The Accidental Design Leader
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Andy first came to prominence in our industry as a designer and web standards enthusiast. He was driven by a desire to improve and professionalise the industry, which is how he came to start the UKs first user experience consultancy, Clearleft. He never set out to be a design leader, but now find himself leading a team of thirty people, almost by accident. In a quest to understand what makes a great leader, and help his friends in newly minted leadership positions, Andy started the Leading Design conference and Slack community last year. Over the past 18 months, Andy has interviewed dozens of prominent leaders and listened in on hundreds of Slack conversations about the art and craft of leadership. In this session, Andy recounts his journey into leadership, shares his successes and failures, and the important lessons he’s learned on the way. The result is a talk packed full of design leadership heuristics suitable for leaders of all shapes, sizes, levels and seniorities.
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The Accidental Design Leader
- 2. A few years ago I spotted a trend
- 3. Designers now had a seat at the table
- 4. But…
- 5. Rather than being happy Many were stressed
- 6. New problems to deal with
- 7. They’d fallen for the myth of leadership
- 8. All you need is power to make change
- 9. All you need is power to make change
- 10. Power gives you more opportunity to influence
- 11. You need to develop a new set of skills
- 12. over tea and cake The pattern became clear
- 16. Managing up #4
- 17. Managing down #5
- 18. wasn't for them? Maybe design management
- 19. Mount Stupid Stuck in the Trough of disillusionment Plateaux of productivity Trough of disillusionment
- 20. Design Leadership is still relatively new
- 21. Accidental Leader for the past 12 years
- 22. I helped found a new design Leadership Community
- 24. I never set out to lead design teams
- 25. The living embodiment of the Peter Principal
- 26. I hated ego-driven savant leadership
- 28. servant leadership I preferred ego-less
- 30. Hire people better than you and give them the space to excel
- 31. Good leaders try to make themselves redundant
- 32. Bad leaders dictate Good leaders delegate
- 33. Processes don’t make great products, people do
- 34. Hire people with a calling Not a great looking resume
- 36. people want to be on Build the team
- 37. first mover advantage Reputation, outreach and
- 38. The best designers want growth Money is just table stakes
- 39. Invests in people Signal that your company
- 40. to do great work Create the best environment
- 41. brilliant arseholes Hire slow, and avoid
- 42. than an arsehole It’s better to have a hole
- 44. on your interview promises Make sure you follow through
- 45. keep people focussed Clear values and mission
- 46. they won't want to leave Foster a collaborative culture
- 47. people leave You are the main reason
- 48. or they’ll burn out Give the team space
- 49. experiment and innovate Schedule time to
- 50. Now Next Future 6wks 6mths 6yrs Design for now, next, & future
- 51. Great designers deliver Good designers design
- 53. remove organisational barriers Great design leaders
- 54. so your team don't have to Pick up the trash
- 55. between design and development Break down the silos
- 56. are a huge productivity boon Design Systems
- 57. has a vital role to play Design Operations
- 58. on creating high performance teams Lessons from Aristotle
- 60. Impact
- 61. Meaning Impact
- 64. Psychological Safety Dependability Structure & Clarity Meaning Impact
- 65. Managing up #4
- 66. the value of design Your job is to promote
- 67. the language of business You need to speak
- 68. not battle lines Create partnerships
- 69. governance layer Weave design into the
- 70. not a shit funnel Be a shit umbrella
- 71. Get a leadership coach Leaders need support
- 72. Managing down #5
- 73. managing upwards Don’t spend all your time
- 74. look after their teams Great Design Leaders
- 75. regular one-on-ones Make sure you have
- 76. and connect to people Take time to walk the floor
- 79. Supporting Coaching DirectingDelegating INDIVIDUAL COMPETENCY DIRECTIVE BEHAVIOUR INDIVIDUALMOTIVATION SUPPORTIVEBEHAVIOUR
- 80. and critique privately Make sure you praise publicly
- 81. individual growth Support your teams
- 82. Lead Principal Director VP A leading performer who prefers to manage projects over managing people. Indispensable individual contributor. Dynamic leader, focused on strategic vision, growing talent and execution Articulate a compelling vision; help run the company Depth, expertise, innovation, persuasion, strategic, confidence; programs not projects Breadth, mentorship, evangelism, thought leadership, visionary, storytelling Mentorship, new value creation, organization-wide leadership, planning; operations Recruiting and hiring; establishing culture; accountability; vision, evangelism Leads the delivery of shipped products; Delivered successful work at the scope of ‘product areas’ Leads teams in framing and solving hard problems; has driven innovative efforts that uncovered new value with new kinds of experiences; presents company as an industry leader in design Significant management experience (teams up to 10 people); recruited and hired teams Successfully run design organizations (of around 10-15 or fewer); Demonstrated ability to engage executive leadership across the company
- 84. Unaware Blame others Excuses Wait and hope Acknowledge reality Own it Find solutions Get on with it Accountability Ladder
- 85. Tell me what to do I think I recommend I would like to I intent to I’ve done I’ve been doing Leadership Ladder
- 86. I see repeating themselves Those were the 5 key concerns
- 87. Finding talent#1 Retaining talent#2 Executing at pace#3 Managing up#4 Managing down#5
- 88. my personal experiences I’ve tried to share
- 89. approach to leadership There's no one-size-fits-all
- 90. common wisdom and tactics Instead it’s a mix of
- 91. but it’s still not being done A lot of this is obvious
- 92. but it’s still not being done A lot of this is obvious bleeding
- 93. Good Leaders Servetheirteams Hire people better than them selves Make themselves redundant Invest in their teams Create space to do great work Setcompelling visions Foster collaboration Create a thriving work culture Empower teams Remove barriers Provide air cover Operationalise design Em bed design in the governance layer Supportindividual growth Promotethe valueofdesign
- 94. Is EASY to understand Good design leadership
- 95. to execute well It’s bloody HARD
- 96. Thank You Follow me @andybudd