Leadership and design principles

Solve problems with systems, but start small

I like to look holistically at a problem and create systemic solutions, but start small with a proof of concept. This applies to team leadership, product development, and life in general. 

Create incentives not rules 

Whenever I’m trying to create change, I think deeply about aligning incentives to create behavior change. Whether I’m trying to improve design critique meetings or design a ratings system in a product, I’ve found that incentives are more powerful than rules.

Users first, not design first

Although designers views are often aligned with users, we can sometimes get dogmatic about our design-centric perspective. When building trust across disciplines, I’ve found it useful to drop the “design-centric” perspective and emphasize a customer-centric one that can help unite a team. 

Facilitate “aha moments” with customers

The best way to engage people in the work they’re doing is to connect them with the person using it. I’ve had success bringing engineers, stakeholders and others into conversations with our users to build real empathy and alignment.