From desk-mate to manager
Lea Moretti · design lead · a 25-person product studio · 6 months, no workshop
30 min
one-to-one with each designer every two weeks
1
written decision on the design system
2
designers who asked to join her team
Client
Lea Moretti, design lead
Company
Product studio, 25 people
Length
6 months
Workshop
None, sessions in Milan
The situation
Lea was promoted to lead the team she had worked in for four years. Her old desk-mates still came to her as a friend, and she avoided every hard conversation.
What we worked on
Feedback
Giving feedback to friends: what to say, when, and how to keep the friendship.
Conflict
A long-running disagreement about the design system, finally talked through in the open.
Clear roles
Writing down what a design lead decides, and what the team decides together.
How it went
Months one and two
Lea’s old desk-mates still came to her as a friend, and she avoided every hard conversation to protect that. We practiced the first few out loud, and she started regular one-to-ones so feedback had a home.
The midpoint
A long-running argument about the design system had split the team in two. Lea brought both sides into one meeting, let them disagree in the open, and wrote down the decision at the end.
By month six
Lea has a one-page description of what a design lead decides and what the team decides together. Her team knows where it stands, and two designers from other squads asked to join.
What changed
Lea holds a 30-minute one-to-one with each designer every two weeks.
The design system disagreement ended with one written decision.
Two designers asked to join her team from other squads.
In Lea’s words
What they said on our first call, and what they said when we finished.
On our first call
“I don’t know how to be their manager and still be their friend.”
Six months later
“They still come to me as a friend. Now they also know where they stand.”
Lea Moretti
Design lead · 25-person product studio
