Whether you need help leading a couple of designers, or you are trying to grow a whole product team, I'd love to pitch in.
During the time I spent working closely with Matt at Flatiron, I found myself producing some of the best work of my career. If you ask me, I'd tell you that Matt represents the gold standard of managers - not only can he execute to a high degree, but he understands effective collaboration better than anyone I've ever worked with, and he understands how to genuinely inspire his colleagues to find the best possible outcomes within the given constraints.
When Matt interviewed me back at Zaarly, I knew I made a friend – regardless of the outcome. After working with him for 3 months, I realized this guy is ride or die. His desire for me to succeed was palpable and if the going got bumpy, Matt dug in and with his special brand of punchy optimism he got us passed the rocks.
Back at Level 10, Matt consistently established a strong rapport with his colleagues and balanced the many demands of running the production room. In addition to being outgoing and easy to work with, he is a very talented designer and writer.
But he would never admit it. He constantly strives to better himself and everyone around him in a way that is selfless beyond my comprehension.
Working with a designer who understands how software works as well as how it gets built was game-changing for me. Matt creates a short-hand between designers and engineers that makes working together easy.
When I was at Geniant / EMC and we brought Matt on board he turned out to be one of those rare finds who truly understands the intangible, fundamental components of what makes a solid user experience. Plus, beyond just pure visuals, he is not afraid to delve into code and hammer out solutions.
He's a great designer who understands business concepts and is able to articulate them visually. Incidentally, he's also a great writer for the Web, which is a rare creative combination.
I love it when Matt critiques design work because he is a designer. He understands why designs work and why they don't and can talk about it plainly. That is so rare.
Our product team needed to lift morale and re-think our approach. Matt rallied a team of 12 engineers around an unfamiliar process – and they loved it. The quality of our work went up and we got much better at hitting deadlines.
Design is a key differentiator in our space. We needed to quickly start a design team to support our growing product and engineering teams. Matt jumped in, shared his expertise, and supported us in coming up with and executing our strategy to grow our design team.
He's a designer with the brain of a product manager and the curiosity of an engineer. The kind of curiosity that asks if there is a simpler way and isn't scared to try.
On the one hand, I've never met a designer who digs in and works with engineers like Matt does. On the other hand, he is also extremely effective in front of a boardroom. You'll want to sprinkle his insight into everything you're doing.
