My design process is fluid, collaborative, and user-led. No two projects are the same and require different combinations of design techniques. Over the last 8 years, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of product teams that have run Lean Start-up, Agile, Agile with SCRUM, the Amazon Method, & even the forbidden Waterfall methodology. Working on a wide range of projects with many different types of design methodology has allowed me to calibrate my process towards the project's specific needs. As a product designer with product management experience, I’ve had the unique position of seeing a project from the business and user-centered sides. That dual experience has enabled me to make balanced decisions and have an empathetic perspective towards PD and PM specific challenges. Collaboration is the key to unlocking a wide breadth of perspectives and solutions. Without collaboration, design solutions can become dangerously narrow and design process scattered. Finally, users will lead you to water. Performing thorough user discovery and defining the correct user problem is paramount to designing products. User discovery and testing are critical for creating objective decision-making and eliminating biases. Fluidity, collaboration, and user-centric design are the core of my design process.

I look forward to learning your company's process, and I hope to share some things that have worked with teams I've been on!

Early in my career, I viewed design reviews as a boxing match where I needed to prove that my ideas and solutions were right and others were wrong. Critical feedback on my design would cut to the core of my designer identity, and I used to take it very personally. Too preoccupied pleading my cases, and not enough listening to other’s feedback. My combativeness was often felt.

That is until my boss pulled me aside and encouraged me to view reviews as a resource instead of an obstacle and that I needed to learn to work with others instead of against them. That moment of feedback was one of the most transformative moments in my design career. I left my ego behind that day, cut out the need to “prove myself”, and started thinking about what was best for the team and the user. Today, I am a design review fiend. I seek it out, involve as many people as possible, and validate as much as I can through feedback. It’s how I’ve learned to achieve the best design results.

Here is a sample of a user discovery call. We ask permission of anyone we record. I’ve since asked this parent if I could use his recording for my portfolio.

Hey building products is difficult! It takes a lot of talented people solving many problems to solve an even bigger problem. So make sure to celebrate early and often! Happy people ship happy products!