Design Leadership Playbook
I've been able to drive my career by doing what I love: partnering with teams who are excited to help people get from their current point A to their desired point B.
Every effort and role comes with a unique set of product design and business challenges, but some of the approaches in my playbook have proven to be broadly useful and form the foundations of my leadership and practice.
Top 5 guiding principles
Design Leadership Playbook
I've been able to drive my career by doing what I love: partnering with teams who are excited to help people get from their current point A to their desired point B.
Every effort and role comes with a unique set of product design and business challenges, but some of the approaches in my playbook have proven to be broadly useful and form the foundations of my leadership and practice.
Top 5 guiding principles
Design Leadership Playbook
I've been able to drive my career by doing what I love: partnering with teams who are excited to help people get from their current point A to their desired point B.
Every effort and role comes with a unique set of product design and business challenges, but some of the approaches in my playbook have proven to be broadly useful and form the foundations of my leadership and practice.
Top 5 guiding principles
1. The work to understand what customers need is never finished
No matter how much effort we put into understanding our customers' needs, the work is never complete. There will always be unknowns because we'll never ask exactly the right questions to get all the answers we need, and the world doesn't stand still; we address today's needs, which will most likely differ from tomorrow's.
Learning about customer and user needs is a dynamic, ongoing process. Organizations that make discovery a continuous part of their culture are better equipped to adapt quickly and remain competitive.
Effective discovery relies on diversified and robust methods: a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches, along with field insights from product, sales, marketing, and support teams. By uniting and synthesizing information from these various sources, teams gain exceptional clarity.
Regardless of resource constraints or team size, I'll find a way for the team to stay engaged with discovery and I'll find ways to include a wide diversity of perspectives.
2. Strong cross functional relationships are the path to delivering world-class design
No matter how talented a design team is, great design won't happen without effective partnerships with product, engineering, and other disciplines.
Many product design teams feel disempowered to take the lead in developing cross-functional relationships, and the common request for UX/design to have a "seat at the table" often indicates that these relationships aren't where they need to be.
I've never been in a role where there wasn't an opportunity for UX/design to use the same tools and methods we apply to understanding customer needs to also understand what our partner disciplines need, and helping them achieve their goals is a powerful way to begin securing a seat at the table.
I view UX and Product Design as an enablement discipline, which includes both customers and colleagues.
3. Pay it forward: most designers don't get training in business acumen until mid-career or later (if ever), but the earlier the better
Building on the idea of struggling to secure a "seat at the table", it's important to address one of the primary root causes: designers often lack the business acumen to effectively participate in strategic conversations and discussions about product priorities, often having never worked directly with KPIs, OKRs, and other performance measurements.
I'm passionate about mentoring early-career UX and product design professionals to develop their business acumen. By fostering these skills, designers can be better partners with product managers, meaningfully contribute to strategic conversations in ways the business understands, and further solidify their seat at the table. This approach has proven successful in building strong cross-disciplinary relationships and empowering designers to participate more effectively in key discussions and decisions.
I used arguments the business understood to successfully pivot Microsoft's Halo video game franchise leadership team away from a product customers didn't want, as I discuss in my Microsoft case study.
4. When it's time to prioritize, optimizing for quality interaction heuristics is usually a good call
When we talk about great design, we're often focusing on the quality of interaction heuristics: can users do what they want to do simply, elegantly, and intuitively, and do they feel confident within the experience?
First described by Jakob Neilsen, the 10 commonly tracked interaction heuristics are:
- Visibility of system status
- Match between the system and the real world
- User control and freedom
- Consistency and standards
- Error prevention
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
- Aesthetic and minimalist design
- Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
- Help and documentation
Interaction heuristics are powerful levers to drive customer satisfaction across all kinds of interactive experiences both digital and physical, and they serve as excellent reference for benchmarking design priorities when resources and time are limited.
Heuristic optimization is also an area where expert review can dramatically reduce unforced errors in designs even before user testing takes place. I conducted an expert heuristic analysis for Cirium's website that I discuss in my Cirium case study.
