Tips and tricks for running a smooth, successful workshop — Design sprints are all the rage but they need great facilitators. Sometimes that responsibility falls to you. This is a difficult role, made harder when the participants have never done this before. It can be daunting to run your first (or fiftieth) workshop, but some good prep and getting into…

Designers! We’ve all had the experience of showing our work to someone — usually someone with more power and clout than we have— who looks at our work, shrugs, and says “I don’t like it.” It could be a client, or a manager, or a colleague. But it’s happened to…

Sing it with me: As a _user_ I want to _perform an action_ so I can _achieve an end result_. This is great in theory, but writing good user stories is harder than it sounds. I’ve seen well-meaning product, design, and engineering folks take this approach to user stories and…

Back in the early 2000s, I had the title “Web Developer/Designer.” I hated that term then, and I still do. I used to strongly suggest to clients that they hire three separate people with specific skillsets instead of one person who was expected to do concept, fit and finish, copywriting…

I live in a suburb of San Francisco. My town is safe and cozy. It’s known as a great place to raise a kid. Kids frequently walk or bike to school here. I’ve heard locals refer to it as “Mayberry-By-The-Sea.” It’s also mostly white. It borders Oakland, specifically an historically…

“You’ve got impostor syndrome bad,” my spouse said to me this weekend. “It’s not impostor syndrome,” I protested. “I just really don’t know what I’m doing.” Oh, wait. But I don’t have the usual kind of impostor syndrome, the kind that prevents forward movement, the kind that prevents growth. I…

Hey there, design job seekers. Here’s something I bet you haven’t heard yet: Include the goddamn cover letter. If it’s good, it will set you apart. And if you’re dealing with a hiring manager who doesn’t read cover letters, it doesn’t hurt anything to include one. What to write? Use…

As a job seeker, you might get advice to apply to jobs you’re not completely qualified for. It’s true that sometimes hiring managers list “nice-to-haves” as “requirements,” so why not apply? The hiring manager might make an exception for you because you present yourself so well. Sometimes, you’re right. But…