I often get caught up in adding things to increase my work, happiness, health, performance, focus, etc. Another app or post with another tactic or thing to add to my daily habits or workflow. Adding a daily habit can be very effective, and can lead to breakthrough and growth. But add too many things, and …
I don’t know how this popular resume trend took off, but I have some thoughts on it. Actually, it has been around for years, so “trend” probably isn’t the correct word for it. Anyway… I’m talking about those skills/software progress bars. I get it. As designers, we want to add some visual punch to our …
How do you become a leader? You act like one. Exhibit the qualities of leadership, and over time, you will be a leader. Most Sr. designers and design managers got to be where they are by demonstrating the qualities of leadership. That’s how they moved forward in their career. Here’s my quick list of key qualities that …
I remember the conversation like it was yesterday. Years ago I was talking to a talented Sr. UX designer on my team. I was obviously familiar with his portfolio, but I hadn’t seem him on Dribbble. I figured he didn’t have an invite (why else would he not have posted anything ever). “Dude…”, I said …
We can’t just do things how we’ve always done them. The cold hard truth is, millions of people have already lost their jobs. This isn’t business as usual. Our approach has to change. Designers must adapt. Here’s what to do differently during the coronavirus pandemic. 1. Do whatever it takes With companies around the world …
It’s easy to slip into the negativity, fear, and despair when it is posted everywhere you turn. As I mentioned last week, I slipped into that mode for a bit. It was NOT productive. It is very ineffective to you and your personal performance as a designer to focus on global doom and gloom that …
A lot has changed in America and in the world since I wrote my last blog post. The past week especially, I’ve often found myself stuck in the cycle of refreshing the news feeds. Refresh… still bad news out there… refresh… yep, still getting worse…. I’ve invested the past week preparing toward what I consider …
I’ve taken the week off to go skiing with my family. A week in the mountains is one of my favorite weeks of the year. It’s a big deal to me. I don’t have much experience skiing though. I’ve only been skiing for a few years. Historically, ski trips were something that I always wanted …
If you want to maximize the influence with your boss, you need to be strategic with when, and how you ask for things. Designers can’t ask for everything and get everything. It’s important you “spend” your “boss bucks” on what matters. Just like cash, if you keep spending your boss bucks fast enough you start running low on boss bucks to …
Want to be a designer who gets more work done in less time? Use Parkinson’s law to your advantage to crush your design project deadlines and accelerate your design career. In 1955, British scholar and author C. Northcote Parkinson wrote “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Even though he was …