5. Great design rarely happens without excellent and rigorous operational scaffolding
Operational rigor is crucial for success, but designers often overlook its importance. Design Operations emerged to streamline pipelines and align design efforts with agile development models, but robust operations practices also help design teams focus their efforts and align with business rhythms.
As a leader, I've learned that dedicating time and attention to building a strong operational foundation is just as crucial to supporting design work as focusing on leading craft. By establishing clear processes, setting expectations, aligning with other disciplines, and maintaining open communication, we create an environment that enables designers to thrive and deliver great outcomes.
My Google case study focuses on the work I did to ensure a strong operational framework and grounding was in place, which was critical for focusing the team's vision and deliverables.
1. The work to understand what customers need is never finished
No matter how much effort we put into understanding our customers' needs, the work is never complete. There will always be unknowns because we'll never ask exactly the right questions to get all the answers we need, and the world doesn't stand still; we address today's needs, which will most likely differ from tomorrow's.
Learning about customer and user needs is a dynamic, ongoing process. Organizations that make discovery a continuous part of their culture are better equipped to adapt quickly and remain competitive.
Effective discovery relies on diversified and robust methods: a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches, along with field insights from product, sales, marketing, and support teams. By uniting and synthesizing information from these various sources, teams gain exceptional clarity.
Regardless of resource constraints or team size, I'll find a way for the team to stay engaged with discovery and I'll find ways to include a wide diversity of perspectives.
2. Strong cross functional relationships are the path to delivering world-class design
No matter how talented a design team is, great design won't happen without effective partnerships with product, engineering, and other disciplines.
Many product design teams feel disempowered to take the lead in developing cross-functional relationships, and the common request for UX/design to have a "seat at the table" often indicates that these relationships aren't where they need to be.
I've never been in a role where there wasn't an opportunity for UX/design to use the same tools and methods we apply to understanding customer needs to also understand what our partner disciplines need, and helping them achieve their goals is a powerful way to begin securing a seat at the table.
I view UX and Product Design as an enablement discipline, which includes both customers and colleagues.
3. Pay it forward: most designers don't get training in business acumen until mid-career or later (if ever), but the earlier the better
Building on the idea of struggling to secure a "seat at the table", it's important to address one of the primary root causes: designers often lack the business acumen to effectively participate in strategic conversations and discussions about product priorities, often having never worked directly with KPIs, OKRs, and other performance measurements.
I'm passionate about mentoring early-career UX and product design professionals to develop their business acumen. By fostering these skills, designers can be better partners with product managers, meaningfully contribute to strategic conversations in ways the business understands, and further solidify their seat at the table. This approach has proven successful in building strong cross-disciplinary relationships and empowering designers to participate more effectively in key discussions and decisions.
I used arguments the business understood to successfully pivot Microsoft's Halo video game franchise leadership team away from a product customers didn't want, as I discuss in my Microsoft case study.
4. When it's time to prioritize, optimizing for quality interaction heuristics is usually a good call
When we talk about great design, we're often focusing on the quality of interaction heuristics: can users do what they want to do simply, elegantly, and intuitively, and do they feel confident within the experience?
First described by Jakob Neilsen, the 10 commonly tracked interaction heuristics are:
- Visibility of system status
- Match between the system and the real world
- User control and freedom
- Consistency and standards
- Error prevention
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
- Aesthetic and minimalist design
- Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
- Help and documentation
Interaction heuristics are powerful levers to drive customer satisfaction across all kinds of interactive experiences both digital and physical, and they serve as excellent reference for benchmarking design priorities when resources and time are limited.
Heuristic optimization is also an area where expert review can dramatically reduce unforced errors in designs even before user testing takes place. I conducted an expert heuristic analysis for Cirium's website that delivered a series of wins, as I discuss in my Cirium case study.
5. Great design rarely happens without excellent and rigorous operational scaffolding
Operational rigor is crucial for success, but designers often overlook its importance. Design Operations emerged to streamline pipelines and align design efforts with agile development models, but robust operations practices also help design teams focus their efforts and align with business rhythms.
