Evaluating your business impact as a designer
Leaders from Netflix and Airbnb speak about the importance of design leadership in shaping the product — are you set up for success in your current org?
The now legendary Figma Config talk by Steve Johnson, VP Design at Netflix (talk) and the hot take from Brian Chesky, CEO Airbnb (talk) have something in common: they speak about the strategic role that product designers not only can but must have in shaping the product to move a business forward.
Designers spend their careers thinking about how to make things better for users — the ability to deeply understand and express user empathy, visualize a better product, tap into user desire, comprehend technological constraints and opportunities, and understand both timely and timeless design trends.
And when user desire and business need click, you’ve got yourself a brand like Netflix or Airbnb that users and shareholders can equally fall in love with.
Here are two examples of moments where I’ve found myself immersed in the business of design earlier in my own career:
Startups on borrowed time. I’ve consulted with and led design teams for dozens of startups. By definition, a startup (and as we’ve learned this year, even Fortune 100’s) have a finite amount of time and resources. Sometimes it’s as little as 12 to 18 months. When you work at a startup, you don’t focus on your performance review. You focus on helping the business survive to the next raise or to the IPO. In successful startups, everyone is ideally on that page, and it’s everyone’s responsibility is to understand the business to prioritize their own work and make sure they’re doing the most impactful thing.
Leading a product. I had the opportunity to head design and product for an early stage startup. It was empathy building for the Product Management discipline for me. It was also incredibly rewarding — I loved the responsibility of working with our C-level on the economics, being responsible for identifying opportunities and measuring outcomes, and creating a roadmap driven by users and business goals. The tight fabric of design, business, engineering and operations meant we shipped fast, worked lean, and shipped high quality products with a unified brand.
What I’ve found is that not all companies are equally set up for product design to have a transparent understanding of the business and how to tie the work to the bottom line. While Steve and Brian’s success stories show a paradigm shift that’s been underway, the landscape is varied right now and designers need to do their research to make sure they’re set up for success to make the most valuable impact to the company.
In my next post, I’ll be sharing a bit about what kinds of questions to ask when evaluating whether a culture is going to set you up for success — whether you’re searching for a new role in design, or evaluating your current role and how you might shift your position to take on more strategic opportunities.
Your insightful take on the strategic role of product designers in shaping businesses like Netflix and Airbnb is spot-on! It's awesome how you've navigated the diverse landscapes of start ups and product leadership, highlighting the essence of aligning user desire with business needs. Your upcoming post sounds like a must-read – I look forward to it! 🚀