For the past six months I took a break from writing & working following the birth of my son Theo.

However, I didn’t take a break from thinking.

Thinking about Design. Thinking about careers. Thinking about what might be next.

So after a lot of thinking, I want to get back to creating.

Specifically, I want to pivot my writing a bit. I want to write less about what I’ve done, and more about what I’m learning, what I’m thinking, and what I’m doing.

Not as a stream of consciousness, but rather the highlights, and what the lessons mean for the practice of design.

A few topics I want to explore:

• What Design-specific strengths will future-proof my career?

• If we design fewer interfaces in the future, what capabilities matter more?

• If there will be more design founders in the future, what will they be doing?

I want to start this journey by exploring a topic that has eluded me for a good chunk of my career:

• What is Branding, and why is it such a mystery to most?

I hope you’re still interested in these topics. If not, please unsubscribe below.

If you are, awesome! Let’s learn together. 🙌

-Mat

Because I can’t help myself, I’ll probably still be including a song with each post again. 😅

I also hope this week’s post helps reinforce some positive habit-building we sometimes lose after our New Year’s Resolutions begin to wear off. Happy Patriot’s Day/Marathon Monday if you’re in Boston. Don’t forget to file your taxes if you’re in the US.

-Mat

“Everybody talks, everybody talks,
Everybody talks too much”

Neon Trees, Everybody Talks

The problem with stand-ups

Most designers have experienced a daily check-in or stand-up meeting1. 

The purpose of most stand-ups is to understand a team’s progress; how close is a project to being done? That’s it. Nothing more.

However, with the rapid rise of remote work, I’ve seen a lot of stand-ups devolve into rambling lists of tasks, social updates, project discussions, and wandering topics. Often, a simple 15-minute update turns into a 45- or 60-minute meeting, wasting people’s time.

Why does this happen? First, working remotely (or in siloes) has starved us for social connection, but socializing is not the focus of a stand-up meeting. Second, most companies still haven’t developed good practices for remote working and don’t provide necessary structure to support social updates, project discussions, and other outlets people need. 

So more and more, teams turn the daily stand-up into the everything meeting. Instead of a quick update, people spend time recounting everything they did the day before. 

Don’t fall into the trap of describing what you did.

The truth is, people don’t care what you did yesterday or even what you might do today. They care about what’s finished. They care about how close the project is to done.

Regardless of how your stand-ups are structured2, what your boss and team need to know most is: what did you get done? 

37 Signals framed it best in the book, Remote:

“When you can’t see someone all day long, the only thing you have to evaluate is the work. [...] So instead of asking a remote worker ‘what did you do today?’ you can now just say ‘show me what you did today.’”

So make it easy for people to see what you got done, not what you did. 

A framework to communicate better

As a designer, showing what you did should be easy because our work produces artefacts (Eg. A sketch, a document, a line of code, a design, etc.). So make your work visible to the team even if you don’t show your work during stand-up. 

Here’s a simple four question stand-up framework to make your work known to everyone: 

1. ✅ Done. What did you finish yesterday?

2. 🆕 New. What new information did you learn impacting the project?

3. 🔲 Today. What will you finish today?

4. 🚫 Blockers. What is blocking you from moving the project forward?

Let’s unpack all four…

1. ✅ What did you finish yesterday?

Focus on what is done. Done means the project made progress by a measurable amount. As a designer, you should have an artefact. Share your work and explain how it moves the project closer to completion. 

If you didn’t finish anything, be honest. Admitting you didn’t finish anything will incentivize you to break your work into smaller pieces (daily/hourly chunks) to fit the daily check-in routine. Breaking down a project into parts is a critical skill to cultivate as a designer.

Example:

• I sketched the new landing page to inform the wireframe I’ll share a link after stand-up.

• I explored three distinct concepts. Review them here (link).

• I wrote a design brief. Here’s a link to the document for review.

• I edited the CSS for our website. Here’s a link to view the result.

• I sent three high-fidelity designs to marketing for sign-off.

2. 🆕 What new information did you learn?

Share what changed. Did you receive feedback changing the scope of the project? Was an issue delaying your work? Did someone ask you to do something unplanned? Update the team on new information; especially scope changes impacting the project’s timeline.

Sharing new information has two key benefits:

1. Sharing makes extra work visible to everyone. Additional work requests go unnoticed by your boss or the rest of the team unless you speak up. When new requests aren’t made visible to people they will assume you are slow.

2. Communicating changes lessens the burden on you. Instead of all work falling on your shoulders, sharing allows the team to offer help, reject changes, or reprioritize work based on the new information. You also avoid starting work your boss or your team don’t want you to do.  

Example:

• Marketing asked me for three new versions of the product display ad due today.

• Our design system team asked me to create documentation for our new feature.

• John from sales asked for an updated sales deck slide for the new feature launch.

• Yesterday IT made me install system updates forcing me to re-install and update design applications critical to finishing this work.

• Yesterday the VP of product asked for a working design prototype they could test on their phone which will take two days of work to finish.

3. 🔲 What will you finish today?

Under promise and over deliver. To quote Basecamp CEO Jason Fried, “A kick-ass half is better than a half-assed whole.” Make the room to deliver something high quality even if it’s a small amount of work. Your team (or boss) will speak up if they need you to get more done.

A good question I like to ask myself: “If I could only deliver one thing today, what would make the biggest impact on moving my project forward?”

Example:

• I’ll finish the wireframe for the landing page and share a link for review.

• I will finish three distinct concepts. And send an update to the team for feedback.

• I will write a brief proposing a design direction and send it to the team for comments.

• I will experiment with the animation timing for our website home page and send the values to engineering.

• I will send final image assets to the marketing team and will CC the team.

4. 🚫 What is blocking you from moving the project forward?

Speak up or say “no blockers.” If you are waiting on someone else you need the team to know. Similar to making invisible work visible, people need to know you’re blocked or they can’t help. You don’t need to blame anyone, just state the facts. (Eg. The design is waiting on the product manager to approve before it can be sent to engineering.)

Example:

• I’m blocked on sending the design to engineering because we don’t have sign-off on the copywriting.

• I’m blocked from moving to the next project because I’m waiting on Marketing to approve assets.

• I’m blocked from finalizing the design pending approval from our design systems team.

• No blockers.

— ❦ —

How to put this into practice

Your stand-up is a chance to form good habits 

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Aristotle

Anything you do daily becomes a habit. Make sure your daily work habits support the behaviors you need to advance your career.

Every career framework for designers has some variation of: Transparent Communication and/or Effective Collaboration listed as key behaviors for promotion. Your daily stand-up is the place for you to both cultivate and showcase your ability. 

How to build your daily habit:

1. Before stand-up: Write your answers to the four question stand-up framework and be prepared to share your work.

2. During stand-up: Share your update. Be clear. Be brief.

3. After stand-up: Send a quick bulleted list of your update to your manager with links to the work.

I have never met a manager (designer or non-designer) who didn’t appreciate a focused daily update. 

