25+ Years Shaping Product Systems & Scaling Global Teams

Every ambitious product relies on something deeper than code or creativity. It depends on the systems behind it: how decisions are made, how teams align, and how intelligence scales. That’s the space I work in... 

I am Michael Storey, and I build those systems across UX, intelligent interfaces, and product operating models.

I didn’t start my career planning to be an organizational architect. I started as a designer who loved solving visual problems and creating intuitive interfaces. That love remains, but over 25 years I’ve learned the highest-leverage work happens at a different level.

My journey took me from design studios in Bath and London, to building European creative operations at Amazon, to leading global design and product organizations serving millions, and now to AI-enabled product development at a fast-growing PropTech company. Each step taught me how organizations work and how design creates value at scale.

  • I trained in graphic design at Brunel College, earning a BTEC Diploma, a Higher Diploma in Computer-Assisted Graphic Design, and a Professional Diploma from The Chartered Society of Designers. I learned both the physical and digital worlds of design.

    Early roles at agencies including Design Central, Domain, and FWD Solutions taught me to translate business goals into design, manage teams under tight deadlines, and navigate client politics. At Imperium, leading UX, design communications, and software teams, I realized the most impactful work wasn’t beautiful screens but building systems that enable teams to consistently deliver.

    As VP of Product Design at Whype, I led multidisciplinary teams across industries and learned that good process is not bureaucracy. It is the infrastructure that allows creativity to scale beyond what any individual can hold in their head.

  • In 2012, I joined Amazon to build their European Creative Services operation. Moving from agencies to a massive, operationally rigorous company was culture shock. Amazon demands data, clarity, and customer obsession at every level.

    I started leading a 50-person design and UX team across multiple countries and languages, establishing processes that maintained quality at scale. This led to my promotion as Head of Global Creative Services, scaling a 200-person organization supporting 100 million Prime members and processing over 200 million assets per week.

    I internalized Amazon’s leadership principles as operational tools. Customer obsession meant defining projects by real user benefit. Bias for action meant making decisions with imperfect information. Hire and develop the best meant protecting quality under pressure.

    I then led UX strategy for Prime, P&L for Imaging as a Service, and global product design for employee services, proving that design separated from business outcomes is art, not product. Amazon taught me that scale doesn’t mean slow, rigor and innovation can coexist, and clear thinking drives better decisions.

  • In 2022, I joined RentSpree as Chief Experience Officer and later served as Interim CTO, leading engineering teams in the U.S. and Thailand. This was a deliberate choice to show that the principles I learned at Amazon apply broadly.

    RentSpree was shipping constantly but lacked an operational model to turn features into coherent user value and business outcomes. Design and research operated as service functions, career paths were unclear, and cross-functional work relied on heroic effort.

    I transformed this by unifying design, research, and content into a strategic function, implementing cross-functional trios, establishing experimentation infrastructure, embedding UX metrics into business reviews, and leading AI product strategy with agentic workflows.

    The results included 30 to 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth, 30 percent reduction in support volume, conversion improvements from 19 to 47 percent, listing creation cut from 45 minutes to 5, and improved engagement. These outcomes prove the operating model scales across different companies and contexts.

  • I’m a father of five, which teaches patience, systems thinking, and that perfect is the enemy of good. Managing school, sports, and activities forces resilient systems, effective delegation, and ruthless prioritization.

    I snowboard in the Pacific Northwest, a practice that mirrors design leadership: reading terrain, adapting to conditions, and trusting instincts while maintaining technique.

    I paint and work wood in my garage, grounding myself in craft. Sloppy joinery fails, just as poor design does. This keeps me connected to creation even at higher levels of abstraction.

    My journey from the UK to Seattle, from agency director to Fortune 100 executive to startup CXO, has shown me that principles transfer even when tactics differ, clarity and honesty work everywhere, and good work speaks for itself regardless of title or company.

Why Work With Me

If you've read this far, you have a sense of my perspective, experience, and approach. The question now is whether working together makes sense for your organization and your situation.

You're at an Inflection Point

Your current operating model is showing strain. What got you here won't get you there. You need transformation, not incremental improvement. You're ready to make real changes, not just talk about them.

You Value Clarity Over Politeness

I speak directly. I'll tell you what I actually think, not what I think you want to hear. If that sounds threatening rather than refreshing, we're probably not a good fit. But if you're tired of consultants who tell you everything is fine while cashing checks, you'll appreciate my approach.

You Care About Outcomes

If you primarily care about design awards, aesthetic perfection, or following trends, we'll frustrate each other. But if you care about business outcomes, user value, and building products that matter, we'll align.

