#WCW March with Christine Pizzo
We are very honored to host Christine Pizzo as part of our Women Crush Wednesday series. Christine is the Global Head of Experience Design at Intrepid Pursuits where she leads the team of 48+ designers.
Welcome Christine! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Hmmm, I’m going to take this and change it to: What could possibly be interesting to other people: I am dichotomous at heart, while not overly astrological or believe in our signs, I am a Libra and one of balance… for every interesting thing on one side, I have one on the opposite. For example, I read voraciously — 93 books last year — mainly paranormal romance. At the same time, I ride motorcycles and started a community here in Boston call @babesbikesbeards, hosting bi-monthly bike nights with up to 275 riders rolling in!! I have a yeti for a dog — Sherlock — that absolutely loves the snow, or when his mom stays home to work on puzzles for hours until they’re complete. Traveling, usually on my bike, is the way I breathe and reset; I refuse to watch the world from a TV and want to see it for myself. In a three months span alone I rode a motorcycle in Joshua Tree, CA, a dog sled and snowmobile in Quebec, went 4-wheeling in Costa Rica and rode Icelandic Horses over lava fields with the sun rising while having the flu — — what kind of sentence is that? But that’s me, spontaneous and always hungering for the new. It comes from being an Army ‘Brat’ of a Drill Sergeant and moving constantly while I was little. I gratefully found the ability to thrive and harness change and it’s what led me to a consulting and client focused career; I’m always on the hunt for something different to solve and alter my perspective.
How did you get involved in the tech industry and specifically in UX design?
Most likely similar to everyone else, I fell into it. Especially when it comes to mobile design, apps didn’t exist when I was in college to study, I never knew this was an area to excel and it’s still hard to find quality training for — it’s why we run an Apprentice Program. I started out in Social Media, working as the community manager, playing multiple personas for companies such as The State Fair of VA, Verizon Fios Home on Twitter or Capital One of FB. I found an untapped passion for digital and understanding human interaction with technology. Wanting to ideate within this space, campaigns, digital products, etc., I went to the VCU Brandcenter as it was in my backyard of Richmond VA and the current Director of Experience Design was at the time our Head of Strategy at that same social media firm. After grad school I wandered into the realm of advertising, but specifically for the promise of Northstars -read ‘Pitch, Digital New Business Pitches, Ideation Sprints, Google Design Sprints’- basically a 2–3 week highly intensive blank slate to prototype pitch all for digital products. This led me to mobile and Intrepid, where now my niche is uncovering the truth of a brand/product and building that essence into an empathetically driven, user-centric experience.
What does your typical day / week look like?
Meetings are life. You think you have 4 hours to get visioning work or hiring plans done and it’s a constant “Hey, do you have five minutes?” conversations, to where only 15 minutes are left. But that’s where the magic happens too. Intrepid’s value are our people, and taking the time to talk to each of them through resourcing discussions or project escalations is the most valuable use of my time and what I believe really makes this company a great place to grow and work.
A lot of our members are mid-level Product and UX designers. What advice would you give to those that are interested in getting promoted to Sr. level?
The immediate defining characteristics of a Senior are Leadership, Confidence (in decisions, client situations, presence) and Skillset Expertise. Leadership is not just defined by being a manager, or project lead, but also being a resource that the team goes to for advice, for mentorship. Seek or create leadership opportunities with your career counselor outside of your project, or assist with departmental based initiatives as a ‘plus one’ to build your case and gain more experience. Confidence is challenging as it’s a personal journey that takes time and a lot of self-awareness. Going to networking events or putting yourself in situations outside your comfort zone can help you grow and gain that confidence. Skillset expertise is a given. It’s assumed you are close to a master at what you do and can therefore check on the quality of more junior designer’s work, watch over projects from a process perspective or interface with the client. As a senior, your value is so much more than the designs you produce, it’s the soft skills you need to target growth within.
Were there any obstacles you personally had to overcome while advancing your career?
My biggest break was also my hardest moment. I was promoted far ahead of my personal time trajectory for a Director role, but now I was managing my peers and others who were in many ways more experienced. Learning to handle tough situations and help people through difficult moments just based on conversations was a large learning curve; one that is still not always easy.
Then on top of the new role, about eight months into it, when I felt I started to pick my head up and at least understand, if not yet feel successful in what I was supposed to be doing… we got acquired. I’ve never worked at a company through an acquisition and now had to lead 26 people safely through it, it was a tad terrifying. It wasn’t until about 12 months later when I realized we still had 0% attrition that I finally stopped holding my breath. In the end, I enjoy the challenges tossed my way and have felt rapid personal growth through them; that said a bit more pace in-between would be nice, haha.
What makes a successful design team?