Have an awesome week,

Mat

This week, , Product Design & Design Ops Lead at Klaviyo, walks us through her Ramp-up Guide. It’s a template she developed while helping new designers find success quickly during Klayvio's rapid growth and hiring phase. It’s like self-driving for onboarding. A helpful template not only for managers, but also designers.

Julie's work and her adaptability in switching roles from Product Design to Design Manager and then to Design-Ops helped Klayvio scale all the way to IPO in May 2023 at a $9.2 billion valuation.

Julie is not just a friend, she is also an empathetic, talented, and driven product designer. I’m excited to have her as a guest, and I hope you enjoy her story as much as I have.

🙇‍♂️

About three years ago, I found myself at the helm of Klaviyo’s design team. Navigating leadership changes, and tasked with both hiring and onboarding a new wave of team members, I felt like a pilot assembling a plane mid-flight. With limited experience and guidance, I was piecing together the puzzle of hiring and onboarding, all in the hope that what I was building mid-air would be sufficient to set my team up for success. 

These years were a period marked by the constant pursuit of refining our onboarding process and what has evolved is a guide that has proven invaluable to managers of welcoming new team members onto their teams.

Onboarding people during hyper growth

In the early days, when our team was a handful of individuals and our growth rate was gradual, managing onboarding was relatively straightforward.The time spent tailoring onboarding to each new person worked fine. However, as our hiring rate doubled, I began to notice the need for a scalable onboarding strategy. I found myself and my colleagues repeating the same tasks for each new team member, making the need for a better process clear.

Typically after completing the very structured Klaviyo and design team onboarding, which is a few weeks in total, employees were placed onto a team and left to figure things out on their own. This contrast was brought up time and again. And given the unique dynamics of each team and manager, some people received sufficient context on their projects, while others did not. It wasn't entirely the manager's fault, but there was room for improvement. We not only dedicated time to revamping our onboarding program (stay tuned for a blog post on this!), but we also recognized a significant need for additional guidance once a new team member actually joined a team. 

Onboarding at scale

Enter the role ramp-up guide—a scalable, and proactive approach to onboarding any new team member. The guide consists of an organized overview and set of checklists, essentially serving as your team's personalized toolkit. 

Managers, this guide is designed for you to customize and adapt to the unique needs of each team. It can be presented to your new team members as a dynamic tool during their onboarding journey and as they integrate into their team. Within the realm of product design, collaborating with engineering and product partners, Its purpose is to ensure that team members, whether newcomers or undergoing internal shifts, hit the ground running and are set up for success. It's important to note that this guide doesn't replace your company or design team's onboarding experience; instead, it complements it, providing that extra boost to set everyone up for success in their new roles.

Three skills to onboard effectively

Before we jump into the ramp up template, let me share three core skills that I always keep in the back of my mind, not just for my own growth but to help every team member cultivate healthy and robust relationships with their colleagues and partners.

Be an active listener

I realized the power of being an active listener. Communication is more than just hearing words—it's a two-way street. Being an active listener means giving your full attention, minimizing distractions, and making eye contact to show that you're fully present and value what the other person has to say. This one is the hardest of the three and takes a lot of practice and self awareness!

Be curious

Embracing curiosity is to have an active and genuine interest in understanding and learning more about who you are speaking with. You can seek to understand by asking thoughtful and open-ended questions, being open to hearing different perspectives, and being willing to learn from others’ point of view. Leave the ego at the door.

Communicate clearly

Clear communication is a cornerstone for building connections. Whether spoken or written, tailoring your communication to your audience is key. When meeting someone for the first time, provide enough context to help them grasp the background and relevance of the conversation. Be concise in your writing and speaking, use simple language, and avoid unnecessary details.

Building trust through communication is a journey that takes time and continuous effort. It's about consistency and intentional actions, making sure your interactions contribute to a foundation of trust that strengthens over time. So, let's dive into the guide, keeping these principles in mind as we embark on this journey together.

How to use the ramp up guide template

Let's dig into the template—it's your personalized playbook with two parts: the overview and the checklists. Just a quick reminder, you are the author beyond this guide and you know what's best for your newest team member. Oh, and here's the deal—it's not a one-hit wonder. This guide sets the expectation that your employee will be rocking these tasks regularly to crush their role!

Overview

This section is straightforward. It lists the mission, team members, and those crucial docs and links you don’t want your employee to lose track of and helps them navigate the team dynamics.

Checklists

1. Understanding your customer

Delve into the intricacies of your user base. A deep dive into competitors, industry trends, and target customers is crucial for designers. This involves three fundamental components:

• Take a good look at what your competitors are up to.

• Listen in or join sales and support calls to learn from real interactions.

• Watch how customers use your product in action.

2. Understanding your product

Before getting started on the work, it is essential to gain a clear understanding of the ongoing projects. Beyond reviewing the roadmap, consider conducting a UX audit to really see what product improvements are needed and to gain a point of view. At Klaviyo, we like to stick to the NNGroup’s “10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design” for identifying design issues.

3. Get friendly with your team

This part is all about building effective relationships with key partners. Since you’ll be spending a lot of time working together, it’s important to understand their expectations for the product and to be aware of any considerations before the work begins. The section includes a set of questions to facilitate a well-rounded understanding and starting point. And remember, this isn’t a one-time thing – it’s an ongoing journey, even after you’ve finished the guide.

• Schedule time with your product manager(s)

• Schedule time with your engineer(s)

• Schedule time with other designers

• Schedule time with other team members across the company

Wrapping up

So far, the Klaviyo design team has used this guide to successfully onboard 40 employees onto the design team and the numbers keep growing! Here’s some feedback that we’ve received from recent hires:

“...it definitely gave me a clear checklist of documents to review and people to set up time with”

“Overall, I felt like the guide was super helpful in helping me gain context”. 

"It may just be how my brain works, but I found the checklist format in there super helpful. I break down everything into tasks already, so I liked being able to treat everything in the guide as an item to check off (including the 1:1's to meet the team)."

If you're like I once was on a journey of trial and error, feeling uncertain about onboarding a growing team, I hope this guide can boost your confidence and set your team up for success!

Get Julie's Template

That’s all for this week. 🙌

Have you dealt with a similar situation? Got any advice?

Please hit reply, comment, or reach out! I would love to hear about your experience and any templates, resources, or guides you’ve found useful.

Have a great week!

-Mat Budelman

“Bring it back, sing it back
Bring it back, sing it back to me”

Moloko, Sing It Back

Last week, I was at my desk during the end of a meeting-heavy day. Sitting through back-to-back meetings is exhausting, and of course my last meeting was the most important one. What we decided today would affect all of my work the following week. 

