Profitable value streams through Lean Design

I’m Serge Zuev — New York-based product & experience designer. 
I help companies ship profitable products 2–4× faster by eliminating waste, aligning lean strategy with decisive UX, and driving ruthless execution — so teams launch sooner, avoid costly rework, and scale without friction.

Serge Zuev is a Lean Product Design consultant in New York. He works with mission-driven organizations to design systems that communicate clearly, align business and user goals, and scale effectively.

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As the Current Reality Tree (CRT) is developed, it may become apparent that multiple causes are interconnected, forming a network of underlying assumptions and constraints that are holding the system back. The CRT helped us to identify these interdependencies, and to highlight the key areas where changes can be made to improve the system’s performance and achieve our goal of building consistent and scalable products.

Creating a road map helped the team stay on track and have a shared understanding of the project’s goals. It also identified potential challenges and allowed for necessary adjustments to ensure success.

After the Discovery phase, the Design System team successfully identified the future target product and proceeded to incorporate the product design decisions into common elements that could be seamlessly integrated into the design system.

The system is the product of the interactions of it’s parts, and not the sum of the parts.

The RZR design system is based on real-world situations. Every component, pattern, and principle is informed by research and thoughtful testing.

A modular framework that allows for diverse layout combinations, facilitating all content from ever-changing to evergreen.

It is important to note that this process was not without meticulous review and rigorous stakeholder engagement, which ultimately served to ensure the utmost quality and obtain key approvals for our design decisions. Such focused attention to detail and stakeholder engagement are hallmarks of any successful project.

RZR is a lean design system for complex enterprise products and digital experiences in the logistics space. It provides modular and scalable components and tools to help product teams iterate with speed and precision, enabling faster time to market and cohesive user experience. Flexible, scalable and instantly recognizable.

200%

$1,1M

It is important to note that this process was not without meticulous review and rigorous stakeholder engagement, which ultimately served to ensure the utmost quality and obtain key approvals for our design decisions. Such focused attention to detail and stakeholder engagement are hallmarks of any successful project.

As the Current Reality Tree (CRT) is developed, it may become apparent that multiple causes are interconnected, forming a network of underlying assumptions and constraints that are holding the system back. The CRT helped us to identify these interdependencies, and to highlight the key areas where changes can be made to improve the system’s performance and achieve our goal of building consistent and scalable products.



Creating a road map helped the team stay on track and have a shared understanding of the project’s goals. It also identified potential challenges and allowed for necessary adjustments to ensure success.

After the Discovery phase, the Design System team successfully identified the future target product and proceeded to incorporate the product design decisions into common elements that could be seamlessly integrated into the design system. 

The system is the product of the interactions of it’s parts, and not the sum of the parts.

The RZR design system is based on real-world situations. Every component, pattern, and principle is informed by research and thoughtful testing.

A modular framework that allows for diverse layout combinations, facilitating all content from ever-changing to evergreen.

RZR is a lean design system for complex enterprise products and digital experiences in the logistics space. It provides modular and scalable components and tools to help product teams iterate with speed and precision, enabling faster time to market and cohesive user experience. Flexible, scalable and instantly recognizable.

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RZR is a design system for GoTRG’s products and digital experiences. RZR provides components and tools to help product teams work more efficiently and to make GoTRG’s applications more cohesive. The RZR design system is based on real-world situations. Every component, pattern, and principle is informed by research and thoughtful testing.

Delivering consistent and scalable products twice as fast -

Delivering consistent and scalable products twice as fast

A web app would generates multiple card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes. It can be linked to any credit or debit card or bank account and used for purchases anywhere. Transactions are charged to a secure virtual wallet that can be linked to any payment method, including credit cards. This would allow consumers to make online payments safely and anonymously.

Planning backward from the ideal state ensures a clear and direct path towards achieving the desired goals, improving the likelihood of successful implementation.

Vaulet is a web app that allows users to generate credit or debit card numbers. These virtual cards can be linked to any bank account or credit card and used for online purchases, with the payment charged to the user&#8217;s virtual wallet. This secure payment method ensures safe and anonymous online transactions for consumers.

4 days

100%

Team members could clearly articulate the product vision

Estimated reduced product-market fit validation time

A web app would generates multiple card numbers, expiration dates, and security codes. It can be linked to any credit or debit card or bank account and used for purchases anywhere. Transactions are charged to a secure virtual wallet that can be linked to any payment method, including credit cards. This would allow consumers to make online payments safely and anonymously.

Planning backward from the ideal state ensures a clear and direct path towards achieving the desired goals, improving the likelihood of successful implementation.

Vaulet is a web app that allows users to generate credit or debit card numbers. These virtual cards can be linked to any bank account or credit card and used for online purchases, with the payment charged to the user's virtual wallet. This secure payment method ensures safe and anonymous online transactions for consumers.

Accelerating team alignment on product vision -

Accelerating team alignment on product vision

We conducted a comprehensive UX audit to evaluate the user experience of the website. This involved assessing various aspects, including usability, visual design, navigation, content, and overall user satisfaction. Through the audit, we identified areas for improvement to enhance the user experience and effectively meet user needs.

By utilizing the Current Reality Tree (CRT) to analyze the present situation, understanding the negative effects, and employing the Future Reality Tree (FRT) to envision the ideal state and propose solutions, we were able to effectively identify the gaps and develop an action plan to bridge them.

No matter how good the site design and structure is, subpar product data will have a severe impact on the user experience and lead to site abandonments.

System thinking enables the discovery of the underlying causes of UX issues that go beyond the usual considerations of UX.

TheStore.com, an eco-conscious marketplace for refurbished devices, faced challenges in sales and user experience compared to similar eCommerce sites. To tackle this, the UX team took charge, aiming to address the issues and drive better results.

19.4%

260%

156%

We conducted a comprehensive UX audit to evaluate the user experience of the website. This involved assessing various aspects, including usability, visual design, navigation, content, and overall user satisfaction. Through the audit, we identified areas for improvement to enhance the user experience and effectively meet user needs.

By utilizing the Current Reality Tree (CRT) to analyze the present situation, understanding the negative effects, and employing the Future Reality Tree (FRT) to envision the ideal state and propose solutions, we were able to effectively identify the gaps and develop an action plan to bridge them. 

No matter how good the site design and structure is, subpar product data will have a severe impact on the user experience and lead to site abandonments.

System thinking enables the discovery of the underlying causes of UX issues that go beyond the usual considerations of UX.

TheStore.com, an eco-conscious marketplace for refurbished devices, faced challenges in sales and user experience compared to similar eCommerce sites. To tackle this, the UX team took charge, aiming to address the issues and drive better results.

Doubling eCommerce sales with improved UX -

Doubling eCommerce sales with improved UX

Constructing the Current Reality Tree helped us identify the core causes of problems in our remanufacturing process and business operations. This method served as a guide to better understand the challenges in our complex systems where numerous elements interconnect.

Next, we built the Future Reality Tree to assess proposed solutions prior to execution, aiming to reduce risks and optimize our potential for achieving targeted improvements.

For optimal economic results in a flow-based system, priorities need continuous updating. We used the Weighted Shortest Job First (WSJF) model to prioritize tasks based on economic impact. This strategy improved product recovery and almost tripled our inventory velocity.

Throughput accounting provided a clearer understanding of how decisions will impact the bottom line.

The objective of this project was to design an effective remanufacturing process aimed at maximizing the sales margins of refurbished electronics.
As part of this initiative, we also took the opportunity to revamp the user experience, empowering employees to overcome complex process challenges and ultimately enhance the company&#8217;s competitiveness on the secondary market.

290%