In 2022, I became the product manager for a new team. Our work included inheriting several legacy products, each with a different look, feel, and experience. Any redesign work was out of scope for our company's UX team, but without alignment between the products, they were difficult for our customers to use and our team to support.
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In consultation with former and current UX colleagues, I developed and implemented a design system and categorized our products into lines that each had a distinct purpose and UX. Throughout my tenure, I maintained a larger role in design, including developing Figma mockups and prototypes. Very quickly, the entire design flow- from customer conversation through to development prototype- was my favorite part of my role.
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The best professional advice I've received was to always run towards something, instead of running away. As a product manager, I liked understanding the "whys" of requests, digging into customer conversations, and crafting elegant, enjoyable solutions. After taking a break to recover from burnout in fall 2024, I included this in a list of what I'd liked and excelled in at my previous roles. My customer focus and love of the design flow pointed me in an obvious direction- product design.
