Design Management Highlights: PitchBook

Overview

I helped lead key initiatives that have greatly impacted PitchBook. One relates to a partnership they announced with RSRCHXchange to provide PitchBook's customers with a library of financial industry research, 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 every step of the way with both efforts.

My work at PitchBook continues to shape my approach and philosophy as a Product Design leader to this day.

My Approach as a Leader

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:

  • Updated our hiring process.
  • Redesigned our onboarding process to bring structure to the first 90 days of employment.
  • Changed the way design critiques run to focus more on the problems being solved and less on personal preferences.
  • Mentored designers' career aspirations.
  • Taught my teammates to challenge their thinking.
  • Spearheaded efforts to create a design system.

Sample Projects

In addition to Emerging Spaces, I also oversaw the following

Industry Overview: This project turns complex search results into a dashboard that provides a quick snapshot of 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 customer feedback 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: This project experienced intermittent progress over many years. The data displayed to PitchBook's customers reflects their platform usage, aiming to provide a more personalized experience. I collaborated with the designers on the design, addressing challenges related to emphasizing key information and displaying the right data points. Additionally, I assisted the product manager in identifying the most important data points for our users. The Dashboard is accessible to all PitchBook customers, and we observed an increase in click-throughs after its launch compared to the previous version.

Mobile Intel: I helped guide the designer through mobile expectations and platform-specific patterns and provided design and usability feedback for the PitchBook mobile app. The app is used by a client base that is always on the go, and we wanted to ensure that they have access to key data points while en route to upcoming meetings.

Platform Transition: I was involved in integrating two third-party platforms into PitchBook. My role was multifaceted. I collaborated with Product Management and stakeholders to organize and prioritize the work. I also brainstormed with and provided guidance to the designers, organized and managed a cross-functional team, led the effort to design brainstorming sessions with the executive team (shown in the above photo), and orchestrated PitchBook’s first field study.