Ideas, thoughts and general philosophy.
I organised and compiled these thoughts in a lonely notion doc to explore and better understand what I value and map my general philosophy and I thought why not share it with people who are curious to get a better sense of what keeps me up at night.
Thoughts or musings - call it what you wish, I’m trying to instill the essence of the human condition through the work I do and the people I closely collaborate with.
Why? So I don’t get lost along the way and iterate how I engage with the world with some sort of precision and clarity.
01
A designer is a planner with an aesthetic sense.
Everything is designed, it’s just a case of by who, and with what sensibilities. Understand the decisions other people are making around you and the tradeoffs.
Design is a team sport. Understand the system in which you are operating in, lead and operate with a servitude mindset.
02
Assume positive intent. Trust both ways.
Trust goes two ways. I’ll always assume your actions come from positive intent, and ask you to always assume the same of mine.
03
Endless decisions
Companies are essentially people and collections of decisions. Both have layers of idiosyncrasies - figure them out.
Decisions reverberate. Is this easily reversible? Or will it layer, like sediment?
If you find yourself surprised by a decision someone else made - denaturalise it.
Decisions come from places, like leaves on a tree. Analyse the roots.
04
Don’t get lost in the numbers
It's very easy to start looking at a user base as just numbers - don’t lose sight.
Users are people. Products are experiences.
05
Every theory is some sort of a model
Understand the variables you’re playing with, don’t overcomplicate more than you need to for the purpose at hand.
06
Don’t leave people hanging
Get to the point. Bias to action.
Get back to people quickly. The highest performing teams optimise for the speed of building together.
Don't interrupt yourself - give yourself focused time, but get back to others when you can in break points.
When you can’t action, always acknowledge.
07
Say no more often
Focus is about saying no to good ideas.
It’s easy to say no to bad ideas. Focus is about saying no to the good ones.
Apply discipline. Validate impact. Rationalise opportunity cost. Why now?
