international motors
rebuilding
from within
Transforming a disconnected design delivery team into a strategic UX force
international motors
rebuilding
from within
Transforming a disconnected design delivery team into a strategic UX force
international motors
rebuilding
from within
Transforming a disconnected design delivery team into a strategic UX force
Project Overview
When I joined International Motors as Lead UX Designer, the team had no access to users and little influence on product planning. Design was brought in late—after dev tickets were written—leading to usability issues, misaligned features, and expensive rounds of rework.
This reactive cycle burned through billable hours, slowed user adoption, and ultimately put the project behind schedule.
My role as Lead UX Designer involved developing workflow frameworks, mentoring the design team, and driving design sprints in partnership with stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and the Business.
Project Overview
When I joined International Motors as Lead UX Designer, the team had no access to users and little influence on product planning. Design was brought in late—after dev tickets were written—leading to usability issues, misaligned features, and expensive rounds of rework.
This reactive cycle burned through billable hours, slowed user adoption, and ultimately put the project behind schedule.
My role as Lead UX Designer involved developing workflow frameworks, mentoring the design team, and driving design sprints in partnership with stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and the Business.
Project Overview
When I joined International Motors as Lead UX Designer, the team had no access to users and little influence on product planning. Design was brought in late—after dev tickets were written—leading to usability issues, misaligned features, and expensive rounds of rework.
This reactive cycle burned through billable hours, slowed user adoption, and ultimately put the project behind schedule.
My role as Lead UX Designer involved developing workflow frameworks, mentoring the design team, and driving design sprints in partnership with stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and the Business.
Problem & Mission
With a team of seven designers and a product used by 140 dealerships nationwide, disconnection between UX, product, and engineering was slowing delivery and putting a multimillion-dollar program at risk.
My goal was to reverse that trajectory by bringing UX upstream, aligning cross-functional teams, and building a process that saved time, reduced rework, and delivered solutions users could actually use.
Mission:
Shift UX from reactive delivery to proactive strategy
Create team rituals for the entire cross-functional team and documentation that could scale
Equip our team to be aligned, informed, and empowered
Balance process improvements with hands-on product design to quickly deliver wins for both users and the business.
Problem & Mission
With a team of seven designers and a product used by 140 dealerships nationwide, disconnection between UX, product, and engineering was slowing delivery and putting a multimillion-dollar program at risk.
My goal was to reverse that trajectory by bringing UX upstream, aligning cross-functional teams, and building a process that saved time, reduced rework, and delivered solutions users could actually use.
Mission:
Shift UX from reactive delivery to proactive strategy
Create team rituals for the entire cross-functional team and documentation that could scale
Equip our team to be aligned, informed, and empowered
Balance process improvements with hands-on product design to quickly deliver wins for both users and the business.
Problem & Mission
With a team of seven designers and a product used by 140 dealerships nationwide, disconnection between UX, product, and engineering was slowing delivery and putting a multimillion-dollar program at risk.
My goal was to reverse that trajectory by bringing UX upstream, aligning cross-functional teams, and building a process that saved time, reduced rework, and delivered solutions users could actually use.
Mission:
Shift UX from reactive delivery to proactive strategy
Create team rituals for the entire cross-functional team and documentation that could scale
Equip our team to be aligned, informed, and empowered
Balance process improvements with hands-on product design to quickly deliver wins for both users and the business.
My Unique Contribution
I rebuilt trust and alignment between UX, Product, and Engineering by replacing ad-hoc workflows with scalable design operations and shared team rituals. A key turning point was facilitating a “How We Work” kickoff session—educating the team on UX’s role in the agile process and showing exactly where we fit into delivery. This set the stage for smoother collaboration and seamless handoffs.
To build trust, boost collaboration, and create more meaningful work time, I:
Facilitated creative team-building sessions—including user journey role-play and innovation exercises—to deepen empathy and understanding of what and why we were building.
Redesigned meeting rhythms with focused agendas and adjusted calendars, carving out more time for impactful work.
Created a living UX Playbook—used for onboarding and as an ongoing reference for both designers and cross-functional teammates.
