What I learned from Staff Design

This week I published the 8th and final interview for Staff Design, an interview series exploring how experienced designers navigate the individual contributor career path. This project that started out as a personal itch to scratch has been thoroughly satisfying, but I'm relieved to put it behind me. Here's what I learned during the past four months of building and interviewing. Understanding the meta skills of product design has always been fascinating. But it's easy to get stuck in the meta: thinking constantly about design and its surrounding people, processes, career paths, and for lack of a better word, drama. Mid-way through this project, a trusted friend told me: I think you might be on the verge of taking design too seriously. Focus on the work, not the meta. What do customers want? That conversation pulled me back from the brink of getting lost in the meta game. I show up to work to solve problems for customers, and design is a means to that end. Focus on the work. I don't me

This week I published the 8th and final interview for Staff Design, an interview series exploring how experienced designers navigate the individual contributor career path. This project that started out as a personal itch to scratch has been thoroughly satisfying, but I'm relieved to put it behind me. Here's what I learned during the past four months of building and interviewing. Understanding the meta skills of product design has always been fascinating. But it's easy to get stuck in the meta: thinking constantly about design and its surrounding people, processes, career paths, and for lack o