Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster
Design Better30 Maj 2025

Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster

This is a preview of a premium episode. Visit our Substack to get access to the full episode: https://designbetterpodcast.com/p/cassie-mcdaniel Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s head of design, is someone with a clear vision for how a design team should work. She believes team members should have a breadth of skills, craft should be the foundation of product design, and experimentation is important in both work and workflow. To that end, Cassie and the leadership team at Medium recently made what some might see as a controversial decision: They eliminated product management. The result? They are moving faster than ever. We chat with Cassie about what led to this decision—and why it might not work for all teams, how she thinks about balancing Medium’s legacy of thoughtful design while moving the product forward, and how writing can help you advance your design career. Bio Cassie McDaniel brings nearly 20 years of design leadership across agencies, her own studio, nonprofits, and high-growth startups. Currently the Head of Design at Medium, in her previous role as Product Design Director at Lattice, she led Insights & Analytics and Engagement, partnering with cross-functional teams to deliver humane, impactful digital experiences that drive business results. Cassie excels at building and mentoring teams, championing customer-centric culture, and solving complex problems at scale. She combines curiosity, empathy, and kindness with a relentless focus on execution—especially on mission-driven initiatives in creativity, environmental advocacy, and ethical product design. *** This is a premium episode on Design Better. We release two premium episodes per month, along with two free episodes for everyone. Premium subscribers also get access to the documentary Design Disruptors and our growing library of books, as well as our monthly AMAs with former guests, ad-free episodes, discounts and early access to workshops, and our monthly newsletter The Brief that compiles salient insights, quotes, readings, and creative processes uncovered in the show. Upgrade to paid *** Visiting the links below is one of the best ways to support our show: Masterclass: MasterClass is the only streaming platform where you can learn and grow with over 200+ of the world's best. People like Steph Curry, Paul Krugman, Malcolm Gladwell, Dianne Von Furstenberg, Margaret Atwood, Lavar Burton and so many more inspiring thinkers share their wisdom in a format that is easy to follow and can be streamed anywhere on a smartphone, computer, smart TV, or even in audio mode. MasterClass always has great offers during the holidays, sometimes up to as much as 50% off. Head over to http://masterclass.com/designbetter for the current offer. Aquatru: We’d like to think our tap water is clean and healthy, but for so many there are impurities and chemicals that can be detrimental to our health. We’re big fans of AquaTru, makers of reverse osmosis filtration systems for your countertop or under sink. Get 20% OFF any AquaTru purifier at AquaTru.com with discount code DESIGNBETTER. If you're interested in sponsoring the show, please contact us at: sponsors@thecuriositydepartment.com If you'd like to submit a guest idea, please contact us at: contact@thecuriositydepartment.com BioPremium Episodes on Design Better Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(253)

Ian Bogost: Game designer, Atlantic writer, and philosopher of the ordinary, on the small stuff that makes life delightful

Ian Bogost: Game designer, Atlantic writer, and philosopher of the ordinary, on the small stuff that makes life delightful

A few years ago, Ian Bogost wrote what he thought was a throwaway Atlantic piece about how electric vehicles would finally kill the manual transmission. It went off like a bomb — and the reaction told...

15 Juli 47min

Chris Entwisle and Mark Havens: authors of WAIL on the constraints that led to timeless designs for Prestige Records

Chris Entwisle and Mark Havens: authors of WAIL on the constraints that led to timeless designs for Prestige Records

Years ago, two friends in Philadelphia — both designers, both obsessed with jazz — kept noticing the same notation on the back of their favorite records: “recorded by Van Gelder in Hackensack.” So one...

1 Juli 24min

Niyati Gupta: Netflix Product Design Lead on what happens when a designer becomes a product manager, and why your influence might not be in your title

Niyati Gupta: Netflix Product Design Lead on what happens when a designer becomes a product manager, and why your influence might not be in your title

Niyati Gupta describes her career as one long experiment — deliberately putting herself in uncomfortable, ambiguous situations and treating every move as a personal learning loop. That instinct took h...

25 Juni 44min

Mike Schnaidt: Fast Company Creative Director on typography, creative endurance, and designing for the long haul

Mike Schnaidt: Fast Company Creative Director on typography, creative endurance, and designing for the long haul

Typography is often treated as a detail — the thing you finalize after the real design decisions are made. But for our next guest, it’s closer to the foundation everything else rests on. He’s spent tw...

17 Juni 23min

Bonus Episode: Dorrian Porter returns with the Vestaboard Note

Bonus Episode: Dorrian Porter returns with the Vestaboard Note

There’s something magical about the Vestaboard: it’s a physical, split-flap display connected to the internet that displays missives and useful information with a charm that we love. The Vestaboard in...

11 Juni 39min

Tina Roth Eisenberg: Creative Mornings founder on building communities that run on trust

Tina Roth Eisenberg: Creative Mornings founder on building communities that run on trust

When Tina Roth Eisenberg moved to New York in 1999 as a new designer, she kept asking herself the same question: where are my people? Eighteen years ago, she answered it by starting Creative Mornings—...

10 Juni 37min

Paul Ford: Writer, developer & "fun Cassandra" on why everything is changing (but not how you think)

Paul Ford: Writer, developer & "fun Cassandra" on why everything is changing (but not how you think)

Paul Ford likes to call himself a “fun Cassandra” — someone who, like the priestess in Greek mythology, sees trouble coming, but unlike her tries to make the warning as entertaining as possible. He’s ...

3 Juni 26min

Jessie McGuire: National Design Award-winning studio leader on design as a civic tool

Jessie McGuire: National Design Award-winning studio leader on design as a civic tool

As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, the Constitution remains the most consequential document in American life — and more people are reading it than ever. But pick up almost any comm...

27 Maj 41min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

badfluence
framgangspodden
varvet
dynastin
uppgang-och-fall
rss-borsens-finest
avanzapodden
svd-tech-brief
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
bathina-en-podcast
fill-or-kill
tabberaset
rikatillsammans-om-privatekonomi-rikedom-i-livet
borslunch-2
rss-veckans-trade
rss-dagen-med-di
rss-hos-psykologen
rss-borslunch
rss-dominoeffekten
rss-dr-bjorklund