Organized and streamlined the Figma library so projects could be located instantly, ownership was clear, and status was visible at a glance.
Developed Figma templates for new features to ensure teams always worked from the latest designs—eliminating iteration confusion.
Alongside this cultural reset, I introduced an AI-accelerated research synthesis pipeline that cut analysis time in half—helping us make faster, evidence-based decisions. I also rolled up my sleeves to tackle high-priority usability issues, delivering rapid design improvements that boosted product performance, reduced load times, and restored confidence across teams.
My Unique Contribution
I rebuilt trust and alignment between UX, Product, and Engineering by replacing ad-hoc workflows with scalable design operations and shared team rituals. A key turning point was facilitating a “How We Work” kickoff session—educating the team on UX’s role in the agile process and showing exactly where we fit into delivery. This set the stage for smoother collaboration and seamless handoffs.
To build trust, boost collaboration, and create more meaningful work time, I:
Facilitated creative team-building sessions—including user journey role-play and innovation exercises—to deepen empathy and understanding of what and why we were building.
Redesigned meeting rhythms with focused agendas and adjusted calendars, carving out more time for impactful work.
Created a living UX Playbook—used for onboarding and as an ongoing reference for both designers and cross-functional teammates.
Organized and streamlined the Figma library so projects could be located instantly, ownership was clear, and status was visible at a glance.
Developed Figma templates for new features to ensure teams always worked from the latest designs—eliminating iteration confusion.
Alongside this cultural reset, I introduced an AI-accelerated research synthesis pipeline that cut analysis time in half—helping us make faster, evidence-based decisions. I also rolled up my sleeves to tackle high-priority usability issues, delivering rapid design improvements that boosted product performance, reduced load times, and restored confidence across teams.
My Unique Contribution
I rebuilt trust and alignment between UX, Product, and Engineering by replacing ad-hoc workflows with scalable design operations and shared team rituals. A key turning point was facilitating a “How We Work” kickoff session—educating the team on UX’s role in the agile process and showing exactly where we fit into delivery. This set the stage for smoother collaboration and seamless handoffs.
To build trust, boost collaboration, and create more meaningful work time, I:
Facilitated creative team-building sessions—including user journey role-play and innovation exercises—to deepen empathy and understanding of what and why we were building.
Redesigned meeting rhythms with focused agendas and adjusted calendars, carving out more time for impactful work.
Created a living UX Playbook—used for onboarding and as an ongoing reference for both designers and cross-functional teammates.
Organized and streamlined the Figma library so projects could be located instantly, ownership was clear, and status was visible at a glance.
Developed Figma templates for new features to ensure teams always worked from the latest designs—eliminating iteration confusion.
Alongside this cultural reset, I introduced an AI-accelerated research synthesis pipeline that cut analysis time in half—helping us make faster, evidence-based decisions. I also rolled up my sleeves to tackle high-priority usability issues, delivering rapid design improvements that boosted product performance, reduced load times, and restored confidence across teams.
Improving processes didn’t mean hitting pause
Improving processes didn’t mean hitting pause
Improving processes didn’t mean hitting pause
While streamlining workflows, I ran heuristic evaluations, spoke with users, and delivered design updates that advanced business goals and made the product easier and faster for customers to use. Partnering closely with cross-functional teams, we rolled out these changes quickly, in a scalable and sustainable way.
The impact was immediate: UX pain points were resolved, development load-time issues were cut down, and we could finally shift focus to solving higher-value user problems. It was a win for users, the business, and the team’s momentum.
While streamlining workflows, I ran heuristic evaluations, spoke with users, and delivered design updates that advanced business goals and made the product easier and faster for customers to use. Partnering closely with cross-functional teams, we rolled out these changes quickly, in a scalable and sustainable way.
The impact was immediate: UX pain points were resolved, development load-time issues were cut down, and we could finally shift focus to solving higher-value user problems. It was a win for users, the business, and the team’s momentum.
While streamlining workflows, I ran heuristic evaluations, spoke with users, and delivered design updates that advanced business goals and made the product easier and faster for customers to use. Partnering closely with cross-functional teams, we rolled out these changes quickly, in a scalable and sustainable way.
