Joanna Peña-Bickley: Amazon Alexa's design leader on collaboration and diverse teams
03/09/20 • 64 min
Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/joanna-pena-bickley
Joanna Peña-Bickley has had an amazing arc to her design leadership career: from Chief Creative Officer at Matter Worldwide and IBM, to her current role as Head of Research and Design for Alexa Devices at Amazon, Joanna has always sought to design things that are “useful, usable, and magical.”
In this interview, we talk with Joanna about working cross functionally with both software and hardware teams, and what she’s learned about building a more connected workflow. We also get Joanna’s take on speaking design in the language of business, and how she works to bring more diversity into leadership at the companies where she's worked.
Takeaways:
- How Joanna approaches building high-functioning teams.
- What the opportunities and challenges are when designing for invisible interfaces.
- How to create partnerships that will make your team successful.
Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/joanna-pena-bickley
Joanna Peña-Bickley has had an amazing arc to her design leadership career: from Chief Creative Officer at Matter Worldwide and IBM, to her current role as Head of Research and Design for Alexa Devices at Amazon, Joanna has always sought to design things that are “useful, usable, and magical.”
In this interview, we talk with Joanna about working cross functionally with both software and hardware teams, and what she’s learned about building a more connected workflow. We also get Joanna’s take on speaking design in the language of business, and how she works to bring more diversity into leadership at the companies where she's worked.
Takeaways:
- How Joanna approaches building high-functioning teams.
- What the opportunities and challenges are when designing for invisible interfaces.
- How to create partnerships that will make your team successful.
Previous Episode
Natalya Shelburne: How designers and developers work together at The New York Times
Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/natalya-shelburne
Natalya Shelburne, Tech Lead for Design Engineering at The New York Times, sits at a fascinating crossroad of design and development. She leads a team of front-end developers and brings her own experience as a designer and art director to her current role.
We chat with Natalya about her move from design to front-end dev, and some of the fears she faced along the way. We also talk about her approach to bridging design and dev, and what she brings from her prior career as a teacher into product design.
Takeaways:
- Ways to approach the unnecessary dichotomy between designers and engineers
- Why respect is key to developing good cross-functional partnerships
- How to overcome fear of moving into a technical role as a designer
Next Episode
Jehad Affoneh: VMWare’s head of design on being a business leader, not a design leader
Show notes: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/jehad-affoneh
In this episode, we speak with VMWare’s Head of Design Jehad Affoneh about how he measures the business impact of design, and aligns design goals with engineering goals. We learn why he thinks it’s important to lead with context, and how he goes about ensuring that the diverse voices on his team are heard.
You’ll hear:
- How OKRs can align goals across design and engineering
- Lessons from running an internal conference for designers and executives
- Tactics for ensuring diverse voices on your team are heard
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