Everything was moving along as planned. We were getting through the agenda, people volunteered for follow-up actions, yet everyone only seemed semi-engaged in their tiny little video squares. No one looked like they were typing (I certainly wasn’t). But just as the meeting was ending, a phrase from my co-worker caught my attention: “Can I play that back for a second to make sure we’re on the same page…” I noticed the other little heads perk up in their squares as well.

My co-worker played back each discussion topic and repeated the agreed next steps. When the meeting ended I was much more clear about what we’d accomplished.

A synapse fired in my sleepy end-of-day brain. 

It connected me way back to the time when I was designing websites and marketing materials for clients. I learned quickly to always repeat what the client said, to ensure they (and I) understood the requirements correctly and the next step of the process. 

It was a hard-learned skill. 

I still remember the client meetings I'd left, feeling confident I'd understood the assignment, only to realize too late in the design process that I hadn’t. A combination of a faulty memory and unclear notes would inevitably result in lost work, frustrated clients, or both. It forced me to redo my work — on my own dime. I eventually learned to clarify everything in person and follow-up with an email. 

Once I got through that painful growth spurt, repeating back to clients became muscle memory. But overtime, that muscle atrophied; if you don’t use it, you lose it. It had been so long since I’d worked with clients. I was out of practice. My co-worker reminded me this works with anyone — co-workers or clients. 

I’ve heard this skill go by many names: reflecting, mirroring, and clarifying. It’s used by journalists, interviewers, researchers, and therapists. And it’s a skill you’ll notice everywhere once you begin to practice it. 

After last week’s meeting, I can’t help but call it a “Playback” (don’t call it a comeback). But whatever you call it, you’ll become a better designer (and co-worker) by practicing it.

💪 How to put this into practice

Below are a few helpful tips I’ve picked up along my design journey. Use these to improve and guide your active listening.

ABC (Always Be Capturing)

In Design Sprints and workshops, you always want to be writing everything down, whether it’s on a whiteboard, sticky note, in a notebook, or on your phone. Same with playbacks. Capturing makes it easier to refer back to something someone said at a later time without needing to rely on memory. It also comes in handy when a client or co-worker (or you) forgets. 

Paraphrase, don’t parrot

Mirroring is when you repeat exactly what someone said. But you can come across as an annoying chatty parrot if you do it too much. Mirroring should be used sparingly. Try to use similar words as much as possible without changing the meaning or introducing your own ideas. Keep it short and phrase it as a yes–no question.

If someone says, “I always write a summary after I’ve finished my TPS report and before I print everything for review.” 

Try asking, “So completing the report is always first, followed by the summary, and then printing for review, right?” 

Ask for agreement, especially if you disagree or don’t understand

It’s ok to get something wrong, misunderstand, or disagree. Take the time to get clarity. Clarity now will save you time, effort, and pain later. 

I've learned there's a pretty clear cue when I should interject a playback. Most of my meetings are video calls, so I wait for a point when a person finishes talking, and I can see everyone just staring, waiting for someone to speak next. That's when I jump in with:

“Ok, so if I understand correctly, here’s what we’ve just discussed/agreed/said...”

Mix it up

Try not to use the same phrase too often to avoid being repetitive. Plus, you want to have a conversation, not draw attention to your tactic.

Here are some phrases to try on (see what works for you):

• Let me play that back…

• If I am hearing you correctly…

• So if I understand correctly…

• What you're saying is that…

• In summary, …

• So, to summarize…

• I heard you. We should…

• Here’s what I’m hearing…

• What you said was…

• Just to clarify…

• What I heard was…

• Let me see if I understand…

• Ok, let me see if I got that right…

🤔 Final thoughts

Active listening takes time, focus, and attention to master. And it's worth it. 

I hope this tactic helps you improve your work relationships. Even more, I hope it helps you improve your personal relationships. 

Have a fun week!

-Mat

P.S. When writing this I remembered IBM Design’s “Playbacks” from their Enterprise Design Thinking framework. Similar conceptually, but IBM’s is a formalized process. Big fan of the folks at IBM Design. 

“I planned each charted course
Each careful step along the byway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way”

Frank Sinatra, My Way

A few months ago, I was starting my Monday morning easy: sipping coffee, eating breakfast, and listening to a podcast. I was about to change the podcast to some focus music. At that moment, I heard the guest say something that instantly snapped a bunch of missing puzzle pieces into place:

“[I] think about three levels in what I do: One is the job. One is my work. One is this idea of vocation.” —Jeff Veen, Design MBA (16:35) 

He was responding to a longer thread about his career trajectory. Immediately, I could picture the three levels in my head: Job, Work, Vocation. He continued to give definition to each level.

The job is exactly what you think it is: your current role (title) and the related responsibilities, milestones, goals, and achievements. The work is the stuff you do and your talents & passions. The parts of your job you enjoy. Your vocation is the purpose for what you do. Your calling. What are you called to do? As Jeff sums it up in the interview:

“All of that sounds like some abstract Medium essay that somebody would write. But the reality is, it’s been really grounding for me to say I have a general sense of purpose for what I think [I’m] doing in this big transition from industrial to digital. How that should work [and] who should benefit. I have a bunch of values around that stuff. So, is my work pointing at [my values]? And are all the jobs I have done and the ones I will do in the future, are they all supporting that work to get to those values?”

Jeff’s way of evaluating job opportunities based on work and vocation made so much sense.

Something clicked in my brain.

I remembered a multi-step exercise with my manager, Yaprak, six months earlier. 

I was skeptical about a multi-step process for work goals… Did I really need to write down my core values, reflect on past experiences, do a SWOT analysis all simply to draft OKRs for the next six months? It sounded like overkill. Mostly due to my previous experience. 

Despite my skepticism, I did the exercise with Yaprak. 

Man, what a difference.

Until then, setting goals felt forced. An exercise for the company's sake, not my own. Goals were frequently thwarted by events outside my control, or grounded in business outcomes I had no power affecting. 

The process with Yaprak was so much easier. My values were easy to define. My strengths and weaknesses were easy to define. The gaps in my current role were easy to define. Everything fell into place. 

The final goals led to the happiest, most productive, and impactful six months I’ve had at Spotify. I sensed the momentum. I felt the acceleration in my productivity. I saw meaningful progress each month. Everything felt more aligned. 

But why were my goals working so well? The question sat in the back of my mind for months. What happened to the thwarted intentions and unclear business goals of the past? 

Jeff’s three levels made the answer clear.  

The process with Yaprak was meaningful because it grounded everything in my core values and purpose — my vocation — rather than business outcomes I couldn’t affect.

The goals had staying power. They enriched and improved the talents & passions I already possessed — my work — instead of aiming for things outside my control.

The goals were impactful. They leveraged the skills and behaviors I already possessed to create impact on my current job rather than rely on developing new skills.

I no longer have the “why” question in the back of my mind. I’m convinced. Aligning my job goals to my values (vocation) and my talents (work) creates focus, energy, and leverage. 

