Natalie Oei

Having spent the past 15+ years as a Product Designer in tech in the San Francisco Bay Area, I’ve seen the whole arc from joyous optimism in making products that change the world, to fearful pessimism from the threat of layoffs, ironically from being directly or indirectly involved in creating products that change the world… and now our livelihoods. I’m hearing from a number of former co-workers who are telling me how their working environment has changed drastically; more fear, more anxiety, feeling the pressure to work longer hours and produce more impact, all while compensation and benefits are being squeezed and the goalposts for promotion seems to keep moving. And yet, for all the skills and experience we’ve accumulated, it doesn’t increase career options and mobility; in reality, the workplace squeeze along with precious equity vesting schedules keep a lot of people feeling even more stuck than ever before. Layer on the threat of layoffs, and you’re now trapped in a gilded cage that keeps shrinking, and shrinking, and you’re running out of time and bandwidth to figure out what to do about it. What options do I have? What alternatives are out there? (Will those alternatives pay the same as what I currently make?) What time do I have to explore these alternatives? The truth is: there is time; either time you allocate now to be proactive about your explorations, or time that will be allocated for you when you’re not ready for it, for example, if you’re on the side of a layoff. I know from first-hand experience what that feels like, and I don’t wish that and the feelings that come with that on anyone. What I wish I had in those moments were the mindsets and methods from Designing Your Life; then I wouldn’t feel stuck to my seemingly “one best option”, even embrace these curveballs because I’ve prepared for multiple scenarios, all of which I could be taking baby steps to explore and gain clarity and confidence towards being layoff-proof. If you’re feeling stuck with no good options in sight, feeling like there’s no time to prepare or just want someone to think out loud with, type "OP" in the comments; we can chat over 3 short calls, and get you on a path towards clarity, confidence and coherence.

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Fun call with Stephany Bader, VP of Product, is what is the future title for designers and PMs? We've been blown away with what our team can build now with AI. Feels like there's a new working title in motion for designers and PMs. Curious what if other builders feel the same way.

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Product specs get written in a rush, skimmed, then tossed in the drawer. We celebrate engineers for 10x delivery, designers for beautiful UX. Specs? They’re usually paperwork - until something goes sideways. But the world’s tilted. With AI moving code from idea to production in days, the bottleneck isn’t building anymore. It’s the thinking: what are we building, and why? Who’s aligned, and how do we know? Suddenly, the humble spec is the source code - for humans and for machines. Nail the spec, and the rest hums. Get it wrong or vague, and you’re iterating on entropy, not outcomes. I’d argue writing (and revising) great specs is now the single highest-leverage skill for PMs. It’s how you clarify customer value, align stakeholders, and, yes, help models generate something useful on the first try. If the spec is now the code, are you investing enough in it? Or is this still the step your team skips - until it’s too late? #productmanagement #ai #execution

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The design process is definitely not dead, but designers need the skill to work through it faster than ever before. If you are working as a designer in an established organization with a really great design system in place, then you will find your job looking a lot like how Jenny describes: 40% ushering front-end work, 40% jotting down a vision (in code or Figma), and 20% fixing front-end PRs that were yolo'd into prod. But the design process is still there, just condensed: 1. User research is... trusting what the model believes is a user need based on the data you feed it: Gong calls, your data warehouse, etc. 2. The "double diamond" convergence/divergence method is... just happening at a faster clip because you can have 5 design agents thinking about ideas simultaneously before you pick one... and then go deeper again. 3. Prototyping is... just building and encouraging Claude to make the right thing, making slight tweaks in staging rather than in Figma. 4. Iteration and learning is... another PR from another agent. AI has made code free, but design debt isn't cheap. It's easy to use a box that spits out the next logical token to produce a UI that looks like everything else. The hard work is imagining our world as it could look with AI existing at all.

