26 August 2025
Darren Linden, CEO, Modu
Digital transformation remains a top priority for UK enterprises as they seek to stay competitive, resilient and customer centric in fast evolving markets, yet many high-profile initiatives stall, becoming burdened by outdated methodologies, misaligned incentives or just the inertia of complexity. At Modu we believe “transformation” is outdated and that change needs to be constant, not a one off exercise. We challenge the convention with an approach that offers a powerful pragmatic alternative, delivering real value fast in just 60 working days.
I’ve seen so many digital change efforts falter because they rely on heavy, rigid playbooks crafted in classrooms, not built in tandem with real organisational rhythms or based on the reality of being inside these businesses. Long term plans date as quickly as the world changes and programmes then become vulnerable to shifting priorities and stakeholder fatigue.
We turn this upside down by pursuing business value every 60 working days. Rather than fixating on a distant end state, it’s important to guarantee tangible results within each three month cycle. By imagining, designing and building digital products that solve concrete problems, momentum is renewed swiftly and repeatedly - executives are incentivised to hit targets every quarter, but transformation benefits are often deferred for many years. As a result, I’ve seen so many programmes pushed away rather than pulled because there is nothing emerging from them to help organisations and their teams be successful right now when problems are so acute.
This iterative cycle of “Think, Design, Build” ensures that transformation is not abstract but grounded in actionable outcomes every 60 working days. Each cycle ends with a diagnostic pause: we use double‑loop learning to inform the next move, keeping the journey adaptive and aligned.
Traditional consultancies often sell “playbooks” or “best‑practice” frameworks, whether it’s Scrum, SAFe or other process led models. These can feel generic, mismatched to a client’s unique context and don’t respect the nuances of their businesses or their challenges. The exchange of ideas becomes transactional, ticking process boxes and not solving real problems.
We've always rejected the one size fits all model because our experience has shown there are no industry best practices, only modular composable patterns that should be thoughtfully assembled to fit each organisation, team or challenge. We shifted from client side to service side because we believed that consultancy should be impactful not transactional, a partnership that starts by understanding the real pain, not selling a pre‑packaged cure. You can only really understand that pain if you’ve walked in your client’s shoes.
Patterns are not rigid playbooks, but tried and tested solutions, named, explainable but adaptable. Just as explorers rely on maps and compasses to navigate unfamiliar terrain, digital product teams use patterns to guide their decision making process. Patterns offer a wealth of collective knowledge and proven strategies, empowering teams to make informed choices and avoid reinventing the wheel.
Moreover, patterns enable teams to be adaptable. They provide a flexible framework that can be customised and tailored to fit specific needs. Teams can blend and combine patterns, embracing experimentation and iteration, to create truly unique and user centric digital products.
That flexibility preserves momentum and instead of stalled rollouts and resistance to change, enterprises experience responsive transformation, with methods emerging from exploration, not imposition.
What underpins this approach isn't just theory, it’s deep practitioner experience across sectors. Our teams aren’t “career consultants” but industry practitioners, skilled in real world operations, challenges and dynamics
Across projects, from simplifying finance checkouts at NewPay, to building a self service portal for Paysafe, to building AMINA Bank's product focus, to designing and building a new trading portal for CFP Energy, our approach has delivered modular, high impact solutions fast and iteratively. Each showcases how distinct contexts shape distinct modular solutions.
We always begin the process with immersion - rapid discovery that we timebox to 15 days - then action in 60 day iterations focused on tangible value, followed by diagnostic review and recalibration. This structure ensures high priority change is manageable, cumulative and market responsive so value is truly underpinned.
Through this, UK enterprises in energy, fintech and beyond unlock new markets, product pathways and organisational capabilities, while changing ways of working for the better.
It’s not just the delivery mechanics, the key ingredients include fostering a culture that ensures sustainable change as human arrogance - whether from individuals or teams - always kills progress.
At the individual level, ego manifests as resistance to feedback, over engineering or fear of failure but this can be successfully countered with peer review, iterative refinement and value centric delivery. At the team level, collective pride fosters silos and rigid processes but that can be broken that through cross functional collaboration, flexible roadmaps and outcome focused delivery
This mindset, combined with modular patterns and rolling delivery, accelerates delivery cycles, strengthens learning and anchors change in real value.
