Get Over Yourself: Being Open to Challenge
To be a good design leader, encourage your team to challenge your decisions
Over the last couple of years, I’ve had the privilege to lead a design team at a well-established SaaS company as we’ve built a whole new suite of products. During that time, our team more than tripled in size, with a combination of full-time employees and contractors spread across the U.S. and engineering teams located overseas. It’s been an exhilarating ride, to say the least.
At our peak, we had a well-balanced cadence of reviews and meetings, which helped us feed a large number of development teams while holding a high bar for usability and a cohesive experience.
Simply put, we had the right formula to meet high expectations amid furious growth.
As we wrapped up the initial push, the team shrank to about half of its peak size, yet we kept the same cadence of reviews and meetings. A problem emerged: What had helped smooth our way as a larger team was now a subtle source of friction.
And I’ll admit, I didn’t see it. The change was a gradual one, easily lost amid the day-to-day. Lucky for us, one of our more recent hires, frustrated with the status quo, challenged how we were working.
