2027 speakers

Ryan rumsey

Headshot of Ryan Rumsey. He stands against a brick wall smiling.

WORKSHOP

They will never get UX. You’re gonna win anyway.

Your colleagues will never understand what you do. Good thing you don’t need them to! In this energizing workshop full of laughs and gasps, Ryan shares his most cringe-worthy career moment and the realization from it that changed everything. 

This workshop is for you if: 

  • You want your business cases to land better with leadership or cross-functional partners. 

  • Your requests for more time to do research or prototyping never seem to go anywhere. 

  • You're constantly weighing competing priorities and need a better way to make those trade-offs visible.

  • You've walked out of a meeting knowing exactly what your team needed—but couldn't translate it into something leadership could act on in the room.

During this workshop, you'll take a real frustration from your job (like not having enough time to do research), and: 

  • Reframe it as a consequence leadership has to reckon with, rather than a complaint to be waved off.

  • Learn a repeatable framework (based on the same logic top consultants use) for building three distinct options, each with their own trade-offs, so you're offering a choice instead of a single ask.

  • Practice presenting those options so they read as a clear business case rather than a philosophical argument.

You'll leave with a finished example built from your own situation, plus a framework you can reuse on your next prioritization conversation, resourcing request, or planning cycle.

ABOUT THIS SPEAKER

Ryan (he/him) is a former tech executive turned author, coach, consultant, and tiny business owner. He is the CEO of Second Wave Dive and founder of Chief Design Officer School.

Ryan has extensive hands-on product, management, and executive experience at companies like Apple, Electronic Arts, USAA, Nestlé, and Comcast. He is the author of Business Thinking for Designers and Play Up Your Impact, but more importantly a dad, husband, and friend. 

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Throughline 2027

Online February 3-5

Get your tickets now

Throughline 2027 ・ Online February 3-5 ・ Get your tickets now ・