How to Grow as a Designer by Taking Initiative

I’m a product designer with a little over eight years of practice, and one thing keeps proving itself: initiative isn’t just a nice word—it’s how we move forward. I don’t mean showing off to grab a quick promotion (though that can happen). I mean getting better at our craft, seeing the product more clearly, and working with the team more smoothly. Here’s how I see initiative helping us, as designers, become truly useful. You might have heard a senior teammate say, “Want to grow? Take initiative—show what you can do.” So you gather a list of new features or a fresh redesign and bring it to your manager. You’re eager, you want to make an impact. The manager nods and says it looks good… but nothing ships. So, the chance to see your ideas make a tangible difference—and to learn from that process—just doesn’t happen. Does that ring a bell? Let’s talk about how to take initiative in a way that really leads to both professional and personal growth. “Want to grow? Take initiative—show what you can do.” The meaning behind your initiative The meaning behind your initiative That story is painfully familiar to me; I lived it myself while working at Yandex. Twice a year we had review meetings to discuss results. Meeting expectations kept you at your level; exceeding them was proof you were growing. In that setting, “exceeding expectations” meant taking initiative and solving problems that mattered to the business. “Business value” is a broad term, though. At the beginning of my career in design, I was pretty sure that it was enough to look closely at the product and then find and ease users’ pains that no one had discovered before me. The growth path looked clear: Find a problem. Solve the problem. See the impact. Find a problem. Solve the problem. See the impact. Following that logic, I tackled two product issues I’d spotted. I interviewed users, built prototypes, and put together a presentation. All told, I spent about 72 hours of my own time—late nights and a weekend. But none of my proposals shipped, because the company’s priorities had shifted elsewhere. I realised my ideas weren’t landing. Looking back, I’d misunderstood what “important for the business” really meant. Spotting user pain and knowing how to fix it is useful, but it’s only half the picture. The real key is applying product thinking to the company’s internal processes—seeing and analysing the problems your teammates face every day. That’s what real initiative looks like when it comes to professional growth. So, who should you talk to in order to uncover those issues, and what should you do with your findings to turn them into working solutions (and foster your growth as a designer)? Here’s a simple roadmap: Steps Steps Find ideas Interview colleagues Build your solutions Review what you did Find ideas Interview colleagues Build your solutions Review what you did Step 1: Searching for ideas Step 1: Searching for ideas Before anything else, you need to spot a problem that’s worth the effort—one that matters to the company and lets you grow. I start close to home. I write down every tiny annoyance I meet during the week: a form that takes ten clicks, a Figma file that loads like dial-up. Next, I chat with teammates over coffee and ask what slows them down. Their answers are often gold. Then I pull up our current OKRs to see which direction the business is heading. Finally, I read fresh reviews in the App Store and on Google Play. Users and even competitors will tell you, in plain words, where the product still hurts. When the list feels long enough, I rate each idea on three points: Effort. Is it a quick tweak or a quarter-long project? Business value. Does it push an active goal? Personal growth. Will I learn something new or level up an old skill? Effort. Is it a quick tweak or a quarter-long project? Business value. Does it push an active goal? Personal growth. Will I learn something new or level up an old skill? Projects that score high for both the company and for me move to the top. Example: Task A is to refresh a set of icons—a skill I’ve practised for years. Task B is to build a real design system for the whole product. Updating icons would be useful, sure, but setting up the design system would save dozens of hours for every designer and developer, and it would teach me serious system thinking. Nine times out of ten, Task B is the better bet. Example: Task A is to refresh a set of icons—a skill I’ve practised for years. Task B is to build a real design system for the whole product. Updating icons would be useful, sure, but setting up the design system would save dozens of hours for every designer and developer, and it would teach me serious system thinking. Nine times out of ten, Task B is the better bet. Example: Step 2: interviewing colleagues Step 2: interviewing colleagues We’re moving on. You already have a list of ideas that could help both you and the company. The next product-design step is to test those ideas and, at the same time, learn more about your team’s real pain points. The easiest way is to talk with your colleagues. A conversation like this feels a lot like a user interview, but with a few important tweaks. 1. Don’t prepare the questions in advance 1. Don’t prepare the questions in advance Three open questions usually do the job: What would you change, and why? Think about both day-to-day work with the design team and the company in general. What should never be changed? What goals have you set for yourself, and how will you know you’ve reached them? What would you change, and why? Think about both day-to-day work with the design team and the company in general. What should never be changed? What goals have you set for yourself, and how will you know you’ve reached them? For everything else, follow the flow of the conversation. A rigid script puts walls around people, and real problems often hide where you don’t expect them. Give your colleague space to speak freely. 