Screenshots of a water management app showing locations of water leaks in London, with maps and report details for each leak.

Thames Water

Thames Water is the UK’s largest provider of water and wastewater services, supplying over 15 million customers every day. Much of its infrastructure is Victorian in origin, and the business faces significant regulatory scrutiny while navigating digital transformation. With customer satisfaction under pressure and operational systems in flux, Thames Water needed a bold rethink of how to modernise its services and engage users across digital touchpoints.

Background

This project began with a competitive pitch, with the goal to support Thames Water's digital transformation through customer-focused design. My role was to lead the UX work across the engagement, which was later planned into two distinct workstreams. One was an agile rebuild of the core website, conducted in collaboration with the Thames Water team, and resulting in a large platform rebuild. The other, which this case study focuses on, was a parallel workstream exploring innovative ways to rethink the customer experience. These innovation sprints formed the discovery and definition phases of work, and the outputs were rolled into the agile build once complete and validated.

Insight

Whilst planning the work streams, we knew an innovation sprint framework was required, but instead of running standard Google design sprints, we developed a new model that better fit the project's speed and needs. Each sprint started with a four-day research phase. We gathered insights from customer interviews, analytics, SEO data, and call centre listening sessions. This gave us the foundation to understand the challenge properly.

The next five days followed a structured design sprint format. We sketched, prototyped, and tested concepts, working closely with stakeholders. We added a final day for story mapping, translating tested ideas into user stories with clear acceptance criteria so they could be picked up by the agile delivery teams.

One example was the "Report a Problem" journey. We redesigned how customers could tell Thames Water about leaks or issues, making it easier to submit accurate, useful information. The prototype was tested with real users and refined based on their feedback. That work fed directly into the build phase and is now live on the site.

In total, we ran around 10 sprints across different areas, including support services, communication tools, and issue reporting. Each concept was tested using the right format for the idea, from clickable prototypes to storyboards. This flexible approach helped us adapt to different problem types and test early without wasting time.

Flowchart illustrating a process with six steps: Topic Defined, Deep Discovery, Design Sprint, Story Mapping, Agile Delivery, with a feedback loop from Agile Delivery back to Topic Defined.
Three illustrated paper charts pasted on a wall, each with handwritten notes and colored dots around them. The first chart is green, depicting a chatbot interface with icons of a house, a globe, and a question mark, under the title "CHATBOT WITH CLEAR ILUSTRATIVE BUTTONS." The second chart is yellow, showing a circular diagram with numbered points, labeled "CHOOSE SEVERITY IN SIMPLE, INTUITIVE WAY." The third chart is pink, illustrated as a map with icons and lines, titled "SHOW ACTIVE INFO ON ISSUES." Handwritten notes below describe how the illustrations change based on position, swipe gestures, and how icons indicate current status, geo-fencing, expected time, and social updates.
People sitting around a conference table in a meeting room with laptops and tablets, some engaging with each other and some using devices, with a large screen displaying "MONDAY" at the front.
Infographic explaining a leak reporting process, featuring illustrations of a man walking outside his house, a smartphone with geo-location, a woman with glasses, and icons for communication channels like email, social media, and messaging.
Two digital screens showing water company interface. The top screen illustrates a visual guide for customer support via web, chat, and phone for Thames Water, including search, chat, and help options. The bottom screen displays a map and a report status for a water issue labeled 'Little slip up,' with details on the report, followers, and repair schedule.
Flowchart illustrating the process for reporting a problem related to water leaks. It begins with a homepage, then help & advice, leaks reporting, and further steps including form, success page, and area-specific reporting, with prompts for postcode and map navigation.
Flowchart of a mobile app interface for reporting Thames Water problems. It shows map views with problem locations, options to edit location or confirm a problem, and navigation instructions to close problems nearby.
A woman working at a desk filled with documents, a laptop, a cup of coffee, glasses, and a water glass, in an office setting.
Collage of water conservation and branding materials, including a smiling child drinking water from a sink, color palette swatches, a list of iconography, buttons, and typography samples themed around water and sustainability.
Three smartphones displaying Thames Water mobile app screens: one for reporting problems like sewer flooding, pollution, or low water pressure; a map screen showing water service areas; and a report details screen for a leak at a specific address with current activity status and location details.

Result

The project created a continuous cycle of innovation that directly supported Thames Water’s long-term transformation. We delivered validated concepts that the in-house and agency teams could take forward confidently, all grounded in real user needs. The sprint model itself became a tool for collaboration, helping client and agency teams work closely and move quickly.

Good Stuff

It was more than a redesign — it was a change in mindset. We proved that big legacy organisations can embrace agile, design-led change when you give them the tools and trust to do it.

Continuous Innovation Sprints

Date: 2019 / 2020
Company: Thames Water
Project: Thames Water Definition Sprints & Website design
Role: Methodology definition, Project Governance, UX Oversight,


Team:
Mat Lloyd (Product Owner)
Lynsey Pritchard (Project Manager)
Alessandro Spinosi (Senior UX Designer)
Nicola Young (UX Designer)
Russ Hinton (Lead Designer)
Dries Standaert (Senior Designer)
Jess Clay (Analyst)