I have been lucky to lead small but mighty design teams during my tenure at 1stDibs, starting with the Trade team, which focused on our shopping experience for interior designers, and later the Seller Experience team, which built tools for a community of 4,000+ global sellers.
I helped the Seller Experience design team grow from two to five designers spanning six scrum teams and three countries. Initially focused on Seller Tools, the team’s scope expanded to include Internal Tools—heavily used by our shipping, account management, and service teams—as well as Design Manager, a SaaS product for interior designers that streamlines project management and accounting.
Impactful Projects
During my tenure, the team focused on high-impact projects with measurable outcomes, including the recent launch of Auctions (read the case study). This key initiative required assembling and aligning a team to collaborate across multiple product verticals. By fostering a shared vision between buyer and seller experiences, we successfully launched an MVP in 90 days, followed by multiple product improvements.
Another impactful initiative was the Trade Homepage and Trade Rewards, where we took a systems-based approach to ensure scalability and consistency. These efforts not only enhanced the user experience but also helped grow the business unit to a third of the company’s revenue.
Rapid Hypothesis Testing
I also led the team’s participation in Google-style five day design sprints, planning and facilitating the first while contributing in the second. These sprints were invaluable in exploring a problem space, iterating rapidly, and testing hypotheses within weeks. I wrote about our experiences in our design blog.
Design Backlog
In addition, I managed and prioritized a design backlog, which included areas of improvement that designers identified. Knowing that backlogs are prone to collecting dust, I worked closely with my product counterpart to prioritize projects based on business impact and identify moments when teams had capacity to take on additional work.
Team Scaling
One of my first responsibilities was hiring and growing the team as our scope expanded across multiple product surfaces. I led the hiring of our first designers out of our Lithuania office, refining our recruiting practices to better align with the local market. With this newly distributed team, I emphasized the importance of design crits and meaningful 1:1s, using them as opportunities for coaching, alignment and trust-building. These sessions were pivotal in addressing individual growth goals and fostering a strong team culture.
Making the Team Visible
To elevate the design team’s visibility within the broader organization, I advocated for team members to showcase their work in larger settings. As a result, one designer presented at a company-wide All-Hands meeting, while another shared insights on behavioral design with the entire product and design team. These opportunities highlighted the team’s expertise and built credibility across the organization.
Culture
Beyond internal initiatives, I launched Design Monthly sessions and invited guest speakers to inspire the team with fresh perspectives and new ways of thinking. For our remote team members, inclusion was a priority — activities like curated Airbnb Experiences fostered team bonding and ensured everyone felt connected.
Individual Growth
I also strongly advocated for promotions and career growth, ensuring high performers were recognized and rewarded. Pairing designers for collaboration fostered skill-sharing and strengthened outcomes. Additionally, I championed the use of brag docs, encouraging team members to document and celebrate their accomplishments.
Critiques & Retros
I believe in the power of rituals and tools to foster a culture of culture of performance and learning. Establishing efficient processes and leveraging the right tools were essential to empowering the Seller team to excel. I implemented regular retrospectives at both the project and team levels to recognize successes and identify areas for improvement. This feedback loop promoted continuous growth and ensured alignment.
Onboarding
For new hires, I developed a robust onboarding process to help them ramp up quickly and connect with key stakeholders. By providing the right resources and setting clear expectations, onboarding positioned new team members for success. I also worked with the recruiting team to define a streamlined hiring process that attracted top talent.
Alignment & Coordination
To improve team coordination, I introduced tools like a Trello board to facilitate our design work and standups, ensuring clear visibility into priorities and ownership. I also piloted Design OKRs to align the team’s goals with organizational objectives, creating focus and purpose.
I regularly met with the Director of Product Management and the product managers working with my designers to stay aligned on team goals, understand individual product needs, and gather feedback on how things were going. A great byproduct of this was building strong rapport. It also helped me identify ways to align each designer’s growth goals with meaningful opportunities within the product.
