Blog

Personal thoughts, experiences, and reflections from my journey.

• Posted Jan 24, 2024

  Five principles for design system management

  Here are 5 principles of product management that are useful for design systems teams big and small:

  Always have a plan… and be willing to throw it away

  Design Systems can easily devolve into putting out fires all day long, leaving little room for long term platform growth.

  It’s important to carve out time to strategize about the future of your infrastructure and ensure you have a strong long-term vision, so you can shift with speed when new tech arrives (like AI). But don’t get too attached. 90% of the time the plan will change. So be flexible and change with it.

  Walk the tightrope of speed and durability

  Your design system won’t be able to solve all ecosystem needs in the moment.

  Sometimes teams need to move forward and can’t wait on the design system. If that’s the case, ensure there’s proper governance and checkpoints in place. And create a plan to resolve tech and design debt acquired.

  But be careful, too much of this and the debt will become insurmountable.

  Embrace customer centricity

  Developer and designer productivity is your #1 metric to influence.

  Never forget that the purpose of the design system is to enhance designer and developer effectiveness.

  Design systems should make your devs and designers faster. It should propel innovation. It should remove low-level decision making (should it be this color or that? should it go at the top or the bottom), and put the focus on customer innovation.

  Have a bold north star

  Be ambitious about how you’d like to transform the organizations experience of building products.

  For example, “Devs and designers should be able to scaffold a production-ready product page within 5 minutes using the design system.”

  Bold goals focus on the customer and an extreme value add.

  Embrace operational excellence

  Design Systems are naturally VERY messy. It’s easy for work to get stuck in indecision or lack a single-threaded owner.

  Align your team on the most important goals, cultivate a culture of extreme ownership, and then establish the minimal amount of process necessary for maximum impact.

  
  
• Posted Dec 6, 2023

  Making decisions as a team

  Making choices as a team is important for getting stuff done together. First make sure everyone has context and that they understand the idea or plan being proposed. It’s also crucial that everyone gets a say in what you decide.

  Once you’ve all chatted about the topic, you’ll need to pick an option. Some ways teams vote are:

  Polling

  For in-person & Zoom meetings, a Roman voting technique can be employed. Members express support with a thumbs-up, concerns with a thumbs-down, or neutrality with a sideways thumb.

  

  Fist to Five

  This is one of my favourite techniques that helps gauge agreement levels. Members show a closed fist for disagreement or display fingers (from one to five) indicating their level of support. If anyone shows fewer than three fingers, further discussion is necessary before voting again.

  

  Dot Voting

  Ideas are presented, and each member uses a sticky note or dot to vote for their top choice. Tallying the votes determines the option with the most support. In case of a tie, repeat the process or explore alternative voting techniques.

  As I mentioned in a recent post, dot voting has some troubles that can cause false or misleading results.

  

  The key is making sure all voices are heard, opinions understood, and you agree as a group on the best path forward. Communication and compromise are crucial to making team choices that work for everyone.

• Posted Nov 29, 2023

  Developing a scalable design token taxonomy for Prospa's Design System

  This post covers how we developed our tokens at Prospa to create a flexible taxonomy for a small but powerful set of semantic tokens.

  

  Prospa’s mission is to make business happen by providing small business owners with the cash flow solutions they need to grow and prosper. We are Australia’s #1 online lender to small business and committed to helping small business owners access the funds they need to grow.

  After rolling out a rebrand through the legacy design systems, we decided to build a new design system from the ground up. This was a great opportunity to rethink our approach to tokens and how we could make them more flexible and semantic.

  The problem

  The existing set of design styles in the legacy design system was comprised mainly of primitives and a vague set of styles.

  Only a small handful of colors were represented as semantic styles & even those were being used haphazardly throughout Prospa’s apps. For Prospa’s design system and our consumers, this system was problematic.

  

  After conducting multiple rounds of interviews with our design systems consuming teams, which included both designers and developers, we identified several significant pain points:

  1. Token names were difficult to understand
  2. Token names were lengthy, and were truncated in Figma
  3. There were too many tokens to choose from
  4. Teams had difficulty identifying rationale behind token use

  

  These issues left our design systems consuming teams lacking any of the logic or rationale behind design decisions. There was no way for them to understand semantically which tokens were applied to specific use cases. This stalled their capabilities in extending the system logic to their own custom components and experiences. The usability issues left our designers at a loss; resulting in their use of primitives directly.

  Our designers asked what to use when, which naturally led to semantic tokens so that they could apply styles with an understanding of the rationale, and to clearly communicate between designers and developers regarding how to construct their components.

