Management
Stronger Design Principles Start with One Question: ‘Versus What?’
One of the hardest parts about writing down principles is to ensure they’re opinionated enough to be helpful. Here’s is the one question that can you write better design principles.
Good leaders ask good questions
A common myth is that leaders make all important decisions. This assumes leaders should own decision making instead of focusing on what’s more important: the decision making process. The reality is that the best leaders I know are the ones that provide clear direction, hire the best people around
Planning and executing a re-org
There isn’t a work conversation I have had recently with friends, peers, or former teammates across the industry that does not include a discussion of the higher than normal attrition rate companies are seeing. Anecdotally, every single friend of mine that works in tech and is able to change
Career pathing: five steps to building a clear career plan
One of the most frequent and rewarding conversations I have with designers across the industry is around career growth. Design is at a unique crossroads today. Companies are quickly realizing the value design can bring to the table. That realization is causing explosive growth in the demand for designers and
Scaling design teams and design recruiting
One of the most challenging roles a design leader plays is scaling a team. The way you get to help shape the culture and execution of dozens or hundreds of people is one of the most rewarding things you can do. As part of that, one of the most important
Your guide to resourcing discussions as a design manager
Budgeting and resourcing discussions are difficult conversations for most design managers. It’s hard for multiple reasons. First, nobody really prepares you for it. With engineering management, as an example, there is a need to have this resourcing conversation with the engineering team because their ability to deliver is critical
Using a decision making framework: a deep dive into RAPID®
I’ve been thinking a lot about operational efficiency and how to build more efficient organizations lately. The velocity of decision making in an organization is at the core of how efficient that organization is overall. If you combine the velocity of decision making with the clarity and accountability required
The lonely leader and compassion fatigue
Over the years, a common theme I’ve seen leaders across the industry talk about is the phenomenon of the lonely leader. Most leaders I talk to either feel or have felt at some point in their career, especially early in leadership journey, that their experience as a leader is
Empathy at work
In design, we often call out empathy as one of the core skills a designer needs to have in order to deeply understand their customers and hands on users. To develop empathy, we spend hours with our customers in their environments to understand the pressures they’re under, the pain
The five elements to good management: ask, listen, take action, empower, and follow up
There isn’t one magic recipe for management. There are many of recipes. The challenge with giving advise to managers, especially in design, is the changing environment in which managers operate. Different environments require different styles of management at different times. Different people have different personalities and imposing a single
