My Leadership Playbook

Some of the ideas I've picked up about managing UX design teams and working in digital transformations

They are not necessarily original ideas and I will acknowledge where I picked them up. Have also included some things we've tried and failed and what we learned along the way.

TL;DR - my basic principles

There are a few things I insist on with any team as a starting point:

  • The team is #1. Always. Have their back, help them, support them. Always.
  • Regular design team retros and goal setting.
  • Avoid reoccurring meetings. My only standing meetings each week are 1:1s and design review over lunch.
  • Low fidelity fast. High fidelity slow. Generate lots of ideas quickly then take your time to think and finesse them.
  • Hire for passion and tenacity. You can teach people how to design. You can't teach them to give a shit.

So why a playbook?

Huge sports fan, especially American Football so a playbook made natural sense. You will pick up on some sporting metaphors throughout the blog including...

Stretch the field

How can we encourage our teams to strive for better? To go a bit bigger and..

Moving the ball forward

This business is a marathon, not a sprint. We want to get better professionally each day and advance our work forward a little more, learning something each day.

For a project, this is much like football. You get a few yards, your design moves forward. Then you iterate and move forward another few yards. Sometimes it feels like you're not getting anywhere then suddenly you gash the defense for a big play and get a break through on your project. Focus on moving things forward a little bit and the big plays will come.

Celebrate a win

This goes beyond sports but celebrating is essential. Make sure your team knows when they've achieved something. Celebrate with cake/beer/lunch/dinner/offsite - whatever.

* both sides of the UX ball * celebrate a win * Show up is 50% * more...