  Finding the solution

  Token names are how design tokens are referenced and identified by our users. Building a clear taxonomy assisted us in appropriately and consistently classifying tokens, as well as providing a scalable and predictable naming convention for our designers & developers.

  We started defining semantic tokens and the taxonomy system based on some criteria:

  1. Favour clarity over brevity
  2. Consistency where possible
  3. Keep the set small
  4. Balance abstractions (keep generic but provide actionable context)
  5. Use an object-oriented taxonomy

  With this approach, we would be able to identify tokens with broad use case coverage, and the taxonomy would be intuitive and rational. The number of tokens would be minimal to avoid extraneous use cases, but robust enough to have greater overall coverage. Finally, the tokens we created with this approach were tested with designers and developers from each of our consuming design systems teams to ensure we properly solved the problems we had.

  What is use case coverage?

  Use case coverage means the amount of use cases that would logically fit under a broader umbrella use case. For example, text-color-default could apply to many different use cases across any component of the application, whereas title-color-default would only apply to use cases of ‘title’ text.

  This is how we framed the problem for our partner teams. Our solution needed to focus on use case coverage. In order to define this in a token system, we expressed how coverage changes for the different token types: primitives, semantics, and component tokens. By demonstrating the inverse relationship between precise contextual names and their use case coverage, we can see the value in a robust semantic token set.

  Primitive tokens

  Primitive tokens have no inherent design intent for how or where they should be used. Because of this, primitive tokens have the largest use case coverage for interfaces, since they can be used nearly anywhere. However, because of their lack of contextual precision, they hold little value in creating a cohesive visual language.

  

  Semantic tokens

  Semantic tokens have a wider range of contextual precision (how or where they should be used). Because of this, semantic tokens also have a wide range of use case coverage.

  

  Component tokens

  Component tokens highly contextual names mean they have very specific usage. Because of this precision, they can’t be reused very often and have less use case coverage than other token types.

  

  This framing of token types and how they relate to use case coverage helped to frame the problem and solidify the solution for a more comprehensive set of semantic tokens.

  Creating the taxonomy system

  A core working group workshopped the initial set of tokens and draft taxonomy. Starting with color, we identified existing use cases and new required or potentially valuable use cases, such as basic text color options.

  We performed several exercises during our workshops to create each category. First we grouped options based on their similarities — sometimes similarities in prior names, but more importantly similarities regarding how an option changes the design. We would then do word association exercises and scour a thesaurus for terms that best expressed what the options controlled. We dot-voted and discussed our options, which we later shared with partners and consumers to verify or revise our choices.

  

  

  

  

• Posted Nov 23, 2023

  Lessons from Don't Make Me Think

  Here are the lessons I believe were most meaningful:

  01. Don’t make the user think!

  Surprise! Surprise! The most important principle according to Krug is: don’t make the user think.

  Your design should be self-explanatory, the user should not waste time figuring out what your product is about and how to use it.

  If you frustrate your users they will just go somewhere else.

  According to Krug if something is usable it means that:

  A person of average (or even below average) ability and experience can figure out how to use the thing to accomplish something without it being more trouble than it’s worth.

  02. How people actually use the web

  When we build our websites we usually imagine people carefully going through each page, reading what we wrote and considering what should be their next move.

  In reality as users:

  • We don’t read pages - we scan them looking for words or phrases that catch our eye.
  • We don’t make optimal choices We tend to assume that users scan the page, consider all of the available options, and choose the best one. In reality, though, most of the time we choose the first reasonable option we come across.
  • We Don’t figure out how things actually work - oftentimes we get a wrong idea on how a product works, and as long as it keeps working for us we keep muddling through.

  03. So, how should we design accordingly?

  • Don’t reinvent the wheel - One of the best ways to make almost anything easier to grasp is to follow the existing conventions - the widely used or standardized design patterns. This may include where things are usually located in the page, how things work and how things look.
  • Create effective visual hierarchies - The more important something is, the more noticeable it should be. Things that are related logically should look related visually.
  • Break pages up into clearly defined areas - Like: “this is where the navigation is”, “this is where today’s top stories are”.
  • Make sure clickable things look clickable
  • Eliminate distractions - If everything is trying to grab attention, nothing will. It will just be unpleasant and overwhelming. think of it as visual noise.
  • Format content to support scanning - Use plenty of well written headings with a distinguished difference between levels of headings, keep paragraphs short, use bulleted lists, and highlight key terms.

