Sean Smith - Design Leader Building AI Products

My role

Manager & Lead throughout, IC in the middle. The project started as two parallel concepts, mine and a team member's, that we blended. He led while I advised and contributed. When he took personal leave, I stepped in as primary designer while holding the manager role. I handed it back when I went on parental leave; he pivoted it further and shipped the variation that's live today.

Challenges

Five layered problems we had to solve together, not in sequence:

• Blend parallel work streams already in flight.
• Simplify a UI that had quietly accumulated complexity.
• Evolve interactions users had muscle memory for.
• Align across multiple partner teams.
• Build confidence the pattern would hold for AI features we hadn't yet designed.

Outcome: shipped across Outlook iOS and Android

The Dynamic Action Button delivered five interlocking outcomes, informed by user research:

• One Copilot. A single, native entry, not an accessory bolted onto the toolbar.
• Anchored Entry. Consistent location across platforms and states, so muscle memory survives.
• Rapid Chat. Low-friction access to conversational actions from the core reading flow.
• Smart Discovery. AI affordances people can find without being taught.
• Conversational Copilot. The bar as the runway for future AI actions, not a bottleneck against them.

Reflection

• Add clarity. The right answer was almost always fewer elements, more consistent logic.
• Solve the right problem. "Where does Copilot go" was a symptom. "How do actions feel native on mobile" was the real question.
• Persistence and progress. Cross-functional alignment is not a meeting. It's a months-long practice, and the design lead is the one who has to keep the thread.