I spent 14 months at LittleLives (an early childhood school management platform) alongside a team of 3 senior designers and a design lead on a product called Super-Version. My main task was to update designs based on the requests from PMs and BAs. I didn’t make much progress in UX during my time here (which was the main focus of my work). Instead I faced emotional challenges like poor communication, loss of motivation, and a lack of purpose in my design work. However, in the last 3 months of my time there, my natural ability to adapt helped me overcome these struggles and bounce back in my-own-way, which one of my mentors later described this coping mechanism as ‘resilience’.
This case study is not about criticizing my teams at LittleLives. I believe these kinds of issues can happen anywhere, especially in the current economic climate, where uncertainty and shifting priorities are common. I just want to share my story so my future teammates can better understand me and how I overcome challenges like this within an organization. I also hope to show other designers that there are ways to overcome these challenges, and my approach is just one option.
Before diving into my reflections, let me introduce myself as an introverted designer. I was quiet in the office but participated in discussions and shared solutions when needed. I was most focused early in the day. After 5pm, I preferred to avoid physical communication since my energy would dip. I stuck to my scope of work, focusing on my tasks and being respectful of others’ responsibilities. Because of these, people often saw me as someone who didn’t speak much at all…
During my time at the company, changes in the organizational structure, internal politics, and people leaving created a high tense environment. I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my struggles with other colleagues to avoid adding to the tension, but handling my stress and emotions became my top priority since it was affecting my daily routine.
So, I reached out to an AI called ‘Therapist/Psychologist-Fictional’, one of the AIs in ChatGPT. After sharing my thoughts and chatting with Robin (the AI coach), I developed my way to manage overthinking, shift my mind to a more positive outlook, and adapt to changes while staying true to my self-worth.
This is the mental health checklist I created for myself after a few days of chatting with Robin. (Please mind the language; I was just pulling my thoughts down). I revisited this checklist whenever I felt disappointed or stressed.
Once I got a handle on my emotions, I started paying more attention to how people were interacting during times of poor collaboration or tension in the team. By listening carefully, observing, and connecting the dots, I could see the bigger picture and better understand what was going on.
I started to recognize areas where I didn’t handle things well and took time to reflect on how I could improve moving forward. However, I want to highlight the top 4 issues that were bothering me and were beyond my control, as they fell outside my role as a senior designer. These issues made me feel like, no matter how much I worked on improving myself in this team, things wouldn’t change much.
These 4 issues did shift my view on creating impactful designs. I realized that I needed to level-up so I could take on these challenges and act at a higher level, instead of always relying on the managers. Otherwise, I’d just be doing craft work without making a bigger impact.
❖ Our CEO shared his ambitious vision for the product, highlighting its potential impact on our users. However, our team prioritized quickly adding features to sell and secure contracts.
→ I often struggled with whether I should ignore the user and just focus on delivering the requested tasks. My time-spent on thoughtful design was seen as unnecessary, which left me feeling confused and without much opportunity to contribute as a UX designer.
❖ Our product started as an MVP with less focus on user experience. As we added more features along the way, things got unclear since there were no clear version distinctions or goals.
→ It became difficult for me to know when to prioritize speed over thoughtful UX design. It also became challenging to decide which design solution worked best, since we had no metrics to lean on for guidance.
❖ Organizational changes, along with issues like internal politics, poor communication, and a family-style work culture that led to favoritism, made collaboration more challenging. Here, I’d like to specifically highlight the negative impact of favoritism.
→ Favoritism made me feel like some people’s ideas and contributions were valued more than others. This created frustration and made it tough for me to trust the process. I wasn’t sure if my input would be taken seriously.
❖ Our design lead was thoughtful and supportive, but didn’t step into a strong leadership role, which led each senior designer to work more independently. This lack of leadership caused a disconnect in the team, and we ended up working alone instead of collaborating as one group.
→ As the product grew more complex, I started to feel that not collaborating meant we were missing out on each other’s strengths and ideas. Our design solution couldn’t reach its full potential.
Once I figured out what I could, couldn’t, and wanted to do as a designer within an organization, I did some quick research using ChatGPT to identify the skills and knowledge I needed to reach my goals. The AI gave me a broad, structured action list, but I wasn’t sure where to start. It felt more like a reference guide to me. What I needed were practical insights and guidance to help me decide which skills to focus on.
So, I decided to attend conferences and workshops to gain inspiration and learn how others approach design. One of the most impactful experiences was the UXVN Conference 2024, where I shaped my design vision. Another important moment was at the UX/Product Designer – Midlevel rồi sao nữa? workshop, which helped me clarify what I truly wanted to design.
These experiences opened my eyes to the many possibilities I could explore to create impactful designs. They brought me a step closer to my belief in design: “making a difference in people’s lives” ♥️
Once I had everything laid out, it was time to take action. I used my mental health checklist to evaluate where I stood and what the team needed. I also reached out to departed-colleagues who I felt might be facing similar issues to clarify whether these were cultural challenges or just misunderstandings. After reflecting on it, I decided it was time to find a better fit.
Instead of just submitting my resignation, I brought up ONE critical challenge I faced (it was about communication issues) to the managers. I did this because I truly believed in the product and its value. I was hoping there might still be a chance to keep me contribute. Unfortunately, they decided not to discuss it further.
As I prepared to resign, I had a lot to manage – wrapping up design tasks, dealing with the emotions of having my struggles ignored by the managers, handling administrative work, and planning my next career move. I felt it was a critical time for me to stay focused, maintain a healthy mindset, and ensure I didn’t lose trust in my ability to do good work. I wanted to make sure I walked away with my head held high.
I couldn’t do it all on my own tho, I reached out to my friend, Mai Tung, for help with the administrative side and my negative thoughts I was going through. With his support, I was able to stay on track, wrap up my tasks professionally, and focus on planning my next career step with confidence.
For the first time in my career… I’ve created a Design Roadmap for myself. It’s a 5-year plan that I’m starting to put into practice from now. It’s like my guiding framework – helping me stay aligned with my long-term goals, make decisions, and ensure every project I work on supports the bigger vision I’m striving towards.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👉 Check it out! 👈 ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Big thanks to the AIs, and the amazing teams behind them!
Along with my real-life friends and network, you’ve been an great tool in helping me with research, forming my thoughts, and creating the perfect images for this case study. ♥️
