Speak Up and Stand Out: Strategic Skills for Product Designers
Cheryl Chepusova
Design Leader, ex-Slack, Pinterest
Great design decisions need clear communication
AI is accelerating how quickly teams can produce work. As execution becomes easier, what differentiates senior designers isn’t output alone, it’s judgment.
Strong product designers do more than deliver good work. They help others understand the decisions behind it, shape direction with cross-functional partners, and make their impact visible over time.
This course is for senior product designers who consistently deliver strong work and want a clearer way to communicate their thinking. You may be known as reliable, collaborative, and highly capable, yet still find it difficult to explain your rationale in design reviews, stakeholder conversations, 1:1s, and written updates.
Together, we’ll focus on the skills that become increasingly important as your career grows: communicating decisions, building influence, navigating ambiguity, and making strong judgment visible to the business.
This course includes:
👉 Weekly live group coaching sessions
👉 Async feedback on communication artifacts, stakeholder situations, and questions that come up as you apply the material
👉 A bonus 30-minute 1:1 coaching session after the cohort
What you’ll learn
Practical communication skills for the conversations that shape how your work lands
Structure design reviews so conversations focus on decisions, not catching people up on context
Frame recommendations in ways that resonate with product, engineering, and leadership
Communicate your thinking clearly in high-stakes conversations, even when you don’t have time to prepare the perfect response
Turn 1:1s from status updates into strategic conversations
Share meaningful progress without constant self-promotion
Create lightweight visibility habits that help stakeholders understand your impact over time
Tailor the same recommendation for different audiences
Communicate design rationale using language that resonates beyond the design team
Build alignment by making tradeoffs and decisions easier to understand
Communicate impact without sounding self-promotional
Build a professional narrative that survives project transitions, reorganizations, and changing stakeholders
Become known for your judgment, not just your output
Learn directly from Cheryl
Cheryl Chepusova
Staff-level designer with 15+ years leading product teams across 3 continents
Who this course is for
Senior product designers with strong craft and product judgment who know they have more to contribute than their current scope reflects
Designers whose work is strong, but who want their judgment, potential, and impact to be understood beyond the work they deliver
Ambitious designers growing into strategic partners who want influence through strong thinking, not self-promotion.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from Cheryl Chepusova in a real-time, interactive format.
Community of peers
Stay accountable and share insights with like-minded professionals.
Bonus coaching
Optional 30-minute 1:1 for extra support after the cohort.
Lifetime access
Go back to course content and recordings whenever you need to.
Maven Guarantee
Your purchase is backed by the Maven Guarantee.
Course syllabus
4 live sessions • 21 lessons • 4 projects
Week 1
Nov
18
Communicating Design Decisions with Conviction
Wed 11/182:00 PM—3:00 PM (UTC)
Communicating Design Decisions with Conviction
Week 2
Nov
25
Lead Cross-Functional Conversations with Clarity
Wed 11/252:00 PM—3:00 PM (UTC)
Lead Cross-Functional Conversations with Clarity
Frequently asked questions
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Reimbursement
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