Notes on Design and Change

I’ve been wanting a place to collect my thoughts on design, product, and career growth — the themes that shaped most of my professional life until I quit my job over a year ago — alongside my reflections on figuring out what comes next. There’s no grand plan about how this will unfold, but I’ve come to believe that most of us only find clarity by trying things out in small ways and seeing what resonates. Writing is my experiment.

Experimentation as a way to figure out life

This idea about experimenting isn’t new, of course. The book Designing Your Life talks about how we can apply design principles to our careers: prototype small versions of the life you’re curious about, pay attention to what energizes you, and follow the useful signals.

I’ve always embraced that mindset in product work. Ten years in tech taught me that experimentation is how you uncover value, and that most experiments fail. In life, though, failure feels far more scary. They can seem permanent or embarrassing.

But taking this break also showed me that the alternative of waiting for perfect clarity before doing anything leads nowhere. And that I must do things a bit differently to get to a different destination. So I’m choosing to experiment anyway and accept whatever comes with that.

Growing the impact of designers

I remember once a friend at a high stakes position told me that he wanted to take a break until he was totally bored. From that boredom, he said, would emerge things that truly gave him purpose. I’m not fully bored yet, but I did find myself drawn back to something I’ve always loved: helping designers grow through stronger thinking, clearer communication, and deeper product understanding.

Lately, I’ve been mentoring a designer who has tremendous potential. Not only has that been valuable to her but it has been a big source of motivation for me. It connected me back to a part of me that was missing since taking a break.

I have a strong belief that designers can have far more impact inside companies than they often recognize. In organizations where ideas matter more than titles, designers are uniquely positioned to shape how products work, how decisions are made, and how teams move forward. When you pair a designer’s ability to imagine and visualize the future with structured thinking, business context, and clear communication, you unlock a level of value that goes well beyond “execution.”

I say this as someone who is not loud or dominant in a room. My most meaningful contributions didn’t come from being the voice everyone heard. They came from well-written documents at the right moments, persistence in gathering evidence, thoughtful framing of problems, and strong relationships. These are skills any designer can develop — and they become increasingly important as you grow into roles where product and business impact matter as much as craft.

These are the themes I am drawn to at the moment: how designers can grow their influence, sharpen their thinking, and make a real difference in their companies.

What to expect

So this is my experiment: writing my thoughts out loud, offering ideas that might help other designers or product thinkers, and sharing what it looks like to figure out the next chapter of my own career. I’ll be experimenting with different avenues. Trying things that feel interesting. Seeing what sticks. Letting go of the idea that I have to know the whole plan before I take the first step.

I am not exactly sure how this will pan out but there are 2 core ideas I keep coming back to:

1. Designers have the potential to shape products and organizations. I would love to help anyone who finds my thinking valuable with my learnings.
2. The only real way to discover what you can contribute (in work or life) is by experimenting, not by trying to think your way into certainty.

Let’s see where this experiment leads.