I feel more control. I feel anchored. My career trajectory is clearer because I can connect my values, my work, and my job. Anchored in my values, and the kind of work I enjoy, I have a better line of sight to the work experiences I want to tackle next.

Putting this into practice

I’ve asked Yaprak to create an overview of the process she used with me. I hope to share it in this newsletter soon.

In the meantime, I’ve taken Jeff’s three levels and added my answers. I hope the comparison helps you consider your own responses.

My Vocation “What is the purpose for what you do, what is your calling?” (Values & Purpose)

• Mat values collaboration, strategic thinking, learning, creating, and having fun.

• Mat’s purpose is to improve people’s experience of the world, and help others through teaching.

My Work “What do you love doing?” (Talents & Passions)

• Mat’s good at researching customer & user needs, prototyping, collaborating with a team, and designing software.

• Mat has a passion for solving hard problems, facilitating progress, developing product strategy, understanding how things work, and teaching others.

My Job is “What am I doing right now?” (Skills, Responsibilities, Behaviors)

• Mat’s a Senior Product Designer at Spotify responsible for Research & Development to improve the personalisation of Spotify’s user experience.

• Mat’s currently developing his ability to achieve radical focus, become a visual storyteller, and lead boldly.

Final thoughts

In the wilderness cairns show the way where markers can’t. The three levels of Vocation, Work, and Job are like a cairn for your career. Most companies have career paths, but few of us stop to think where the company’s path intersects with our own.

Jobs come and go but values don’t. Knowing the direction of your career can help orient you anytime you need a new aim.

The next time you sit down to write goals, think first. What are my values? What is my purpose? What talents and passions can I contribute? For my current job, what skills, behaviors, and knowledge do I have or need to achieve the impact I desire?

A few questions to kick-start your thinking:

1. Reflect on your values.

   1. What is important to you in work and in life? (Aim for four core values at most)

   2. What gives your work purpose and meaning?

   3. Where do you want your career to go?

      1. What’s your next next job and why can’t you get it now? 

2. Reflect on your talents, passions, opportunities.

   1. Where do you excel the most?

   2. What comes easy to you, but not to others?

   3. What is difficult for you? What do you avoid?

3. Reflect on the needs of your job.

   1. What skills, behaviors, or knowledge do you need to be successful in the role?

   2. What skills or behaviors do you already have you can leverage?

   3. What skill gaps do you need to fill?

I hope this helps you set better goals.

A big thanks to Yaprak for helping build my cairn! 💖

Have a fun week!

-Mat

P.S. How do you set goals at work? Is there a better or different way? Reply, let me know!

“Trying to make some sense of it all
But I can see it makes no sense at all
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you”

— Stealers Wheel, Stuck In The Middle

I was at home sitting at my desk, staring into my laptop screen. I was frustrated. I was a little annoyed. My typical positive outlook was already turning to pessimism — not a good sign for a Tuesday. 

It was my fourth video call of the day, and I could feel the Zoom fatigue settling in earlier than I expected. My team was in a state of constant back-and-forth. We argued over small aspects of the design. We questioned decisions made weeks ago. We were all pitching ideas for what to fix or improve in the product, but it felt like our ideas were going in twenty different directions. 

I find myself in a similar situation on almost every project. Some call it the “Messy Middle”; some call it the “Valley of Disappointment.” I like the “Trough of Disillusionment” (a concept from the Gartner Hype Cycle of Technology) because at this point, I frequently find myself disillusioned with everything about a project. I even start to question why the team is doing the project in the first place. 

Feeling disillusioned is disorienting, and I was disoriented. I needed something to help me get back on track. My next call was with Emily Balbarin, a Senior Staff Product Designer at Spotify. Little did I know, this call would change the way I work forever. 

Emily has a superpower. 

She has a way of pushing every project forward. She moves past stalemates and blockers with ease. To me, it feels like magic. Like a power she was born with.

On my call with Emily that Tuesday, I asked her outright, “How do you do it? How do you push through and get past moments where it seems like everything is a mess?” 

Without a moment of hesitation she said, “I just ask myself, ‘Where are we in the process?’ and ‘What’s the next decision we need to make?’” 

What?! That’s it? Was her superpower just two questions? 

I almost couldn’t believe what I just heard. 

Suddenly, it felt like a fog had lifted. A clarity washed over me that I hadn’t felt in previous projects. It was liberating. 

As soon as the call ended, I got to work. 

I mapped out where we were in the project. I listed the most important decision I thought we needed to make to move the project to the next stage and shared my work with the team. 

The change in momentum was immediate. Instead of arguing over minor aspects of the designs, debating new ideas we had, or questioning the project strategy, the team focused on the next decision we needed to make to move the project to the next stage. 

It wasn’t only me. I sensed relief in the rest of the team, too. We had all been in our heads, overthinking our decisions instead of asking, “Where are we in the process, and what do we need to do to move things forward?”

Since that day, I have used this simple trick every week.

How I put this into practice

Today, when I feel frustrated, annoyed, and disillusioned and feel my pessimism rising, it’s a signal. A signal to use the power of these two questions to make forward progress. 

Question 1: Where are we in the process? 

Asking this question first is powerful because it immediately orients you. 

In business, and especially in software development, we all like to believe we follow a disciplined step-by-step process with a distinct beginning and end, but the reality is: we don’t. Sometimes for good reasons. Sometimes you learn something that requires you to revisit earlier stages of the development process. Other times you start somewhere in the middle.

Asking where you are in the process requires you to step back to reflect. 

Reflecting on where you are helps identify the next milestone you need to achieve. Often in projects, you get so much into the details you can easily lose sight of the bigger picture. 

At Spotify, this is our bigger picture: 

To help orient teams, we’ve created a diagram that shows the entire product development life cycle and gives us a common point of reference. Each stage in the cycle has a milestone, a deliverable intended to move the project forward. (We’ve also developed scorecards to rate our products at each stage.)

Our shared process helps orient the team in any stage of a project. 

Once you’re oriented. You need to know what to do next.

Question 2: What’s the next decision we need to make?

The power in this question is twofold.

First, it focuses on forward momentum, getting into action. It doesn’t focus on asking more questions. It’s about decision-making. 

Second, it centers on the goal, not the product. The team is pulled away from any specific solution and focuses on the next step. Agreeing on the next decision and the work needed makes the next milestone clearer. Suddenly, debates about minor factors of the project – like the styling of a button or the meaning of a word – become unimportant because they don’t contribute to the next decision.

Time and time again, I’ve seen this unlock a stalemate and create forward momentum. 

Final thoughts

Getting stuck is a normal part of any project. There are endless ways to get unstuck. For me, these two questions will forever be my magic trick: 

1. Where are we in the process?

2. What’s the next decision we need to make?

If you are in the middle of a project and you see it slowing down or going sideways, try these two questions. I am convinced you’ll find them as useful as I have.

