Straight from the desk

“The future is already here — it's just not evenly distributed.” — William Gibson A few weeks ago, I wrote about something that has been bothering a lot of UX people. 'Will AI replace us?' Someone on my team had asked me the same thing. It was a fair question. My answer then was simple: 'AI isn't going to replace good UX. But it will expose bad leadership.' Because when people are frightened, they don't need predictions. They need leadership. I still believe that. But somethi

“Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.” — Groucho Marx Bella has never read a leadership book. She has never attended a workshop on psychological safety or workplace dynamics. Yet, she has taught me some of the most useful lessons I know about trust and leadership. Bella is my dog. As she's grown older, I'm becoming more aware of the fact that she has a mind of her own. There are days when she listens to everything I say. And t

“Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in action.” — Harold S. Geneen If there is one thing I've learnt in relationships, it is that people won't remember what you said to them, but they will remember how you made them feel. For life. This is a universal truth. Your team member will not remember what you said in the appraisal meeting, but they will always remember how you made them feel after it. And I've had the unique opportunity to be on both sid

“The graveyards are full of indispensable men.” — Charles de Gaulle He was one of those hard-working team member, always eager to take on a challenge, and to deliver. So when he resigned right after the annual appraisal call, I took it personally. Specially since I got him a promotion and what was considered a significant hike. I replayed every conversation in my head. What could I have done differently? Where did my communication fail? Should I have pushed harder for him? W

“Success is where preparation and opportunity meet.” — Bobby Unser, race car driver Most employees think promotions are decided during appraisal season. Almost none of them realise the amount of discussions that goes behind identifying talent that deserves the growth. When the discussion reaches a conference room after weeks of reviewing employees and the work they've done over the past year, most decisions are already obvious. The honest insider truth is - Promotions are ea

“Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” — Joe Louis Come March every year, every team member I have worked with wants a promotion. Very few want to hear the feedback or understand that they have to earn one. And contrary to popular belief, no manager looks forward to telling that talented person that they did not get the rating they hoped for. I have had this conversation more times than I remember, and it never gets easy. But over the years, I've chipped

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives… but the one most responsive to change." “Change is the only constant” - Every single manager you’ve had The harshest truth you’ll realise but never say as a UXer is that most UX problems are not design problems. They’re problems of needless complexity, ones we unintentionally create to fix a problem that didn’t exist. When outcomes were weak, management assumes “We need better designers.” What we actually need is - Bette

“I don’t like work—no man does—but I like what is in the work—the chance to find yourself.” — Joseph Conrad There’s a moment every new manager goes through. It’s quiet. It doesn’t come with a promotion email or applause. It comes when you realize… no one cares how good you are anymore. They care how good your team becomes. When I first moved into managing UXers, I thought my job was to raise the bar. Better reviews. Sharper critique. Cleaner outputs. I was wrong. My job wasn’