The top reasons I believe designers value working at Intrepid are autonomy and trust. We are not set up like a typical Creative Director hierarchy where all designs are run by me. First off with 48+ designers, that’s practically impossible, but also I fully trust their immense talent to produce high quality work — at a bar that’s often higher than mine haha. Our team is so technically skilled, even those a year out of our Apprentice Program are not only pitching their own designs to clients, but often things go out the door and I’ve never seen them, I don’t need to. That said, each project has a ‘Lead’ identified, that is a responsibility, not a role and can be played by designers at all levels given they fit the project needs. We have a heavy dose of collaboration, from team based projects, to weekly Experience Design Time, design buddies and hysterically but strategically all of Intrepid reorganizes your desk location every three months to sit near your project and developers for better collaboration. I have had 11 desks in the three years since working at Intrepid. Creative rejuvenation is also key, you have to keep the team fed and inspired. We bring in external thought leaders such as InVision for Design Challenges and have even begun hosting our own Design Meet-up: Practice Makes, with speakers from all creative industries in Boston. There are so many more things to talk about such as plus one opportunities and our Career Counseling model, but I will stop here as these are the critical necessities for cultivating a strong team.
What skills and qualities do you look for in the designers you are looking to hire?
Above everything we thrive on change at Intrepid. Whether it’s new tools or training or a new technology, we can’t stagnate. This requires a deep willingness to learn, enthusiasm in their discipline and a drive to improve technical skills. Lastly as we are a client based business, designers need consulting and presentation skills as we have to “sell” our design to clients and work through feature improvements and iterations to make not only the designs, but the product high quality that users will want.
What’s the biggest trend you think UX designers should pay attention to in 2019?
That’s easy, Connected Device Experiences. Every physical product now has a digital component — my toothbrush even! About 60%+ projects at Intrepid are connected interfaces, from headphones, to smart home devices, diabetes devices, digital inhalers, pool equipment and even municipal water meters! We see the gamut and are running into apps and websites that are more than just a solo digital task or environment. Personally I find the interplay between technology and humanity and inanimate products fascinating. Finding ways to bridge the gap not only seamlessly, but to where it is a value add and assistance comparative to an additional layer of tech hindrance. Where designers need to get savvy is understanding how to break down products so that interactions can happen and not having technical hindrances or constraints.
What do you love the most about your job?
The people. It sounds cliche, but it’s just true. I’m privileged to work around the most talented team of designers I’ve ever met. We have mid-levels and juniors leading projects solo for Fortune 100 clients, with phenomenal client feedback, it’s awe-inspiring. And more than anything else, this role and dealing with the team members has made me a better person. A better communicator, ability to think more objectively and from others’ perspectives and consider and gather data vs. reacting. I will never be more grateful than the changes in myself that have come from learning to lead this team.
What keeps you up at night?
Same answer, the people. Whether it’s true or not, the decisions you make feel as if they are tied directly to affecting people’s lives. Their career trajectory, their growth opportunities or obstacles. And being ok with the decisions you have made, sometimes with not always enough information, is something you really have to learn to accept and trust you did the right thing in the moment.
Being in your position, with a large team to lead and multiple responsibilities, do you have a trick that helps you manage your work/life balance?
Simply in two answers: Be strict about what matters and build a support team. Everyone at work generally knows I don’t bend too much on my personal life, mainly because when I am on a motorcycle, I am unavailable, as well as taking my traveling and PTO seriously. That said, at Intrepid we have a decent set up here, it’s a ghost town at 5:15pm; the entire company works hard at balance. It’s very rare to have people more than 100% allocated (not within leadership of course) and that protection threads to the rest. Inevitably as a leader though, it’s like a rollercoaster, you can’t always see the next turn coming. But you chose to hop on the ride, meaning I chose to take on this role knowing it will occasionally impact my life, and I’m ok with that. Usually it comes in ebbs and flows, such as bonus and raise time of the year, I know it’s late dinners with my trusty friend Excel, because this drastically affects people’s lives and so spending more of my time matters. On point two I heavily utilize team members and delegation tactics as much as possible, providing leadership opportunities, but also freeing up my time to focus on where I can really add value. People are hungry to help, I have learned to get comfortable with updates and check-ins, not needing to be hands on all the time.
How did you hear about Ladies that UX?
Quite a few coworkers gave me a head ups and after attending I have found it very valuable and such a needed resource for the Boston networking community.
What brought you to Boston and what do you love about Boston?
In grad school we had a plethora of opportunities and connections, so you had to be clear about where you wanted to end up. After moving around the US and living in NYC, I knew I wanted a mid-size city with enough career opportunities to move my career, but not pack up my life. We visited Boston and toured agencies, and I fell in love in February when it was 14 degrees and well… if you love Boston when it’s that cold, it’s only more amazing; so here I am and I absolutely love this town.
Favorite brunch spot in the area?
Oh! This is actually a hard one. Here’s my top few: Ward 8, I’ve taken almost everyone who visits there. But now that I live in Charlestown, I’m partial to The Monument and Brewer’s Fork. If I could pick dinner: Lolita’s hands-down!!
Thank you so much for telling your story and giving words of wisdom, Christine!