You Want to Build, Not Just Fix

I'm interested in organizations that want to build for the future, not just patch current problems. If you want someone to come in, fix immediate issues, and leave without changing the underlying system, hire a contractor. If you want to build organizational capabilities that last beyond any individual, let's talk.

You're Willing to Invest

Transformation takes time, money, and organizational commitment. If you're looking for quick fixes or cheap solutions, I'm not your person. But if you're ready to invest in building something sustainable, I can show you how to get there.

What You Can Expect

Honesty

Rigor

Partnership

Action Bias

My recommendations are grounded in data, frameworks, and experience. I don't make things up or rely on vague intuition.

I'll tell you what I actually think, even when it's uncomfortable. I won't shade truth to be more palatable or politically safe.

I favor progress over perfection. We'll move quickly, learn from mistakes, and adjust rather than endlessly analyzing until we're certain.

I see myself as a partner to your organization, not a vendor. Your success is my success. I'm invested in outcomes, not just completing deliverables.

Accountability

I hold myself accountable for outcomes and expect the same from teams I work with. If something isn't working, we'll address it directly rather than making excuses.

Workshops and one-on-one engagements for leaders building influence and systems thinking.

My Philosophy on Design Leadership

Over 25 years, I've developed strong opinions about what makes design organizations succeed and what causes them to struggle. These aren't academic theories. They're hard-won insights from building teams, launching products, making mistakes, and learning from them.

Authenticity Over Performance

Too many leaders perform leadership instead of practicing it. They adopt personas, hide behind jargon, and speak in platitudes that confuse teams and exhaust themselves.

I believe in authentic leadership. I speak plainly, admit what I don’t know, explain disagreements, and acknowledge mistakes. Authenticity doesn’t mean saying everything unfiltered, but bringing your real self, values and all, to work.

Teams sense authenticity. They trust leaders who are genuine more than those who are polished. Trust is the foundation of every high-performing organization.

Impact Over Awards

Design awards recognize craft and creativity, but they shouldn’t define success. Real impact is measured in business outcomes: revenue, conversion, retention, efficiency, customer satisfaction, and strategic differentiation.

This doesn’t mean abandoning craft. Thoughtful, beautiful design often performs better, but beauty serves outcomes, not itself. Form follows function is as much a business principle as a design one.

Chasing awards over outcomes leads to work that impresses judges but doesn’t move metrics. The best work often goes unnoticed because it’s so intuitive it disappears into the experience. That is true success.

Systems Over Heroics

Organizations built on individual heroics are fragile. When success depends on specific people working unsustainable hours or holding knowledge in their heads, the system can’t scale.

I build systems that work without heroics. Processes that ensure quality without VP review, keep teams aligned without endless meetings, and maintain consistency without stifling creativity.

This requires patience, discipline, and humility because good systems often make leadership less visible. The reward is sustainable scaling, distributed decision-making, smooth leadership transitions, and space for teams to do their best work.

Clarity Over Consensus

Consensus feels good, but it’s slow, produces watered-down compromises, and diffuses accountability.

I prioritize clarity over consensus. Decisions are made with input, not everyone’s agreement. Decision rights are named clearly, and leaders disagree and commit when their perspective doesn’t prevail.

Amazon’s principle “disagree and commit” captures this. Voice disagreement, then fully support the decision once made. Clear decision rights reduce friction, eliminate endless looping meetings, and create accountability for outcomes. This is not dictatorship; it’s knowing when to gather input, when to decide, and who owns the results.

Growth Over Comfort

High-performing teams are not comfortable teams. They are challenged beyond their current capabilities, receive direct and frequent feedback, uphold high standards, and treat growth as expected, not optional.

This requires real psychological safety, where people can take risks, admit mistakes, ask questions, and challenge ideas without fear, even when it’s uncomfortable.

I push teams to attempt what feels hard, give specific actionable feedback, hold people accountable, and invest in growth because I believe in potential, not to be liked. The teams I lead remember me not as comfortable, but as someone who made them better and created conditions for work they’re proud of.

Users Over Stakeholders

Stakeholder management consumes enormous design energy. Product managers, engineers, marketing, and executives all have valid needs, but these cannot override user needs. When design focuses on stakeholders over users, it loses strategic value.

I teach teams to translate stakeholder requests into real user problems. When a feature is requested, designers validate the user need and assess whether the solution is right. Sometimes the answer is no. Designers must push back respectfully, using data and research to guide decisions toward solutions that truly serve users.

Design earns its seat at the table not by executing others’ visions but by advocating for users and improving decisions through customer insight.