Hi, I'm Lisa!
Designer of interactions, experiences & processes
I'm a senior design manager for the IBM Cloud Design System, Development Support and Global Experiences teams. I've worked across the design industry at various creative agencies the past 15 years as not only a design manager but as graphic designer, motion graphics designer, animator, and video editor. I'm passionate about designing with a purpose - no matter the medium, empowering others to reach their creative potential, and incorporating storytelling into everything I do. I learn by doing and enjoy diving into processes and spreadsheets just as much as I enjoy crafting exciting animations and presentations. My absolute favorite thing about the design industry is all of the amazing people I've had the honor of working with and learning from.
My approach
Empower teams to deliver business results
Testimonials
I feel extremely supported and confident in Lisa's ability to advocate for me and my career. Lisa demonstrates her care in so many ways - by her use of design thinking processes to elicit and understand my goals, to her thoughtfulness in 1x1s, and the personal work she has done to support me.
Direct report
I feel extremely supported by my manager. I always know she will give me honest and encouraging feedback. I know I can come to her for anything and know that if she doesn't have the answer she will try her absolute best to get it. Lisa encourages us to push ourselves with work, but also to reward ourselves with down time. And I feel like this heavily contributes to our positive team culture.
Direct report
Lisa has successfully expanded our warm, creative, and trusting team culture. She invests the time to prep and execute team rituals, from our social contract to new member onboarding, birthday celebrations, and play.
I know that I can trust Lisa with anything, that I can depend on her to come thru in a jam and have my back.
Direct report
I feel challenged by my manager. I feel like she truly wants me to accomplish my goals and become the best designer I can be. She's always asking how designs can be pushed further to create the most refined experience. But she also encourages me to take on projects outside of work that I am passionate about. The combination of the two helps me stay grounded and focused on my goals.
Direct report
Before we hire anyone, my upline manager likes to ask “If you could hire anyone in the world, would it be this person?” I can categorically say that I don’t think there was anyone else in the world more apt for the design manager role than Lisa. Transitioning from IC to manager is a challenge, but you could not tell that from Lisa’s performance. She immediately dove into the tasks at hand, advocating for her team, handling tough HR conversations, pushing back against demands put on her team that were either out of scope or unrealistic. And she did all this while cultivating an atmosphere of support and fun for both her immediate team and the broader organization.She is integral to our team in every way imaginable.
Design Program Director
Processes
Working at a an organization as large of IBM, there can be quite a bit of organizational drag and overhead. Before I joined IBM I came from a small agency background where quick turnarounds and innovative exploration were highly rewarded. Applying this background to my day to day corporate responsibilities, I found opportunities for iteration and improvement not only in our end user experience, but in the way we worked itself.
Reducing weeks ⃗ to days
Whether it's organizing a workshop, crafting a video template for those new to the software, writing guidelines for design standards and ways of working alike, making team reporting easier and quicker, or design reviews more accessible, I strive to improve efficiency in everything I do.
I appreciate that Lisa is always trying to grow and innovate better team processes - including the [reporting] move to airtable, which cut the time I take to report from 1.5 hours to 15 minutes, while also being easier for managers to scan, slice and dice.
Direct report
Lisa Kaiser is so generous with her time and talent, particularly when enabling other teams to do their best work. I'm in a learning session right now where a few content designers and I are being enabled to make videos of our own, a skill Lisa has and we don't, which will make our internal and external content stronger while also making more efficient use of time. She made us an easy-to-use template, she walked us through it in detail, she recorded so we can rewatch. Thank you for the generosity, help, and efficiency!
Design Principal / co-worker
Team Culture
Working across different companies and industries, I've noticed one commonality - team culture is the most important factor in a work environment. Teammates that feel valued and supported perform to their fullest potential. Working remote and across the globe introduced its own challenges to cultivating a healthy and fun team culture but applying our own design thinking principles and bit of creativity has ensured we all still feel connected no matter the circumstance. Whether it's planning a birthday celebration, hosting a breakfast and crit, or a team outing, I am so proud of the close connection my team has across geographic and timezone barriers.
