About
Kate Broadfield
Director & Principal Product Consultant · Lytton Studio
I see the whole system — how the parts connect, where work breaks down, and what people need to do their best work — and I build the structure that lets it run well.
My career started in US enterprise consultancy: process and compliance architecture in US financial services, and business process re‑engineering for a US state government. In the UK it continued across EdTech, publishing and heritage, with Cengage, Talis, Preservica and the National Trust.
I lead through facilitation and design. Outside client work, I volunteer with Andover Trees United and co-chair my local surgery’s Patient Participation Group.
How engagements work Get in touch LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)
What does Lytton Studio do?
Lytton Studio provides product operations, strategy and discovery, launch and adoption, and content and digital systems for mission-driven and regulated organisations.
Who is Lytton Studio?
Lytton Studio is the trading name of Lytton Ecosystems Ltd. Director and Principal Product Consultant Kate Broadfield has spent 25+ years across product, operations and digital systems — in UK EdTech, publishing, heritage and conservation, and earlier in US financial services, healthcare and government. She builds the operating model behind product teams, maps how work flows, and measures what lands. The craft of making systems work is what drives her — and the measure of success is always the same: a seamless, frictionless experience for the people who use them.
Working philosophy
Most processes don't start badly — they accumulate. A workaround here, an exception there, a new system bolted on top of an old one. Over time, what was once a clean flow becomes something nobody quite understands end-to-end. Automating that just makes the spaghetti twirl faster — but there's no point picking it up sooner if it's not ready to eat.
Before reaching for AI, understand what a process is trying to accomplish — then reimagine it for simplicity. High enough level that individual teams can adapt it. Understanding the process first means AI can genuinely help.
What makes Lytton Studio different
- Visual thinking — design sensibility brought to process and strategy work
- Customer testimonials — from customers and colleagues; see LinkedIn, or just ask
- Authentic communication — guiding people to their own understanding
- Community building — creating the conditions where teams learn, align, and do their best work. Communities of practice are strategic infrastructure.
- AI-first practice — Becoming an AI-First Product Leader (LinkedIn Learning, 2025). Project Pinetree, my agentic AI work, produces real deliverables — its first public release is the Pinetree CV Targeter
- Remote-first by design — available as a fractional lead, interim hire, or day-rate contractor.
Experience snapshot
- 80% growth in customer engagement and 94% feature adoption across 100+ universities — through API integrations (WorldCat, GOBI, OASIS, Ebook Central, Browns Books), alpha/beta discovery programmes, and a webinar series spanning UK, North America, and Asia Pacific
- Enabled ~£4m in pre-sales through structured digitisation of primary source archives — British and Bodleian Library collections
- £500K budget and business case for the online shop and holiday booking at a major heritage and conservation organisation
- ~£300K budget for MyNT member accounts and fundraising at the same organisation
- 45-stakeholder sign-off on a multi-year commercial portal
- 100+ university library relationships and stakeholder presentations
- Two-term elected President, IIBA Hartford chapter — built the web committee from nothing
- EdTech and digital archive specialist across 10+ years — library discovery and acquisition systems, university reading list platforms, higher education assessment, and digitisation of rare primary source collections for institutions including the British Library and the Bodleian
- 25+ years spanning consulting, professional services, and in-house product leadership
- Product leadership from hands-on delivery to interim executive cover
- Mentored product managers, business analysts, and interns across multiple organisations
The person behind the studio
Kate has always been the connective force — bridging content, metadata, business, users, engineers, design, and product strategy into coherent direction. She guides people through ambiguity, helps teams find shared understanding, and builds the operational structure that lets organisations move forward with confidence.
This is a leadership pattern rooted in decades of practice across EdTech, higher education, financial services, government, heritage, and corporate learning ecosystems — and a lifelong instinct to guide people through complexity, regardless of their seniority or the formal scope of the role.
Want to know more?
Take a look at how the work happens, or get in touch directly for a no-pressure conversation about whether there's a fit.