Mar 18  |  Written By Akshay Sawhney

My Leadership Approach

I've been involved in product design and development for 18+ years, as a front-end engineer, UX designer and manager. I’ve learned from great managers (and not so great managers) about what works in user experience leadership. Here are some of my core UX leadership beliefs and approaches:

UX is a strategic partner

There was a time when design was seen as an unstructured tactical resource - that was me as a designer in 2007. We understand now that effective UX teams provide lasting impact by having ownership over the design process, and on-par collaboration with cross-functional business and engineering teams. I position UX’ers on my team to be involved early, understand their domain space along with their users, and take ownership over the entire process from requirements and ideation to implementation and launch.

Management is in service of employees, and not the other way around

My role is to support those who are doing the work. If there’s a tough decision blocking progress, I’m there to unblock it. If there's a lack of domain knowledge, let's talk to experts. If business requirements are unclear, let's align and move forward. If issues are systemic, let’s make operational improvements. In all instances I chose to support our product teams to do their best, most impactful work.

Inspire through craft

A core responsibility of a professional UX team is to function as a reliable resource for consistently high quality design knowledge, understanding and output - ultimately creating amazing product experiences, not just fulfilling requirements. Caring deeply about our craft, with attention to detail and a workable knowledge of the business, earns us the trust and respect of our partners. Effective UX leaders understand the craft along with the business, and know the best solutions can help the business grow.

I’m fortunate to have worked with some of the most competent and inspiring UX designers, researchers, content strategists and leaders in the industry today.