Managing designers, developers & life

I hail from the great state of Wisconsin, but have spent my career in Minneapolis, Chicago and now Austin, TX. I’ve been a designer since before I knew what the title meant, moving through the ranks of UX until I grew so cozy with development that I became a development manager at IBM. I live with my family in a house I designed, I read the New York Times every day, I try to pack my lunch every day and I’m simultaneously planning a dozen vacations at any given time.

“In a nutshell, she has done a phenomenal job, her ability to grasp the Digital/Support/Account and other areas is incredible.  She has this unique perspective of viewing the problems and providing great solutions that always hit the mark from a client and internal stakeholders. She is my go to person and look to her team to help us move forward in new Cloud world. She has been a breath of fresh air and hands down I would do ANYTHING to work with her on any project!  Her leadership, ability to work with multiple stakeholders and can do attitude is what sets her apart.”

- a product manager partner

“You've raised the bar in what I am looking for in a manager. You make yourself available any time, you care about work and non-work, you're consistent, and set expectations clearly. I appreciate how you take the time for everyone on your team, despite there being so many of us. You never make it seem like we're 1 in 30 or however many. Another thing I appreciate is your continual diligence in making sure that we have things to work on, we're left out of any potential political anything, and that we have all that we need. You are the best manager I have had.”

- a developer I managed

“Balancing the concerns of empowering a team to do their work the best way they know how, guiding the quality of work to get the best out of everyone, leaving everyone feeling pride of ownership in the ultimate deliverable, and having everyone on the team feel supported throughout... that's a tough pickle. Throw in a rapid pace of delivery, frequent shifts in requirements, a geographically diverse team, and other complicating factors... even tougher. Without Megan's balancing of the above factors and the general sense of support and collaboration Megan has fostered on our team, we would not have been successful.”

- a designer I managed