Our Latest Articles.
From practical team dynamics to strategic vision-setting, we share fresh insights, test new approaches, and dig into the real challenges facing design leaders today.
Featured
"How to be a better design leader" advice was making me worse at my job
I had to stop following popular design leadership advice to actually lead
Four fits to make Design crucial at your company
When I spend time with design teams that are repeatedly creating new value, they make bets on where, how, and with whom Design can successfully bring the most value to customers, the company, teams, and individuals.
The Importance of Mapping Power Dynamics
There are limited returns when spending a significant amount of emotional energy trying to convert powerful skeptics into believers. There's a more practical, and dare I say it, more strategic way to deal with skeptics.
Strategy Maps: Connecting Design to Business Objectives
Strategy Maps are powerful tools that can help bridge this gap by visualizing the relationships between different business goals and the role of design in achieving them.
Design leaders who stand out most, grow in five key areas
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Operational Management
17 posts
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Emotional Intelligence
16 posts
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Strategic Foresight
13 posts
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Business Acumen
13 posts
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Relationship Management
9 posts
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Personal Growth
6 posts
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Make Design Desirable
3 posts
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Events
1 post
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Communication
1 post
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Product Management
1 post
Latest Articles
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Finding Design Practice - Partnerships Fit
Instead of thinking about partnerships as a separation of skills and responsibilities, think about them in a similar way that customers adopt new products and services. Some partners are early adopters, while there are others who adopt late – often begrudgingly.
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The Importance of Mapping Power Dynamics
There are limited returns when spending a significant amount of emotional energy trying to convert powerful skeptics into believers. There's a more practical, and dare I say it, more strategic way to deal with skeptics.
Articles
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Why Designers might actually like data: A case for gaining statistical literacy (video)
Two particularly powerful tools to validate your design choices and predict your impact are correlation and linear regression analysis.
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Imago - a pragmatic way to practice active listening
Generally speaking, Empathy Maps are helpful to understand additional perspectives, but for many of us, it is difficult to be empathetic in the moment. Especially when we disagree with someone.
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PLAY: Rapidly Figure Out Design Team Priorities
A simple matrix-like tool to simultaneously focus on eliminating and reducing the activities that aren’t producing the results you need so that you can raise and create the activities that are or will.
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Strategy Maps: Connecting Design to Business Objectives
Strategy Maps are powerful tools that can help bridge this gap by visualizing the relationships between different business goals and the role of design in achieving them.
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3 Key Responsibilities When Transitioning into Design Leadership
Many designers aspire to transition from individual contributors to design leaders. This shift comes with its own set of challenges and responsibilities.
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Your work won't speak for itself.
5 lessons that have helped me amplify the value of design.
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You're now in charge. What's the plan?
Four key elements to develop a comprehensive, winning plan to lead a design team.
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Change your inner narrative with neuroscience and post-its
Use neuroscience (and post-its) to hack your brain from negative thought loops
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Design is biased. And, your execs know it.
It's critical to find data, leverage it, and examine your own bias. Doing so means you'll be a better advocate for the value of design because I could anticipate how executives might react when I presented data like this.
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5 steps the most effective designers I know overcome self-doubt
Effective transformation from designer to design leader starts and ends with nuance. The most effective designers I know leverage nuance to overcome self-doubt in five steps.
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Selling a Design System before asking for buy-in
An “adoption first” strategy for an internal Design System at EA
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Introducing a culture of design inside existing company culture
I have never been in a position where I could declare culture change is going to happen. Here's how I've successfully introduced a culture of design anyway.
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Connect Design and Business Outcomes with Strategy Maps
Simple in structure, a Strategy Map shows the relationships between organizational objectives through underlying quality perspectives.