How staff designers can lead without being managers with Catt Small
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome back to Insights Unlocked. In this episode, Jason sits down with product designer and author Kat Small to explore what it really means to grow your impact without becoming a manager. They unpack the mindset shift from craft to influence, the power of invisible work, and how senior designers can lead through communication, clarity, and confidence. Enjoy the show.
Welcome to Insights Unlocked, an original podcast from User Testing, where we bring you candid conversations and stories with the thinkers, doers, and builders behind some of the most successful digital products and experiences in the world, from concept to execution.
Welcome to the Insights Unlocked podcast. I'm Nathan Isaacs, Senior Manager for Content Production and User Testing. Joining us today as host is Jason Giles, User Testing's Vice President of Design. Welcome back, Jason.
Hello, everyone, and hello, Nathan. It's nice to be back.
And today's guest is Kat Small. Kat is a staff product designer, game maker, and author of the recently published book, The Staff Designer.
How can staff designers grow their impact without becoming managers?
She spent her career shaping impactful digital experiences at companies like SoundCloud, Asana, and Etsy. And she's here to share how individual contributors can lead, influence, and drive change without becoming managers. Welcome to the show, Kat.
Hey, happy to be here. Thanks for having me.
Kat, I was really looking forward to this conversation. It's actually very timely because I've been having career conversations with my own team. So this is great. Before we begin, you've actually had a really fascinating career. Etsy to Asana, a bunch of cool stuff in between, even some game design. Just to kind of ground us, can you walk us through your journey and kind of how those experiences shaped your perspective?
Yeah, I think that it's been a really fun career to have. I honestly got into design and technology at a pretty young age, so I have been playing games my whole life.
What does it mean to build influence as a designer?
And around the age of 10, really weird to say, this must've been like 2000, oh no, 1999. Oh my God. I remember like, I learned, I taught myself how to essentially like make these dress up dolls because I was a huge fan of anime like Sailor Moon. And I just wanted to experiment with fashion. And I found out that, you know, if you essentially like program these dolls, you could like change their clothes and you could have your own original characters. And I was like, wow, technology is magical.
These are physical dolls?
It was digital. It was all like a digital drop the doll kind of thing. Yeah. So it was like a really good, wholesome period of time. And yeah, you know, me being like a 10 year old, I was like obsessed. You know, you could literally like illustrate as many clothes as you wanted to. And I just felt like that showed me the power of what technology could be. And so then fast forward a couple of years, I was in high school and I ended up taking like, I went to this high school that was focused on like the visual arts, performing arts, like different kinds of creativity. And I was an art student there. So I specifically was focused on mostly fine arts. But then there was this one class that was called I think it was computer graphics.
And then I learned, oh, graphic design's a thing.
How does invisible work affect a staff designer's impact?
Like, what's that? And so then I ended up diving really deep into that. But that was also around the same time that blogging was getting pretty big. And so I had always been learning about visual art and technology at the same time. So like I was learning the fundamentals of design, but also how to program. And so I was like, okay, cool. Like I like both of these things. I don't know how these are going to combine in the future. And then fast forward to college. Then I did actually go to school for graphic design, but then I noticed while I was there that a lot of the other students weren't like the greatest at understanding interaction design. So I was like, okay, I think I'm going to go for that. And then I was also doing volunteer work with some friends of mine to make art for their games, kind of like flexing that other kind of creative part of myself.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–1:12
2
How can staff designers grow their impact without becoming managers?
1:12–2:18
3
What does it mean to build influence as a designer?
2:18–3:43
4
How does invisible work affect a staff designer's impact?
3:43–4:48
5
Why is communication important for design leadership?
4:48–7:10
6
How can designers navigate workplace politics with integrity?
7:10–9:17
7
What strategies can designers use to manage their energy effectively?
9:17–12:15
8
How is AI transforming the role of designers in the industry?
12:15–44:09
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Insights Unlocked
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UX for AI: why building faster is no substitute for building the right thing