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Hey, Miranda here from UX Survival Guide 👋

The guide below is to help you navigate when your stakeholders struggle to understand the value of design when there are clear pain-points from both sides with the current ways of working.

Leading or working in a design team with a strained environment requires a mix of diplomacy, structured research, and a clear path toward alignment. This is how I’ve approached the situation and seen positive results.

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I’m a Principal Designer drawing on my 13 years in UX to empower you with the knowledge and tools you need to showcase your value and accelerate your career growth Follow me on: Tiktok | Instagram | Medium | Substack

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Step 1: Understand the Landscape

Before jumping to conclusions, I’d first take a step back and assess:

• The team structure and how design integrates with product and engineering
• The design process (or lack thereof)
• Recent projects and their outcomes
• Feedback from leadership on the perception of the design team
• Any existing data (e.g., previous retros, surveys, performance metrics)

Step 2: Conduct Stakeholder Interviews

I’d organize 1:1 stakeholder interviews with:

• Designers (Individual Contributors and Design Leads)
• Product Managers
• Engineers (Senior and Leads)
• Other Key Stakeholders (e.g., Marketing, Customer Success, Sales if relevant)

Each interview would be 30–45 minutes, focused on uncovering pain points, expectations, and opportunities.

Questions for Designers

1. What are your biggest frustrations when working with product managers and engineers?