Podcast Summary: Design Better — Cassie McDaniel on Eliminating PM from Medium’s Product Teams

Episode: Video Rewind: Cassie McDaniel: How Medium eliminated its PM function and started moving faster
Date: December 24, 2025
Host(s): Eli Woolery & Aarron Walter (The Curiosity Department)
Guest: Cassie McDaniel, Head of Design at Medium
Sponsored by: Wix Studio

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode features Cassie McDaniel, Medium’s Head of Design, discussing Medium’s bold experiment of eliminating the product management (PM) function, leading to faster product development and a more empowered design and engineering team. The hosts and Cassie break down the rationale, challenges, and impact of this structural change while exploring Cassie’s career journey, design leadership philosophies, and the evolving skill expectations in product teams.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Cassie’s Career Journey and Design Philosophy

• Design as Applied Craft & Service
  Cassie traces her journey through agency work, freelancing, healthcare, and tech (Mozilla, Medium), highlighting a common thread: finding opportunities where her skills are most useful and can create meaning.
  • “It was always about how can I make meaning with my design skills?” (Cassie, 04:30)
• Motivation for Leadership
  Cassie emphasizes her drive to bridge gaps between creative and technical teams, seeking to help teams deliver impactful work collectively.
  • “...there was always this gap between the creative teams, between actually delivering excellent work. And I thought I could fill that gap.” (Cassie, 08:32)
• Value of Critical, Concept-Based Design Thinking
  She discusses how her education emphasized critical thinking over tools, sharing a personal value of responsibility in design:
  • “I always believed that design could be really powerful...with that power, to me there was always a huge sense of responsibility.” (Cassie, 10:31)

Team Culture & The Art of Critique

• Receiving and Giving Critique
  The group discusses generational shifts related to critique and feedback in design education and workplaces.
  • “We are iterating so fast that you really kind of have to just take it and run with it and try to remove yourself from this process so that you can focus on making the work better. It is about the work. It really isn't about you.” (Cassie, 13:27)
• Emotional Resilience in Creative Work
  Emphasis on humility and detachment from one’s work, especially in fast-paced product teams:
  • “It's such a valuable skill, not just in design, but in life...especially in the creative field.” (Cassie, 14:28)

Eliminating Product Management (PM) at Medium

• Rationale for Removing PMs
  Medium’s leadership felt bottlenecked by routing all ideas through a small PM core, believing their design and engineering teams could absorb product responsibilities more directly, leading to faster iteration and reduced friction.

  • “Every single idea in the company was kind of being filtered through these three people...that felt inefficient.” (Cassie, 16:35)
  • “We wanted to make more product updates…We also had a lot of faith ... that our designers and engineers could do some of that PM work...and make it happen very quickly without drama.” (Cassie, 16:46)

• Change Management and Human Cost
  The transition was not easy—Cassie acknowledges the psychological impact of constant change in startups and the importance of clarity in purpose.

  • “You want to have a tribe, you want to settle in with people that you work with. And it's really a constant thing that we're fighting.” (Cassie, 18:00)

• Impact: More Ownership & Faster Shipping
  The move led to designers and engineers feeling more empowered and responsible for holistic product thinking and outcomes.

  • “They take on more responsibility, they have more wind behind their wings. They feel like they're more empowered to suggest ideas…” (Cassie, 18:37)

• When PMs Add Value
  Cassie makes clear that the PM role isn’t obsolete—its value depends on business complexity and structure:

  • “Maybe a PM is more effective in a multi-vertical business...But there was a lot of complexity that I don't think we needed in a simple subscription-based business.” (Cassie, 17:44)

Shifting Skill Sets: Towards Well-Rounded Product Teams

• Blurring Roles: Designers, Engineers, and Business Thinking
  Cassie predicts a continued industry shift toward teams where design, engineering, and business logic are more deeply understood by all players:

  • “We are kind of in this world...where being more well rounded is beneficial. So knowing a little bit about how the backend is built...knowing how things are designed or what makes a good user experience…” (Cassie, 21:20)
  • “It probably makes sense for designers to go deeper in understanding the business. It probably makes sense for engineers to go deeper in understanding design...” (Cassie, 22:05)

• Reflection on Indispensability
  She draws parallels to the field of user research, noting that all roles must regularly re-examine and re-assert their unique value to the business.

  • “Designers need to reckon with that question too.” (Cassie, 24:38)
  • “...product management is probably reckoning with that a little bit too. Like, what are the hard skills that I have that make me indispensable to the business?” (Cassie, 24:32)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I think it can be frustrating for a team that wants to move fast if the designer is, oh, poor me, I can't believe you said this about my work. My work is perfect... It is about the work. It really isn't about you.” (Cassie, 00:24)
• “My observation with you is that you have a perspective...you've got an idea about the right way to approach this. Does that sound right?” (Aaron Walter, 09:33)
• “If we're not generating value for the business, then why are we doing [it]?” (Cassie, 19:48)
• “Everybody has to...In fact, Eli and I were just looking at an article today about an engineer who was making $150,000 a year…” (Aaron Walter, 24:44) [segue into subscription section]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment Topic | |-----------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:24 | Cassie on detachment from design critique & moving fast | | 04:30 | Cassie’s career journey and motivation for design leadership | | 09:52 | Cassie on cultivating critical thinking in design | | 12:51 | Perspective on generational change in receiving feedback and critiques | | 14:50 | Discussion on emotional resilience and learning from critique | | 16:01 | Eliminating PMs at Medium: rationale and process | | 17:44 | When PMs add value and Medium’s unique context | | 18:37 | Immediate impact: increased ownership by designers and engineers | | 21:20 | Shifts toward blended, business-savvy product teams | | 24:44 | The need for all product roles to reassert value amid changing team structures |

Episode Flow & Tone

The discussion is direct, engaging, and honest, with Cassie providing candid, thoughtful responses about leadership, career growth, team structure, and industry change. The hosts challenge and build on each other’s points, fostering a conversational and insightful tone. Cassie's perspective is pragmatic, optimistic, and humble, consistently emphasizing learning, empowerment, and adaptability in product and design teams.

Useful for:
Anyone interested in product team structure, design leadership, company culture, or evolving product/development workflows, especially where rapid iteration and empowerment are strategic goals. The episode offers practical insights and honest reflections for design leaders, PMs, engineers, and those considering how to grow their own roles in rapidly evolving tech organizations.