impact.md
I help teams turn complex product questions into a clear direction and better experiences. My work spans developing designers, aligning Product and Engineering, and staying hands-on with the details that determine whether an idea works for customers.
WordPress / Jetpack · Kustomer · CoPilotIQ
Highlights ↓
I help teams turn complex product questions into a clear direction and better experiences. My work spans developing designers, aligning Product and Engineering, and staying hands-on with the details that determine whether an idea works for customers.
I help teams turn complex product questions into a clear direction and better experiences. My work spans developing designers, aligning Product and Engineering, and staying hands-on with the details that determine whether an idea works for customers.
WordPress / Jetpack · Kustomer · CoPilotIQ
Highlights ↓
01
Aligned priorities across eight engineering and four design squads.
01
Aligned priorities across eight engineering and four design squads.
01
Aligned priorities across eight engineering and four design squads.
02
Built a shared research practice across WordPress.
02
Built a shared research practice across WordPress.
03
Developed designers into Principal and leadership roles.
03
Developed designers into Principal and leadership roles.
04
Helped shape AI direction, release priorities, and technical requirements.
04
Helped shape AI direction, release priorities, and technical requirements.
cases.md
File 01 · 3 entries
cases.md
File 01 · 3 entries
cases.md
File 01 · 3 entries
The situation
Eight engineering squads operated independently while four design squads served competing priorities.
What I did
I created a shared intake and prioritization approach, bringing Product, Engineering, Design, and other business leaders into the same planning conversation.
What changed
→
Teams adopted a shared decision process and aligned roadmap planning across engineering and senior leadership.
The situation
Eight engineering squads operated independently while four design squads served competing priorities.
What I did
I created a shared intake and prioritization approach, bringing Product, Engineering, Design, and other business leaders into the same planning conversation.
What changed
→
Teams adopted a shared decision process and aligned roadmap planning across engineering and senior leadership.
The situation
Eight engineering squads operated independently while four design squads served competing priorities.
What I did
I created a shared intake and prioritization approach, bringing Product, Engineering, Design, and other business leaders into the same planning conversation.
What changed
→
Teams adopted a shared decision process and aligned roadmap planning across engineering and senior leadership.
The situation
After WordPress moved away from centralized UX research, teams needed a practical way to keep learning from customers.
What I did
I built a lightweight research practice, introduced Lean Research Day, and created a searchable repository so teams could reuse findings beyond their own projects.
What changed
→
The approach spread across the organization, giving teams shared customer evidence to inform product decisions.
The situation
After WordPress moved away from centralized UX research, teams needed a practical way to keep learning from customers.
What I did
I built a lightweight research practice, introduced Lean Research Day, and created a searchable repository so teams could reuse findings beyond their own projects.
What changed
→
The approach spread across the organization, giving teams shared customer evidence to inform product decisions.
The situation
After WordPress moved away from centralized UX research, teams needed a practical way to keep learning from customers.
What I did
I built a lightweight research practice, introduced Lean Research Day, and created a searchable repository so teams could reuse findings beyond their own projects.
What changed
→
The approach spread across the organization, giving teams shared customer evidence to inform product decisions.
Case 03 · Kustomer
Read the full case study →
The situation
As teams adopted AI, Design and Engineering needed shared ways to build, review, and improve the work.
What I did
I helped shift static handoffs toward shared, code-based workflows, with reusable product guidance, prompts, and evaluation criteria.
What changed
→
Design and Engineering gained a repeatable way to collaborate on prototypes and refine the work together.
The situation
As teams adopted AI, Design and Engineering needed shared ways to build, review, and improve the work.
What I did
I helped shift static handoffs toward shared, code-based workflows, with reusable product guidance, prompts, and evaluation criteria.
What changed
→
Design and Engineering gained a repeatable way to collaborate on prototypes and refine the work together.
Case 03 · Kustomer
Read the full case study →
The situation
As teams adopted AI, Design and Engineering needed shared ways to build, review, and improve the work.
What I did
I helped shift static handoffs toward shared, code-based workflows, with reusable product guidance, prompts, and evaluation criteria.
What changed
→
Design and Engineering gained a repeatable way to collaborate on prototypes and refine the work together.
direction.md
File 02 · 4 entries
direction.md
File 02 · 4 entries
direction.md
File 02 · 4 entries
The situation
Clinicians were reluctant to trust AI with care recommendations, but enthusiastic about reducing repetitive administrative work.
My perspective and action
The opportunity was to give clinicians time back. I brought that evidence to the CPO and recommended focusing AI exploration on non-clinical workflow automation.
What changed
→
Product adopted that direction and began researching which workflows to automate.
The situation
Clinicians were reluctant to trust AI with care recommendations, but enthusiastic about reducing repetitive administrative work.
My perspective and action
The opportunity was to give clinicians time back. I brought that evidence to the CPO and recommended focusing AI exploration on non-clinical workflow automation.
