Olá designers! I have been gone the past few weeks, mostly because work got in the way. Here's an update.
The 5-week Workstream
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been part of a "workstream" at work that will last in total 5 weeks with 20 people involved. It's a cross-team initiative that is spun up because it addresses an important business need. I can't reveal specifics, but the purpose is to redesign part of the Klarna app to improve the experience and boost key metrics.
If you are a user of the Klarna app, you will have noticed the outcome of a recent workstream.
Initially, I was a bit bummed when I learned about the workstream. It involves my product, so it will be part of the redesign. I had spent the past 2 months working on a redesign for my product, holding workshops with the PM, the lead designers, and the app product lead. Just when I’d achieved alignment with everyone, the workstream emerged and will override whatever I was working on, given its broader scope.
This was especially frustrating because my manager advised me to find opportunities to elevate the design of the app to progress toward a design manager role. One example being that I stopped progress on my redesign.
The Silver Lining
But in every situation, there's an opportunity. I spoke to one of the designers in my domain who was recently promoted to design manager about how he got the role. He explained that he demonstrated his communication, collaboration, and ability to drive progress during a previous workstream. So, this was a blessing in disguise.
Then the question was - how the hell do I use this opportunity? In comes my career coach. He suggested that I should focus on accelerating others by contributing to the conversation, executing ideas and facilitating decision-making, and generally being helpful. This way, I will be seen as a positive force.
Since I had already done a lot of desktop research and thinking during my redesign work, I sent a presentation of user behavior, problems, and opportunities to the design director. He liked it and asked me to drive "the mapping" which I was happy about because I love making sense of information to inform decision-making.
The “Mapping”
Awesome, I was getting more things to do because I had prepped. The design director booked a meeting to go through a plan for how to do "the mapping". I had prepped another presentation because it had gone well before. Well, turns out this wasn't what he meant with "the mapping". Rather, he was talking about mapping how the screens connect to each other for the experience we are going to redesign. Awkward. So make sure to get on the same page before you make a presentation, people.
After that, I did end up making "the mapping" - all good! Then I hit the next snag.
The Early Concept
Three designers presented a concept they had for the redesign. And they had done a lot.
I lost my bearings. If they had already made a concept, what there anything else for me to do? Were there no more opportunities to contribute and showcase my abilities?
The stakeholders stepped in. It was too early for most stakeholders and the designers had to go back to the drawing board. So, back to the original plan.
Taking the Lead
We then divided into two subgroups to focus on two separate parts of the experience. My subgroup consisted of myself, my PM, a UX researcher, and a design lead.
The design director was asking if there were any volunteers to lead the sub-group I was in. When the design director asked for volunteers to lead my subgroup, I hesitated, waiting to see if the lead designer would step forward. After a few seconds of silence, I seized the opportunity to take charge. Normally, I wouldn't be eager to take the role because it means more work. But if I wanted to show others and myself that I could be a design manager, then I felt there was no other choice.
Now I was back again to "ok, so now what?". We are on quite a tight schedule considering that we need to manage our regular duties. I knew we had to become crystal clear about the who, what, and how so we could work fast and deliver at high quality. Thankfully, I had my Workshop Tactics deck from Pip Deck on hand for inspiration (not sponsored).
Initially, I was worried about the PM or the lead designer for some reason not wanting me to lead the team, but they were perfectly fine with it. Gotta remind myself - I am worthy.
But also, I am not kidding, there is something about being responsible for my team's output that stresses me out. I have not been able to be normal this week because I've been so wound up. I think it's because this is new territory, I feel I don't have as much control as I want, and there is not as much clarity in the workstream overall. I have calmed down more now, but I am not at base level.
Right now, we are in the ideation phase, but based on the experience so far, I am expecting more snags. When the workstream is over, I will write a reflection. I myself am looking forward to those learnings.
Até logo,
Dan