Thanks Emily. ❤️

-Mat

P.S. How do you get unstuck? What worked and what didn’t? Hit reply – I would love to hear your experience.

“Catch your magic moment
Do it right here and now
It means everything”

— Van Halen, Right Now

A cluttered desk makes me uneasy. 

Deadlines make me anxious. 

Similarly, super-long to-do lists are demotivating and anxiety producing. 

So I either work on the smallest and easiest tasks (eg. checking email, responding to calendar invites, or organizing my design files) or the most urgent tasks (eg. helping someone with a presentation due tomorrow, responding to a slack message, or preparing for a meeting today).

The problem is easy and urgent tasks are rarely the most important.

When I only focus on “easy-to-do” I end up optimizing for the total number of tasks I can complete rather than the most important ones. It feels good to check things off my list, but list-checking is a terrible measure of success. Especially when the list is constantly growing.

Similarly, when I prioritize urgent tasks, I’m letting other people’s priorities dictate mine. I’m put into fight-or-flight mode and a feeling of constant “fire-fighting,” where every new emergency needs to be addressed now, adding more and unnecessary negative stress to my workday.

Success in design is doing the difficult, big, important, deep-thinking work.

I know because I would get feedback from a manager, a coworker, and others asking, “Is this the most important thing you can be working on right now?” or, “Is this really urgent? Can this wait until tomorrow or later in the week?”

No one asks me those questions anymore.

For the last five or more years I’ve used the Eisenhower Method weekly and daily to group and rank my to-do list. This method helped me focus on what is most important while managing urgent tasks. I feel better and less overwhelmed because I have a repeatable system I can trust to organize my to-do list for impact.

As a bonus, I send the priority list to my manager each week. If they disagree with the priority, we can have an open discussion. By being transparent, I minimize the potential for interruptions and unexpected reprioritization.

How the Eisenhower Method works

For a history of the method and an overview, I’ve found James Clear’s article to be the most succinct and helpful. Here’s a quick recap to save you time and a click…

The TL;DR:

1. ✍ Write down everything you need to do. 

2. 🔠 Organize the items in your list into four quadrants:

   1. Urgent and important (Do)

   2. Important but not urgent (Decide)

   3. Urgent but not important (Delegate)

   4. Neither urgent nor important (Delete)

Why this method works so well

• Using a decision matrix helps me speed-up my thinking.

• Organizing tasks by importance ensures I prioritize impactful work.

• The process of doing the exercise forces me to recognize and avoid reactive, low-priority work.

• Clear priorities help me say no to new unforeseen tasks and assist me in negotiating priority when other people demand my time.

How I put this into practice

I stick to these three rules to make the Eisenhower Method work for me

1. Use the Eisenhower Matrix twice a day — when I first sit down at my desk and before I close my laptop at the end of the day.

2. Spend 10 minutes or less each time.

3. Use digital tools so I have access anywhere, anytime.

A daily ritual

Every day when I sit down at my desk, I review my list and organize any new items. By having a specific time and place, I instill the habit as part of my work routine. 

10 minutes or less

I limit myself to 10 minutes; spend more than 10 minutes and you’re falling into the trap of productive procrastination. Prioritizing your to-do list is not the work. 

Do the work.

I choose the most important or time-sensitive “Do” item first.

Optionally, I will rank items within columns by their potential impact as a second step. This reinforces my aim of working on what I believe matters most.

Using a digital tool

The end of my day is similar. I add any new items, check-off completed ones, and update any changes in urgency. I use a digital tool (Todoist) because it syncs across all my devices and lets me organize lists by sections (see below). You can use any tool you prefer; many have similar functionality.

You might notice I have a 5th column, “Inbox.” My inbox is where I put inbound tasks I haven’t organized yet. The purpose of the inbox is to capture tasks quickly without spending the time or mental energy organizing them on the fly.

In a pinch, I always have a sheet of paper nearby. However, as I’ve written about, it’s best to have a single place where you manage tasks to help with peace of mind and to make the system work best for you. An app that syncs my list across all devices ensures I have access anytime I need to review it or add to it.

Avoiding temptation

Sometimes, Unimportant & Non-urgent tasks are also fun or interesting. This makes the tasks much more tempting than the Important tasks, which can be difficult or challenging. To combat the temptation, a tweak I’ve made to the Eisenhower Method is to change “Delete” to “Avoid.” Previously, when I deleted tasks — especially the fun ones — they would somehow make their way back. Now, my “Avoid” column keeps them visible as a reminder. Knowing what to avoid is just as helpful as knowing where to focus. 

Tips for delegating

The tricky quadrant for me is always “Delegate” — the Urgent & Not Important. If you work alone or don’t have people reporting to you, how to delegate tasks can be unclear. 

As someone who doesn’t have an assistant or direct reports, I ask myself these questions to find creative ways to delegate:

• Can I create a system or rule to minimize these types of tasks?

• Can I create a plan with my manager to minimize these tasks?

• Can another designer on my team help?

• Can the person who initiated the task help?

• Can I ask for a different timeline?

• Can I negotiate or change the scope?

• Can I outsource (pay someone else to do) it?

• Can I delegate to a virtual assistant or AI like ChatGPT?

• Can an intern, mentee, or friend help?

• Can I time-box and batch these tasks if I can’t delegate?

Final thoughts

No system is perfect. 

No method works for everyone. 

I hope you follow the advice of Derek Sivers in Anything You Want and say, “Hell yes!” or “No” to what you’re working on. But I’m aware working for someone else doesn't always afford that luxury.

I’ve had many jobs where my to-do list grew faster than I could check things off. I’ve found the Eisenhower Method works the best for me. I’m more focused. I only work on what matters most. I’m more confident in saying no to new tasks, deprioritizing tasks, or delegating tasks because I have clearer reasoning. I also have more productive conversations with my manager and coworkers because my priorities are clear. And the results are clear:  I’m less stressed. I’m more productive. My impact has increased, and I’ve learned how to confidently delegate and say no.

Have you tried something similar? How was it? What worked and what didn’t? I would love to hear your experience.

That’s all for now. Have a great week!

-Mat

I’m away with family, so this week’s post is a throw-back to a few years ago before I worked at Spotify. As a small Product & Design team working at a startup, we needed to figure out everything for ourselves. This article formerly published on Medium.com is a recap for how we turned conversations with customers into a product roadmap for what we needed to test and build — ultimately leading to a very successful product people are still using today.

I hope this time of year is restful for you and your family.

-Mat

I wrote this article and previously published it on Medium as a contribution to the JTBD.info group. I’m posting again here in a new series of posts I want to do around JTBD or “Outcome-Driven Innovation.” What people misunderstand, how to do it right, and how it can elevate your design practice.

Does your design/product team know your customers’ needs?