  04. Delete needless words

  The internet is filled with words no one is going to read.

  Extra words make clatter, and discourage the user, so In addition to formatting your content, you should also get rid of at least half of the words.

  05. Navigation is crucial

  People won’t use your website if they can’t find their way around it.

  Unlike real life, in a website if we won’t design our site well the user won’t have any sense of direction, scale (how big is this site) or location (where am I on this site) It’s better if you use the current conventions in your navigation (for example the logo is usually in the top left, beneath that there is a navigation bar with the main sections etc.)

  If your website is designed well these things should be found in first glance (even on a random page):

  • The site logo
  • The name of the page we are currently on
  • Sections (the main sections of the website)
  • Local navigation (more sections that are inside the section you are currently in) “You are here” indicator(s) (For example if i’m in the About page, the About button should stand out)
  • A Search bar

  06. First impression happens in milliseconds

  Your home-page first priority is to convey the big picture: what the site is.

  It should quickly answer these 4 questions:

  • What is this?
  • What do they have here?
  • What can I do here?
  • Why should I be here and not somewhere else?

  If the user’s first assumptions are wrong, they begin to try to force-fit that explanation onto everything they encounter, creating more misinterpretations along the way and getting frustrated.

  07. Arguments about usability

  Teams tend to repeatedly fall into long discussions about usability questions.

  There are several reasons why this happens:

  • We unconditionally believe most users like the same things we do.
  • Each team member has a strong professional passion for their field.
  • There is no ‘one average user’ so trying to argue if most users are like this or that is even more pointless.

  08. User testing is the answer

  User testing is the best way to save time and avoid most usability arguments, it can be cheap and easy to do.

  In Krug’s words:

  It’s also the only way to find out if your website really works, it reminds you that not everyone thinks the way you do, knows what you know, and uses the Web the way you do.

  Choosing participants

  While it is good to choose a participant that matches your target audience, a user test with almost any person will help you discover the most crucial issues.

  User testing doesn’t have to be a big deal.

  testing one user early in the project is better than testing 50 near the end.

  A basic test

  • Bring 3 participants once a month
  • Sit with each participant in a quiet space in front of a computer with a microphone.
  • Screen share to the rest of your team in another room, make sure they can hear the test.
  • Save a recording.

  During the test

  1. Explain how the test works, make it clear that you’re not testing the participant, you’re testing the site, and ask them to share their honest opinions.
  2. Ask the participant a few questions about themselves (gives you an idea of how tech-savvy they are)
  3. Ask questions about the home page to figure out what the participant thinks this website is.
  4. Give tasks for the participant to do, don’t do or say anything to influence them, like asking leading questions, unless they’re hopelessly stuck.
  5. You can ask the participant questions after the tasks about anything that happened during the test

  After each test session, the team needs to write down the three most serious usability problems they noticed during that session

  How to create tasks

  Word each task carefully, The tasks you test in each month will depend partly on what you have available to test. If all you have is a rough sketch, the task may consist of simply asking the user to look at it and tell you what they think it is.

  Deciding what to fix

  As soon as possible after each round of tests, the team should share their observations and decide which problems to fix and what they are going to do to fix them.

  • Your first priority should be to fix the most serious problems first.
  • You can ignore problems that every user seems to overcome quickly.

  Create a collective list of the top 10 usability problems ordered from the worst problem to the least worst, then assign tasks until the next month.

  You can also keep a list of issues that aren’t serious but are very easy to fix.

  It’s never too early to start testing

  You can start testing even before you begin designing your site, for example you can test competitive sites.

  Other ways to test

  You can also do remote testing (with anyone in the world) through software like zoom for example. Or even use services like UserTesting.com.

  09. Desktop vs. Mobile

  The basic useability principles of desktops are still the same in mobile, but there are some significant differences:

  • Mobile screens are small - It may be a good idea to take a ‘Mobile First’ approach (Instead of designing the desktop first, then trying to squeeze everything to the mobile version, do the opposite).
  • There is no hover on mobile - Many useful interface features rely on hover, as a designer it’s important to find ways to replace them.

  10. Affordance & Flat design

  Affordances are visual clues in an object’s design that suggest how we can use it. For example, the three-dimensional style of some buttons makes it clear they’re meant to be clicked.

  Flat design is a popular minimalist style that makes things look more flat, it helps the screen look less cluttered, however usually the affordances get lost along the way.

  If you use flat design make sure to use other visual cues to compensate for what you lose.

