How I work
Moving UX upstream from reactive support to proactive product partnership.
In a fast-moving, engineering-driven product environment, UX was often brought into initiatives after planning was already underway. I helped establish an operating model that integrated UX earlier into product planning, made design demand and capacity more visible, and created space for customer-centered design before development began.
My role
Experience Architect / Product Designer
Capabilities
UX strategy · Agile product development · Product planning · DesignOps
The problem
Development planning was often underway before Design had enough visibility into upcoming initiatives. UX requests became reactive, design timelines compressed, and Engineering sometimes had to estimate work before customer workflows and requirements were sufficiently understood.
The opportunity was to move UX upstream and make it part of how product work was planned, not simply a step before development.
The operating model
01
UX participated earlier in roadmap and PI planning so upcoming customer-facing initiatives could be identified before development began. This created visibility into future design demand and more time to understand customer needs before implementation decisions were locked in.
Planning + Agile cadence
02
UX requests were classified by the level of support required, UX Consult, UX Design, or UX Design + Research, and operationalized through Jira. This made incoming demand, design effort, and capacity more visible across multiple workstreams.
UX intake + capacity
03
UX worked ahead of implementation so important workflows could be explored and validated before Engineering estimated the work. This gave Product and Engineering clearer requirements while reducing the pressure to make design decisions during development.
Design ahead of development
In practice
Roadmap + PI planning
UX intake + capacity
Design + customer validation
Development estimation
Build + delivery
In practice this spanned roadmap and PI planning, UX intake, Jira visibility, capacity planning, customer validation, design before development estimation, and ongoing Product, Design, and Engineering collaboration.
Impact
Earlier
UX involvement
Design became involved before development planning and implementation decisions were locked in.
Clearer
Requirements
Customer workflows and design direction could be better understood before Engineering estimation.
More predictable
UX planning
Visible demand and capacity made UX work easier to anticipate across multiple workstreams.
Less reactive
Product partnership
UX shifted from responding to downstream requests toward participating earlier in product planning and delivery.
Design wasn't simply a step before development. It became part of how the organization planned and delivered products.