UX Leadership
UX Design Leadership
Context
As Anaconda scaled design initiatives across teams, the work increasingly needed someone to lead cross-functional groups through it, not just contribute to it individually. That became part of my role as a senior leader for 3+ years.
The Problem
Complex, cross-functional design decisions, like the Convergence Planning direction and the Customizable Dashboard concept, needed alignment across design, PM, and engineering. Without structured facilitation, these conversations tend to stall in back-and-forth or get decided by whoever's loudest.
The Strategy
Bring the right people into a room (or Miro board) with a clear structure and a forcing function: not just "let's discuss," but a designed sequence that moves a group from opinions and ideas to a shared recommendation in a fixed amount of time.
My Solution
Facilitated a design sprint for the Convergence Planning workshop and a separate workshop to scope the Customizable Dashboard concept, running both end-to-end: framing the problem, structuring the exercises, and driving the group to a recommended direction.
Key Results
3+ Design Sprints
Cross-functional sprints/workshops facilitated
2.5 Days
Two focused sessions replaced what would've taken weeks of back-and-forth to reach design decisions
3+ Disciplines
Design, PM, and Engineering aligned on a single recommendation in one room
Testimonials
"Sally is one of those rare people who makes the work better and the room warmer at the same time."
— Elize, Engineering Manager
"Sally is an amazing partner to the product team. I met with her regularly to tackle some really challenging design problems, and she was always someone I trusted to think through creative solutions with. She’s incredibly strategic, thoughtful, and great at making sense of complex problems…Sally brought a perspective that consistently made the work better."
— Nir, Product Manager
Supporting Documents
Convergence Planning Miro board (recreated)
Coming soon! [Customizable Dashboard Miro]