  ---

  In conclusion

  If any of you want a deeper understanding about those things (and other things I had to leave out), I suggest you read the book. It did feel a bit old sometimes but it has meaningful lessons that will always stay relevant and jokes that got me laughing a few times.

  I hope I got rid of enough words, made sure this article was scannable ,left a good first impression and most importantly, didn’t make you think.

  ---

  
• Posted Nov 16, 2023

  The problem with dot voting

  Dot voting is a simple group activity for recognising preferences among limited options:

  1. Participants are each given a set number of dot stickers.
  2. They place dot stickers next to options presented that they like.
  3. Options with the most dots “win”.

  Technically this methodology is known as cumulative voting. It’s a one question multiple-choice survey done with stickers.

  Unfortunately, it has a few serious weaknesses, like vote-splitting, bandwagon effect/group think and option overload, that can cause false or misleading results.

  Vote splitting

  

  As you can see in the example above, vote-splitting causes related ideas to lose unfairly.

  To prevent this, it’s best to avoid similar or related options. This may require you to combine options to be less specific, or potentially group options & create an overarching voting option.

  Bandwagon effect

  

  The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon whereby people do something primarily because other people are doing it, regardless of their own beliefs, which they may ignore or override.

  Call it group-think, conformity, or peer pressure—it’s part of human social nature to follow the crowd. We can’t help but notice where others have already placed their dots, and give these options more credence. Where the first dots land, others are sure to follow.

  A few options to mitigate this would be to conduct the process more than once with the options presented in a different order, to see if the resulting pattern persists. Or, to have participants vote in private, so they are not influenced by others.

  Figjam does private voting very well, only allowing participants to see how the other participants voted once the voting session is ended.

  Choice overload

  

  Overloading participants with too many options can cause them to give up and not vote at all. This is especially true if the options are not well understood or explained.

  In addition, the votes can easily be spead so thin that there is no clear winner, partically defeating the purpose of the exercise.

  Keep the number of options to about a dozen or less. Participants should be expected to review, consider and compare all options before sticking their dots, and too many can be overwhelming. New options shouldn’t be added once dotting has started, as this would not be fair to the new additions.

  Bonus 1: Sticker cheating

  Have someone monitor the process to ensure no one cheats by adding extra dots, peeling off dots or moving dots (I’ve seen it happen!). This makes the balloting less secret, but more reliable.

  Bonus 2: Positive and negative dots

  Provide dots in two colours for both positive and negative e.g. green and red. This will allow you to see which ideas have opposition.

  ---

  Dot voting is a simple and effective way to get a group to make a decision, but it’s not without its flaws.

  Be aware of these issues and you’ll be able to get the most out of the process.

• Posted Nov 9, 2023

  Writing for designers

  Designers need good writing skills to succeed in organizations large and small. Writing can be challenging, and many designers struggle with it. Personally, I’m not naturally inclined towards writing, and I’ve spent a lot of time procrastinating on bigger writing tasks. Even now, tight deadlines for high-quality documents give me nightmares.

  In this post, I’m sharing some tactics and a framework to help you write better, faster, and with more confidence.

  1. Start with your writing action plan

  Write down who you’re writing for, and what you’d like them to remember after reading your post.

  # How to Write?
  
  - Audience: Senior, Lead Product Designers & Managers
  - Goal: Upskill, inspire and unblock writing
  
  ## Start with a writing action plan
  
  - Goal: Find the why before your piece.
  - Without a plan, you are lost: You don't know what to write.
  
  ## Write a shitty first draft
  
  - Lower the bar and just get started.
  - Don't edit, don't worry about the structure.
  
  ...

  2. Write a “shitty first draft”

  Author Anne Lamott says all writing begins with a “really, really shitty first draft.”

  Go somewhere nice to write. A cafe perhaps, or a quiet place you can focus. Keep going to the same place to build your “muscle memory” of writing there. Then, just go go go! Be yourself and have fun! Start writing.

  3. Mine for gold

  Review what you’ve written and “mine for gold”, per writing teacher Leslie Kirk Campbell. Highlight the phrases that work well and the ideas that should be “unpacked”.

  Then start sorting your content into different “chunks” of information. What is each section about? Tip: print it out and cut it up.

  4. Add structure

  A. The intro paragraph should tell readers what you’re writing about, and why they should care. Save the details and supporting information for later on.

  B. Be clear and upfront about what you’re suggesting people do after they read. Knowing “the ask” can help your reader relax and absorb the following details.