Do your designers and engineers understand your customers’ behaviours and motivations?

Here’s a story about how we used JTBD at EverTrue to align the team around value when building our MVP:

Why this matters

Discovering and defining the right problems to solve is—I believe—one of the most difficult parts of the product management process. Without a clear process or framework, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Our design team at EverTrue combined a series of product management techniques that happened to yield a successful result for a new product we were developing; it helped us build empathy for our customers, define key problem areas, and outline our customers’ specific Jobs to be Done.

The process helped us work through the murky waters of research synthesis and problem definition to quickly arrive at a meaningful Minimum Valuable Product. Instead of the traditional “MVP” defined by the Lean Startup, which focuses on viability, we were focused on validating customer value. Our goal was to uncover and validate the minimum functionality required to solve our customers’ unmet needs.

We’re sharing our experience in the hopes that it will help other product teams. This article details the process that helped us get to our Minimum Valuable Product, which includes the following steps:

1. Gain empathy: Review existing research, identify gaps, and fill gaps with targeted customer interviews.

2. Synthesize research: Write Job Stories and define Situational Segments.

3. Define & prioritize problems: Define key problem areas and prioritize areas with the highest benefit to customers within the context of their User Journey.

4. Prototype & test solutions: Choose the highest prototype fidelity necessary to validate the solution and test with customers.

If this process is familiar to you, we’d love to know how you’re using it to develop new products or to improve existing ones.

1. Gain empathy

Gather existing research & look for gaps in your understanding

We’ve had success at EverTrue building a product that helps customers with advanced searching and segmentation, but we’d learned from recent interviews that this was only a small part of their day job. Earlier customer conversations suggested accessing data and planning meetings while traveling was painful, but we weren’t yet confident this pain point was the most important problem to solve. To build our confidence, we dug into existing research. Luckily, at EverTrue we talk to our customers and potential customers frequently, so existing research was easy to find.

First, we revisited interviews with gift officers—the customer segment that travels most frequently. After reviewing those conversations, we had a better understanding of the gift officer’s role in an organization and how he structures his day. We also uncovered how the role differs from other roles in the advancement office in the context of travel. However, we were missing distinct examples in which gift officers were struggling to make progress using existing products, so we took to the streets to gather specifics.

Fill gaps in your understanding with new research

Julie Lungaro from our design team lined up interviews with gift officers as they visited the EverTrue office. She also scheduled interviews in our customers’ offices to better understand the context of their behaviors. After interviewing five customers of varying experience levels, we discovered enough about their daily routines to fill the gaps in our understanding.

2. Synthesize research

Extract Job Stories from your research

Why Job Stories? Good Job Stories clearly separate a problem from any specific solution, which helps designers and developers create the best possible solution by focusing on the customers’ motivations and desired outcomes — the drivers of action. Learn more about creating Job Stories.

Our next hurdle was to combine and make sense of our research. We had some intuitions about the most painful aspects of the gift officer’s workflow — and places where software could help — but we had to see if the research backed up our hunches. We did this by writing Job Stories based on the content of our interviews. In total, we had around 25–30 stories.

With this many Job Stories, we began to notice similar or adjoining Situations. This was our clue to group stories into Situational Segments.

Group Job Stories into Situational Segments

What’s a Situational Segment? Job Stories are defined by three components: Situations, Motivations, and Desired Outcomes. A Situational Segment is when a group of Job Stories share a similar Situation. Read more about Situational Segments here .

Once we grouped all of the Job Stories into Situational Segments, we could see which Situations occurred most frequently.

We found these clusters of Situational Segments:

• Preparing for a trip

• Contacting and following up with prospects

• Managing meeting notifications and multiple calendars

• Arranging travel and logistics

• Reporting on meeting outcomes and documenting travel

Grouping these segments made it easier to identify what customers were looking to accomplish and the products they used to help. We also noticed that most customers were using similar products to accomplish their goals.

We considered the product solutions within each segment and avoided segments we felt were oversaturated or over-served with current solutions in the marketplace (e.g. travel arrangement and travel logistics served by products like Kayak, TripIt, etc.). We also moved away from Situations in which clear incumbent software solutions existed, making behavioral change unlikely (e.g. managing meeting notifications and multiple calendars served by Apple Calendar, Google Calendar, Outlook Calendar, etc.).

3. Define & prioritize problems

Prioritize Situational Segments by the largest amount of unmet needs

Next, we ranked the remaining Situational Segments by the total number of unmet needs in the customer’s workflow.

Once we had our prioritized list of Situational Segments, we decided to prioritize the Job Stories within each Segment. To do so, we mapped the Job Stories on a simple 2x2 matrix; the x axis represented the amount of pain felt in customers’ current workflow, and the y axis represented the anticipated cost of building a product to meet customers’ Desired Outcomes. This identified the Job Stories that would have the highest impact to customers and lowest cost to build.

Contextualize the Stories & Segments within the greater User Journey

Lastly—at the advice of our Director of Product Alex Jenkins—we stepped back to look at the big picture. We made sure we had the right problems in the right order without ignoring their impact to other moments along the User Journey (it can be easy to lose sight of the full User Journey when focusing on delivering a solution).

We wanted to be intentional about how and when the customer would transition between our new product and existing products in their Journey.

This work helped us define the key problems we needed to solve for our Minimum Valuable Product. Using Job Stories as the acceptance criteria for our MVP had a magical way of framing the problems as opportunities — making solutions easy to envision. The very phrasing of Job Stories invites those solutions.

4. Prototype & test solutions

Design, prototype, and test

We spent the following sprints designing and prototyping in order to get feedback from our internal team and customers. After showing a functional mobile prototype to a handful of customers—and interviewing them one by one—we collected enough feedback to validate:

1. The solution solved the pains we uncovered during research.

2. The solution had the right foundation of features to be valuable to customers without too much behavior change.

Release, get feedback, measure, refine the roadmap

We’ve just released our MVP, and early feedback tells us we’re helping customers do their jobs better, faster, and easier than before.

Among other overwhelmingly positive responses, customers have told us, “This will revolutionize the way I do my job” and “I’ve been doing this for a long time, and this is the greatest f****** thing I’ve seen.”

We’ve still got work to do, and we’re getting more and more feedback everyday. We’re hopeful our focus on Jobs to be Done will lead to a product with a deeper connection to our customers and win big in the market.

Without a framework like Jobs to be Done, it would have been difficult to sift through all of our research and define customer problems in a way that is testable and decoupled from specific solutions. We’re excited to continue to collect and catalog customer feedback using this framework. We are now focused on features that will add depth to our MVP to make it not a nice-to-have but a need-to-have product.

Notes:

1. We’re a big fan of the Jobs to be Done framework and especially how the folks at Intercom have applied it to product design, marketing, and support…really everything they do.

2. To find out more about Job Stories, you can read Paul Adam’s first blog about them and Alan Klement’s post on his development of the framework.

