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Unifying eight products without forcing a rewrite

I chose incremental convergence over a platform rewrite, then drove adoption across eight product teams through shared navigation, action hierarchy and reusable workflow patterns.

Impact: Eight products aligned

40% faster mortgage processing

~30% lower development time
System scope: Semantic product shell

Shared navigation

Workflow states

Reusable cards, tables and forms
Company: Twenty7Tec
Ownership: Platform strategy

Design-system direction

Cross-team adoption

Product architecture
Signals: Fintech PlatformsAdoption StrategyDesign SystemsPost-acquisitionMortgage and Wealth

The decision I owned

Choose incremental convergence

Create coherence through shared foundations rather than forcing a rewrite.

Finplan and seven related tools had different brands, navigation patterns and workflow conventions. A rebrand would change appearance without changing behaviour; a full rebuild would delay value and concentrate risk.

What I recognised

The organisation did not primarily have a visual-consistency problem. It lacked a shared model for how products orient users, present actions, structure financial data and communicate workflow state.

Different navigation made switching products feel like changing companies.
Action hierarchy changed between workflows.
Tables, cards, forms and status patterns required repeated relearning.
Independent implementation increased development effort and design drift.

Options and trade-offs

Twenty7Tec platform options
Path	Benefit	Risk
Rebuild as one platform	Maximum consistency.	Excessive cost, time and migration risk.
Apply one visual brand	Fast and immediately visible.	Leaves interaction and workflow fragmentation intact.
Shared foundations	Incremental convergence while products continue to ship.	Chosen: requires coordination and sustained adoption across teams.

The system I established

I defined a semantic shell that products could adopt without surrendering their delivery roadmaps.

Twenty7Tec dashboard overview (2024) — **Shared navigation.** A consistent shell gives advisers predictable orientation across the product suite.

Twenty7Tec business insight view (2024) — **Summary to detail.** Common KPI and widget structures create a repeatable route from overview to evidence.

Twenty7Tec client management screen (2024) — **Card and table anatomy.** Standardised spacing, financial typography and interaction states reduce relearning.

Twenty7Tec sourcing results screen (2024) — **Complex list patterns.** Dense comparison work uses the same hierarchy and data conventions as the rest of the suite.

Twenty7Tec decision in principle screen (2024) — **Action hierarchy.** Primary and secondary actions remain predictable during high-consequence submissions.

Twenty7Tec affordability assessment screen (2024) — **Submission patterns.** Normalised controls and progression reduce cognitive load in complex data entry.

The deliverable was adoption

Across eight teams

The system became real when teams used it in live product work—not when the library was published.

I worked with Product and Engineering to introduce patterns as products were modified and new features shipped. This avoided a “big bang”, gave teams evidence from real implementation, and let the shared language become the default through repeated use.

DefineAgree the shared behavioural rules and component anatomy.
EmbedApply patterns inside active roadmap work with product teams.
GovernUse implementation evidence to refine standards and prevent drift.

What changed

~30%: Lower development time through reusable foundations.
40%: Faster mortgage processing through clearer workflows.
Eight products: One shared product language without a forced rewrite.