Why I Became a Design Manager

At the start of 2015, I officially became a Design Manager at Optimizely. I transitioned from an individual contributor, product design role into a leadership role. For the entirety of my career up to this point, I had never planned on going into management. Doing hands-on, nitty-gritty design and coding work seemed so much more exciting and fulfilling. Management sounded more like a necessary evil than an interesting challenge. But since then, my thinking has changed. So why did I become a Design Manager?

When I joined Optimizely in September of 2012, the design team was just 2 people. I made it 3 in early 2013 when my role moved from engineering to design. And at the end of 2014, we were 16. (As of this writing we’re at 21!). So we’ve seen tremendous growth, and I’ve been present for all of it. And throughout this time, there had only been 1 manager for the entire team, which was not healthy for my manager or the team. The possibility of managing had been floated by me in mid-2014, but I wasn’t interested. I had been a Product Designer for less than a year and wasn’t ready to move on yet. I felt like I had just started hitting my stride as a designer, and wanted to continue honing my craft. I recognized the need for another manager, but I didn’t want it to be me.

As more designers joined Optimizely, I began taking on more managerial tasks. I also saw more issues rising within the team that our manager didn’t always have time to address. So in short, the importance of this role became more apparent, and the day-to-day work of the role became more real to me.

But the real turning point came when my manager went on vacation. In his absence, I was the go-to person for all of the team’s needs. I suspended most of my design work for this period, and really got a taste of what it would be like to work as a full-time manager. I started asking myself, “What if this was my full-time role? Would I enjoy it?” I went back and forth in my head quite a bit. The idea of leaving behind design and code was both scary and saddening. I had so much I was still looking forward to building! Plus, as we all know, change is hard.

But the team has more needs than our lone manager can handle. And I care deeply about the team, so for the greater good I decided it was time to step up. I realized that by helping my team be as great as possible, I would have a bigger impact on the company. And by working closer with engineering managers and PMs, I would have a bigger impact on the product. I’d be getting out of the weeds of day-to-day design to work on the product from a higher perspective across individuals and teams. The impact is less direct, but broader. All of this sounded tremendously exciting to me, and more impactful than individual contributor work.

I also realized the things I love about design (problem solving, ideating, etc.) would still be present in my new role. But instead of applying those skills to concrete visual interfaces, I would apply them to abstract team and personnel issues. I’d be using the design process to solve a different set of problems.

So when my manager got back from vacation, I told him my decision and we started transitioning me into a managerial role. As of the start of 2015, I’ve been managing full time and loving it. I’m still a bit sad to leave design work behind, and worry about my skills atrophying, but I look forward to the new challenges that await. It was a difficult decision that took me a long time to come around to, but I’m excited to make the team, product, and company as great as possible.