Design Management Highlights: PitchBook

My Work

PitchBook is one of the leading financial data platforms in the world and their customers shape the global economy through investments and acquisitons. I approached my work as the UX Manager through the following lenses:

Strategy

I helped lead a couple of key initiatives that have a large impact on PitchBook. One relates to a partnership we recently announced with RSRCHX to provide a library of financial industry research to our customers, which is one of their biggest requests. The other centers around an initiative to take over a large third-party data set and integrate it into the platform. My designers were involved in every step of the way with both efforts.

The work I did at PitchBook continues to shape my approach and philosophy as a Product Design leader.

My Approach

Situational Leadership
I supported my team by leading with empathy and adjusting my management style to fit their needs. I managed people, not job titles.

Systems Thinking
Lead designers to consider how their work impacted the entire PitchBook ecosystem, our customers, and our business goals.

Design Culture
Building out design culture is something I love to do. At PitchBook I redesigned many of the key processes impacting designers' day-to-day work and happiness. These efforts included:

  • Updating our hiring process.
  • Redesigning our on-boarding process to bring structure to the first 90 days of employment.
  • Changing the way design critiques run so that they focus more on the problems being solved and less on personal preferences.
  • Mentoring designers' career aspirations.
  • Teaching my teammates to challenge their thinking.
  • Spearheading the effort to create a design system.

Sample Projects

In addition to Emerging Spaces, I also oversaw the following

Industry Overview: This project turns search results into a dashboard. It provides a quick snapshot of the space and surfaces details customers might miss. I helped guide the designer through her work and helped the team provide meaningful feedback. I also worked with the associated product manager to understand the use-cases and impact of the project. This project launched to positive feedback from our customers and clickthrough rates in its related part of the platform improved.

I walk through how industry overview works and why it's beneficial to PitchBook's customers

Dashboard: For many years this project went in fits and starts. The data it shows our customers relates to their behavior in the platform in order to offer a more tailored experience. I Worked through the design with the designers. This included addressing challenges around creating focus and showing the right data points. I also helped the product manager identify which data points are most important to our users. The Dashboard is viewed by all PitchBook customers and we saw an uptick in click-throughs after it was launched compared to the version it replaced.

Mobile Intel: PitchBook's mobile app is used by a client base always on the go. We wanted to ensure that they have access to key data points while in route to upcoming meetings. I guided the designer through mobile expectations and platform-specific patterns. I also provided design and usability feedback. After the project launch, we discovered some issues with the service and are currently addressing them.

Platform Transition: We are in the process of transitioning and integrating two third-party platforms into PitchBook. My role is multifaceted. I am collaborating with Product Management and stakeholders to arrange and prioritize the work; I brainstorm with and provide guidance to the designers; I Organize and manage a cross-functional team; I led the effort to design brainstorming sessions with the executive team (shown in the above photo); and I orchestrated PitchBook's first field study. The project is still in flight.