  C. Add interesting headlines and subheadlines. Sub-headers make everything easier to scan.

  D. Use quotes, sketches, team photos, videos, GIFs, emoji, and other images to communicate ideas.

  E. Formatting cheats that aren’t cheating:

  • Use bullets to make lists easy to read.
  • Add numbers to clarify steps or big ideas.
  • Use built-in templated styles for headers, sub-headers, quotes, etc.

  F. Summarise and add your “calls to action” and relevant links.

  

  5. Edit. Sleep.

  Edit again, sleep on it, polish & repeat.

  6. Publish

  Share. Enjoy people’s quick responses to your hard work. Share again. They probably didn’t get it.

  7. You’ve got this!

  You’ll find the right words even faster and with more confidence every time.

  ---

  Writing skills are of paramount importance for designers, as words have the power to shape user experiences and are as significant as the visual aspects of design.

  Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly. That’s why it’s so hard.
  — David McCullough

  What are you going to write next?

  ---

• Posted Nov 2, 2023

  It all means nothing in the end (a talk by Amy Hupe)

  During her presentation at the State of the Browser event, Amy Hupe provides a set of recommendations aimed at enhancing the sense of purpose in one’s work.

  Rather than regarding work as a final destination, view it as a pathway to realizing your true purpose.

  Jot down your primary skills, experiences, and values, and then condense them into a concise “core perspective” or purpose statement.

  Now, the next step is to identify strategies for fulfilling that purpose, which can be achieved through the establishment of specific goals.

  When considering possible goals, ask:

  • Does this connect to my purpose?
  • Do I actually care about achieving this goal?
  • Is this a goal I can actually achieve?
  • How will I know if I’m making progress?
• Posted Oct 25, 2023

  Sailboat Retro

  

  Retros are a crucial part of the agile process. They allow the team to reflect and share what went well and, often more importantly, what didn’t.

  While feedback can be given at any meeting, retros help embed this practice into the team culture & give the time and space to celebrate the wins and address the issues that arose over the last sprint.

  There are many variants of Retros — Start Stop Continue, Mad Glad Sad, Liked Learned Lacked Longed for — but after first trialling the Sailboat retro, I’ve found that it helps frame the feedback in ways that team members can resonate with.

  Sailboat retro format

  

  Sprint Goal

  What is the final destination for the team? What is their goal or vision? This is where they are heading and represents their version of success.

  

  The Sun

  What made the team feel positive? What are the good things that can come out of this? These may be things that they look forward to and may include customer feedback, usage or improving the robustness of their infrastructure.

  

  The Wind

  What has pushed the team forward towards its vision? What drove them towards the goal? It could be their own capability, support from champions, being well resourced or being motivated by a common goal.

  

  The Anchor

  What has slowed the team down, or brought them to a complete stop? What created drag and reduced velocity? It may be a dependency or policy. It could be a lack of process or one that is too complex. Some anchors may be necessary, and others need to be considered to see if they will be a constant drain on the team, making them less agile and achieving less progress.

  

  The Reef

  What are the risks or potential pitfalls in the future? What does the team have to watch out for? There may be communication gaps, technical risks or upcoming disruptions (team on leave, public holidays, etc) that could derail the team. Understanding the risks early can help the team think of ways to navigate around them or put signals in place as a warning as part of the next sprint.

  

  The Sailboat

  The Sailboat is a visual representation of the sprint, sailing towards the sprint goal with the above elements affecting the journey.

  ---

  How to run a Sailboat retro

  0. Set up the Figjam board

  Duplicate the Sailboat Retro template in Figjam & let’s get started.

  1. Ice breaker

  The team has just switched contexts and may not be in the right headspace for a retro. An ice breaker is a great way to loosen everyone up & get them all in the right frame of mind. I’ve found Donut: Creative Warmups and Icebreakers to be a great plugin for ice breakers. Try the Social Standup mini exercise to get everyone talking & the juices flowing.

  2. Set the stage

  Walk through the retro agenda so everyone is on the same page. This is also a good time to set the ground rules for the retro. Last thing to do here is to run through action items from the previous retro. If anything is still outstanding, add it to the action items for this retro.

  3. Brainstorm

  Set a Figjam timer for 5-10 minutes and ask everyone to add their thoughts to the board. Don’t sit in awkward silence, pop on the “Lo-fi hip hop” just below the timer. Gauge the team’s energy and extend the timer if needed.

  4. Review

  Once the team have exhausted their ideas, it’s time to review the board. I like to start with the sun and work my way around the board counter clockwise. Read through each item but avoid going any deeper. Bonus points for grouping items or having the team do it while reviewing items.

