UX MANAGER, Google Cloud

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Google Compute Engine Achievements

360° Feedback

Leadership

“The reorg was a tough period for Deidre and her team. A major reorg split the Cloud DevOps UX design organization into two parts, and Deidre and her team were given the option to either stay in Cloud or move to the new Core Systems product organization. She opted to stay in Cloud, and with her, her entire team came to the same decision. She enthusiastically took on the UX leadership of one of Google Cloud Platform’s flagship products, Compute Engine. I have been extremely impressed with Deidre’s leadership tat she demonstrated during this difficult time. She effectively maneuvered her team through the rough waters and reached a great outcome.” -Deidre’s Skip-level Manager, DevOps UX (2018-2019)

“Deidre has done an excellent job on-boarding her UX team to Google Compute Engine. She has tirelessly worked to ensure that they have the right resources and direction to land on their feet in GCE - e.g. organizing on-boarding bootcamps, driving the right intake processes. As a result, we are well-positioned to continue delivering on excellent user experiences for Compute Engine - a critical area to get right given that by nearly any measure, it is the most used product on the Google Cloud Platform (55% of GCP revenue, 250K active users - the most of any Google Cloud Platform product). Sr. Product Manager, Compute Engine

“Google Compute Engine has a massive and highly-trafficked surface area - the Compute Engine section of cloud.google.com is the most visited out of any product on the platform and it has the most sections to boot. Given that reality it is highly impressive that Deidre was able to coordinate and orchestrate the hand-off as smoothly as she did.” - Product Manager, Compute Engine

“Deidre was very organized and results-oriented in on-boarding her team to the Google Compute domain. She handled the transition of work from the former team to our team with finesse and diplomacy. In our discussions, when we reviewed her plans, she was thoughtful and open for feedback. Deidre did a great job operating given the constraints of time and the newness of the domain to her team. Given the larger context for how the transition was handled (the existing UX team who Deidre’s team would replace did not have new project assignments for a while which led to a lot of anxiety and low morale) Deidre handled the transition with sensitivity. Because of her leadership, we have not dropped any work or missed any timelines for delivery due to the transition. This is a very commendable achievement, given the work was transitioned to Deidre’s team from a team located in a different time zone (Warsaw, Poland) ” Deidre’s Direct Manager, Compute Engine UX (2018-2020)

“Deidre was an amazing partner during the Compute Engine UX transition which was an organizationally and logistically complex project dur to the high-complexity of the domain (one of the most complex areas within Cloud computing), organizational challenges (her team had to ramp up alongside a newly-formed front-end engineering team), and logistics (my outgoing Compute-UX team was based in Warsaw, Poland 9 hours away). Deidre did an amazing job which ensured a smooth transition and helped us avoid dropping the ball. This allowed both our teams (outgoing and incoming) to act as one team. Additionally she was mindful of the careers of the people on my team and was flexible in negotiating hand-off items of the particular projects.”. Previous/Outgoing UX Manager, Google Compute Engine UX

“I've gotta give a Kudos to Deidre her for incredible leadership and management style she navigated our team through times of ambiguity, while quickly and smoothly ramping up multiple new team members from Noogler to Googler. Her inter-personal skills created a innovate environment with clear direction and a tight knit team which made doing my best work easy.” -Direct Report, DevOps UX

“Deidre, thank you for all the time and energy you’ve invested in me as a person and as a designer! I truly appreciate and have grown tremendously during my time on your team, and much of that is thanks to the complex and exciting design challenges you trusted me with. I wish you all the best in the upcoming year, and am excited to see all of the awesome design work the team creates!” -Direct Report, DevOps UX

“Deidre has done a great job ramping up and taking charge of her team. She’s working through several difficult challenges like building a brand new horizontal team within a very technical space. Additionally, she has navigated a politically sensitive area really well and worked to get the desired outcomes for the DevOps org.” -Deidre’s Direct Manager, DevOps UX (2018-2019)

Teamwork & Developing People

“As a UX Team for Google Compute Engine, we are fairly new and this is where I believe Deidre has done an excellent job at setting and communicating team goals as well as our individual goals. Deidre has been instrumental to setting to setting up engagement models and processes and this has helped PM and Eng set their expectations and better plan project timelines and schedules.” - Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“During our one-on-one meetings, I have found it very easy to have meaningful discussions with Deidre about my career goals and development. She has given me guidance and encouraged me to reach out to team leads in other functions on a regular basis to increase my visibility and exposure. She has helped me identify what is required to move up in my job ladder and helped me set clear goals of what is expected of me.” - Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“Deidre has continually sought out and advocated for design projects that have allowed the team and me to grow. During our transition period before we received our new permanent team assignment, she arranged for us to take on some of the StackDriver design work to ensure we would have impactful work while we navigated the re-org. She is constantly aligning projects for me that allow me to grow in impact, leadership and difficulty. Additionally as a people manager, Deidre is seeking out opportunities to make connections. She saw an area where I had room for professional growth and arranged a mentor to help me grow in that space.” Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“Deidre is a proficient, hard-working manager. She has really applied herself and worked hard to ramp up in the new space. She has clearly articulated to our product and engineering partners the value that our team brings. I have really appreciated Deidre’s kind, personable and friendly demeanor. It puts me at ease and creates a calm and positive work environment. I have really appreciated Deidre’s productiveness in nurturing and aiding my career development. She continuously looks for ways to make you shine and supports my career growth here at Google.” Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“It has been amazing to work with Deidre for the past few months. She respects autonomy and has faith in my abilities. The thing that impressed me most was how she spent time understanding what worked previously and what needed to be improved and she proposed a new process for better delivery and cross-functional collaboration. It helped everyone on the team align on some basic processes at the same time not be constrained by these. I have been impressed by her operational excellence.” Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“Deidre has provided me with high-value projects to work on. She is an empathetic leader who I feel I can trust. When challenges/blockers arise she partners with me to unblock me when needed.” Direct Report, Compute Engine UX

“Deidre is excellent at ensuring the right processes are in place to set her team up for maximum scalability and success. For example, her work in setting up a structured, well-defined office hours process has allowed Product Managers to get quick, low-friction, high-quality UX guidance on features. Complementing this, Deidre is also excellent at making sure the broader Compute organization (PM and Eng) is aware and brought into the process - a critical quality given that Compute is a sprawling organization spanning continents and 1000+ people.