From Designer to Hybrid PM: A Journey Towards Shipping Better Products (Part 1)

Does Stepping Into Product Management Make You a Better Designer?

I have been in this game since 2012. My career started at UserVoice, where a co-founder hired me as a front-end developer/designer for a scrappy two-person marketing team (yes, designers should code). Since then, I’ve worn nearly every hat in the startup ecosystem: UI engineer, UX designer, UI designer, the hybrid UI/UX designer that eventually morphed into the product designer role we know today, and even head of product and design — twice. Along the way, I’ve worked at startups, founded companies, and celebrated a couple of significant exits.

Through these roles and experiences, I’ve understood something fundamental: I’m not great at managing humans but exceptional at managing work. That nuance is critical and worth exploring. Over the past decade, I’ve seen the massive need for someone to bridge the gaps between teams, foster empathy that leads to real collaboration, and ensure that we’re shipping software that solves human needs and drives revenue.

As long as I’ve been a designer, “Design” has been recognized as a cornerstone of great companies. Names like Apple, Square, and Airbnb have captured market share and defined industries through their design philosophies. Yet, paradoxically, many of these same companies — aspiring to the design excellence of the front runners — struggle internally to grant design the influence it needs. Designers still find themselves fighting for a seat at the proverbial table.

In my career, the tide shifted when I moved beyond advocating solely for design excellence and started focusing on business goals alongside customer needs. The ROI is notoriously hard to measure for all the capital and energy poured into design. Yet, the market consistently rewards well-crafted tools and experiences. Even if we imagine the “happiest path” where an organization is winning with design and has embraced its role at the table, design alone can’t carry the weight.

The design doesn’t stand alone. To deliver meaningful results, it relies on two other disciplines: product management and engineering. Without all three, the process breaks. In reality, the people with the most influence on shipping successful products are the PMs and engineers. That realization led me to a pivotal question: What if design, instead of fighting for autonomy, became more deeply integrated with product management and engineering? What if the design didn’t pass the baton but expanded its scope?

Think about it — what happens when a PM also has design expertise? Or does an engineer understand PM fundamentals? Or, my favorite, a designer leans into product management? Suddenly, you get a partner who bridges the gap between these worlds, uniting the trifecta: design, product management, and development. That’s not just collaboration; that’s a winning strategy.

Want to understand how this hybrid approach transforms product development?

Next week, I’ll continue with Part 2: “The Gaps in Current Workflows and the Power of Integration.”