Improving Solution Value
In Q2 of 2022 at Dropbox, a couple of our solutions in emerging spaces had fallen flat. One of the riskiest bets, a time-tracking feature, absorbed design energy but failed to resonate. As a manager, my responsibility wasn’t just to help ship better solutions—it was also to help my designers grow. That meant taking a closer look at why our work was missing the mark, and how we could adjust.
Diagnosing What Went Wrong
What I found was simple, but telling. Designers were moving fast, but at the expense of value validation. They focused on polishing user experience while skipping over the deeper question: was this even worth building? The investment was measured only in design time, not in business or customer impact.
A Framework for Change
To course-correct, I leaned on a familiar framework: diagnosis, principles, actions. The diagnosis was clear—we were skipping the hard work of testing for value. The principles I introduced were designed to shift our mindset: scope to impact, show your work so others can give feedback early, and break things down before running too far ahead. The actions followed naturally: assess the risk level of each project, align on the design time required, document and share the design process, and validate value for medium-to-large efforts before committing.
Putting It Into Practice
One designer translated these principles into “plans of action,” lightweight but transparent documents that showed how design work would unfold. This transparency invited PMs and stakeholders in earlier and built accountability across the team. Another designer led “concept testing,” structured sessions to validate value before investing in execution. Suddenly, plans were being shared openly, feedback came in earlier, and concept testing became a staple in critiques.
The Shift We Saw
The results were immediate. Riskier projects were tested for value upfront, leading to early pivots instead of late scrambles. Loosely defined problems sharpened into specific needs—“time tracking” reframed as “help me get paid,” which ultimately became “create me an invoice.” PMs started engaging more deeply in the design process, and designers themselves began sharing new methods, turning these initial fixes into cultural habits. Our solutions became smaller, more validated, and far less risky.
“By slowing down just enough to validate value, we actually sped up the path to solutions that mattered.”
What I Took Away
Looking back, I realized that frameworks give teams clarity, transparency builds accountability, and testing for value must come before polishing design. Most importantly, leadership wasn’t about having all the answers. It was about creating the conditions for the team to ask the right questions—and follow them to better outcomes.