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My Leadership Manual

What I strive for as a Leader

My Style

As a leader and a manager - my main job is to get better outcomes from a group of people working together. I believe that happens with a balanced team, engaged designers, well structured projects and a fun, but impassioned environment that pushes everyone to make their best work.

In many ways - I am an amalgamation of ideas from amazing books by design leaders and product thinkers. These books are "Build Better Products," “The Making of a Manager,” "Don't Make Me Think,” and "Design for Emotion.” I believe the tools and attitude needed to solve most design problems can be found in these books.

My Take on Various Work Topics

Credit:

I love celebrating you and your work. It is my favorite part of a job and I will bring attention to a teams hard work and genius in solving a problem, fighting through ambiguity and creating something we are all proud of.

One on Ones:

I love 1/1s and schedule them once a week. I use them to stay up to date on project work and may talk through whatever is top of mind each week, but to also get to know each other better.

Hiring:

Plan intentionally and hire ahead of time. Think through the biggest gaps on the team, the make up of the org and what kind of people could come in and make the largest impact for the product. Be extremely clear about what you are looking for and build great relationships with the recruiters so they can help you find it. I think there are some really large opportunities in making an interview process more streamlined, fun and open minded. I believe that hiring should be less influenced by what a person has done and more about what they can do.

Documentation and Tools:

I love trying out and learning new tools, but I try to keep our tool stack as pared down as possible. The more places people have to look for something - the slower we are so it’s best if they know exactly where to go for what.

My Values

Inspiration!

The best outcomes come from inspiring people to action as opposed to telling them what to do. One way I evaluate if I am doing a good job is a manager is to track if my reports are bringing new ideas to the table. I want to encourage creativity and ownership.

Communication:

I believe in humble, open and timely communication and try to create an environment that encourages that. In person is best when possible. The speed and experience is unmatched by slack, email, zoom calls or google docs. It just works better, but if a team is remote - then it is important to set up a structure that enables quick adhoc communication.

Open Design Culture:

I am a big fan of people including other designers for feedback in their designs. When evaluating how a project went - I also look at who a designer brought in and when on their journey to get to the right design.

My Expectations from Designers

Trust

I want my reports to feel comfortable bringing challenges to me early and comfortable sharing critical feedback.

Humble, Eager and Open to Learning

We all have ways we can improve as designers. Be open to hearing them, take any feedback you get and be confident and excited about how you want to grow.

Process

Light bulb moments are great, but it’s more about trying things quickly, being curious and then doubling down on what is working.

Speed

It matters - move fast, try things out, believe in yourself and stay focused on the problem. Lean into the discomfort, show lots of people for feedback and embrace the change and iteration.

What to Expect From Me

No Surprises and Clear Priorities

I am honest, direct and forward thinking. We will work together to identify areas for growth and methods to foster it. My expectations for designs will be quite clear from day one.

Vulnerability

I try to be self aware and share my own challenges and growth areas. I try to be truthful when I don’t have the answers.

No Wasted Time

I keep my meetings concise and focused and I expect everyone else to do them same. I strive to bring outcomes and expectations to each meeting, only invite the necessary people and share the agenda ahead of time. After the meeting - I like to send follow ups with clear action items.

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