  5. Vote

  Once the team have reviewed the board, it’s time to vote. Each team member gets 3 votes. They can use all 3 votes on one item or spread them out. The goal is to identify the top 3 items that the team want to discuss.

  Figjam’s voting feature is great as each participant’s choices are hidden until the voting session ends, helping avoid group think.

  If you have a smaller team, feel free to up this to 5 votes.

  6. Discuss

  Now that the team have identified the top items, it’s time to discuss them. I like to start with the item that has the most votes and work my way down. The goal here is to understand the item and identify what the team can do to improve, mitigate or celebrate it. This is a great time to use the 5 whys technique to get to the root cause of the issue.

  Add actions that come out of the discussion to the action items section of the board & don’t forget to assign the action to someone so there is a DRI (Directly Responsible Individual).

  7. Wrapping up

  Once the team have discussed all the items, it’s time to wrap up. I like to end with a quick round of “What went well?” to end the retro on a positive note. This is also a good time to review the action items and assign them to someone.

  ---

  I hope the Sailboat Retro helps your team reflect, improve & leads to smooth sailing in the future.

  If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to reach out on Twitter.

• Posted Oct 20, 2023

  Economics 101 for designers

  Unfortunately, business literacy has been neglected in design education. We come to work unprepared for the realities of the new business world, where design matters. It matters so much that we finally have a say even in strategic matters.

  Design-driven companies such as Apple, Tesla, Airbnb, and Google have shown that design can drive business results. And this opened the doors for all of us. We just need to know how to walk through these doors with some business confidence.

  “If you haven’t thought about the business then you haven’t designed the idea properly.”
  – Trent Huon, ex-Business Design Director at IDEO

  Here are some of the most fundamental economics concepts, which govern how the business world works and how business decisions are made.

  ---

  Economies of scale

  The advantage of producing bigger quantities. When companies produce more, they want each additional unit to cost less than the one before.

  Why is it this important? Because economies of scale give you a competitive advantage.

  

  Larger companies can produce more efficiently, negotiate better prices, achieve higher profit margins, and hence invest more in future growth.

  Economies of scale work particularly well for technology companies with no physical products.

  For Facebook, adding one more user is virtually free. There is no human labour involved in onboarding a new user and the hosting costs of an additional user are negligible.

  How is this relevant for designers?

  The way a product or service is designed is usually the thing that makes or breaks whether a company will be able to achieve positive economies of scale or not. How can our product design remove obstacles to achieving that?

  Diseconomies of scale

  At a certain scale, our marginal gains don’t just slow down but actually start going back up.

  For example, let’s assume that we are organizing a dinner party and that we need to prepare food for 40 people…

  

  We immediately realize that we won’t be able to prepare food alone. So, we get three more friends to help us out.

  But because our kitchen is so small, we get in each other’s way and we need to take turns using the oven and stovetop - “Too many cooks in the kitchen.”

  How is this relevant for designers?

  Be aware of trigger points that push your design into the diseconomies scale. The usual suspects are organizational, technical, and supply factors.

  Opportunity costs

  Potential benefits that we miss out on because we decided to do something else.

  Let’s say you decided to do an MBA. It is a two-year program at a renowned business school, which costs $150,000 in total without living expenses.

  So, when we add living expenses due to moving to a more expensive city, total outlay costs (i.e. actual costs) come closer to $200,000. Most people would stop here and conclude that taking an MBA costs $200,000.

  But in reality, it costs much more.

  During these two years, you won’t be working. This means that you are also giving up your income.

  For example, if you make $75,000 per year, that is another $150,000 in lost income over two years.

  

  Opportunity costs are important because we humans have a hard time seeing things that are not immediately apparent. It is a concept we use decision-making process to surface all available options.

  How is this relevant for designers?

  By clearly outlining various options and hence opportunity costs (when presenting design options), we can gain more impact in the company by helping everyone make better decisions.

  Sunk costs

  Costs that can’t be recovered.

  For example, a plane ticket that we bought for our upcoming vacation is a sunk cost.

  

  Sunk costs are extremely important for good decision-making.

  An especially important concept here is called the sunk cost trap. This is a tendency for us to continue with an activity or investment that is not meeting our objectives because we have already invested so much.

  What if after you have already booked your flights, an even better opportunity comes across?

  Your friends are inviting you to join them on a sailing trip, which is something you’ve always wanted to do.

  Should you join them and ignore the plane ticket sunk cost?

