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Leading Designers

I learned many things from the leaders who supported me throughout my career. I’ve learned even more from the designers I’ve supported. I’d like to think I made all of this up on my own, but my approach to design leadership has been shaped and molded by others.

Keep it engaging.

I keep my teams “light” and engaged by fostering an open, collaborative culture where creativity thrives and ideas flow freely. I encourage humor, celebrate wins—big and small—and create a safe space where taking risks is welcomed and failure is seen as part of the process. I balance structured work with informal moments, whether through brainstorming sessions, design critiques, or casual check-ins, to keep the energy positive. By promoting autonomy, offering clear direction, and recognizing individual contributions, I help maintain high morale while ensuring the team stays focused and motivated.

Be the one who takes the heat.

I believe that as a leader, if there’s a fire somewhere, I’m the one keeping the team safe from the flames of politics and business nonsense. I’m creating the time to design the right things, and creating the space for designing things right. I beg, borrow and compromise for the time it takes to bring the best to the customer.

Be the voice you want them to be.

The work doesn’t always speak for itself. I know that articulating the value is just important as creating it. The designers I support become excellent advocates for their work by the examples I set in communicating my work and expectations of them. Be present, be clear and always be ready.

Everyone is a leader.

There’s a big difference between leading and managing, and my hopes is that every single designer I work with feels empowered to lead their design and their approach to solving problems.

I do the work too.

My role as a design leader isn’t always (and shouldn’t ever be) a sideline job. Removing yourself from the work makes you a poor advocate of it. I believe that pushing pixels and getting your hands dirty makes you a better leader.

Management Experience

Since 2005, I’ve been managing people. I’ve supported teams from 3 to 30. I’ve managed managers and individual contributors of multifunctional designers, product managers, creatives, marketing professionals and engineers.

Management Style

My management style can be described as collaborative, empathetic, empowering, and strategic, with a strong focus on team growth and fostering excellence.

I’m emotionally intelligent enough to be able to keep my feelings from influencing my decisions as much as possible, recognizing my own biases helps me manage the emotions of others when managing conflict and stress.

I’m adaptable. Change happens, and it happens often, and navigating change requires a bit of positivity without dismissing the chaos in creates. Building trust with my team is absolutely crucial when managing through changes.

And I build that trust through empathy, to relate to the specific needs of an individual. I know I’ve been where they’re at, and I use that to adapt my approach to getting them to where they want to be.

Performance Management

These tenets guide my leadership approach, ensuring that performance management fosters not only results but also a positive, growth-oriented culture where designers thrive.

Empowerment Through Clarity.

Performance thrives on clarity of expectations. I ensure my teams have a clear understanding of their roles, responsibilities, and goals by defining measurable objectives and providing actionable feedback. Designers perform best when they know the “why” behind their work and how it connects to larger business and user goals.

Growth-Focused Feedback.

Constructive feedback is an opportunity for growth, not criticism. I deliver feedback with a focus on actionable improvements while recognizing and amplifying strengths. By fostering a feedback culture that is consistent, timely, and empathetic, I help individuals continuously uplevel their craft and confidence.

Create opportunities for ownership and expect accountability.

Great design teams are built on a foundation of accountability. I encourage designers to own their projects from ideation to delivery while creating a safe environment for experimentation. I empower my team to take initiative and learn from successes and failures alike.

Silos create barriers for growth.

Collaboration is key to a team’s success, especially across design, product, and engineering. I prioritize open communication and alignment to ensure every designer understands how their work integrates with the larger team and organizational objectives. This fosters a shared responsibility for delivering outcomes.

Celebrate even the smallest wins together.

Recognizing accomplishments and reflecting on lessons learned drives motivation and engagement. I create opportunities to celebrate individual and team successes, while also focusing on areas of improvement through mentorship, professional development, and shared learning. This balance inspires innovation and sustained excellence.

My Process

Throughout the process, I ensure that the design aligns with business objectives and contributes to the larger strategic goals of the product. Compelling design is not only about individual features but how they fit into the user’s overall journey and deliver value.

These steps reflect my commitment to user-centric, data-informed, and iterative design practices that deliver impactful and meaningful product experiences.

Define the Problem Clearly

I ensure the problem is well-defined and aligns with both user needs and business objectives. A clear understanding of the “why” behind the project sets the foundation for meaningful design solutions and strengthens my ability to articulate to others – rally the team.

Conduct Deep User Research

I engage directly with users to uncover their challenges, goals, and behaviors. Through interviews, surveys, and data analysis, I gather, synthesize and make insights accessible to the entire cross-functional team.

Set Success Metrics

I work with product and engineering to establish clear, measurable goals to evaluate the design’s success. These metrics guide decision-making and ensure the design delivers impact for both users and the business.

Collaborate Early and Often

I involve cross-functional teams—product managers, engineers, researchers, marketing, brand, and stakeholders—as early as possible in the process to align on goals, feasibility, and constraints. This type of cross-functional inclusion is something critical to my process.

Focus on Simplicity

I distill complex workflows and information into clean, intuitive, and approachable experiences. Clarity and simplicity are key to reducing friction and maximizing usability, sure, but simplicity is woven into my process to ensure that my solutions and the approach I take to them are easily understood by stakeholders.

Prototype and Test Quickly

I prioritize rapid prototyping to visualize concepts and validate ideas early.

Leverage Systems Thinking

I think in systems, understanding connections rather than viewing individual factors in isolation, and identifying patterns of change instead of focusing on a single moment.

Balance Innovation with Familiarity

I introduce innovative solutions while respecting established patterns and user expectations. I love how design systems help with this.

Refine Through Iteration

I treat design as an evolving process, using feedback loops, data insights, and usability testing to refine the product.

Deliver with Excellence

I work closely with engineering teams to ensure high-quality execution and seamless implementation of the design. My hand-offs are always hands-on as we move towards shipping an amazing feature.