Theatre: Using Design Principles for a Better Developer Experience

TrailblazerDX (TDX) takes place on April 27–28, 2022, at Moscone Center West in San Francisco. Register for design sessions and connect with us at Camp Design!

Michele Tepper is passionate about using design thinking to bring cross-functional teams together to elevate and shape our work on the Salesforce platform. She’ll be presenting the session Using Design Principles for a Better Developer Experience during TDX, the annual Salesforce event for anyone developing or designing on the platform. Learn how to create experiences that build trust, usability and adoption. Register now!

Salesforce Design (SD): How did you get into design?

Michele Tepper (MT): I got into design through information architecture and metadata coding. From there, I learned more about the wider world of design, and have worked on everything from interactive museum exhibits to mobile apps.

SD: What do you wish more people appreciated about the value of design?

MT: Design is about the entire experience — not just the screens, but the command line interface (CLI), the application programming interface (API), and the way you handle an error message.

SD: In the simplest terms, what’s the focus of your TDX session?

MT: How Salesforce aligned our cross-functional team around design principles to shape better DX moving forward.

SD: What key points do you hope audiences will get from your TDX session and why is that important to you?

MT: Design is important in every phase of product development. It’s important because it leads to better outcomes and happier customers!

SD: How do you think this will help people do their work better or collaborate better?

MT: Having design principles to align around helps teams resolve prioritization conflicts and shape a user-centered roadmap. If we ask how each piece of our DX lives up to our principles, we can create better products more collaboratively.

SD: How has design helped you build relationships with customers, co-workers, or communities?

MT: Digital product design is a collaborative enterprise and being a designer has taught me to lead with empathy to build bridges to all my coworkers.

SD: What do you love about being a designer at Salesforce?

MT: I love making people’s lives easier with good design!

Eager to learn more about what Michele has in store for TrailblazerDX? Register today to attend on April 27–28, in San Francisco.

Salesforce Design is dedicated to elevating design and advocating for its power to create trusted relationships with users, customers, partners, and the community. We share knowledge and best practices that build social and business value. We call this next evolution of design Relationship Design. Join our Design Trailblazers community, become a certified UX designer, or work with us!