As a manager who newly entered the product space after the reorganization, I talked with all team members to develop an understanding of existing roles.

Through several exploratory conversations and my own observations, I identified what was working well in terms of responsibilities and where overlap or ambiguity existed.

I partnered with the UX leaders to document the team structure. This included clearly defined team functions, groups, and focus areas.

After the team structure document was created, I led the development of a RACI model with the UX leaders. This granular model put our team structure document into context, defining specific tasks and the level of involvement for each role across those tasks.

To communicate the team structure and roles/responsibilities, I delivered a presentation with my manager at a team all-hands. This gave everyone the opportunity to dive deeper into the new structure nuances and ask questions.

I extended this effort to other UX groups within the UX Design department, enabling several managers to create team structure documents and RACI models for their respective teams. This positioned the entire department to establish the same level of role clarity for their teams that I did for mine.

I mapped Product Management and Engineering points of contact across the product ecosystem to identify existing touchpoints and relationship gaps.

I outlined the current state of stakeholder connections and the ideal state. I worked with the UX leaders to determine who should meet with whom, based on our leadership pillars: Manager, Team Lead, and Architect.

Each UX leader conducted the designated stakeholder meetings on a regular cadence and recorded notes with Gemini. I ran all notes through Gemini to pull out strategic themes from each conversation.

I curated a collection of strategic themes and ran it through Gemini to surface patterns and recurring topics across the 40+ conversations.

Combining those patterns and topics with existing user data, I worked with the UX leaders to identify priority business areas where UX can drive the most value.

Designers were positioned on projects within those areas, driving maximum business impact and demonstrating to our stakeholders how their insights inform our priorities.

I led an effort with UX leaders to define and document our UX design process. The process outlined how designers approach their work, from prioritization to implementation.

To ensure the design process was built by and for the design team, I ran a design process pilot. Designers followed the process in their everyday work and shared feedback to inform iterations. Gradual, consistent communication of the process enabled smooth adoption across the team.

I partnered with my manager to deliver a team presentation about our planned adoption of agile. This introduced upcoming agile ceremonies and Jira expectations, along with the benefits of agile. Designers gained insight into not only what agile is, but also why it benefits them.

I created team resources about key agile concepts and Jira requirements so designers could get familiar with agile design leading up to our adoption. I released a series of Slack announcements to build anticipation for sprint planning, and I circulated the materials across other UX groups to establish consistency in our UX Design department's agile onboarding approach.

Day 1 of agile kicked off with sprint planning. Working out of a Jira backlog and sprint board, I led each designer to identify which stories they could prioritize in a 3-week window. Over time, regular agile ceremonies and sprint reports uncovered ideal story point and carryover baselines so designers were equipped to determine their workload balance and plan capacity with their partnering product managers and engineers.

I shared specific AI goals for designers to work towards, broken down to achievable quarterly milestones. This positioned them to adopt AI in meaningful ways and build proficiency with various tools.

I made AI adoption a team sport, something everyone could get excited about. I connected designers who could help each other upskill, and I identified opportunities for designers to present their AI work and gain visibility for their contributions.

As a manager, I held myself to the same AI usage expectations set for my designers. This took a variety of forms. First off, I embraced AI-enabled advanced prototyping myself, using Cursor and Figma Make to create designs and develop a first-hand understanding of my designers' new workflows. I then partnered across design departments to release a unified set of AI principles and policies. I took my AI usage further by adopting LLMs into my daily workflows and optimizing management processes with Cursor — for example, stakeholder connection plans and agile design practices. Automating my management tasks included creating Cursor skills and setting up various MCPs, which I then shared across UX teams to help the wider department build their own AI expertise.

Working professionals with limited free time.

Housekeeping duties take up what limited free time these busy working professionals have. However, finding a housekeeper aligned with their cleaning needs and schedules is difficult and time consuming.

Provide an easy, intuitive way to find housekeepers on demand who can provide the specific services when and how the user needs them.

Give complete transparency into pricing and commitment before the booking process begins. Setting expectations early with the user ensures they truly want to proceed with the process.

Sharing personal information requires trust. Let the user interact with the product and hold off on account creation until they're ready to book.

Make the user feel like the product knows them. Show a general home page for new users and a personalized home page for existing users.

Accessibility goes beyond color contrast and clear communication. Make mobile app buttons thumb-friendly as well as accessible for those without the use of their hands.