Twelve product design principles

The number is the product

Charts decorate; numbers decide. Every screen leads with the figure a controller would write in a memo, not the visualization.

Density beats decoration

A finance operator wants twelve relevant numbers on one screen, not three numbers in a hero card. We optimise for the second look, not the screenshot.

Never hide the source

Every metric carries a tooltip with its formula, source ledger and last-refreshed timestamp. If we cannot show the source, we do not show the metric.

Defaults are decisions

Defaults are written down, reviewed quarterly and changeable per workspace. We do not ship 'opinionated' defaults without documenting the opinion.

Destructive actions earn friction

Anything that moves money, deletes data or changes a policy requires an explicit confirmation that names what will change and who will be notified.

Latency is a UX, not an engineering, problem

Any interaction that exceeds 200ms shows progress. Any that exceeds two seconds is cancelable. Slow is acceptable; opaque is not.

Empty states teach

Every empty state explains what would appear, where the data would come from and how to populate it. Zero placeholder illustrations of cartoons holding clipboards.

Errors name the human action

We never surface a stack trace. Every error message names the action the operator can take and the support reference they can quote.

Keyboard before mouse

Every workflow has a keyboard path. The command palette (⌘K) is the canonical surface for navigation, not a feature.

Audit trails are first-class

Every screen that changes state shows who changed it last, when and why. Audit is rendered inline, not relegated to a separate page.

Print matters

Every report screen has a printable view. CFOs still print board packs. We respect that.

No dark patterns. Ever.

No countdown timers on pricing. No pre-checked upsells. No fake scarcity. If we cannot earn the click honestly, we do not earn it.