I’m a design leader who guides teams using systems thinking and a dash of humour

At work, I'm at my best enabling my teams and community, connecting stakeholders with diagrams and design decks, and resolving ambiguity

I'm based in Berlin (Germany) with my wife, daughters, and mutt, and I have a knack for watching sunrises, reading history and anthropology, riding boards, asking difficult questions, and making music and videos.

Toolbox

  • Mentoring
  • Talent development
  • Systems thinking
  • Stakeholder management
  • Conflict resolution
  • Priority assessment
  • Futures mapping
  • Diagramming
  • Journey mapping
  • Participatory design

Experience

  1. Product Design Manager Zalando, Berlin 2023 – Now
  2. Head of Product Design n8n, Berlin 2022 – 2023
  3. Product Design Manager Sr. Product Designer Zalando, Berlin 2021 – 2022

More on LinkedIn

Profile

Over the last 15 years I hopped between the roles of embedded product designer, project and design lead, and design manager.

Lately, I've been focusing on strategy, design leadership and culture, and resolving ambiguity across different teams and business units.

Are you a designer with a struggle you can’t quite get around?

Mentoring

Give me a shout if you wish to level up your stakeholder management game, use systems thinking to elevate your work, get more efficient at moderation, or simply share a challenge at work.

I offer 30 minute mentoring sessions for free on ADPList and already had the pleasure of helping other Product Designers develop confidence in key skills, land new or even first jobs, and experiment with new tools and methods at work.

Book a session

Selected writing

  1. 5 tips to master the fine art of stakeholder management and cultivate success Zalando product design community members share their honed stakeholder management approaches, from the interpersonal to the strategic.
  2. Five books that helped me become a better Product Designer A short reading list to cultivate crucial skills in demand
  3. Ways to add perspective in design Three design methods for a more comprehensive practice

See all articles

Life journeys and career trajectories are never really linear. At 18, I was studying abroad to become a medical student. These are a few bits and pieces of the journey that led me here.

Early beginning

The first sparks I can remember from the early 2000s were writing chat bots for IRC with Tcl scripting and designing little Flash clips and games. That's how I earned my first cash, too!

Background

I have an education in communication design and technology, which deepened my knowledge of front-end development and web design. That's what got me into UX in the first place.

Academia

I wrote my Master's thesis at IT University of Copenhagen about pre-perception in decision-making, which explored data visualisation as a way to leverage awareness and make decisions really, really fast.

CBS

While in Copenhagen, I ran a course on communication strategy and planning for the Interkulturel Markedskommunikation MA degree at the Copenhagen Business School (CBS).

Design systems

During my journey in DesignOps, I helped establish the first design system at Contentful, and co-created and hosted Design Systems Berlin for a while, too.

Strengths

Key strengths such as Restorative, Context, Intellection, Positivity, and Learner are my Gallup's CliftonStrengths score that has been consistent across my career.

Latest training

Human-Centered Systems Thinking from IDEO U, and Leading People and Teams,from the Michigan University.