#WCW August with Kristin Ackerson
We are so happy to have Kristin Ackerson as our new guest of Women Crush Wednesday series!
Welcome, Kristin! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Thank you so much! I’m Kristin, and I’m a Staff Product Designer at Drift, where we build products that help businesses buy from businesses.
I’ve been designing since a young age, when my babysitter (👋 Becky!) first introduced me to the magical world of web design by helping me create my own (Pokemon-themed) website. Now that I think about it, I’m not quite sure if using a drag-and-drop website builder actually counts as web design, but let’s roll with it. 😉 Anyways, I spent a ton of time building my own websites growing up, and not a lot has changed since then!
Since joining Drift last February, I’ve been focused on helping our customers have more — and better quality — conversations with their site visitors; leading redesigns of our bot flow builder, conversation flow analytics, and advanced routing. Outside of work, I like traveling, doing all kinds of arts/crafts projects (right now I’m learning how to sew!) and taking spin & dance classes.
How did you get involved in the tech industry and specifically in Product Design?
In college, I was absolutely certain that working in advertising was my dream job. I mean, come on. I could get paid to brainstorm, produce ads for cool companies, and play around in Adobe Creative Suite all day? Nothing sounded better than that. So I landed my first job at a marketing agency in New Haven, CT and was happy as could be.
But everything changed when I went to a web design conference in New York City, and attended a talk about this thing called UX. It made me realize that as much as I loved flexing my creative muscle designing flashy client ads and websites, my design work had always felt very subjective; ultimately, it lacked customer input. UX design, as I’d learn, had everything to do with the user. I walked out of that talk feeling like I’ve never been so sure of anything in my life. And from that point forward, I did whatever it took to break into UX design.
How do you define UX in your current role as a product designer at Drift?
One of our leadership principles at Drift is to “Put the customer at the center of everything you do.” So while it’s expected of all UX/product designers to advocate for the customer, what makes Drift really special is that everyone in our company does it! And because I get to work with such customer-centric people, I find that my role is actually quite simple — to take in as much customer feedback as possible, find the root of the problem, come up with solutions, test, learn, and repeat!
What does your typical day look like?
On any given week, I’m typically working on one or two “big rock” projects at a time, along with smaller, more well-understood projects sprinkled in. “Big rocks” are the types of projects that require more research/discovery, iteration and testing.
In addition to design work, I take every chance I get to hop on calls with customers, and to meet with our customer-facing teams regularly to understand where we can improve. We also have this thing at Drift called chat duty, where every employee has a monthly one-hour shift to answer customer questions that come in through our support chat. It’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll learn something new about our product and customer needs each time!
What do you love the most about your job?
At Drift, we have a strong show your work culture, which means that everyone at the company is encouraged to share their progress on a daily basis. If I’m being honest, I was a little skeptical about it when I first joined. Showing my work regularly meant that I’d have to be okay with putting my unfinished work out into the world — and that can be a little scary, especially when you’re new and you want to prove yourself. But it didn’t take long to adapt, because I was able to see the value early on. I realize now that when everyone on your team is as equally as invested as you are in building the best product for your customers, the feedback you get from teammates is really thoughtful and useful. Showing our work frequently also helps our team ship, learn, and iterate really fast because we don’t have to wait around for a formal review process.
At the end of the day, the reason why I love what I do so much is because I have the opportunity to make a positive impact on our customer’s lives by simplifying concepts, reducing friction in their daily workflows, and helping them accomplish their goals. There’s really no better feeling than receiving positive customer feedback about something my team has built!
What were the difficulties you personally had to overcome while advancing your career?
Although I knew from the very first time I heard about UX that I wanted to focus on solving tough customer problems, it took me a few years to get my first UX job. I had multiple interviews where I was told that my passion for UX was obvious, but they were looking for someone with more experience. So I kept reading articles, going to meetups (like Ladies That UX!) and finding ways to bring user-centered thinking into my design work, even if it wasn’t expected of me at the time. And although it was emotionally draining to get rejected, it made me so much more appreciative of my first UX job. All you need is one person to believe in you and give you a chance.
What are the challenges that you are facing at the current point of your career?
I am at a point where I’m putting a lot of thought into whether I want to continue my career as an individual contributor, or if I want to take on a management role. There’s nothing that makes me happier than being in the zone — designing, talking to customers, and pushing myself creatively. But at the same time, I find it so incredibly gratifying to see my entire team succeed. I love the idea of giving back to the design community, in the same way that my amazing mentors did for me.
How do you overcome those challenges?
Sometimes, you just have to go for it and not overthink it! So, I’m going to start taking on some management responsibilities and see how it goes. If I try it and realize it’s not for me, that’s totally fine. Everyone has their strengths, you just have to be willing to be a little vulnerable to embrace them.
Where do you draw inspiration?
When tackling a complex design challenge, I try to forget everything I know about how it is (or will be) built and think about how I’d describe the feature to someone with fresh eyes. From there, I start sketching ideas — often taking inspiration from the physical world. As ridiculous as it may sound, I sometimes close my eyes and pretend I’m in the Container Store, with free reign to organize objects (aka settings, features, etc.) however I’d like. This exercise helps me form an opinion about visual hierarchy and spatial organization that I can then translate to a digital interface. Having this point of reference also helps design interactions that are both discoverable and natural because they’re based on real life.
Five things you cannot live without as a product designer?
My Wacom tablet, Sketch, Invision, a sketchpad or whiteboard, and an open mind.
Best advice you’ve ever gotten?
Growing up, my dad always told me to think big, because as I’d later learn, we tend to hold ourselves back the most. Often times, our aspirations are much more attainable than we may think; especially if it’s something we really want. Which reminds me of another wonderful piece of advice I’ve gotten — to think really hard about what makes you happy and get paid for it! You seriously can’t go wrong if you love what you do :)
Favorite brunch spot in the area?
Mike and Patty’s! If you’ve never been, I highly recommend The Fancy!
Thanks so much for sharing your story, Kristin!
Thank you so much!
