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Beams asked me to diagnose why their ‘Focus Mode’ feature wasn’t resonating with beta users. By reframing the problem and testing new focus concepts, I helped them define a clearer, more differentiated path forward. expressed through a system blueprint and exploratory interface designs.
Role
Product Discovery
Team
Myself, Head of Product, CTO
Year
2022
What I delivered
A behaviorally-grounded product redesign supported by expert research and concept testing.- including system blueprints, validation roadmap, and UI mockups.
The Challenge
Beams' Focus Mode aimed to reduce "context switching" but failed to gain traction with users. The team knew something was wrong but couldn't identify what.
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The Brief
Investigate why Beams' "Focus Mode" failed to gain traction and identify opportunities to make it more valuable to users.
My Process
Key Deliverables
The Brief
Investigate why Beams' "Focus Mode" failed to gain traction and identify opportunities to make it more valuable to users.
My Process
Key Deliverables
Focus Mode 2.0 Blueprint
UI Mockups
Documentation
Benchmarking revealed which focus solution areas were saturated and which were underserved.
I introduced established frameworks such as Nir Eyal's Indistractable Model to help demonstrate why we should broaden our framing of the focus problem.
Focus mode combined timers, intention setting and Do-Not-Distrub functionality.
Benchmarking revealed which focus solution areas were saturated and which were underserved.
"
Most distraction doesn’t originate from outside of us... most distraction starts from within.
Established frameworks helped dmonstrate why we should broaden our understanding of the problem
Focus Mode 1.0 attempted this by combining timers, intention setting and Do Not Disturb functionality.
Established frameworks helped demonstrate why we should broaden our framing of the problem
Benchmarking revealed which focus solution areas were saturated and which were underserved.
Competitor Benchmarking
Benchmarking revealed which focus solution areas were saturated and which were underserved.
PROCESS 2/3
Concept Testing
After reframing the opportunity, I worked with the founders to mock up and test a range of concepts across four focus support areas. Testing examined how each was perceived in terms of usefulness, value, and intrusiveness - revealing which strategies warranted deeper exploration.
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
Smart Blocking
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are blocked.
Accountability
Background Monitor
See how closely your behaviour matches your intended task (always-on).
Accountability
Visual Environment Change
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are desaturated or blurred.
Accountability
Session Reports
Analytics show how you've spent your focus time and offer goals and tips.
Accountability
Timeboxed Focus
Plan focus sessions in advance. Smart reorganisation adapts to conflicts.
Accountability
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
Smart Blocking
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are blocked.
Accountability
Background Monitor
See how closely your behaviour matches your intended task (always-on).
Accountability
Visual Environment Change
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are desaturated or blurred.
Accountability
Session Reports
Analytics show how you've spent your focus time and offer goals and tips.
Accountability
Timeboxed Focus
Plan focus sessions in advance. Smart reorganisation adapts to conflicts.
Accountability
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
Accountability
Focus Environments
Self-awareness
Scheduling
Accountability
Focus Environments
Self-awareness
Scheduling
Smart Blocking
Visual Environment Change
Background Monitor
Accountability Prompts
Timeboxed Focus
Session Reports
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when attention drifts from intended task and nudges you back on track.
Visual Environment Change
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are desaturated or blurred
Session Reports
Analytics show how you've spent your focus time and offer goals and tips.
Smart Blocking
Apps and websites that are not helpful to your task are blocked.
Timeboxed Focus
Plan focus sessions in advance. Smart reorganisation adapts to conflicts.
Background Monitor
Widget shows how closely your behaviour matches intended task.
Key learnings
Accountability emerged as the best opportunity for differentiation.
Focus Environments were seen as powerful but restrictive.
Self-awareness generated limited engagement.
Scheduling was a baseline expectation.
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
Focus-Drift Prompts
Beams recognises when your attention drifts from your intended task and nudges you back on track.
Accountability
PROCESS 3/3
Redesigning Focus Mode
Building on expert insights and signals from concept testing, I explored how Focus Mode could evolve with task accountability at its core. This approach brought together behavioural best practice and observed user preferences, enabling a more adaptive form of focus support that responds to how users actually behave.
Adaptive-Focus Blueprint
Realises the potential of the original concept
Builds on the startup's early ideas around intention-setting and external distraction surpression.
Addresses a gap in existing focus tools
Most focus tools address external distractions, leaving internally driven focus breakdowns unaddressed.
Behaviourally-aligned
Escalates support only when needed rather than defaulting to restriction.
Adaptive Focus Blueprint
Adaptive Focus Blueprint
Focus Setup
Focus-Drift prompt
Handoff
I handed off the system blueprint, feasibility analysis, and validation roadmap - equipping the team with everything needed to move forward.
🧠 How attention drift is detected
When a user starts a focus session, they select a work profile that defines expected behaviour. If activity consistently falls outside the expected pattern, it flags this as attention drift and triggers a notification. Over time, the model adapts, learning what focused work looks like for each user and task type.
⚖️ Feasibility & Risks
Signal quality (low–moderate risk)
The system depends on reliably detecting attention drift from application and window focus patterns. Even when technically accurate, prompts that appear at the wrong moment may feel disruptive or punishing.
User acceptance / privacy (moderate risk)
Monitoring application and window focus may feel invasive to some users. Clear opt-in, transparency, and local processing would be essential.
🧭 Proposed next steps
Learnings
User value came from tackling harder problems
Meaningful differentiation required addressing deeper, less obvious focus challenges.
Presenting solutions revealed latent user needs
Accountability was never requested, but its value was consistently recognised when shown.
Evidence aligns teams faster than debate
Testing hypotheses built shared confidence and trust across the team.
PROCESS 1/3
Reframing the focus opportunity
Reviewing Focus Mode, I saw that while it addressed external distractionsit offered little support when focus broke down from within — moments that often lead to context switching. I highlighted this blind spot by introducing behavioural frameworks, then used competitor benchmarking to show that addressing this gap could be both valuable to users and viable as a product direction.
3 research artifacts available on desktop