UX Leadership By Design

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In this special Season 3 premiere of UX Leadership by Design, Fuzzy Math co-founders Mark Baldino and Ben Ihnchak sit down live with their team for a candid Q&A reflecting on nearly 18 years of building a UX consultancy. From stakeholder management and work-life balance to founding lessons and company culture, the two share honest insights on what it really takes to lead and grow a design firm. Whether you’re a UX leader, aspiring founder, or design professional, this episode is packed with real-world wisdom from two people who’ve lived it.
Key Takeaways
Trust is the foundation of a lasting co-founder relationship
Selling on relationships and outcomes matters more than selling on process
Helping people grow in their careers is one of the most rewarding parts of running a firm
Work-life balance looks different for everyone — knowing your priorities is what matters
Transitioning from founder-led to a leadership team model is a game changer
Stakeholder management is both the hardest and most rewarding part of consulting
Culture doesn’t disappear when you go remote — it just requires more intention
You don’t have to be passionate about every part of running a business to be great at it
Chapters
00:00 — Welcome & Intro: A Special Live Season 3 Premiere
01:00 — Introducing Ben Ihnchak: 18 Years of Fuzzy Math
02:24 — What Would Surprise You About Your Co-Founder?
05:10 — Advice We Wish We Had When Starting Out
09:28 — Work-Life Balance as a Founder & Parent
14:34 — Biggest Accomplishments & Milestones at Fuzzy Math
19:15 — Misconceptions About UX & Stakeholder Challenges
27:37 — How Fuzzy Math Started & What We’ve Learned
42:24 — Audience Q&A & Closing Thoughts

Resources & Links
Connect with Ben Ihnchak on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Fuzzy Math - B2B & Enterprise UX Design Consultancy

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In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino talks with Ryan Glasgow, CEO and founder of Sprig, about the future of UX research in an AI-first world. Ryan shares how Sprig was built to replace legacy survey tools like Qualtrics and SurveyMonkey by enabling real-time, in-context feedback and powerful AI-driven analysis. The conversation dives deep into how modern research can scale with fewer resources, why AI should be seen as an intern—not a threat—and how researchers can thrive by shifting toward strategic influence within organizations. If you’re in product, design, or research leadership, this one’s for you.
Key Takeaways
Legacy research tools are broken – They’re disconnected from user behavior and painfully slow—Sprig fixes that by embedding surveys in key workflows.
AI isn’t here to replace you—it’s your intern – The most successful teams treat AI like an eager junior teammate that accelerates insights and frees up strategic thinking.
UX research is evolving toward strategic impact – Tactical research is being democratized across teams; researchers who shift toward company-level strategy will thrive.
Tool bloat is real—consolidation is the future – Many orgs are replacing 3–5 survey tools with Sprig to reduce costs and streamline workflows.
You can’t scale great product experiences without scaling insights – Research embedded across the product journey is the only way to keep up.
Designers and Product Managers are sharing research responsibilities – It’s now table stakes for cross-functional teams to gather, analyze, and act on feedback.
Sprig uses Sprig – The team applies its own product to optimize A/B testing, feature development, and in-product recruiting—truly eating their own dog food.
Chapters
From Product to Founder: Why Build Sprig – 01:00
What Legacy Survey Tools Get Wrong – 04:00
Sprig’s End-to-End Research Workflow – 07:30
Using Sprig to Build Sprig (Meta UX) – 09:45
AI as Intern: Supercharging Strategic Work – 22:00
The New Research Stack: Strategic > Tactical – 29:00
The Future of UX Research Teams – 31:00

Resources & Links
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn
Sprig AI-Native Survey App

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Fuzzy Math - B2B & Enterprise UX Design Consultancy

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In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino sits down with Sara Fortier, CEO and founder of Outwitly, a UX talent solutions firm that evolved from a UX consultancy into a staffing partner for UX, research, and service design teams.
Sara shares her journey from agency consulting to UX staffing, explaining how shifting market dynamics, including digital transformation, AI disruption, and the rise of the blended workforce, led to her firm’s transformation. She and Mark discuss the traits that make contract designers successful, how leaders can better manage mixed teams, and the growing pressure for design teams to align with business outcomes.
Sara also offers practical advice for designers at every level—on building trust, navigating uncertainty, and developing the soft skills and business fluency necessary for long-term career success.

Key Takeaways
Pivoting with Purpose: Outwitly’s shift from UX consulting to staffing wasn’t just reactive—it was strategic. Sara shares how market demand, revenue signals, and hard-earned confidence drove the transition.
Blended Teams Work—With the Right Talent: Contract designers can provide speed, flexibility, and specialization—but only when they bring seniority, stakeholder savvy, and initiative. Soft skills are non-negotiable.
Leadership Is Getting Pulled in Every Direction: Today’s UX leaders are balancing emotional support for their teams, pressure from execs on AI, and increasing demands to prove business value—all while staying current themselves.
Designers Must Embrace Business Fluency: Career longevity increasingly depends on understanding how design impacts revenue, costs, and KPIs. Designers need to connect their work to strategic business drivers.
Trust Is Built Through the Basics: Responding to emails, sending updates, raising risks early—these are simple but critical practices that build stakeholder trust and create long-term credibility.
Relationships = Resilience: Strong networks and internal relationship-building help designers navigate layoffs, transitions, and career pivots. Build trust across teams, not just within design.
Chapters
00:00 – Intro & Guest Welcome
01:30 – From Industrial Design to UX Leadership
05:15 – The Pivot to UX Staffing
09:45 – What’s Driving the Rise in Contract UX Talent?
12:40 – What Makes a Great Contractor?
15:40 – The Pressure on Design Leaders
21:30 – Career Longevity in UX: Advice for Designers

