Leading core experience

Revenue on LEGO.com had grown strongly for five years, but the teams were stalled at their current scope. The ambition was to have them work more end-to-end, covering more of the experience and thinking beyond their current squads. The three of us inherited a healthy but siloed portfolio and a mandate to move it forward.

Together with my Product and Engineering counterparts, I own the annual Portfolio OKRs for the pillar, estimate the headcount to deliver them, and hold teams accountable through the year. We run regular huddles with each team on their discovery and delivery, help them unblock, and translate the value of their work upwards to VPs and department heads. In 2026 our goal has been to generate over $15m in incremental revenue through our digital retail channels.

My biggest change to how we work has been introducing design crews, which are cross-team groups aligned to a problem statement rather than a product team. Designers keep a home in their squad but join a crew to think about the wider experience. It broadens their remit without breaking the delivery machine.

I've also had to close underperforming teams and reallocate their designers to higher-priority work. Never easy, but part of the job. Alongside that I'm actively coaching the team on storytelling and business acumen. The skill of blending user insight with business need, and knowing which metrics you're here to move.

I'm leading the usage of AI for design workflows in the pillar too. This ranges from teaching designers how to use Claude Code through the CLI to create coded prototypes, through to figuring out new systems powered by LLMs to organise our discovery information and reporting. I also help look after how AI powered experiences surface on LEGO.com.

Lastly, I am not afraid to get hands-on with the work. I can often be found jumping into Claude Code, Miro boards, and Figma files to shape and direct work.

Ongoing as this is my current role. Early signal is designers are noticeably more confident talking about outcomes rather than outputs, crews are producing thinking that no single squad could have reached alone, and the trio has a working rhythm that makes portfolio-level calls faster than the old shape allowed.

But don't take my word for it, here are some feedback quotes from my team:

"I feel really well supported and appreciate your honesty and transparency"

"This is new, this is great, I feel empowered"

"Most I’ve ever learned at LEGO"

In terms of metrics, we are also on track to exceed the revenue target for our pillar. I owe a large part of this to the role I have helped design play in making sure our teams are working on the right problems and producing high quality, user centric, business sensible solutions.