3. At EverTrue, we make software that helps Educational Advancement professionals make progress in their work day. We’re building a platform and a suite of tools, which help Gift Officers, Prospect Researchers, Annual Fund Managers, and Alumni Relations Officers do their job faster and more efficiently than ever before. Interested? We’re always looking for great people to join our team.

4. Check out our design team on Dribbble.

What did you think of this case-study, was it useful?

Hit reply, I would love to know.

-Mat

“Automation, automation, automation, automation, automation, automation, automation, prepare for mutation.”

— Stu Mackenzie (KGLW), Automation

Welcome to the first in a series of posts where I attempt to demystify the practice of designing AI, designing for AI, or simply understanding AI. My hope is to equip you with the core mental models, language, and framing you’ll need to have productive conversations with your product and engineering counterparts.

If you find this useful, please let me know in the comments below — or just hit reply in your email. Also, consider sharing with another designer interested in designing for AI. And if you want to read these as they are published, consider subscribing for free.

Subscribe now

What is Artificial Intelligence and why should you care

Googling the question, “What is Artificial Intelligence?” today will get you tons of answers. For example, my first hit is from IBM’s website:

Artificial intelligence leverages computers and machines to mimic the problem-solving and decision-making capabilities of the human mind

That’s actually not a bad definition. But why should we, as designers, care? Let’s ask our new friend ChatGPT, shall we?

Me:

Why is Artificial Intelligence important to designers?

ChatGPT:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is important to designers for several reasons, as it can enhance and transform various aspects of the design process. Here are some key reasons why AI is significant for designers:

• Automation of Repetitive Tasks: AI can automate routine and repetitive tasks, such as data analysis, image processing, and layout design. This allows designers to focus more on creative and strategic aspects of their work, leading to increased productivity and efficiency.

• Personalization and User Experience: AI can analyze user data to understand preferences, behaviors, and patterns. Designers can leverage this information to create personalized user experiences, tailoring interfaces and content to individual users, thereby improving engagement and satisfaction.

• Generative Design: AI can be used for generative design, where algorithms explore numerous design possibilities based on specified parameters and constraints. This can lead to innovative and optimized design solutions that may not have been considered through traditional design processes.

• Predictive Analytics: Designers can use AI to analyze trends and predict future design preferences. This can be particularly valuable in fields such as fashion, graphic design, and product design, where staying ahead of trends is crucial.

• Efficient Design Collaboration: AI-powered tools facilitate collaboration among designers by streamlining communication, version control, and feedback processes. This helps teams work more efficiently and ensures that everyone is on the same page during the design process.

• Enhanced Creativity: AI tools can act as creative assistants by suggesting design elements, color schemes, or layout options. While human intuition and creativity are irreplaceable, AI can provide inspiration and help designers explore new possibilities.

• Accessibility and Inclusivity: AI can contribute to making designs more accessible and inclusive. For instance, AI algorithms can help identify and address potential accessibility issues, ensuring that designs are usable by a wider audience, including individuals with disabilities.

• Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): AI plays a significant role in AR and VR applications, allowing designers to create immersive and interactive experiences. This is particularly relevant in industries like gaming, architecture, and simulation, where realistic and dynamic environments are crucial.

• Data-Driven Decision Making: AI can analyze large datasets to extract valuable insights, helping designers make informed decisions. Whether it's understanding user behavior or evaluating the performance of design elements, data-driven insights can lead to more effective and successful designs.

• Adaptive Design: AI can enable adaptive design solutions that respond dynamically to user interactions and environmental conditions. This flexibility ensures that designs remain effective across various devices, platforms, and contexts.

In summary, AI empowers designers by automating tasks, providing valuable insights, fostering creativity, and enhancing the overall design process. As technology continues to advance, the collaboration between AI and designers is likely to bring about even more innovative and efficient design solutions.

Ok, well, that was a pretty good and robust answer. But the most important word used in that massive response is “Automation.” Automation is a good tool in the designer’s toolkit because when we understand the progress our users are trying to make in their life, automation is a powerful way of making our solutions easier to use, cheaper to access, or more enjoyable overall. 

Hot take: “Artificial Intelligence” has become used as a fancy way of saying  “automation.”

Yes, I know AI is an entire field of study. Yes, it’s more complicated than just automation. But almost every “AI” feature I’ve ever worked on can be reduced to the automation of a task. A task previously done by a human or a task neither a human or a machine could do before. 

So as a designer tasked with finding ways to “leverage AI” in a product, a very easy way to start is by thinking about all of the tasks users do today that would be made easier — or even obsolete — with more automation. 

BUT… by automation, I do not always mean the full removal of the human. Automation exists on a spectrum. Here’s how I frame automation in my own design practice:

Mental Model: The Automation Spectrum

Humans have been automating things for centuries. The most obvious period was the Industrial Revolution, when we built giant machines like the power loom. In my lifetime, we’ve been using microprocessors and software to take advantage of the computational power necessary for more sophisticated automation. 

As you can see, automation happens on a spectrum. Early research on human-computer interaction (Sheridan & Verplanck, 1978) defined 10-stages of automation.

Later research added roles a computer or human may perform. Roles like: Monitoring, Generating, Selecting, and Implementing. (Endsley and Kaber, 1999)

Both of these spectrums are helpful to see an overall picture of who/what is doing the work. The most useful visualization of the Automation Spectrum I continue to come back to again and again in my design practice is from Chris Noessel. I first discovered the model in a talk he gave. He describes four main types of automation: Manual, Assistive, Agentive, and Automated. In his talks, he has used this simple illustration (I’ve recreated it below, but you can watch Chris present the framework in 2019 at the From Business to Buttons design conference):

The spectrum is a range, from fully manual (a human is doing the work) to fully automated (a machine is doing all the work). The tricky parts are the middle two. What is the difference between an Assistant and an Agent? The more you think about it, the more complex it gets, but luckily Chris has spent many hours teasing out the nuance. 

Assistants vs. Agents

In his 2017 book Designing Agentive Technology: AI That Works for People, Chris describes the differences like this:

I think an assistant should assist you with a task, and an agent takes agency and does things for you. So “agent” and “agentive” are the right terms for what I’m talking about.

[...]

If you are a distinguished, long-time student of human-computer interaction, you will note similar themes from the study of automation and what I’m describing. But where automation has as its goal the removal of the human from the system, agentive technology is explicitly in service to a human. An agent might have some automated components, but the intentions of the two fields of study are distinct.

As a counter to the argument of, “Wait… isn’t every technology an agent?” he explains using the example of a light switch:

For example, I can design a light switch when I think of it as a product, subject to industrial design decisions. But I can design a better light switch when I think of it as a problem that can be solved either manually with a switch or agentively with a motion detector or a camera with sophisticated image processing behind it. And that’s where the real power of the concept comes from. Because as we continue to evolve this skin of technology that increasingly covers both our biology and the world, we don’t want it to add to people’s burdens. We want to alleviate them and empower people to get done what needs to be done, even if we don’t want to do it. And for that, we need agents.

