Transforming Clinical Trial Planning Through an Experience-Led AI Product Strategy
Global Life Sciences Organisation
3 min read
Nichola Wolfe
AI is reshaping how life sciences organisations plan and execute clinical trials. I partnered with a global client to design an AI-enabled product that would streamline and enhance the clinical trial planning process, bringing together multiple user groups across R&D into one connected platform.
My role as Experience and Adoption Lead focused on taking the product from initial concept through to strategic roadmap — defining the experience, functionality, and adoption strategy to ensure both business and user impact.
In this case study:
Project Ambition and Objectives
The client’s ambition was to leverage AI to optimise clinical trial planning, reducing time to market and enabling more innovative trial designs. The project sought to:
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Improve efficiency and collaboration across diverse R&D teams
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Enable faster, more predictive trial design decisions through AI
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Strengthen competitiveness by accelerating innovation in clinical development
Approach and Methods
Working alongside the Product Owner and Business Transformation Office, I helped define the strategic vision and roadmap for the new product — a greenfield initiative built from the ground up.
A key focus was on the user experience. I established a focus group of future users representing the four primary personas. Through a series of workshops, we explored user frustrations, motivations, and daily challenges to ensure the product was designed around real user needs.
Throughout the project, we:
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Conducted stakeholder and user research to identify key bottlenecks
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Defined functionality and features aligned with user and business priorities
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Developed an experience-led product roadmap to guide engineering and design teams
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Partnered with UX/UI and data science teams to align design with predictive AI capability
Project Outputs
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A validated product strategy and roadmap aligned to business and user needs
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Defined functionality requirements and user journeys to inform engineering and design
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Established the foundations for MVP delivery targeting two disease areas (2026)
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Created a focus group engagement model to sustain user feedback and adoption input
Project Outcomes
By combining strategic foresight with user insight, the product set a new standard for innovation within clinical trial planning.
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For the business, the solution is projected to deliver multi-million savings in time-to-market and improved competitiveness across disease areas.
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For employees, it significantly improves the planning experience — replacing manual, fragmented processes with predictive tools that empower innovation.
Ultimately, the work positioned the organisation to move faster, innovate more freely, and scale AI capabilities across future R&D programmes.
Applying these methods to your business
If you would like to discuss a project with similar focus and outcomes use the button below to schedule an initial call with me.
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