  How is this relevant for designers?

  This is relevant for everyone. Ignore sunk costs when making your decisions.

  Time value of money

  Imagine that you just won the lottery.

  Now, lottery officials give you two options. You can either get $1 million right away or you can get $1.8 million in ten years.

  Which option is better?

  The basic rule is that one dollar today is always worth more than one dollar tomorrow.

  If we have one dollar right now, we can invest in something and let it grow. On the other hand, if we keep it in a bank account or under our mattress, it will be worth less due to inflation.

  To calculate what makes more sense, we need to look at opportunity costs.

  If we get $1 million right now, what could we do with it?

  One option is to invest all of it in stocks. Historical data shows that in the long run, stocks have a yearly return (or growth) of 8%.

  8% compounded (i.e. reinvested) for 10 years results in 216% growth.

  So, if we took $1 million right now and invested all of it in a stock market, our 1 million would grow to $2,16 million in 10 years. Wow!

  

  Under these assumptions, it does seem that taking $1 million right away makes more sense than taking $1.8 million in ten years because we can make more on the stock market.

  How is this relevant for designers?

  It helps us understand the investment decisions of decision-makers. What alternative investments and opportunities are they considering? Do they need to beat the stock market (8%)? Do they need to satisfy VC investors (100% yearly growth)?

  ---

• Posted Oct 19, 2023

  Goals for the 40th time around the sun

  Today is my 39th birthday & I wanted to start the last year of my 30s with a set of goals to guide me in the next year.

  What better accountability buddy than the entire internet?

  Professional goals

  52 journal posts

  Writing has been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but haven’t made it a habit. Giving myself a weekly goal will force me to flex and improve my writing muscle.

  Read 30 books

  From fiction to nonfiction, paperback, Kindle or audiobook — 30 isn’t an enormous number, but gives me an achievable measurable goal.

  12 networking events

  I’ve really enjoyed getting back to meetups & connecting with the design community so adding this to encourage me to get to meetups and reach out for coffee chats.

  Health goals

  365 meditations in the year

  I’m fairly consistent with getting a daily 10-minute meditation in during the weekdays but want to get weekend sits in too.

  Fast until midday 6 days/week

  Time-restricted feeding has a range of benefits from promoting blood sugar control, reducing inflammation, to increasing growth hormone secretion. I’ve reserved 1 day to go to brunch with my wife and friends.

  No phone for 6 hours on the weekend

  After reading books like The Shallows**,** Stolen Focus & Digital Minimalism, I wanted to put an intentional phone break in place to fight the itch to check my phone.

  Lose 12kg

  1kg a month should be more than achievable but the main thing will be consistency & avoiding the dreaded Christmas season blow out. 🎅

  Fitness goals

  Running goals

  500km run in the year — I’ve enjoyed getting back into running & 500km ends up being only one 10km run a week.

  Run 5km in 22.5 minutes — I ran my last (and first) Parkrun recently in 24:13, which I felt was good but I feel I could shave that down to 4.5 min/km.

  Run 10km in 50 minutes — The last time I did a sub-50 minute 10km was in 2018. Hopefully, I can turn back time and get back meet the same time.

  Strength goals

  150 workouts — I’m looking to get back into a regular workout routine. 3 sessions a week paired with a run or 2 should be the right amount of exercise for the week.

  10 pull-ups — I’ve always struggled with pull-ups. Combining consistent training, dropping some weight & intentional focus on pull-ups should help me get to 10 reps. 🤞

• Posted Oct 3, 2023

  So Good They Can't Ignore You

  “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”
  — Steve Martin

  Author Cal Newport takes us on a refreshing and pragmatic journey through the world of career development and personal fulfillment.

  In an era where the pursuit of passion is glorified, Newport presents a compelling counterargument: instead of searching for your “dream job,” he suggests that we should focus on becoming exceptionally good at what we do.

  Through a combination of compelling anecdotes, real-world case studies, and insightful analysis, Newport challenges conventional wisdom and offers a blueprint for achieving true career satisfaction.

  This book is a call to action for those seeking not just any job, but a career that is fulfilling, meaningful, and, above all, sustainable. Newport’s message is clear: the key to finding work you love lies in becoming “So Good They Can’t Ignore You.” Join us as we dive into this thought-provoking book and uncover the principles that can lead you to a more rewarding and purposeful professional life.