Resources & Links
Connect with Sara on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Fuzzy Math - B2B & Enterprise UX Design Consultancy

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In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, host Mark Baldino is joined by three members of Pendo’s design team—Senior Product Design Manager Holly Reynolds, Senior Product Designer John Incampo, and Product Design Intern Ryan Markley—to explore how AI is reshaping real-world design work from the ground up.
They discuss how leadership at Pendo has created a culture of experimentation and empowerment, how AI tools like Bolt, Cursor, and Claude are integrated across the product and design process, and what it takes to balance speed with quality. Whether you're a new designer, an experienced leader, or somewhere in between, this episode is full of honest takes, practical tips, and forward-thinking insights into what AI actually looks like in a modern design team.
Key Takeaways:
1. Culture of Empowerment: Pendo’s leadership doesn’t just allow AI exploration—they encourage it, creating space for experimentation, risk-taking (without risking users), and team-driven innovation.

2. Hands-On AI Tools & Integration: From interns to senior designers, team members are actively using tools like Cursor, Claude, Bolt, and Figma’s AI features to accelerate research, prototyping, documentation, and collaboration.

3. Collaborative Learning Environment: Weekly product + AI sessions and open Slack channels create a culture of shared discovery where everyone contributes wins, tools, and ideas.

4. Practical Guardrails: While AI is everywhere, the team reinforces foundational UX process—reminding each other not to skip steps, misread data, or forget critical thinking in the rush to ship.

5. Real Wins in the Workflow: AI is unlocking richer prototyping, better animation handoff, faster research synthesis, and scalable documentation through tools like custom GPTs.

6. Design Ops Meets AI: The team is rethinking design systems and documentation with AI—exploring ways to automate OOUX structures, update components, and turn dead docs into dynamic tools.

7. Advice for AI Newcomers: Whether you’re overwhelmed, underexposed, or unsure where to start, the team shares practical tips for getting started, experimenting safely, and staying ahead of the curve.
Chapters
00:00 – Welcome + Meet the Pendo Design Trio
01:00 – Career Paths and AI Exposure
05:30 – How Pendo’s Leadership Encourages AI Exploration
08:00 – Internal AI Forums, Slack Channels, and Culture of Sharing
10:50 – Guardrails, Trust, and Responsible Use
13:00 – Balancing Speed with UX Process
15:30 – Cost, Tool Chaos, and What’s Next
17:20 – When AI Skips the Process (and How to Handle It)
20:00 – AI in Design Education: A Student’s POV
25:10 – Real Wins: Richer Prototypes and Faster Handoffs
27:50 – Using AI for Hiring, Microcopy, and Design Systems
33:00 – Turning Design System Docs into Chatbots
36:00 – Advice for Hesitant Designers and AI Newbies
42:30 – Wrap-up + Final Thoughts
Links:
Connect with Holly on LinkedIn
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn
Connect with John on LinkedIn

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Fuzzy Math - B2B & Enterprise UX Design Consultancy

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In this episode of UX Leadership by Design, Mark Baldino is joined by veteran UX strategist Paul Boag to explore what’s holding design organizations back—and how to fix it. With over 30 years of experience across sectors, Paul shares why small, underfunded UX teams must stop trying to “own” design and instead empower others through training, standards, and strategic leadership. From breaking down the four pillars of a strong UX practice to candid takes on titles, culture change, stakeholder influence, and democratizing design, this conversation is packed with perspective and practical advice.
Key Takeaways
Design isn’t yours to own: UX teams need to stop trying to control everything and instead focus on enabling others across the organization to improve user experience.
Democratizing UX scales your impact: A Center of Excellence (CoE) model empowers non-designers to participate in UX while design leaders maintain standards and guidance.
Perfection is the enemy of progress: You can’t scale UX by insisting on pixel-perfect quality. Impact at scale comes from breadth, not control.
Influence comes from empathy: We do user research for customers, but not for stakeholders. Understand your colleagues like users to gain traction.
Start with working policies: You may not be able to enforce org-wide UX standards—but you can set boundaries for how you work effectively.
Design leaders must become culture hackers: Changing design maturity in an organization means shifting how teams think, work, and value UX over time.
Chapters
00:00 – Introductions and background
05:45 – Designer Is the Problem Word
08:36 – UX Teams Are Too Small to Own Everything
10:58 – Democratizing UX at Oxford
13:09 – Letting Go of Pixel Perfection
17:02 – 4 Pillars of UX Leadership
23:51 – From Working Policies to Org-wide Standards
26:57 – Tailor UX Messaging to Stakeholders
29:49 – Culture Hacking Through UX
32:26 – Resources & Where to Find Paul
Resources & Links
Connect with Paul Boag on LinkedIn
Paul’s Website
Paul’s Awesome Podcast (Latest episode covers his Oxford University case study)

Connect with Mark on LinkedIn
Fuzzy Math - B2B & Enterprise UX Design Consultancy