Table of Contents
- What is managing up?
- What managing up is not
- Why UX designers need to manage up their UX manager?
- 1. Visibility leads to opportunities
- 2. Alignment prevents wasted work
- 3. Trust accelerates autonomy
- 4. Feedback improves faster
- 9 ways to manage up your UX boss
- 1. Don’t let small problems become big emergencies
- 2. Own the damn thing
- 3. Develop empathy as a leadership skill
- 4. Add value to build credibility and trust
- 5. Ask for feedback (and actually use it)
- 6. Adapt your communication style
- 7. Tell them how you work best
- 8. Create a shared 1-on-1 doc
- 9. Be a thought partner, not a people-pleaser
- Your move
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What is managing up?
For UX designers, managing up is about partnership. It’s the skill of building a strong, productive relationship with your UX manager by understanding their goals, communication style, and constraints, then adapting how you work to make both of you more effective.
It's not about manipulation. It's about alignment.
Think of it like designing a user experience, except your "user" is your UX manager. You need to understand their pain points, anticipate their needs, and deliver value in a format they can actually use.
What managing up is not
Managing up isn't about being a yes-person or playing corporate games. Here's what it definitely is not:
- Complaining without solutions. Your manager has enough problems. Don't add yourself to the list.
- Ignoring your manager's priorities. If they're measured on retention and you're obsessing over button corners, there's a disconnect.
- Going radio silent. Keeping your manager in the dark means they'll be caught off guard when problems surface.
- Waiting to be told what to do. That’s reactive. Be proactive: anticipate needs, take initiative or simply ask.
- Going over their head. Overriding your manager’s authority by giving feedback straight to their boss or by trying to micromanage them
Managing up is strategic collaboration. Everything above is just being difficult to work with.
Why UX designers need to manage up their UX manager?
One major benefit of managing up is creating more career opportunities — not through politics, but by making collaboration effortless and trust automatic.
When your manager clearly sees your impact and trusts your judgment, everything compounds: your work gets seen, your ideas gain traction, and your influence grows.
Here are 4 reasons why managing up accelerates your growth:
1. Visibility leads to opportunities
Designers who actively manage up get staffed on better projects, included in strategic conversations, and considered for promotions first.
Not because they're better designers, but because they're better at communicating their value.
2. Alignment prevents wasted work
When you understand your manager's priorities and constraints, you can align your work to support them. This means less "one more iteration" nonsense and more designs that ship.
3. Trust accelerates autonomy
Managers give more freedom to designers they trust. Build that trust through consistent communication and reliable delivery, and suddenly you're not getting micromanaged on every decision.
4. Feedback improves faster
When you actively seek feedback and act on it, you grow exponentially faster than designers who defensively guard their work.
9 ways to manage up your UX boss
1. Don’t let small problems become big emergencies
Here's what separates junior designers from senior ones: juniors hide problems until they explode. Seniors flag them early with potential solutions.
If a design direction feels off, raise it early. Don't wait until the stakeholder presentation to voice concerns.
Use this framework:
"I'm seeing a potential issue with [specific thing]. Here's why it concerns me: [reasoning]. I'm thinking we could address it by [proposed solution]. What do you think?"
This approach shows:
- You're paying attention to details
- You respect their input while owning your work
- You care about outcomes, not just pixel-pushing
- You're a problem-solver, not a problem-complainer
The goal is simple: no surprises and no last-minute chaos.
2. Own the damn thing
Nobody likes babysitting. Especially not managers who are drowning in their own work. Ownership means being proactive about progress, blockers, and impact without waiting to be asked.
This looks like:
- Flagging dependencies before they become blockers
- Following up on decisions that were made in meetings
- Updating project tracking tools without being reminded
- Documenting your design rationale so others can understand it
- Shipping work when you say you will (or communicating early if you can't)
The ownership mindset shift:
🛑 Stop thinking: "I'll wait for my manager to tell me what to do next."
🟢 Start thinking: "What needs to happen next, and how can I move it forward?"
When you consistently demonstrate ownership, your manager stops checking in on you. That freed-up mental energy often translates to more interesting opportunities coming your way.
3. Develop empathy as a leadership skill
Your relationship with your manager is hierarchical. They have more power. But they're also human beings dealing with their own shit.
- Maybe their partner has chronic health issues.
- Maybe they're dealing with layoffs and trying to protect the team.
- Maybe their own manager is putting impossible pressure on them.
- Maybe they have a newborn and haven't slept properly in three months.
Turn the empathy lens on them:
- Ask about their goals and OKRs: "What are you being measured on this quarter? How can my work support that?"
- Understand their constraints: "Is there anything you're worried about that I should be thinking about in my designs?"
- Recognize their wins: "That presentation you gave to leadership was solid. The way you framed the ROI really landed."
- When you demonstrate empathy upward, it builds psychological safety downward. Your manager is more likely to be flexible with you when they know you've got their back.
4. Add value to build credibility and trust
Build credibility by making your manager's life easier. Look for opportunities to contribute beyond your assigned work.
