My Peers say it best
Michael and I worked together for over a year during his time at Logixboard, a growth stage startup. From the beginning of his tenure at Logixboard Michael was a strong contributor, both as a Product Designer as well as a member of the broader Product and RND team. He led multiple large projects, collaborating cross-functionally with engineering, product management, customer success, marketing, and sales to ensure his understanding of a project as well as the support of his teammates.
As a Product Designer Michael always looked to collaborate with engineers and product managers from the very early stages of a project. He often set up multiple iteration session with the engineering team during the early stages of design to better understand feasibility. He was always open to feedback on his concepts and was flexible, focusing on what would bring the most business value. He was also not afraid to set up calls with customers to research problems and test designs, collaborating directly with customer success to identify good targets.
Beyond strong project collaboration, as a member of the broader RND team he always provided timely feedback on process improvements. He proactively reached out on more than one occasion to share observations that could help improve the team dynamics between design, product, and engineering.
Michael was also an overall delight to work with. His positive and calm demeanor made him very approachable and made every challenge feel manageable. I would not hesitate to work with Michael again. He's a great asset to any team.
Senior Product Manager at Logixboard
I had the privilege of working with Michael Hatchwell at Online Metals, where he was the creative director and built/managed the UX design team, which I was part of. I reported directly to Michael.
A visionary, Michael has a great ability see the “big picture”. He is skilled with blending creativity with empathy & deep understanding of user needs, transforming complex business problems into simple, user-centered solutions, and in aligning teams to meet strategic business goals.
Michael has exceptional leadership skills - a hands-on “playing coach”, he fostered a collaborative and innovative work environment that allowed our design team to truly thrive. Michael was not just a manager, but also a mentor who genuinely cares about the development and success of his team members. An active & inspiring leader, he provided constructive feedback, challenged the team to think outside the box, and encouraged us to push our creative boundaries. I’m truly grateful for the invaluable knowledge and perspective I have gained under his leadership & mentorship.
Anyone who is fortunate enough to work with Michael will benefit greatly from his expertise, leadership, and commitment to excellence. I strongly recommend him as a design leader & team builder!
Over several years I’ve seen Michael grow an impressive and effective range of creative, leadership and project management skills through his own diligent efforts, across a wide range of project types.
Michael used his design leadership skills to help the Online Metals organization develop a new brand identity, by working across the organization from front-line team members to the executive leadership. In addition to design leadership, Michael is skilled in the methods of design thinking and agile development processes.
He also enjoys coaching others and readily takes on new opportunities to advance his skills while having a positive and meaningful impact on the business and the team.
I would recommend Michael for any design leadership position that requires open-minded collaboration, critical thinking and creative problem solving to formulate new products that users love to engage with.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michael this past year at Expedia. As a business manager of a one of our key loyalty businesses, I often relied on Michael to help find solutions to our design problems.
The biggest impact he had was re-designing our credit card microsite, where he helped increase our click through rate by 0.29%. This was a significant increase, and resulted in a whopping 11% increase of credit card approval rates.
Because of Michael’s simple design and ability to help our copywriters communicate difficult messages into easy concepts, our business was able to increase our top-line revenue.
His problem-solving attitude and great communication skills has been an asset to our team.
Program Manager at Apple