My expectations as a design leader and manager of people

Expectations of myself

  • Foster an ethos of continuous improvement
  • Repeatedly return to user needs and goals to create alignment
  • Frame design goals as the marriage of user goals and business wishes
  • Exhibit genuine care for each person I support
  • Use wisdom and humor when shaping behavior
  • Model desired behavior and attitudes for others
  • Address what’s needed wherever it appears

Expectations of designers

  • Scenario-based, goal-oriented
  • Use storyboards to start understanding a scenario
  • Freely move between storyboard, workflow, wires, prototype as needed to tackle problems
  • Make small prototypes to test and learn
  • The prioritization and arrangement of data directs user attention and action
  • Organize “done” work into bite-size chunks, set apart from exploratory work

Expectations of all workers

  • Work to make the job of the next person easier
  • Work in public, out in the open
  • Go and see
  • Be aware of and have your work informed by user goals and business needs together
  • Create possibilities cheaply, winnow according to goals, improve the best ones
  • Involve others in solving problems, chewing on possibilities
  • When presenting possibilities, arrive with your own evaluation of each one – pros and cons, fit to purpose, what you like and don’t like – and the sort of feedback you need
  • Scope is negotiated – watch for improvements AND for lighter interventions
  • Experiment with possible improvements to your own and collective work