The Maker Manager

Why product design leaders should still be hands-on in the day-to-day work

I’ve been a designer for 15+ years and a hands-on manager for many of my recent roles. I’ve never given up the craft, despite at times taking an unpopular stance doing so. There was one company, more than a few years ago, that said “managers manage, and designers design”. I did try that on for 6 months and it felt strange. Why spend so many years of your life getting great at something only to let it go in order to sit in 8 hours of meetings a day?

Fast forward to 2025.

I’ve witnessed the “hands-off manager” as a role that’s getting more scarce, reserved for the few that are in charge of massive teams at the highest ranks of largest companies. Meanwhile, middle managers are getting cut left and right and design teams are now getting leaner and will soon be effectively superpowered by AI-assist tools. We’re already seeing some evidence of that uptick in design efficiency at some companies, though there’s at least 1-2 years until we’ll see the full fruits of this at scale.

Managers need to be in the weeds, understand the realities of what designing (and building) look like today, and be willing to roll up their sleeves. This is particularly true in scenarios where their expertise, altitude, and broader perspective than individual ICs give them a special responsibility to be makers as well as managers.

What does hands-on actually look like?

Here are ways I’ve stayed hands on:

Showing vs. telling to set a high bar

As a leader, I’ve worked with designers at every stage of their career, from strong super-senior ICs with a high personal bar for craft to the opposite side of the spectrum. In many cases I lead through example.

The worst kind of feedback you can give a designer is “I don’t like X”. Better feedback is “I don’t like X because Y”. Even better feedback is “This isn’t working because X, have you tried Y or Z?”

I take this up a notch by showing. “Have you tried something like this?” and sketching directly in Figma. You cut down on iteration cycles, show what you mean, and you’re being as visually clear as possible about what you’re imagining. As long as you keep the door open to designers being able to riff on your idea vs. just taking it as the truth, you’re not micromanaging but instead coaching.

Understanding the operations of modern design

Figma has been leading the way to bring design and engineering closer together. Design leaders that still have the model of “designers design, coders code” will be left behind.

Only looking at the outputs of design (mocks, prototypes) without understanding the underlying technologies that designers think about to ensure they’re designing responsibly for the way products are BUILT today are only seeing half the picture.

For example, design systems are as much an engineering solution as they are a design tool. Understanding the qualities of a good design system today (not just components, but layouts, tokens, motion standards) are a requirement to building a scalable design and engineering team that’s able to ship quickly with minimal design and tech debt accumulating.

Co-creation with non-designers

I co-create with cross-functional partners, all the way up to the C-suite. Visuals always produce more constructive conversations in my experience, and it’s a unique part of the designer’s toolbox that I would never fully delegate away.

For example, when I was at Walmart, I worked directly with SVPs on some highly strategic initiatives. I paired with one of the most senior leaders at the company and was able to sketch with him at a table, visualizing ideas together, and getting his creative juices flowing. It resulted in a major lightbulb moment on an entirely new opportunity for the company.

Being closer to building products

AI opens up a whole other way I’ve been hands on. In engineering, there’s an old saying that nothing is impossible. Instead, it’s “when do you need it and how can we staff it”. Designers no longer need to take “this engineering problem is hard or will take too long” at face value.

I have a strong coding background and AI has allowed me to be a better partner by also being a builder. If I have an idea for something, I can vibe code a proof of concept to show what’s possible. There have been cases when my own designer leader peers have said something is difficult or impossible, and I vibe coded something in 20 minutes that showed my teammates that the idea could still have legs and was worth a deeper look.

Starting your hands-on journey

So what if that’s not you? What if you’re a design leader that’s been hands off for 5 or 10 years?

First, no shame. I worked at only one company that said “as a manager, you do not design, you delegate.” It was so extreme that many managers were far too removed from the work, and in those cases, managers provide less value. Most companies I’ve worked at since expect leaders to know every detail of every decision down to the pixel of anything that comes out of their team, and to be able to present work as a designer.

Here are some things you can start to do today:

Learn. Tools themselves are the easy part. There are plenty of places online to learn how to use Figma and Rive. Cursor intimidating? Start with Lovable and Figma Make.

Observe. Be curious about your own teammates. Go into files, try to understand how they’re built and how designers work, instead of just focusing on deliverables.

Find a mentor. I mentor both designers and design leaders and am happy to help folks that are out of the maker-mindset to get back into making.

Make. Start to find opportunities like the ones I’ve described above and get hands on. If you’re doing this with your design team, don’t be shy about expressing your intentions. Say you’re curious to dig into the latest features of [tool x] - you can even ask for help. Nothing builds trust like a manager who’s not afraid to show humility. Ideally you’re teaching your team a ton too, so it’ll feel like an even trade.

Some example projects to consider:

• Leadership vision work

• Design aiming (sketchy concepts of directional work for teams)

• Presentations and internal storytelling

• Your own portfolio or external narrative as a leader

• Hackathon / low-risk work

If you love building as much as I do, this moment is one to celebrate. The future isn’t about choosing between being a maker or a manager. It’s about being both.