Building Teams

I’ve been trusted to help grow design orgs that value inclusion, creativity and commitment to shared goals.

Creating a space for everyone to contribute

I think team leadership is about giving smart people a goal, norming on good patterns for collaboration and getting everything else out of their way.

The typical HR anti-patterns that trouble the tech industry are preventable “in the way” things. Fix that and let people cook.

Image: Some of my favorite people in design, product and engineering, working through a generate and sort exercise at a Sprout Social design sprint.

Building with craft

Every designer I’ve worked with has a nearly bottomless interest in doing better work. Good organizations can channel that energy into continuous learning, keen creative execution and the patient work of delivering great outcomes to users.

Image: I helped create the Sprout Social design systems team.

Hiring for scale up

I’ve interviewed hundreds of candidates and hired a few dozen designers and product managers in the last ten years; I also helped staff PM and design contractors to Amazon Web Services.

I have lived with my choices long enough to have a point of view, which I’m happy to share over coffee.

Let’s walk through my portfolio.

I’ll gladly take thirty minutes to answer your questions and explore possible collaborations.