Whether it’s users of a product, or the team that built it, people should come first. By focusing on empathy, transparency and trust; not only can outstanding products be built, but so can world-class teams.

I’m a servant leader and strong believer in the No Asshole Rule. I build teams based on character and high emotional intelligence because great designers know when to leave their egos at the door.

Sometimes startups have no design process and sometimes large corporations suffer from too much bureaucracy. Design is messy and every organization is unique but with an established workflow, teams can become more efficient. Many methods exist but generally they follow three phases:

• Discover: Research & empathize

• Create: Define, ideate & prototype

• Evaluate: Test, synthesize & reiterate

A well-defined and communicated design system can increase Developer velocity and reduce tech debt. Product analytics tools can reveal user insights and help remove guesswork when prioritizing roadmaps. But tools alone will not fix existing problems. Technology requires the buy-in of people and supporting processes to be successful. This challenge also makes projects involving cutting-edge tech like AI, Voice UI, and AR/VR especially exciting to me.