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AI takeaways from Jimmy Hillis (Airtable) at UXDX NY: * Play. Don't design. Personal "aha" moments translate to product "ahas." Personally engage with prompts to figure out what tools can do. Push your teams to use AI in their day to day. * Shift your process. From: Requirements > Design > Test > Build To: Play > Get it working > Iterate > Design > Productionize * Build AI for value. Apply AI to your unique differentiator. Not "me too" features. * Plan for productionizing. While it may appear good in 1 day, it may take months to make it really great. * Overcome production hurdles. Quality - Conduct many Evals to ensure you solve problems from actual user's natural language inputs. Performance - Design upfront for the multi-second wait users will confront. Cost - Identify the true value exchange so you can offset the cost. Success story: By starting with "playing," Jimmy's team moved beyond creating pre-canned experiences to powering instantly created, full-featured Cobuilder Airtable apps using natural language. How have you played with AI? #UXDX #AI #ProductManagement #ProductDesign #UserExperience #Startups

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Most teams don't struggle with speed anymore. They struggle with building the right things. That's exactly where my brother thrives. He's a Principal Product Designer who brings real product thinking into design. The kind of person who helps teams cut through complexity and focus on what matters. If you're building serious products and need that level of thinking, take a look at his post below.

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I've partnered with many early-stage tech CEOs. The most successful ones—the true "10x" leaders—don't just have a great idea. They have a distinct set of leadership mindsets. A great article from Michael Neuendorff, PCC at Bay Area Executive Coach recently broke down 10 of these "CEO material" traits. It got me thinking about how these qualities directly amplify growth and innovation, especially when paired with a strong financial partner. As a CFO, my role isn't to be the "No" police. It's to be a strategic partner who connects the CEO’s vision to financial reality. Here’s how it works: 1. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢'𝘀 "𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻" + 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗙𝗢'𝘀 "𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗼𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗮𝗽" I worked with a CEO who had a bold (and expensive!) vision for a new product line. Instead of just looking at the cost, we partnered to model the unit economics and cash-on-cash return. We built a stage-gated plan that funded the vision, proved the concept, and gave investors the confidence to double down. The CEO's vision + the CFO's financial roadmap = accelerated, de-risked innovation. 2. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗘𝗢'𝘀 "𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲" + 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗙𝗢'𝘀 "𝗥𝘂𝗻𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁" Another CEO faced a brutal market shift. Their resilience was incredible, but resilience needs runway. My job was to immediately find that runway. By re-forecasting, managing burn, and communicating transparently with the board, we gave their new strategy the time it needed to work. That's the partnership: The CEO provides the grit; the CFO provides the financial breathing room. For my friends in PE, executive search, and at the helm of tech companies, this partnership is key. The best outcomes happen when a CEO's vision is amplified by a financial framework that enables, rather than restricts. That's how you build companies that last. For more insights, check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gjfN4PDp #CFO #CEO #Leadership #TechStartups #GrowthMindset #Innovation #PrivateEquity #ExecutiveSearch #ExecutiveTeams

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When kids are left out of the design process, we end up with products that treat them as problems to manage rather than people to serve. Not enough product teams ask kids what they actually need. The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop did. Their newest report, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦: 𝘕𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘚𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴, 𝘋𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢, by Senior Fellow Amanda Lenhart, is the result. Through nine youth co-design sessions with families across the country, the report centers the voices of children ages 4-14 alongside their parents. That's UNCRC Articles 12 and 13 in practice: children's right to be heard, and their right to seek and receive information in ways that work for them. What emerged is a clear framework: the 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘊𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦, a repeating pattern of deciding on, setting up, and managing devices and platforms as kids grow and technologies evolve. It's not a moment. It's a continuous journey, and families are exhausted from navigating it alone. The report delivers concrete recommendations for designers, educators, and policymakers on how to build technology that actually serves children and families, not just the bottom line. Thoughtful design has the power to strengthen family relationships rather than strain them. This one is worth reading end to end. Full Report: https://lnkd.in/gDPfnUPZ #ChildRights #WellbeingByDesign #KidTech #UNCRC #YouthCoDesign #ProductPolicy #EdTech

