Product Design Manager · Porto, Portugal · ListenIn Labs
I'm Stefan Vilar Markiewicz — a Product Design Manager based in Porto, Portugal. I lead design teams inside tech companies. Most of what I write about starts closer to home than that: noticing my own patterns first, then recognising them elsewhere.
But my foundation isn't in design. It's in psychology — a masters with a specialization in psychotherapy. I added a postgraduate in UX and design research later, but the psychology came first.
I became more interested in what disagreement was signalling: different incentives, missing context, uncertainty—and sometimes my own reaction to being challenged. I stopped assuming every career obstacle needed another skill. Sometimes it did. Sometimes the obstacle was a habit, a relationship, or the organisation around me. I stopped reacting to the room and started reading it.
ListenIn Labs is a publication and professional-development practice helping product designers build influence over the work they deliver. It runs alongside my day job: a field note every two weeks, two kinds of 1:1 session, and Shaping, a small-group practice cohort. A lot of what I write starts from noticing my own patterns; I track them with a simple ACT-style log I built for myself.
My work draws on product design leadership, psychology, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: how we notice the patterns shaping our actions and choose a useful response without waiting for complete certainty.
These are lenses for examining real product work—not a claim that every workplace problem exists inside the individual.
Every issue starts with something I've personally observed — in my own patterns, in my team, in the weird gap between how designers think and how the business thinks. And every issue ends with one practical experiment you can try.
My work draws on product design leadership, psychology, and Acceptance and
Commitment Therapy: how we notice the patterns shaping our actions and choose a
useful response without waiting for complete certainty.
“I stopped assuming every career obstacle needed another skill. Sometimes it did.”
What I write about
The decisions — How do I contribute before the solution is fixed?
The conversations — How do I say something useful when the conversation matters?
The patterns — Why do I keep responding this way?
The conditions — What is—and is not—mine to change?
Product Design Manager with experience across SaaS and tech. Psychology background. I've led teams, shipped products, lost arguments to PMs, won a few back, and learned that the gap between good design and respected design is rarely only about the Figma file.
Work with me
FLAGSHIP · PLANNED NEXT COHORT · REGISTER INTEREST
Shaping: Influence in Practice
A six-week live cohort for product designers who want more say in the decisions behind their work. Practise on real situations, with a small group and personal feedback.
Six weeks · Four to six designers · Live online · Personal feedback · 30-day follow-up
The intended shift: from “I can see what needs questioning, but I usually work around it” to “I can identify what is happening, make a considered recommendation, and take a useful next step—even without complete certainty or formal authority.”
1:1 · TWO SESSIONS
Clarity Session
One difficult workplace situation. A clearer next move. Two one-to-one sessions that look at one situation that keeps repeating, through the lens of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), adapted for product work. Professional development, not therapy.
Sessions of 60 and 30 minutes · Video call · Written clarity document
Positioning Session
CV and portfolio positioning for your next product design role. One hour on how your CV and portfolio read to someone who regularly reviews design applications. I review both beforehand, and you leave with written takeaways.
ListenIn Labs
A psychologist’s field notes on working in tech.