Growing the foundations at Adora health
Adora Health, an early-stage health tech startup specialising in menopause, faced the dual challenge of achieving market fit and improve its app experience. Over the course of a year, I worked to strengthen the app proposition, secure additional funding, and foster a collaborative, aligned team culture. These efforts laid a strong foundation for long-term growth and positioned Adora Health to capitalise on future investment opportunities.
Client
Adora health
Duration
1 year 2 months
My role
Senior Product Designer
Activities
Product Design, Scrum-mastering, Workshopping, User Research, Generating Insights, User Testing
The results
5x uplift in user engagement
for users accessing the app in first 2 weeks.
Secured funding proposal from NHS scotland
via civTech, which has led to access to more signifiant funding pots.
Shipped 6+ releases
Each release packed with new features and experience improvements.
Dynamic data dashboards
Leveraging app APIs with google sheets to create low cost but effective data dashboards
OKRs and product performance reporting
Leveraging app APIs with google sheets to create low cost but effective data dashboards
The challenge
Select from one of the roles to view more detail below :
Product strategy
I supported Adora strategically by aligning data, insights, and metrics with the founders’ vision. I also took on a leadership role, fostering team collaboration and uniting teams around shared goals.
My top achievements were :
- Created dynamic product data reporting dashboards
- Developed product OKRs
- Wrote successful NHS Scotland funding proposal securing additional funds
Live data dashboards
Adora had plenty of data, but it was locked in APIs that were neither easily accessible nor visualised effectively. I developed a dynamic Google Sheets dashboard that, with the help of ChatGPT, automatically pulled API data into Google Sheets daily. I then created a series of dashboards to highlight key app metrics, which were automatically shared with the team weekly via email and Slack.
A key insight emerged regarding the most commonly reported symptoms. This allowed the content team to prioritise emails and refine the engagement strategy accordingly.
Quarterly OKRs
The team had a vision and a rough outline of features but lacked prioritisation and alignment among the founders. There was also a need for clearer metrics and targets. To address this, I facilitated sessions to co-create OKRs, aligning them with business needs, market fit, and user insights.
Experiment tracker template
When developing new features, it’s easy to lose sight of intent, impact, and success. That’s why I developed an experiment tracker template—to keep the focus on specific metrics, ensuring we measure the exact impact of our work and achieve our goals effectively
Strategy > Experiments > Features > Metrics
Successful funding bid
Adora threw its hat into the ring to secure funding through NHS Scotland’s CivTech “Understanding Menopause” programme, competing against over 40 applicants. We had just three weeks to consult with clinicians, delve deeper into the brief, validate our assumptions, and craft a comprehensive proposal and pitch deck.
With my support, we successfully secured initial funding, paving the way for access to larger funding opportunities, which were also successfully granted.
User research
This role came with its challenges, particularly given the important subject matter of menopause. Building trust with women required deep empathy and understanding to encourage them to share their experiences openly.
Additionally, I had to conduct remote one-to-one tests on a tight budget, making it essential to be resourceful and efficient. This included leveraging existing research to avoid duplication and maximise value.
1-2-1 user and unmoderated testing
I conducted a series of both remote one-on-one user tests and unmoderated testing through UserTesting.com. I was able to test concepts, prototypes and gain general insights about the Adora journey. I collated the insights and shared with the team to help inform product decisions.
A key insight was that the app didn't scale fonts well, despite many users enlarging their phone's font size. This prompted a redesign to ensure elegant scaling for larger font settings.
Collating insights
By combining multiple sources of data, from user testing, market research, qual reporting, and team gut feel I created a searchable library of all insights to date, and where we learnt it from.
Personas
Drawing from user interviews, menopause SMEs, and a team workshop, I developed a series of personas to encapsulate our understanding of users. These personas were centered around their needs and key Jobs To Be Done (JTBD).
Mapping the Adora journey
While the team had a vision and a rough outline of features they lacked a prioritisation and alignment between founders. There was also a lack of clarity around metrics and targets. I facilitated sessions to co-create OKRs and align them with business needs, market fit, and user insights.
