My Leadership Approach

Design sprint at Optimizely

Balancing Innovation and Delivery

I structure team time to include both "discovery" (exploring new solutions) and "delivery" (refining and shipping) modes. At Optimizely, I implemented a 70/30 split that maintained delivery velocity while creating space for innovation. My typical lean process looks like:

I've also developed a "design sprint lite" methodology that allows teams to rapidly test new concepts without disrupting product roadmaps. This approach has generated several patentable innovations while maintaining development velocity.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

I establish shared rituals between design, product, and engineering teams:

• Weekly integration sessions to address design-development gaps
• Joint problem definition workshops at project kickoff
• Shared success metrics for all team members
• If not remote, co-located workspaces that facilitate spontaneous collaboration

Prioritization & Roadmapping

My approach to design prioritization balances four factors:

• Business impact (revenue, cost savings, strategic alignment)
• User value (pain point severity, usage frequency)
• Design debt reduction
• Technical feasibility and timeline

I created a visual roadmapping system that communicates design priorities clearly to stakeholders while connecting them to broader business goals, helping executives understand the strategic nature of design investments.

I partner with product and engineering to ensure design has a strategic seat at the table. By translating design decisions into business language, I help stakeholders understand the ROI of user experience investments. My approach integrates design thinking with business strategy, creating solutions that balance user needs with organizational goals and technical feasibility. This business-minded perspective enables my teams to focus on high-impact work that drives meaningful outcomes.

Connecting Design to Business Outcomes

I've developed frameworks for measuring design's impact on key business metrics, including:

• User engagement increases tied to UX improvements
• Conversion optimization through design experimentation
• Support cost reduction through usability enhancements
• Brand perception shifts following experience redesigns

At Optimizely, my team's redesign of the onboarding flow increased conversion rates by 23% while reducing support tickets by 18%, demonstrating design's direct business value.

Research Integration & User Advocacy

I establish research rhythms that balance quick tactical insights with deeper strategic investigations. By implementing a "research wall" approach, I've made user insights visible and accessible to stakeholders across the organization.

My teams operate as user advocates, bringing customer perspectives into every decision while balancing them against business constraints and technical feasibility. I train designers to frame solutions in terms of user and business outcomes rather than aesthetic preferences.

Strategy as an Operating System

A clear strategy isn't just a plan—it's how great teams operate and thrive. I've successfully implemented a Strategy Operating System with product and design teams to create clarity, alignment, and powerful team rituals that drive both efficiency and creativity. Here's why this approach works:

• It clarifies our path to success and how we deliver value consistently.
• It helps teams deeply understand customer expectations, enabling predictable, user-centered outcomes.
• It promotes operational rigor and enhances the team's overall capacity and efficiency.
• It establishes clear rituals and routines for regular prioritization, reflection, and alignment.

Here's how I've applied this approach:

1. Strategy Outputs ("What"): Clearly defining outcomes like Big Rocks, OKRs, or strategic initiatives. For example, "We produce 2 major product improvements each quarter."
2. Alignment Timeframe ("When"): Establishing a consistent, typically quarterly cadence that keeps the team nimble and strategically focused.
3. Planning Algorithm ("How"): Utilizing inclusive, collaborative methods such as team whiteboard sessions, divergence/convergence exercises, Hack Weeks, or focused OKR planning sessions. Example: "We run quarterly Hack Weeks to foster innovation and explore new ideas."
4. Accountability Protocol ("Who/How"): Creating clear accountability through regular rituals like bi-weekly sprints, daily stand-ups, or using tools such as Jira dashboards and OKR trackers. Example: "Our accountability is maintained through bi-weekly sprints and daily sync-ups using Jira dashboards."

In short: "We produce [specific strategic outputs/outcomes] every [defined alignment timeframe] by engaging in [chosen planning rituals/algorithm] and stay accountable through [accountability mechanisms/protocol]."

This strategic framework has consistently enabled my teams to excel by combining clear goals with impactful, sustainable rituals, fostering both efficiency and innovation.

Opticon session on Design Impact

If you're asking the right questions, you're building trust and enabling your team to find innovative solutions to complex problems. Giving an answer closes a door while asking questions opens them.

My Approach to Team Development

One-on-ones: I structure these as designer-led conversations focused on three areas: current work challenges, career growth, and team dynamics. I practice active listening and ensure each designer has a customized growth plan.

