Designing Better Work With Product Thinking | Vanessa Monsequeira

Vanessa Monsequeira spent years leading change initiatives and helping organizations roll out new systems. Again and again, she saw that the hardest part wasn't convincing people to change, it was that the work itself had never been intentionally designed. That realization led her to apply product thinking to the workplace, treating work as something to be researched, tested, and continuously improved. In this episode, Dart and Vanessa discuss what it means to design work intentionally, how product thinking is reshaping HR, and why the future of work depends less on new technology than on better design.

Vanessa Monsequeira is a people and product leader who applies product thinking to the design of work. She has led People teams at Miro and Gorilla and now advises founders and executives on building more intentional, human-centered organizations.

In this episode, Dart and Vanessa discuss:
- Why work should be designed
- HR as a product team
- The MVP approach to work
- Experimenting before scaling
- Rethinking performance management
- Designing fairness into systems
- Better managers by design
- AI as a learning partner
- Leading with an abundance mindset
- And other topics…

Vanessa Monsequeira is a people and product leader who helps organizations design better work through product thinking. She has held leadership roles at Miro, Gorilla, PwC, Deloitte, and Philips, where she applied product management principles to people strategy, employee experience, and organizational design. Today, she advises founders and executives on building better workplaces, developing stronger leaders, and navigating AI-driven change.

Connect with Vanessa:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessamonsequeira/
Website: https://www.vanessamonsequeira.com/

Work with Dart:
Dart is the CEO and co-founder of the work design firm 11fold. Build work that makes employees feel alive, connected to their work, and focused on what’s most important to the business. Book a call at 11fold.com.