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This is wild. We pay people thousands a month to use our products. They pay us nothing. Sounds backwards, right? Hear me out. Our most valuable product feedback has come from paying design partners - not from internal debates, roadmap docs, or following non-ICP user behavior. Before we had PMF, we made the classic startup mistake. We had a big shiny product vision, locked ourselves in a room, spent 6 months building. It was ambitious. It was polished. After all that work, we launched… and barely anyone used it. When we started building Seona, we flipped the model. The first version was just us sending emails manually telling users what SEO work we had done. No dashboard. No interface. Just outcomes. And what taught us the most wasn’t usage. It was feedback. Honest, detailed, specific feedback from users who were actually trying to get value out of what we shipped. Now, any time we build a new product, we bring in 6 to 8 design partners from day one. 1/ They validate our ideas 2/ They suffer through the early versions 3/ They tell us what makes sense and what doesn’t 4/ And they do it with skin in the game For this, we pay them. Some up to thousands per month. It might feel expensive at first, but it saves hundreds of hours of wasted engineering, aligns your roadmap with actual user need, and gets you early fans who are already bought in. Nearly every design partner we’ve worked with has ended up becoming a customer. Because we built something that solved their problem so precisely, it was a no-brainer. Paying for feedback is one of the best investments we’ve ever made.

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I’m hardline on product design needing to be done in code. Photoshop and Figma are great exploratory tools and solid for designing graphics. Designs sitting in static files or clickable prototypes leads to half-baked UX and gaps in requirements. Actual product design and design systems should be in code. Design systems should be services that teams can consume to build frontends so they can focus on backend functionality and AI quality.

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A lot of conversations I have with design teams start the same way: “We’re moving fast… but we keep circling back.” It’s rarely a skill issue. It’s a timing issue. Most misalignment doesn’t come from bad design. It comes from discovering truth too late—after engineering starts, after a sprint closes, or after launch. And the cost of that delay is enormous. A late fix can be 100× more expensive than catching the issue early. But the teams that validate upfront—concepts, prototypes, even simple assumptions—consistently move faster, not slower. I’ve seen: • 25% fewer iteration cycles • Clearer rationale behind decisions • Less friction between design, product, and engineering Early insight isn’t a tax on velocity. It’s the engine of velocity. When we test earlier, we spend less time reworking and more time progressing. And our teams feel it—not just in timelines, but in confidence and morale. These themes are showing up across the teams featured in our newest Leadership Signal. It’s a great pulse check on how leaders are tightening alignment earlier in the process. https://bit.ly/4ixuGp2

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Chesky didn't save Airbnb with just brilliant strategy. He saved it because they'd spent years building culture that could hold uncertainty. Teams that trusted through chaos. Systems designed to bend, not break. When crisis hit, those invisible investments became everything. I'm trying to do the same with consciousness and AI. We can't predict every failure mode. Every misalignment. Every way these systems will collide with human values we haven't fully articulated. But we can build with adaptability baked in. Philosophy. Neuroscience. Lived experience. Systems thinking. Not because I have all the answers—but because the problems we're facing will evolve faster than any single framework can contain. Chesky's lesson isn't about crisis management. It's about building something resilient enough that when the ground falls away—and it will—you don't shatter. You adapt. You move. You trust what you built in the quiet moments before the storm. That's what I'm betting on with AI alignment. Not perfect plans. Adaptive foundations. Because the crisis we're building for? We can't see it yet. But we can build something strong enough to survive it.

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Meet Jennifer Pinter✨, Chief Experience Officer at Kapta. My co-founder, Rishabh Pugalia, had a chance to catch up with her in SF last month. In this 1-minute clip, she shares how AI disrupted their day-to-day operations, decision flows, and long-term strategy.

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Over years of managing and hiring across organizations, I've found that four qualities drive some of the highest performers I've managed: craft, drive, adaptability, and storytelling. Hiring based on just one of these pillars alone isn't enough. Of course, it's up to you to determine your negotiables and non-negotiables and, ideally, evaluate focus areas for your hires to develop once they're on your team. In my latest article, I unpack how these qualities elevate a designer's work and why they matter in a championship-winning team! If you're hiring, it might be worth a read. https://lnkd.in/ghsWKPmw

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In my latest post, I explore 7 beautifully strange hybrid roles emerging at the intersection of AI, design, Engineering and strategy and why we need to rethink how we build teams. 🔮 From Systems Synthesists to Creative Technologists, the future belongs to the shape-shifters. 🧠✨ Read it here: https://lnkd.in/egVAwh3m #FutureOfWork #AI #DesignLeadership #HybridRoles #Innovation #CareerDesign