  Rule #1: Don’t Follow Your Passion

  • The Passion Hypothesis, which claims that finding a job that aligns with your passion leads to occupational happiness, is a common misconception.
  • Even Steve Jobs, known for his advice on following one’s passion, didn’t start out loving computers. He initially saw it as a means to earn quick money. While he eventually developed a deep love for Apple computers, his journey began without a burning passion for technology.
  • True career passions are rare, and most personal passions, like hobbies such as reading, can’t easily be turned into a career.

  Rule #2: Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You (Or, the importance of skills)

  • Embrace the craftsman mindset, focusing on the value you bring to your job or the world rather than fixating on your personal passion.
  • The passion mindset often leads to dissatisfaction with your job, as you constantly question if it’s the right fit for you. This mindset might push you into fields where you lack the necessary skills, driven solely by passion (e.g., pursuing a career in Yoga without the required expertise).
  • The craftsman mindset centers on continuous improvement and excellence in your work. It’s about becoming so good they can’t ignore you.
  • Start with the craftsman mindset, and then the passion follows. Building rare and valuation skills, known as career capital, is the key to securing a great job filled with creativity, impact, and control.
  • Knowing when to leave a job is crucial. Consider leaving if your job doesn’t provide opportunities to develop rare and valuable skills, if it involves work you find useless or actively bad for the world, or the job forces you to work with people you really dislike.
  • Deliberate practice is the key to acquiring career capital—constantly pushing your boundaries, seeking feedback, and obsessively pursuing improvement.
  • Implement practical strategies, like Mike Jackson’s time-tracking spreadsheet, where he tracks how he spends every hour of every day, to focus on what truly matters in your work.

  5 Steps on applying the deliberate practice in your work

  • Step 1: Decide What Type of Capital Market You’re Competing In. Is it a winner-take-all market or an auction market? In a winner-take-all market, there is only one type of career capital available (e.g. for a blogger, you don’t need skills like SEO, format, etc, the only skill that matters is writing good and compelling posts). Whereas in the auction market, there are a variety of relevant skills that could have led to a job in this field. (e.g. As a Clean-tech VC, you may need expertise in renewable energy and entrepreneurship, plus other relevant skills)
  • Step 2: Identify Your Capital Type. What relevant skills do you need in order to be great at your job? For an auction market, as we have more flexibility, a useful heuristic is to seek open gates- opportunities to build capital that are already open to you. And work your way up, based on the valuable capital that you have accumulated.
  • Step 3: Define “Good”. Once you’ve identified exactly what skill to build, you can start having clear goals on where you want to be and how you can achieve it through deliberate practice. e.g. For a scriptwriter, his goal might be having a good-enough script to land him an agent.
  • Step 4: Stretch and Destroy. Deliberate practice is often not enjoyable. Pushing past what’s uncomfortable, even if it destroys what you thought was good. Get instant feedback on what was working and what was not.
  • Step 5: Patience. Acquiring capital takes time. Have the patience and willingness to reject shiny new pursuits, and put all your effort into acquiring the capital you need. You stretch yourself, day after day, month, and month, before finally looking up and realizing you’re too good to be ignored.

  Rule #3: Turn Down a Promotion (Or, the importance of control)

  • After accumulating career capital, invest it in gaining more control over your work. Control is a critical component of job satisfaction.
  • Don’t seek greater control until you’ve amassed enough career capital; otherwise, you might jeopardize your financial stability if your passion doesn’t lead to immediate success.
  • When you’ve acquired sufficient career capital, your current employer may resist your desire for more control. Overcoming this resistance is necessary to pursue your dream job.
  • Adhere to the Law of Financial Viability: Ensure there’s evidence that people are willing to pay for what you offer before pursuing a career change. Money reflects your value to others.

  Rule #4: Think Small, Act Big (Or, the importance of Mission)

  • Build your career around a clear and compelling mission to find meaning in your work and stay motivated during challenging times.
  • A successful career mission is akin to a scientific breakthrough, discovered at the cutting edge of your field. To identify such a mission, accumulate enough career capital first.
  • Maximize your mission-finding potential through small, concrete experiments that provide actionable feedback. These experiments allow you to explore specific aspects of your mission.
  • Great missions are transformed into great successes as a result of finding projects that satisfy the law of remarkability, which requires that an idea inspires people to remark about it, and is launched in a venue where such remarking is made easy.
  • For a mission-driven project to thrive, it must be remarkable in both concept and launch strategy, encouraging people to share and engage with it.
• Posted Aug 19, 2021

  Why Australia's crosswalk buttons are the best

  Next time you impatiently press a pedestrian crossing button again and again, spare a thought for its ingenious design.
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