Things to keep in mind when building in 2024.
Craft
- Good is better than perfect. Aim for good enough to start, ship it, and then refine over time. Spending too much time on niceties too early has diminishing returns.
- Tool are tools—don’t forget that. Anyone can operate a tool, few can think critically and beyond the tool. Never confuse tools with skill. Remember “No matter what tools you use to create, the true instrument is you.” — Rick Rubin.
- In the world of business, the true value of design is to visualize strategy and tactics. What does this mean? It means a picture is worth a 1000 words, and a prototype is worth a 1000 meetings.
- Becoming a great storyteller is essential for all designers. It’s difficult for people to believe in a potential future if the person painting it can’t sell the vision/dream.
- Writing is an essential for clear thinking, buy-in, articulation, and thought distribution. Being a designer who only exists in Figma (or insert design tool) keeps you locked into the “pixel pusher” ideology. To break free and be considered a strategist, business thinker first, zoom out of pixels and prototypes, spending time to document the broader strategy, and tactics before you dive into the details of craft.
Execution
- Focus on first principles. This is used often and seems like it can take different meaning, but in truth all it means is to get to the root of what a thing is at a foundational level, and then build the thing back up to fit the mold you’re aiming to apply to it.
- Don’t mistake research for execution, it’s strictly input that enable you to move confidently towards a path. Analysis paralysis is real. Most of the time you need just enough research to make a decision. Aim at gathering enough information that gets you to ~70% certainty on direction, then keep it moving.
- Keep end in mind, then work backwards. Visualizing the future creates alignment and excitement. Once everyone is on same page about where, break things down into milestones that will move things to the end-state.
- Break things down to now, next, later for timing. Size things using t-shirt sizes, cake sizes, or any other framework that provides context on the scope of things.
- Start with doing things that don’t scale, then automate. Never start with trying to automate something you haven’t seen folk use.
- Avoid edge cases like the plague when starting. Think 80/20 at the start, and once you’ve delivered something built for the majority, then lean into the 20%.
- Focus on outcomes; but keep in mind the inputs and outputs. Inputs are the raw ingredients needs to craft things (outputs), output is what is delivered and measured, outcomes are the results.
- Think People>Process>Prototypes>Product. As designers the biggest leverage is prototyping the way swiftly to provide the org with a clear view of where things can land. This enables teams to work backwards.
- Keep it lean and clean. Said another way keep it simple always—regardless of how complex things can be, if you’re creating for people, simplify, it will always be valued.
Leadership
- Impact is everything. Start there and the rest will follow
- Stop being the person who wants a seat at the table, and be the person people want to invite to the table.
- Bias towards action. Inertia/analysis paralysis is real/ is death.
- Maintain Day 1 thinking, meaning prioritize innovation, make swift decisions, remain customer-focused, and embrace new trends and technologies
- Decision-making is key. Move swiftly on two-way door decisions; be more thoughtful and diligent with one way door decisions.
- Business and strategy first, design second
- Whenever you feel like things are stalling due to lack of decision making, take the helm and make a decision for the group. A decision is better than no decision. Remember non-decision is a decision.
Work/Life Balance
- Get in the habit of setting working hours. Default to a 9-5 works, or 10-6. If you work remotely and company is okay with flexible schedules, you can get creative, and plan your days around your flow states.
- Aim to maintain boundaries between work and life to reduce stress. Do things like keep slack off your phone (I do a bad job at this one), remove work emails from your phone, have a dedicated space for working (never take your computer out of this space).
- It’s okay to eat at your desk. A one-hour lunch break is not necessary to have a balanced day.
note: will be breaking these down into short posts that can be shared on linkedin, and as a solo blog post. Will also be expanding on each over 2024.