Me in New Orleans, about 10 years ago
My name is Judy Siegel and I have worked in Product Design and UX Research, in one form or another, for over 15 years.
As a designer I bring empathy, drive and humor to the table and consider these elements key to healthy team dynamics. I have spent the past 6 years managing tight and talented design teams comprised of product designers and user researchers (and sometimes front-end devs) at places like ArcXP (software arm of the Washington Post), MSNBC, USDS, and Dow Jones.
I consider leading design teams to both be an inspiring challenge and a privilege. My main goal for my team is to foster an environment where collaboration and inspiration can thrive. To me, this goal is best achieved through trust, transparency, and mentorship.
Values I seek to expouse:
Commitment to innovation— How can we offer the best possible product to our users? How can we meet their current needs and anticipate new ones? How can we push the industry forward in terms of UX and innovation?
Relentless Collaboration — both within the design team and with critical stakeholders. Collaboration leads to more refined and elegant design solutions.
Thoughtful Leadership — I believe leading teams is a privilege. One’s professional trajectory is highly influenced by the competence and dedication (or lack thereof) of their manager. My job is to build a cohesive team, set process for execution successful products and then to let talented people do their work.
Breaking Down Silos — I’ve worked in numerous organizations where there is just not enough communication between Engineering, Product and Design until it’s ‘too late’ as define by deadlines, priorities, etc. Or the communication that did happen was not documented, etc. Breaking down silos is something I feel particularly skilled at and the first step is to talk about it via post-mortems.
Aside from UX and Product Design things, I enjoy cooking, learning new recipes, exploring via walking and random car drives, bougie shopping for things like special olive oils and vinegars, traveling via any means to bodies of water, attempting the electric guitar and spending time with my 5 1/2-year old daughter and newly 2-year old son.