I spent 14 months at LittleLives (an early childhood school management platform) alongside a team of 3 senior designers on a product called Super-Version. It’s a revamped version of our existing products.
My main focus was updating designs based on requests from PMs and BAs. I didn’t make as much progress in UX as I had hoped. Instead, I faced and learned from challenges like communication gaps, dips in motivation, and a sense of disconnection from purpose. In the final 3 months, I began to shift my perspective. My ability to adapt helped me navigate these struggles and find my own rhythm again. During this time, I also started to develop a broader vision for design leadership and the kind of impact I want to make through my work.
This case study isn’t about pointing fingers – challenges like the ones I faced at LittleLives can happen in any team, especially in today’s fast-changing environment. My goal is simply to share my experience, so future teammates can better understand how I approach and navigate challenges within an organization. I also hope it offers encouragement to other designers by showing one possible path through similar situations.
Before sharing my reflections, a quick intro: I’m an introverted designer. I was quiet at the office but joined discussions and shared solutions when needed. I focused best early in the day, and after 5pm, I preferred minimal interaction as my energy dipped. I stayed within my scope, respecting others’ roles—so people often saw me as someone who didn’t talk much.
Throughout my time at the company, shifts in structure, team changes, and evolving dynamics created a fast-paced and sometimes intense 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.
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 also 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. 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. This 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.
❖ Changes in the company and team dynamics, like communication issues and a family-like work culture, sometimes made it harder to collaborate. One thing I noticed was that favoritism. I think it could affect team morale, and I think it’s something worth talking about.
→ 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 he didn’t take a more active leadership role, which led each senior designer to work more independently. As a result, the team lacked connection, and we found ourselves working more solo than as a collaborative 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, I identified the skills and knowledge I needed to reach my goals. The AI provided a structured action list, but I wasn’t sure where to begin. It felt more like a reference guide. What I really needed were practical insights and guidance on which skills to focus on.
So, I decided to attend offline 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 assess my situation and understand the team’s needs. I also reached out to former colleagues who might have faced similar challenges to determine whether these were cultural issues or simply misunderstandings. After some reflection, I realized it was time to explore a better fit.
Instead immediately resigning, I shared one key challenge I was facing (communication issues) with the managers. I did this because I truly believed in the product and its potential, hoping there might still be an opportunity to contribute. Unfortunately, they chose not to pursue the conversation further.
As I prepared to resign, there was a lot to manage. I needed to wrap up design tasks, deal with the emotions of feeling unheard by my managers, handle administrative work, and plan my next career move. It was a critical time for me to stay focused and maintain a healthy mindset. I also wanted to ensure I didn’t lose trust in my ability to do good work. My goal was to walk 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 the negative thoughts I was struggling with. With his support, I was able to stay on track, wrap up my tasks professionally, and approach 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. It helps me stay aligned with my long-term goals. It also helps me make decisions and ensures that every project I work on supports the bigger vision I’m striving toward.
⭐️⭐️⭐️ 👉 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 a great tool. You’ve helped me with research, organizing my thoughts, and creating the perfect images for this case study. ♥️
