4 ways to stand out from the crowd — The current job market is standing-room-only. It’s messy. It’s fast. Job descriptions open and close faster than a San Francisco real estate listing. You can be the best of the best, but you have to get there early. …

Investing in yourself or in your team is never a bad idea, and the worst of times is actually the perfect time to do so. 2023 is turning tech on its head: layoffs looming, headcount shrinking, budgets tightening, and AI overshadowing everything with the undeniable assertion that capital-c Change is nigh. The hits keep on coming with no sign of stopping. Those who are still standing will have oversized shoes to fill — and oversize…

The complexity of cross-functional alignment — As creative leaders and managers, relationships are our creative mediums — the major channel through which our work gets done. With peers, with your own team, with a cross-functional team or partner, relationships are always humming in the background. When you transition from maker to manager, the complexity of these…

Because leaders need to succeed, now more than ever — When budgets are tight, teams are shrinking, and headcount is limited, why should coaching be at the top of your list of expenditures? The short answer: Because you can’t afford to go without it. This economic downturn is taking a heavy toll on leaders. They are stressed out by instability…

7 things you need for new product development — Early in her career, Mia Blume was an innovation consultant at IDEO, helping big companies figure out how to create new products and services in the market — often quite successfully. But where the efforts of external consulting agencies end is often where failure begins. “Even when we set up…

Results from Design Dept.’s recent community survey — If you’ve been wondering whether you’re the only one juggling flaming torches or scaling a particularly brutal mountain or thinking that Rip Van Winkle 20-year nap sounds pretty good right about now, we’re here to tell you that you are not alone. And we’ve got the data to prove it. …

The Audrey Liu & Mike Davidson edition — We have regular conversations with design leaders to discuss the realities, challenges, and triumphs of their work. Recently we spoke with Audrey Liu, Executive VP of Design at Lyft, and Mike Davidson, Corporate VP of Design and Research at Microsoft. …

A conversation about priorities — From time to time the Design Dept. team gets together to discuss topics we’ve been thinking about or struggling with. Often these are issues that have come up in our own lives that we’re also hearing others bring up in workshops or coaching sessions. Recently, we’ve been pondering the idea…

A perspective from Ibrahim Hasan, UX Content Designer — Chances are you’ve already read some of Ibrahim’s writing for Design Dept. in articles like No, you should not be your team’s shit umbrella and Performance conversations don’t have to be so miserable. …