As a leader, I've learned that dedicating time and attention to building a strong operational foundation is just as crucial to supporting design work as focusing on leading craft. By establishing clear processes, setting expectations, aligning with other disciplines, and maintaining open communication, we create an environment that enables designers to thrive and deliver great outcomes.
My Google case study focuses on the work I did to ensure a strong operational framework and grounding was in place, which was critical for focusing the team's vision and deliverables.
1. The work to understand what customers need is never finished
No matter how much effort we put into understanding our customers' needs, the work is never complete. There will always be unknowns because we'll never ask exactly the right questions to get all the answers we need, and the world doesn't stand still; we address today's needs, which will most likely differ from tomorrow's.
Learning about customer and user needs is a dynamic, ongoing process. Organizations that make discovery a continuous part of their culture are better equipped to adapt quickly and remain competitive.
Effective discovery relies on diversified and robust methods: a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches, along with field insights from product, sales, marketing, and support teams. By uniting and synthesizing information from these various sources, teams gain exceptional clarity.
Regardless of resource constraints or team size, I'll find a way for the team to stay engaged with discovery and I'll find ways to include a wide diversity of perspectives.
2. Strong cross functional relationships are the path to delivering world-class design
No matter how talented a design team is, great design won't happen without effective partnerships with product, engineering, and other disciplines.
Many product design teams feel disempowered to take the lead in developing cross-functional relationships, and the common request for UX/design to have a "seat at the table" often indicates that these relationships aren't where they need to be.
I've never been in a role where there wasn't an opportunity for UX/design to use the same tools and methods we apply to understanding customer needs to also understand what our partner disciplines need, and helping them achieve their goals is a powerful way to begin securing a seat at the table.
I view UX and Product Design as an enablement discipline, which includes both customers and colleagues.
3. Pay it forward: most designers don't get training in business acumen until mid-career or later (if ever), but the earlier the better
Building on the idea of struggling to secure a "seat at the table", it's important to address one of the primary root causes: designers often lack the business acumen to effectively participate in strategic conversations and discussions about product priorities, often having never worked directly with KPIs, OKRs, and other performance measurements.
I'm passionate about mentoring early-career UX and product design professionals to develop their business acumen. By fostering these skills, designers can be better partners with product managers, meaningfully contribute to strategic conversations in ways the business understands, and further solidify their seat at the table. This approach has proven successful in building strong cross-disciplinary relationships and empowering designers to participate more effectively in key discussions and decisions.
I used arguments the business understood to successfully pivot Microsoft's Halo video game franchise leadership team away from a product customers didn't want, as I discuss in my Microsoft case study.
4. When it's time to prioritize, optimizing for quality interaction heuristics is usually a good call
When we talk about great design, we're often focusing on the quality of interaction heuristics: can users do what they want to do simply, elegantly, and intuitively, and do they feel confident within the experience?
First described by Jakob Neilsen, the 10 commonly tracked interaction heuristics are:
- Visibility of system status
- Match between the system and the real world
- User control and freedom
- Consistency and standards
- Error prevention
- Recognition rather than recall
- Flexibility and efficiency of use
- Aesthetic and minimalist design
- Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors
- Help and documentation
Interaction heuristics are powerful levers to drive customer satisfaction across all kinds of interactive experiences both digital and physical, and they serve as excellent reference for benchmarking design priorities when resources and time are limited.
Heuristic optimization is also an area where expert review can dramatically reduce unforced errors in designs even before user testing takes place. I conducted an expert heuristic analysis for Cirium's website that I discuss in my Cirium case study.
5. Great design rarely happens without excellent and rigorous operational scaffolding
Operational rigor is crucial for success, but designers often overlook its importance. Design Operations emerged to streamline pipelines and align design efforts with agile development models, but robust operations practices also help design teams focus their efforts and align with business rhythms.
As a leader, I've learned that dedicating time and attention to building a strong operational foundation is just as crucial to supporting design work as focusing on leading craft. By establishing clear processes, setting expectations, aligning with other disciplines, and maintaining open communication, we create an environment that enables designers to thrive and deliver great outcomes.
My Google case study focuses on the work I did to ensure a strong operational framework and grounding was in place, which was critical for focusing the team's vision and deliverables.
