turn his hand to almost anything. He always championed excellence in user experience and produced high quality detailed documentation suitable for technical specs. Design savvy and technically competent he's a very useful guy to have around.
Nicky Drake Product Manager, Eurostar
Danny has a clear talent for user centric design and customer experience, founded on a genuine interest in consumer needs. He is an articulate and sensitive communicator. Danny's motivation and infectious enthusiasm were unrelenting during his time in my team. A real find!
John Davies Head of Ecommerce, Eurostar
I never thought someone who is used to working in a corporate environment would be able to engage 40 teenage girls for 2 days in a fun and interactive way, teaching them ideation, UX, prototyping tools and programming using Scrum and Agile. Our hackathon would not have been the success that it was without Danny.
Elena Sinel Founder, Acorn Aspirations

Common questions

Who is it for?

Organisations of any size. It starts from how your work actually runs, so it fits a small team as well as a large one.

Do you work with leaders or with teams?

Both, and the change sticks when it happens at both levels together. Leaders need the confidence to take people with them. Teams need hands-on time on their own work.

We already pay for AI licences. Why is nobody using them?

Usually because the tools arrived without a reason to use them. We find the tasks where they genuinely help, and train champions who can show colleagues.

How is it priced?

Flexibly. We agree it together once we have talked through what you need.

Need someone in the team instead? I also contract as a User Researcher, Designer and Service Designer.

Contract work

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