Building a design organization while building the product.

The job was never just a better lending app. Possible needed a design team, a way for that team to work, and the infrastructure to support several product initiatives at once, and it needed all of it while the business kept moving.

The experience itself was disjointed and spoke to the wrong audience. Research showed our customers were largely millennial women, many of them single parents, often stressed and frequently interrupted. And all of it was happening remotely, during the uncertainty of the pandemic.

I recruited and hired a remote team from zero to five, all reporting to me: a principal designer, two senior designers, one focused on product and one on visual design and brand, a junior designer, and a researcher. Each role had clear responsibilities, so the team could cover product work, the brand, and research at the same time.

I created the design career ladder from scratch, defining the competencies and expectations at each level. It gave designers a shared picture of what growth looked like, and gave promotion decisions a fair, consistent basis. I promoted two designers on the team.

I managed performance, supported promotions and career progression, and made difficult personnel decisions when they were needed. Keeping the team effective and supported through the pandemic was part of the job every week.

A new team needed shared ways of working. I put two rituals in place: a weekly critique, and a five-minute daily standup where each designer called out a blocker or no blocker. Anyone blocked got help right after the meeting, so problems never waited a day.

While the team and practice took shape, the team I hired delivered three product features, growing the product from one core experience to three. Each was designed for customers who needed calm, clear choices they could pick back up after an interruption.

• Possible Loan: a small-dollar loan built to rival storefront payday lenders, with lower interest and a far easier way to apply.
• RefundMe: helps customers get bank fees, like overdraft charges, refunded.
• Possible Card: a way to build credit for people starting from rough ground.

I partnered closely with the founders and with the product and engineering leads on what to build and when.

For the organization

A team of five built from zero, two designers promoted, a career ladder and competencies that made growth and promotion clear, and working practices the team could sustain.

For the product

One system replaced a disjointed experience, and the product grew from one core experience to three on it. As I was leaving, an agency-led corporate rebrand arrived, built around “the everyman.” The system could be reskinned to carry it, without starting over.

What I learned

How hard it is to build a design system from scratch, and how much good research changes that. Knowing exactly who our customers were informed the system and made it the best it could be.