High-leverage ways to add value:
- Improve team processes that slow everyone down
- Document design patterns the team keeps rediscovering
- Share competitor analysis or industry trends relevant to your product
- Mentor junior designers who need help (takes pressure off your manager)
- Volunteer for the unglamorous work nobody wants (meeting notes, anyone?)
The key: Don't just do random helpful things. Do helpful things that align with your manager's priorities.
If your manager's #1 goal is improving design consistency, volunteer to audit the design system. If they're trying to increase team collaboration, offer to organise design critiques.
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5. Ask for feedback (and actually use it)
Most designers ask for feedback once a year during performance reviews. That's 364 days too late.
Ask your manager:
- "How do you prefer to receive updates from me?"
- "How can I improve my communication with the team?"
- "Is there anything about my work style that creates friction?"
- "What's one thing I could do differently to be more effective?"
But great things happen when you act on the feedback. Close the loop by following up: "You mentioned I could be more concise in presentations. I tried that new format in yesterday's review—did that work better?"
This demonstrates you’re committed to growth, take their input seriously, and are coachable (managers love this).
Word of warning: If you ask for feedback, you have to be ready to hear it. Don't get defensive. Don't make excuses. Just listen, ask clarifying questions, and thank them.
👉 How to Handle Design Feedback
6. Adapt your communication style
Your manager might not think like you. And that's okay. Some managers want a detailed analysis. Others want the headline first. Some prefer Slack. Others need face time. Some care about process. Others only care about outcomes.
Common communication styles:
- The Director: Wants bottom-line first, details second. Lead with conclusions.
- The Analyzer: Wants data, research, and rationale. Give them documentation.
- The Validator: Wants proof it'll work. Show competitor examples and test results.
- The Collaborator: Wants to workshop ideas together. Bring rough sketches to refine.
How to figure out your manager's style:
- Observe what they respond well to in meetings
- Experiment and adjust based on their reactions
- Pay attention to how they communicate with you
- Ask directly: "What's the best way to present ideas to you?"
7. Tell them how you work best
Your manager has a work style. You have one too. Maybe you thrive on trust and autonomy. Maybe you need structured feedback. Maybe you work best with clear deadlines. Maybe you prefer collaborative problem-solving.
Communicate this clearly:
- "I like to talk through problems out loud before I start designing."
- "I'm more productive with hard deadlines than open-ended timelines."
- "I appreciate direct feedback—you don't need to soften critique with me."
- "I do my best work when I have space to explore ideas before converging on a solution."
This prevents mismatched expectations. Your manager isn't going to intuitively know how you work best. Tell them.
But here's the balance: Understanding your preferences doesn't mean you get to only work your preferred way. Sometimes you'll need to adapt. The point is to create shared understanding so you can find compromise when needed.
👉 Better Teamwork with Working Styles
8. Create a shared 1-on-1 doc
If you’re walking into your 1-on-1s unprepared, you’re wasting the meeting. That’s 51 wasted meetings a year.
Instead, create a shared 1-on-1 doc:
- Feedback: Topics you’d like input on
- Random / FYI: Anything else worth sharing
- What’s next: Upcoming work and priorities
- Progress this week: What you shipped or moved forward
- Blockers: What’s slowing you down (and proposed solutions)
- Career development: Skills you’re working on or opportunities you want
When updated regularly, this doc becomes your alignment engine. It keeps priorities clear, documents your impact, and makes 1-on-1s far more productive.
Follow this rhythm for a few weeks and your manager will notice. Suddenly, you’re not “checking in.” You’re running a partnership.
👉 How to 1:1
9. Be a thought partner, not a people-pleaser
Here's the thing most designers get wrong: they think managing up means being agreeable all the time.
Nope.
Good managers respect designers who bring clarity, not compliance. They want you to challenge their thinking when it'll lead to better outcomes.
The difference:
Compliance: "Sure, I'll add those seven features to the interface even though it'll destroy the UX."
Clarity: "I hear you want these features prioritized. Based on our user research, adding all of them will likely decrease engagement. Can we discuss which ones are must-haves vs. nice-to-haves?"
When to push back:
- When scope creep threatens quality or timelines
- When a decision contradicts user research or data
- When you have expertise they don't (this is literally why they hired you)
- When their ask would violate UX principles that matter
How to push back effectively:
- Use data, not feelings: "The data shows..." not "I feel like..."
- Frame it as problem-solving: "I want to help us achieve [goal]. Here's a concern..."
- Offer alternatives: Don't just say no. Propose a different approach.
- Pick your battles: Not every disagreement is worth dying on.
👉 How to Push Back on Stakeholders
Your move
My challenge to you: Pick three tactics from this article. Not all ten. Just three. Implement them over the next month. See what happens.
My guess? You'll notice your relationship with your manager improving. You'll start getting better feedback. You'll feel more aligned on priorities. You'll have more interesting opportunities coming your way.
And maybe, just maybe, you'll stop feeling like your good work is disappearing into a void.
The choice is yours.
Now go forth and make your manager's job easier while advancing your own career. You've got this.
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