what are my values as a designer?

foundation

Before starting any project, it’s important for me to understand what’s going on. What’s the problem? Is there a proposed solution? What are the consequences? What’s the potential impact? Who needs to be involved? Who holds final say? Which teams does this impact? What’s the priority? What’s the timeline?

By gaining a holistic understanding of the situation, I can assess and provide my best recommendation.

flexibility

Pivots happen and projects are not an exception to the unexpected. I’m become familiar with the skill of adjustment over the years. When new information arrives, I’m ready to review and react accordingly within constraints and priority. (Of course, some pushes to shift gears require pushback and compromise.)

By working in a way that is fluid, I can provide reasonable and creative solutions.

collaboration

The heart of my designs lies with the people that I work with. My strongest strength is reaching out to strangers, making them feel comfortable, encouraging them to share, and learning valuable insights. Whether it’s through 1:1s, cross-team meetings, workshops, ideation sessions, design reviews or slack chats, I value my peers (product managers, engineers, customer success reps, marketing, support, etc.) and apply their knowledge into my solutions.

By collaborating with my co-workers, I can deliver designs that are supported through our collective knowledge.

balance

We’re only human and even with the arrival of AI, finding the right balance in output-input is a dance. Whether it’s a project or the day-to-day, we can’t have it all. And that’s okay. We can dream up a vision and start off with a MVP. We can begin filling a roadmap with 5 initiatives then decide on 2. We can use the design system components and experiment with new UI. We can kick off with an executive level proposal and refine with research next quarter.

By setting a balance (and constraints) in our work, I can deliver and prioritize responsibly within feasible expectations.