Leadership
Design leadership: Keeping a team moving through a dual manager absence
Both managers were away for seven weeks during a launch window. The team needed someone to keep things steady.
Context
Both the UX manager and their manager were absent for seven weeks during a product launch window. The team was stretched, product and engineering needed a clear point of contact, and there was no formal handover. Work was at risk of drifting or stalling quietly.
Challenge
The gap was not just managerial. It was structural. Without a single point of contact, prioritisation was unclear, cross-functional communication was slowing, and newer team members had less support than they needed during a high-pressure period.
Approach
The head of UX asked me to cover before their absence began. I picked up daily check-ins, 1-2-1 support, and clearer scheduling to keep work moving. Tasks were matched to strengths and availability, I joined more cross-functional sessions to maintain visibility with product and engineering, and helped onboard a new starter. The experience also surfaced structural gaps in how the team worked — that thinking became the basis for a later proposal on ways of working. Not everything landed perfectly. Some weeks were about keeping things from falling rather than pushing them forward.
Outcome
The team stayed on track through the launch window. Leadership noted the stability, and colleagues highlighted that I kept the pressure from reaching the team. The structural gaps I observed during this period shaped a proposal I later put together for how the team could work differently.
Reflection
I didn't ask for this role. But it taught me things I couldn't have learned any other way — what it feels like to carry a team's visibility, to balance allocation pressures, to make people feel valued when things are uncertain. That was personal growth I've carried forward.