The impact was immediate: UX pain points were resolved, development load-time issues were cut down, and we could finally shift focus to solving higher-value user problems. It was a win for users, the business, and the team’s momentum.
Strategy & Solutions
Strategy & Solutions
Team Enablement & Structure
Built a scalable design ops framework and onboarding process adopted org-wide.
Facilitated workshops, rituals, and whiteboarding to proactively align stakeholders and teams.
Research & Insight Acceleration
Developed an AI-accelerated research synthesis pipeline using GPT-based clustering to speed up insight generation by 60%.
Developed an AI-accelerated research synthesis pipeline using GPT-based clustering to speed up insight generation by 60%.
Product Experience Improvements
Conducted heuristic evaluations, user interviews, and rapid design updates that reduced load times, improved usability, and addressed long-standing user pain points.
Conducted heuristic evaluations, user interviews, and rapid design updates that reduced load times, improved usability, and addressed long-standing user pain points.
Key Outcomes
Cut research synthesis time by 60% with AI tools. Reduced design-to-dev handoff delays by 25%. Rolled out an onboarding playbook that shortened ramp-up for new hires by 40%.
Improved team alignment, morale, and recognition for cross-functional efficiency. Major design ops advances were recognized by leadership for their business impact.
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
Key Outcomes
Cut research synthesis time by 60% with AI tools. Reduced design-to-dev handoff delays by 25%. Rolled out an onboarding playbook that shortened ramp-up for new hires by 40%.
Improved team alignment, morale, and recognition for cross-functional efficiency. Major design ops advances were recognized by leadership for their business impact.
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
Key Outcomes
Cut research synthesis time by 60% with AI tools. Reduced design-to-dev handoff delays by 25%. Rolled out an onboarding playbook that shortened ramp-up for new hires by 40%.
Improved team alignment, morale, and recognition for cross-functional efficiency. Major design ops advances were recognized by leadership for their business impact.
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
after
✓ Aligned discovery-to-delivery process
✓ Faster load times
✓ Dealership workflows running smoother than ever
✓ Improved cross team collaboration
✓ Helped shape next-gen product direction
before
☹︎ Siloed teams
☹︎ Late design involvement
☹︎ Clunky workflows
☹︎ Slowed delivery
☹︎ Frustrated dealerships.
Lessons Learned
Delivering measurable results was rewarding, but the deeper value came from the lessons I carried forward. This project reinforced that lasting change doesn’t happen by flipping a switch, it happens by pairing quick wins with systems teams can sustain, and by treating patience as an essential piece of the trust-building puzzle.
Change will always be the biggest challenge, even when it’s for the better, and without empathy for the people you work with, it can create chaos instead of progress. The way teams work together is just as important as the experiences they design. When UX shifts from a support role to a strategic driver, it has the power to transform not just business outcomes, but an organization’s culture.
Lessons Learned
Delivering measurable results was rewarding, but the deeper value came from the lessons I carried forward. This project reinforced that lasting change doesn’t happen by flipping a switch, it happens by pairing quick wins with systems teams can sustain, and by treating patience as an essential piece of the trust-building puzzle.
Change will always be the biggest challenge, even when it’s for the better, and without empathy for the people you work with, it can create chaos instead of progress. The way teams work together is just as important as the experiences they design. When UX shifts from a support role to a strategic driver, it has the power to transform not just business outcomes, but an organization’s culture.
Lessons Learned
Delivering measurable results was rewarding, but the deeper value came from the lessons I carried forward. This project reinforced that lasting change doesn’t happen by flipping a switch, it happens by pairing quick wins with systems teams can sustain, and by treating patience as an essential piece of the trust-building puzzle.
Change will always be the biggest challenge, even when it’s for the better, and without empathy for the people you work with, it can create chaos instead of progress. The way teams work together is just as important as the experiences they design. When UX shifts from a support role to a strategic driver, it has the power to transform not just business outcomes, but an organization’s culture.
Synthesizing Data
Learn how I use AI as a collaborative partner in user research
Synthesizing Data
Learn how I use AI as a collaborative partner in user research
Synthesizing Data
Learn how I use AI as a collaborative partner in user research