Design critiques: I've developed a structured format that separates feedback into three phases: clarification, critique, and iteration planning. This approach ensures critiques remain productive and actionable rather than subjective.

Talent development: I've implemented a skills matrix for my teams that maps designers' capabilities across multiple dimensions, identifying growth opportunities and creating intentional stretch assignments.

Building Diverse, High-Performing Teams

When hiring, I look beyond portfolio polish to assess problem-solving approach, collaboration style, and growth mindset. I've developed behavioral interview techniques that reduce bias and focus on potential rather than pedigree.

At Optimizely, I implemented a mentorship program pairing junior designers with seniors across different product areas, resulting in 40% faster onboarding and improved retention rates among new hires.

Community volunteering at Optimizely

This is an articulation of how I think about design—what I believe makes it good, how I approach the work, and how my views have evolved over time. It’s shaped by decades of experience, mentorship from great designers (living and dead), and the places and cultures I’ve lived in. I share it here so my team and collaborators can better understand how I see design—and so we can keep sharpening our perspectives together.

What Good Design Does

I believe design exists to solve real problems—not just to look polished or clever. At its core, good design is:

• Strategic: It accomplishes a goal and aligns with intention. It’s never decoration for decoration’s sake.
• Human-centered: It fits into a person’s life without friction or confusion. People should know what it does and how to use it—without having to ask.
• Empathetic: Great design anticipates need. Like Apple at its best, it sees what people want before they know they want it.
• Metaphoric: The best design borrows from the familiar (without being literal or skeuomorphic). It builds intuitive bridges between the known and the new.
• Soulful: Good design connects emotionally. It invites delight, surprise, and warmth. It has character—an intangible quality that makes you smile.
• Courageous: Great design often takes a leap. Whether bold or subtle, it reflects a willingness to take a risk.

Simplicity is a discipline, not an aesthetic. It’s not just the absence of clutter—it’s the careful removal of anything that doesn’t serve the core purpose. I try to subtract until what’s left feels inevitable. Often, the best design doesn’t shout—it disappears. Complexity is often just noise. Distilling something down to its essence is the hardest—and most valuable—work a designer can do. Simplicity is what gives design focus, clarity, and power.

I think of these principles less like a checklist and more like a set of instruments—tools I pick up and use in concert, depending on the problem at hand.

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Influences That Shaped Me

My perspective is deeply shaped by my time abroad, my studies in classical and modern design, and the work of designers I admire.

• Studying in Vienna influenced my affinity for Art Nouveau, Gothic elements, and Modernist clarity. The coexistence of beauty and restraint left a lasting impression.
• Living in Prague deepened my appreciation for Cubism and Romanesque structure—geometry, form, and contrast.
• From both cities, I absorbed a reverence for craft, tradition, and timeless aesthetics that continue to guide me.

Designers and thinkers who’ve had an outsized impact on how I see the world:

• Paula Scher — For boldness, typography, and letting visual language speak with personality.
• Dieter Rams — For building a philosophy of “less, but better.” His 10 principles of good design still hold up as a blueprint.
• Jony Ive — For elevating restraint, empathy, and hardware/software harmony.
• Walter de Silva — For shaping form with a sculptural elegance that feels both purposeful and timeless.
• Büro Destruct — For pushing boundaries and keeping design playful and unexpected.

I’m also drawn to the ethos of mid-century modernism: clean lines, organic materials, form following function. Designers like Charles & Ray Eames, George Nelson, and Richard Neutra showed how to make beauty live in everyday objects—without pretense.

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Design Is a Perspective, Not a Process

I’ve seen too many organizations treat design as a series of linear steps: discovery → wireframes → mockups → done. But to me, design is less about process and more about perspective.

It’s a way of seeing problems, people, and systems. It’s about being curious, asking why, noticing patterns, testing assumptions, and connecting form with meaning.

Of course, craft matters. But the thinking behind the pixels is what makes them matter.

I’m Still Learning

While I’ve been designing for years, I still see myself as a student of the craft. My philosophy continues to evolve through:

• Critique — From peers, partners, and end users
• Coaching and mentorship — Both giving and receiving
• Working in different cultures and industries — Which forces me to stretch and adapt
• Looking outside the design world — Architecture, film, music, language, and storytelling all feed my design mind

Design isn’t static, and neither is how I practice it.