Design leader turning complexity into products and brands people love.
Work
Full Details at linkedin.com/in/davidpcrawford/
Remove assumptions
The gap between what is being asked and what is needed is usually unspoken. Mission Planning, a framework I ran for twelve years, surfaces it: stakeholder interviews, white space, goals, and an explicit list of what we don't know yet. Assumptions are expensive.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others’ priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket’s multi-year engagements are the evidence.
Progress over protocol
Move the work forward. Go to the source when something is unclear, settle the disagreement before it stalls a sprint, and solve the problem in front of you even if it's not your job.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others' priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket's multi-year engagements are the evidence.
Strong opinions, loosely held
Better to be argued out of a decision than to defend a losing idea. Teams stop raising objections once they learn the outcome was settled before the meeting, and the quiet that follows looks like alignment.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others’ priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket’s multi-year engagements are the evidence.
Empathy method
Setting aside your assumptions long enough to understand what someone means rather than what they said. The useful signal is usually in the workaround, not the request. It applies to teammates and stakeholders as much as users.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others’ priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket’s multi-year engagements are the evidence.
Standards over approvals
A quality bar that runs through one person is a bottleneck. Turn judgment into patterns, principles, critique practice, and documentation so the standard holds without you in the room.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others’ priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket’s multi-year engagements are the evidence.
Prototype over pitch
Make it real. Working prototypes, sketches, and mockups settle a debate faster than a deck. The feedback gets more candid, the unseen problems surface earlier, and the whole thing moves faster.
In Action: TerraWise
For 12 years I led design without formal authority, earning influence by building trust, framing decisions around others’ priorities, and choosing disagreements very carefully. Roket’s multi-year engagements are the evidence.