What changed
→
Product adopted that direction and began researching which workflows to automate.
The situation
Clinicians were reluctant to trust AI with care recommendations, but enthusiastic about reducing repetitive administrative work.
My perspective and action
The opportunity was to give clinicians time back. I brought that evidence to the CPO and recommended focusing AI exploration on non-clinical workflow automation.
What changed
→
Product adopted that direction and began researching which workflows to automate.
02 · Jetpack
The situation
The agency team planned to reuse a plugin-update experience that agencies were already avoiding because it was too slow.
My perspective and action
Reusing the framework would carry forward its adoption problem. After hearing this repeatedly and watching an agency demonstrate it, I pushed for performance improvements before reuse.
What changed
→
The team addressed performance before carrying the experience into the agency program.
02 · Jetpack
The situation
The agency team planned to reuse a plugin-update experience that agencies were already avoiding because it was too slow.
My perspective and action
Reusing the framework would carry forward its adoption problem. After hearing this repeatedly and watching an agency demonstrate it, I pushed for performance improvements before reuse.
What changed
→
The team addressed performance before carrying the experience into the agency program.
02 · Jetpack
The situation
The agency team planned to reuse a plugin-update experience that agencies were already avoiding because it was too slow.
My perspective and action
Reusing the framework would carry forward its adoption problem. After hearing this repeatedly and watching an agency demonstrate it, I pushed for performance improvements before reuse.
What changed
→
The team addressed performance before carrying the experience into the agency program.
The situation
Product wanted a pricing-page redesign that changed the offer, content, and layout together while strategy was still evolving.
My perspective and action
A whole-page test could compare versions, but would not explain each change’s contribution. I proposed testing focused pricing and structural hypotheses while the broader redesign developed.
What changed
→
The team pursued focused tests alongside exploration. As direction evolved, the original redesign was no longer relevant and was not used.
The situation
Product wanted a pricing-page redesign that changed the offer, content, and layout together while strategy was still evolving.
My perspective and action
A whole-page test could compare versions, but would not explain each change’s contribution. I proposed testing focused pricing and structural hypotheses while the broader redesign developed.
What changed
→
The team pursued focused tests alongside exploration. As direction evolved, the original redesign was no longer relevant and was not used.
The situation
Product wanted a pricing-page redesign that changed the offer, content, and layout together while strategy was still evolving.
My perspective and action
A whole-page test could compare versions, but would not explain each change’s contribution. I proposed testing focused pricing and structural hypotheses while the broader redesign developed.
What changed
→
The team pursued focused tests alongside exploration. As direction evolved, the original redesign was no longer relevant and was not used.
The situation
The proposed UPS integration offered basic tracking, but patients and providers needed better visibility into equipment deliveries and returns.
My perspective and action
I translated those needs into specific tracking requirements and investigated estimated delivery windows. I worked with Product and Engineering to revisit the constraint with UPS.
What changed
→
The team secured API access to more detailed delivery information, expanding what the integration could support.
The situation
The proposed UPS integration offered basic tracking, but patients and providers needed better visibility into equipment deliveries and returns.
My perspective and action
I translated those needs into specific tracking requirements and investigated estimated delivery windows. I worked with Product and Engineering to revisit the constraint with UPS.
What changed
→
The team secured API access to more detailed delivery information, expanding what the integration could support.
The situation
The proposed UPS integration offered basic tracking, but patients and providers needed better visibility into equipment deliveries and returns.
My perspective and action
I translated those needs into specific tracking requirements and investigated estimated delivery windows. I worked with Product and Engineering to revisit the constraint with UPS.
What changed
→
The team secured API access to more detailed delivery information, expanding what the integration could support.
people.md
File 03
I build teams where leadership is distributed. At WordPress, I coached senior designers into Principal and leadership roles. At Kustomer, I embedded peer teaching into the operating model so expertise could spread across the team.
Facilitating Designer Growth →
Fig. 02 · Hands-on design
people.md
File 03
I build teams where leadership is distributed. At WordPress, I coached senior designers into Principal and leadership roles. At Kustomer, I embedded peer teaching into the operating model so expertise could spread across the team.
Facilitating Designer Growth →
Fig. 02 · Hands-on design
people.md
File 03
I build teams where leadership is distributed. At WordPress, I coached senior designers into Principal and leadership roles. At Kustomer, I embedded peer teaching into the operating model so expertise could spread across the team.
Facilitating Designer Growth →
Fig. 02 · Hands-on design
Jeffrey Zeldman
Executive Creative Director | Automattic
It was my pleasure and privilege to watch Yvonne mentor, encourage, inspire, and support the Jetpack design team. Beyond being a model colleague, she’s also tremendous fun, supremely cool, and somehow, despite being fun and cool, a grownup and mensch. I would hire her myself if I were in a position to do so, and consider myself fortunate indeed if she…