Product Design
I not only researched, designed, and delivered multiple features but also introduced the team to a more collaborative and co-creative design process. I tailored the depth of this process to suit the complexity of each project and the team’s confidence level.
Discovery work
To ensure team alignment and assess design feasibility, I introduced a project whiteboard kick-off session for each major feature. This session allowed the team to share perspectives, clarify misunderstandings, and address questions.
Key activities included:
- Facilitating team project whiteboard kick-off sessions.
- Shaping the problem statement and developing the brief.
- Conducting SME interviews with menopause clinicians and experts.
- Performing market and competitor analysis.
- Conducting user tests on existing functionality.
- Compiling insights into a discovery playback deck.
During the discovery phase on menopausal women in the workplace, we found the core need was supporting conversations with managers and addressing workplace culture, rather than offering specific adjustment tips. This insight shaped our broader service proposition.
Early Concepts
Building on insights from the discovery phase, I developed early concepts to explore and refine ideas.
Overview of Activities:
- Mapped user flows, system architecture, and potential logic to ensure seamless functionality.
- Designed user journey flows for new AI chat functionality, collaborating closely with a menopause SME to identify critical touchpoints.
- Utilised a range of no-code tools such as Typeform, Slides.com, and Figma to prototype and test ideas quickly.
- Adopted an iterative process, enabling continuous user testing and ensuring the concepts effectively addressed user needs.
Prototyping
Building on insights from the discovery phase, I refined concepts through iterative feedback gathered from both moderated and unmoderated user testing.
This feedback informed the development of interactive prototypes, with tools such as Figma, Typeform, and Slides.com used at different stages of the process.
The prototypes not only supported refinement but also served as valuable tools to clearly communicate the intended interaction design and animations.
Design handoff and support
I collaborated closely with the development team, working in monthly sprints to break down designs into actionable stories for implementation.
Key Contributions:
- Scrum-mastered the team, leading sprint retrospectives and planning sessions.
- Created Kanban boards to track progress throughout the development process.
- Documented and managed stories in Jira, ensuring clear communication and prioritisation.
- Held regular check-ins with the development team to address questions and provide support.
- Conducted quality assurance testing and raised issues on the test app to ensure a smooth development cycle.
Design System
Adora lacked a formal design system, making consistency a challenge.
Actions Taken:
- Collaborated with the marketing/brand designer to create a comprehensive Figma design system for all app components.
- Ensured WCAG and AA compliance, focusing on size, interaction, spacing, colour contrast, and accessibility.
Final reflections
My time at Adora required adaptability and a willingness to wear many hats, responding to the ever-evolving needs of a growing start-up. It was a fast-paced, diverse, and rewarding experience that taught me valuable lessons about balancing impact with quality in a resource-constrained environment.
I’m particularly proud of several key achievements: improving the app’s visual design, shipping multiple features, increasing the engagement rate by fivefold, securing CivTech funding, and becoming a trusted partner to the founders. On a personal level, deepening my understanding of menopause and successfully navigating my first foray into the medtech sector were also significant highlights.
Key learnings
One of the biggest challenges was managing focus amidst a multitude of opportunities. I learned to prioritise more effectively, streamline roadmap planning sessions, and simplify processes to suit the realities of a small development team.
Working with a very limited dev capacity (just two developers available 4–5 days per month) was particularly challenging. It required me to distil my vision into incremental, achievable changes while ensuring meaningful impact.
Adora’s exploratory phase, focused on establishing market fit, often meant shifting priorities from month to month. This fluidity was disorientating at times, but over time, I became better at adapting and planning short-term while staying aligned with the broader vision—after a few hard-learned lessons.
Balancing breadth and impact
While I relished the opportunity to contribute across so many roles, balancing quality and depth against impact was a constant challenge, especially on a 3-day-a-week schedule. The experience reinforced the importance of delivering value through shipping and measurable user impact, even when perfection isn’t attainable.
Ultimately, my time at Adora was a dynamic and enriching experience, offering both challenges and growth opportunities in equal measure. It reinforced my love for working in start-ups—where the pace is fast, the work is varied, and the potential for meaningful impact is immense.