2. Listen first, pitch later 2. Listen first, pitch later Start by hearing their problems and goals. That gives you a broader, clearer picture of what is really going on. Keep your own ideas for the second half of the talk. 3. Gather views from several teams 3. Gather views from several teams The more viewpoints you collect, the fuller your picture. It also covers your blind spots. You might spot an issue in the dev team that looks huge and slow to fix. A quick chat with Support or Marketing could reveal an even tougher pain point—but one that’s simpler to solve. Example: Example: Example: QA once told me our mobile app still shipped with too many bugs. Designers kept missing the e-mail saying the build was ready for review. A QA engineer and I built a small Telegram bot that pings the right designer as soon as front-end finishes. Now designers always check the beta before release, and bug counts are lower. QA once told me our mobile app still shipped with too many bugs. Designers kept missing the e-mail saying the build was ready for review. A QA engineer and I built a small Telegram bot that pings the right designer as soon as front-end finishes. Now designers always check the beta before release, and bug counts are lower. 4. Talk to managers 4. Talk to managers Need a higher-level view of what really drives the business? Sit down with the managers. They can share their own goals, the bigger strategy, and the hidden trade-offs you don’t see from the day-to-day. A quick conversation often: Surfaces problems you hadn’t spotted. Confirms—or kills—your working hypotheses. Finds allies who care about solving the same pain points. Surfaces problems you hadn’t spotted. Confirms—or kills—your working hypotheses. Finds allies who care about solving the same pain points. It’s also the perfect moment to check that your idea fits the wider company goals and to adjust it if it doesn’t. Step 3: Implementing your solutions Step 3: Implementing your solutions You’ve shaped your hypotheses and you’re ready to roll. Ahead is plenty of focused effort—and a few surprises. Be prepared to invest real time and energy if you want visible results. Below are a couple of habits that have helped me push through without burning out and, at the same time, squeeze the most learning out of each project. 1. Stay connected to reality 1. Stay connected to reality Set short, concrete checkpoints and check them against the company’s current priorities. Pain points and roadmaps shift; if you don’t notice, you can end up polishing work the business will never ship. A quick way to stay on course is to ask the art director (or another lead) for a fast pulse-check on your progress. Five minutes of honest feedback can tell you whether you’re heading the right way or need to pivot. Sense that priorities have moved? Adapt—or choose another idea altogether. Better that than spending weeks on something no one will use. 2. Ask for help 2. Ask for help Feeling worn out by too many tasks? Team up with someone who enjoys a tough challenge; you’ll split the load and learn new tricks from each other. Stuck on a problem you can’t crack? Track down an in-house expert. Formal knowledge sharing is rare in big companies, which makes it even more valuable when you do it. Chances are a colleague has solved something similar and can point you in the right direction. Example: Example: Example: I was once asked to redesign the Auto.ru home page (it’s part of Yandex). I started collecting visual references but soon realised I lacked the “why” behind many examples. So I reached out to the folks working on a similar project. Turns out the Yango team (Yandex Taxi’s designers) were already a few steps ahead. I called their art director, who generously walked me through their workflow and the metrics driving their choices. The conversation helped my own team ship faster, avoid common pitfalls, and—on a personal note—showed me how hard data can shape design decisions. I was once asked to redesign the Auto.ru home page (it’s part of Yandex). I started collecting visual references but soon realised I lacked the “why” behind many examples. So I reached out to the folks working on a similar project. Turns out the Yango team (Yandex Taxi’s designers) were already a few steps ahead. I called their art director, who generously walked me through their workflow and the metrics driving their choices. The conversation helped my own team ship faster, avoid common pitfalls, and—on a personal note—showed me how hard data can shape design decisions. 3. Manage your time wisely 3. Manage your time wisely Side projects—even those aimed at your growth—tend to swallow hours. Give yourself a generous buffer for mis-calculations and the odd snag. I suggest tackling no more than one or two extra projects alongside your core work, even if each looks “only a couple of hours.” Once those feel easy, add one more. Step by step you’ll discover the workload that lets you develop without wearing yourself out. 4. Prepare your colleagues 4. Prepare your colleagues People often resist change, even change that should make life easier. Reduce push-back by warming the ground first. One simple tool is the Attitude–Awareness Matrix. It shows three stages a team passes through: Recognition – they see the problem exists. Interest – they begin to care about fixing it. Support – they take an active role in the solution. Recognition – they see the