Podcasts, books, and articles that helped me navigate difficult decisions, and my favourite reads and writes of February 2023. — I know I know, this one sounds all doom and gloom, but the theme is all about making difficult decisions. We’re 3 years on from the pandemic. After the first series of lockdowns, people seemed to recognise the importance of being their authentic selves. …

Show notes for Season 2, Episode 2 of the Diary of Design Thinking by Simon Hoang, co-hosted by Chuck Rice. — Seriously, how do you get to Principal or Head of..? Whether you’re struggling to reach Senior level, or spinning your wheels pushing to Lead and beyond, it genuinely takes some hustling and some luck to do it. …

While a well written love letter, it seems we've ignored 3 key opposing arguments: designer-to-developer ratio, sprints are just delivery vehicles, and "just do waterfall again" is an idealistic call to action. Designer-to-developer ratio What I'm hearing is designers need to simply "keep up" to furiously feed the feature factory…

My favourite UX, UI, and design reads of January 2023, and a story of learning and purpose. — I had a fascinating conversation recently, and the question goes like this: how do you learn something as quickly as possible? Even more broadly, is it possible to learn anything, if you try hard enough? If you’re like me, this instantly brought up the magical “10,000 hours” rule—the theory that…

Show notes for Season 2, Episode 1 of the Diary of Design Thinking by Simon Hoang, co-hosted by Chuck Rice. — Okay, maybe bait-and-switch is a bit harsh. But the feeling is still valid. Finding a new UX job can be daunting in itself, but it’s miles harder if you’ve just been laid off. What’s worse? …

Picking my next UX job based off gut feel, plus my favourite reads and writes of November 2022. — There’s a meme about the absurdity of an 18-year-old picking a subject to study at University, then turning that into a career until they retire—roughly 45 years later. With so little life experience, you might say their choice is no better than gut feel. …