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Hey fellow UX Product Designers, I post very rarely, but I feel compelled to share something important as our industry stands on the brink of a monumental shift. Companies everywhere are looking for ways to do more with less—and that includes product design teams. The move toward integrating AI is accelerating, and while it’s true that AI isn’t ready to fully replace our expertise in UX or aesthetic design just yet, the expectation for us to be AI-savvy is growing fast. Here’s my advice for staying ahead and continuing to add value: Identify where AI can streamline your workflow. Rapid prototyping is a prime example—AI can help you lay out new product features in minutes instead of hours or days. Get familiar with AI features in your current tools. Explore what’s new in Figma, and expand your skillset with emerging platforms like Base44 and Lovable.dev. Leverage AI for UX research. Tools like Figma, Pendo, Userlytics, and Mixpanel have built-in AI features. Go beyond basic usage—learn how to use AI to analyze and generate insightful UX research by comparing data across all your tools. Work with your developers to connect tools via APIs for even deeper insights. Develop your AI prompt-writing skills. Strong prompts are key, especially for tasks like type scale systems, layout, and color. Share clear guidelines with AI early in your process to avoid tedious fixes later. Remember, AI isn’t perfect at accessibility or WCAG compliance—your expertise still matters!   I know that adapting to these changes can feel daunting, especially for those of us who identify as “creatives” rather than techies. But embracing AI doesn’t mean you need to become an engineer. It’s about using the new tools at our disposal to amplify our impact and ensure we remain essential in the future of design. Let’s keep learning, experimenting, and supporting each other as we move forward in this new era. Your experience, paired with AI proficiency, will make you more valuable than ever. If you have questions or just want to chat about this with a human, I'm all ears. hashtag#UXDesign hashtag#AIFuture hashtag#CareerGrowth hashtag#ProductDesign hashtag#AIforDesign

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Design systems promised consistency and speed—but have they delivered? Interesting to hear how Itai Vonshak, former Material Design lead at Google, explores how rigid rules and poor adoption have turned design systems into creativity killers. He argues that while design systems aimed to streamline product design, they often stifle innovation and become a maintenance burden. At ContentActive, we believe in balancing structure with flexibility. While design systems can provide a solid foundation, it's essential to allow room for creativity and adaptability, especially as AI continues to reshape the design landscape. We build flexibles systems that can adapt to almost anything. #DesignSystems #UXDesign #Innovation #AI https://lnkd.in/e3_392c4

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Turning Design Impact into Executive Clarity I built Operations and Strategy teams from zero-to-one in several Fortuna 50 organizations. It is not an easy undertaking. One important thing I've learned. You must showcase wins early and often. It is critical. As design executives and leaders, our job is not just to create impact. We must make that impact visible. Inside the Design team, we deliver impact by: ↳ Engaging and empowering designers ↳ Building a strong, healthy culture ↳ Ensuring psychological safety ↳ Creating the conditions to deliver our best work. Across the organization, we create impact by: ↳ Defining a clear vision and strategy ↳ Attracting and retaining diverse talent ↳ Facilitating teamwork and collaboration ↳ Removing obstacles and enabling focus ↳ Advocating together with our functional partners At the business level, we amplify impact by: ↳ Aligning with the organizational strategy ↳ Building strong partnerships ↳ Accelerating experimentation and learning ↳ Demosntrating measurable outcomes ↳ Publishing results and sharing succes case studies All this needs to be visible, clear, consistent and credible. We must leverage the Design Executive Dashboard. It's how we: ↳ Share and validate priorities ↳ Communicate progress and outcomes ↳ Highlight wins and accomplishments ↳ Identify blockers early ↳ Connect design & ops with measurable business results This is not a report. It is a leadership tool. It helps leaders see what we see. It empowers them to proactively act. It enables effective communication. It elevates Design. When we make our impact visible, We lead the path forward. #Design #DesignOps #Leadership #Business #Impact

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I think some folks might be missing the point with the Stitch-Figma conversation. I don’t think it’s that Stitch is ready for prime time today but that it makes Figma look vulnerable. It’s next version or version after might be the one…?

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