problem exists. Interest – they begin to care about fixing it. Support – they take an active role in the solution. Your task is to guide colleagues smoothly through those stages—chatting, demoing, and co-creating where you can. The payoff is fewer conflicts, clearer buy-in, and stronger facilitation skills for you. Example: Example: Example: At a daily stand-up, a newly hired designer proposed a full overhaul of our design system. Everyone nodded—the need was obvious. But the designer jumped straight into radical changes without groundwork or steady communication. The team felt the shift was being imposed on them and pushed back. Only after we set up weekly alignment meetings did things calm down: feedback flowed, everyone understood the roadmap, and the redesign moved ahead smoothly. The episode was a sharp lesson in how “soft” skills can make or break even the best technical ideas. At a daily stand-up, a newly hired designer proposed a full overhaul of our design system. Everyone nodded—the need was obvious. But the designer jumped straight into radical changes without groundwork or steady communication. The team felt the shift was being imposed on them and pushed back. Only after we set up weekly alignment meetings did things calm down: feedback flowed, everyone understood the roadmap, and the redesign moved ahead smoothly. The episode was a sharp lesson in how “soft” skills can make or break even the best technical ideas. Step 4: Analyzing what has been done so far Step 4: Analyzing what has been done so far The research is done, your colleagues are on board, and the project has shipped. Nice job! But the story isn’t over. Now comes the part that turns one success into many: looking back to see what worked, what didn’t, and why. That reflection is the only real way to keep sharpening your approach—and it’s worth telling others about the results, too. First, ask the blunt question: Did this solve the problem? If the answer is yes, write a short case note. Sum up the goal, the steps, and the outcome. If you have numbers—fewer bugs, faster load time, higher NPS—add them. Concrete metrics speak louder than any slide deck. If the answer is no, decide whether the idea needs another round of work or whether you’ve found a dead end worth learning from. Either way, dig into the “why” so you don’t repeat the same mistake. Share your success story. Don’t keep the win—or the miss—to yourself. Walk the team through what you did, what you learned, and what you’d try next time. Real data or screenshots help people see the value. A quick Loom video, a brownbag talk, or a Slack thread all work. Spreading that knowledge builds trust and encourages others to take their own small risks. Keep records of your projects. Track every project, good or bad. When something fails, note the reason and a fix you’d test in the future—then have another go. Every attempt, successful or not, is a step toward mastery. First, ask the blunt question: Did this solve the problem? If the answer is yes, write a short case note. Sum up the goal, the steps, and the outcome. If you have numbers—fewer bugs, faster load time, higher NPS—add them. Concrete metrics speak louder than any slide deck. If the answer is no, decide whether the idea needs another round of work or whether you’ve found a dead end worth learning from. Either way, dig into the “why” so you don’t repeat the same mistake. First, ask the blunt question: Share your success story. Don’t keep the win—or the miss—to yourself. Walk the team through what you did, what you learned, and what you’d try next time. Real data or screenshots help people see the value. A quick Loom video, a brownbag talk, or a Slack thread all work. Spreading that knowledge builds trust and encourages others to take their own small risks. Share your success story. Keep records of your projects. Track every project, good or bad. When something fails, note the reason and a fix you’d test in the future—then have another go. Every attempt, successful or not, is a step toward mastery. Keep records of your projects. “But what if I don’t want to trade all my evenings and sleep for side projects?” Fair question. One answer is to weave your initiative into your regular tasks. That takes some luck—timing matters—and solid prep, but it’s doable. Spot a pain point that overlaps today’s roadmap, pitch it early, and fold the work into sprint planning. When it clicks, you grow without adding extra hours, and the company wins at the same time. Initiative as part of your daily work Initiative as part of your daily work The first route is to search for growth points among your current tasks. Start by asking: Can the solution I’m building be scaled? Maybe you’ve just added a smart filter to one web page. Take a slow tour of the rest of the site or the mobile app—could the same pattern slot in elsewhere? Re-using a solid solution lifts the whole product and, at the same time, deepens your grasp of system-level design. The second route is to turn your initiative into one of your daily tasks. To pull this off you need to prove its value to the business. That can feel daunting, but it’s doable. The first route is to search for growth points among your current tasks. Start by asking: Can the solution I’m building be scaled? Maybe you’ve just added a smart filter to one web page. Take a slow tour of the rest of the site or the mobile app—could the same pattern slot in elsewhere? Re-using a solid solution lifts the whole product and, at the same time, deepens your grasp of system-level design. The first route is to search for growth points among your current tasks. Can the solution I’m building be scaled? The second route is to turn your initiative into one of your daily tasks. To pull this off you need to prove its value to the business. That can feel daunting, but it’s doable. The second route is to turn your initiative into one of your daily tasks. Here’s one more example from my own experience Here’s one more example from my own experience Here’s one more example from my own experience For months our design-system cleanup was a spare-time hobby. Then the company announced a full app-and-web redesign. We simply didn’t have the component library to cope. I put together a short deck for leadership: why the redesign would stall without a proper system, how we’d build it, and the metrics we’d watch. The pitch landed: the once-casual side project became an official team objective, scheduled and funded. Quality and consistency improved overnight. For months our design-system cleanup was a spare-time hobby. Then the company announced a full app-and-web redesign. We simply didn’t have the component library to cope. I put together a short deck for leadership: why the redesign would stall without a proper system, how we’d build it, and the metrics we’d watch. The pitch landed: the once-casual side project became an official team objective, scheduled and funded. Quality and consistency improved overnight. A few things that helped that pitch land: A few things that helped that pitch land: Rehearse out loud; tighten the story before you face decision-makers. State the pain, the upside, and the plan in plain language. Use rough wireframes or screenshots—no fancy visuals required. Do a trial run with a friendly colleague who knows the topic but isn’t the final approver; they’ll surface awkward questions and calm your nerves. Rehearse out loud; tighten the story before you face decision-makers. State the pain, the upside, and the plan in plain language. Use rough wireframes or screenshots—no fancy visuals required. Do a trial run with a friendly colleague who knows the topic but isn’t the final approver; they’ll surface awkward questions and calm your nerves. The third route is to try to optimize your working routine. Look for ways to speed up design chores and free pockets of time: The third route is to try to optimize your working routine. Work in shorter cycles. Even a ten-minute gap can move a tiny task forward if you know your next step. Track your own patterns. Notice where you get stuck and ask why. If a concept feels blocked, sketch a loose outline first and refine details later. Keep a two-week log of what you really do each day, then read the data—bottlenecks jump off the page. Plan research up front. If context is thin, pitch a quick discovery sprint to your manager before you dive into solutions; a small dose of user insight often saves days of rework.Work in shorter cycles. Even a ten-minute gap can move a tiny task forward if you know your next step. Track your own patterns. Notice where you get stuck and ask why. If a concept feels blocked, sketch a loose outline first and refine details later. Keep a two-week log of what you really do each day, then read the data—bottlenecks jump off the page. Plan research up front. If context is thin, pitch a quick discovery sprint to your manager before you dive into solutions; a small dose of user insight often saves days of rework. Work in shorter cycles. Even a ten-minute gap can move a tiny task forward if you know your next step. Work in shorter cycles. Track your own patterns. Notice where you get stuck and ask why. If a concept feels blocked, sketch a loose outline first and refine details later. Keep a two-week log of what you really do each day, then read the data—bottlenecks jump off the page. Track your own patterns. Plan research up front. If context is thin, pitch a quick discovery sprint to your manager before you dive into solutions; a small dose of user insight often saves days of rework.Work in shorter cycles. Even a ten-minute gap can move a tiny task forward if you know your next step. Plan research up front Work in shorter cycles. Track your own patterns. Notice where you get stuck and ask why. If a concept feels blocked, sketch a loose outline first and refine details later. Keep a two-week log of what you really do each day, then read the data—bottlenecks jump off the page. Track your own patterns Plan research up front. If context is thin, pitch a quick discovery sprint to your manager before you dive into solutions; a small dose of user insight often saves days of rework. Plan research up front. Conclusion Conclusion Here’s what you stand to gain when you show initiative the right way and keep your own growth in focus. You become more valuable—both to the team and as a specialist You become more valuable—both to the team and as a specialist By tackling real pain points you help colleagues and the company while deepening your own skills. You start seeing the bigger picture and contributing well beyond routine tickets. You broaden your expertise You broaden your expertise Leading a project is a stretch: you mix design craft with planning, communication, maybe even arguing for budget. The pressure is real, but the learning sits outside your usual comfort zone and levels up your competence fast. You add solid stories to your portfolio You add solid stories to your portfolio Self-started projects are perfect proof of how you solve problems. Even if a concept never ships, you can still walk through the research, the reasoning, and the lessons learned—showing you’re proactive and hungry to improve. You feel more motivated and confident You feel more motivated and confident Nothing beats the boost that comes from seeing your work make a clear difference. That sense of impact becomes fuel for the next challenge.