He follows this by offering a useful flow diagram (see below) to consider the differences between Agents and Assistants:

He concludes this chapter in the book with a useful recap about Agents:

Recap: Agents Are Persistent, Background Assistants 

Far from being a one-off invention in the form of the thermostat, agentive technologies are appearing all around us, for many long-standing human problems. We can see them if we train ourselves to understand how they’re different. 

They are 

• Software that persists.

• Watching a data stream (or many) for triggers.

• Performing a task for a user according to their goals and preferences. 

They are not 

• Tech that assists a user with the performance of a task. That’s assistive tech. 

• Conversational “agents,” which are properly thought of as assistants. 

• Robots, the software for which is tightly coupled to the hardware. An agent may embody a robot, and a robot may operate as an agent. 

• Automation, in which the human is incidental or minimized. 

They are different in that 

• A valet is the model. 

• Design focuses on easy setup and informative touchpoints. 

• When it’s working, it’s most often out of sight. 

• Touchpoints require conscious attention and consideration. 

• The goals of touchpoints are information, course correction, and helping the agent keep on track.

A final dimension of agents I’ve found useful is a concept Chris has spoken about since the release of the book. He says agents give users “Post-Attention Value,” the way an actor's agent continues to look for jobs for their client even when they're not together. You will know you’re building an agent instead of an assistant because it’s delivering value even when the user isn’t paying attention. For example, when you ask ChatGPT a question, it gives you an answer. When you walk away, ChatGPT is not working in the background to monitor for better answers and send you an email when it finds one. It’s only assisting you in that moment. 

A final note about automation

Not all automation is good. Some tasks create delight and joy in their lack of automation. For example, curating a music playlist is a delightful, fun activity. If Spotify completely automated away the entire process it would result in a worse experience for some people. So before adding automation to your product, make sure it adds value.

Putting the Automation Spectrum into practice

Just like any human-centered design effort, most of the upfront work will be in defining the problem we need to solve for people. Step one is always customer research to identify the problem. Next is investigating how important it is to solve the problem. It’s during this phase of the project I’ll use the Automation Spectrum to map the features we’ve already built. This gives us, as a team, context to discuss what type of automation might help solve the identified problem.

As an example, below I’ve mapped four Spotify features onto the spectrum: 

1. Playlist creation

   1. Making a playlist is a Manual process today. You add a title, songs, and a description, but nothing changes unless you make the change. 

2. Suggested songs

   1. At the bottom of every playlist is a list of recommended songs. This acts as an Assistant, adapting and recommending songs for the playlist as it grows. It doesn’t have agency because songs only get added to the playlist manually by the user. 

3. Discover Weekly

   1. Discover Weekly, on the other hand, looks at all of your past listening every week, finds similar music you haven’t played on Spotify, and refreshes automatically. In addition, you can like or remove songs and your feedback gets incorporated into the next playlist refresh. Discover Weekly is therefore an Agent, following your instructions and taking action on your behalf even while you’re not actively using the app. You get the post-attention value Chris identified.

4. Niche Mixes

   1. Similarly, Niche Mixes refresh automatically and use personalization to tailor the playlist to each and every one of the 500MM+ users on Spotify. The difference is the user has no control over how songs are generated or when or by what dimension. Everything is automatic, happening in the background.

Creating a feature map is a really easy and helpful way to see if we’re underdelivering somewhere along the Automation Spectrum.

Give this a try yourself. It’s a handy way to discuss competitor features, your own features, or even new feature ideas. Bonus: It’s also easy to draw on a whiteboard.

Be the facilitator

The next time you’re in a meeting where people begin talking about AI, steer the conversation into what matters most — your customers and/or users’ needs. Help them see that “AI” is just a fancy framing for different amounts of automation and guide the discussion to tangible and productive discussions around value. You can do this by asking questions like:

• What do we know about how people do this task today?

• What is the problem to which AI unlocks solutions that weren't possible before? 

• How might we map people’s existing workflow to uncover areas of opportunity?

• How would automation make this experience better?

• What amount of automation is needed?

• Do people want this automated away or do they enjoy some part or all of the process?

• What are the drawbacks of automation and how might we mitigate the downsides?

I hope this new framing helps you have more productive conversations with Product Managers, Engineers, or other designers. The Automation Spectrum is a helpful and visual tool to help align and guide productive conversations about AI.

If you liked this topic, I cannot stress enough how useful Chris’s book can be to understand the process for designing Agents and the nuanced topic of AI. Consider supporting him by buying a copy.

Have a fun week!

-Mat

P.S. What did I miss? How could this be more helpful to you? Hit reply or comment below.

P.P.S Thank you to Ben Gebo for introducing me to King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard who I featured at the top of this post.

"Let it go, let it go”

— Elsa, Frozen

Picture this situation

You’re at dinner with your partner or out with friends. While someone’s talking, you notice your mind begins wandering. An unfinished task. Something you said to a colleague. An unresolved problem at work. An idea you have for your company or a big project. You try to refocus on the conversation, but the thoughts keep coming back. When you’re distracted people notice. Which can lead to anger, frustration, or sadness that you're not present.

What’s happening?

You’re anxious (or maybe excited) about something. You might be excited about a new idea or way to solve a problem. More often, you are afraid of an outcome or worried something will or won’t happen. Either way, you are OK. This feeling is very normal. I’ve worked at startups and also at large tech companies. Work anxiety seems to happen to everyone everywhere.

Here’s a process I use when work anxiety happens to me and I need to get things out of my head, reduce my anxiety, and free up room to be present with others.

How I leave work at work

1. 🤔 Identify the source of the distraction as a Task, Idea, or Worry.

2. ✍ Capture it where you manage work tasks.

3. 🕘 Review at a repeatable time and place in your day.

Why this works

When I identify what’s bothering me I can take action. Taking action makes me feel in control. Feeling in control is a natural antidote to anxiety. 

By writing it down, I get it out of my head. The process of making the idea, task, or worry tangible allows my brain to let go. By letting go, we reduce our anxiety or worry. Bonus: This gives me a perfect memory because I don’t need to remember anything. 😅

Finally, a repeatable daily task review allows me to relax, knowing I have a specific time and place to address everything.

How I put this into practice daily

1. Identify the source

First, do not fight your feelings. A natural instinct is to avoid or ignore distracting feelings or anxiety, but doing so only leads to more worry and rumination. Our brains hate unresolved issues. So much, that it’s a tactic writers use in movies and television to hook you. Unresolved, your brain will become fixated, so write it down, in order to let it go.

I’ve discovered three main categories of things that keep me awake at night:

• Tasks - Things I forgot to do or need to do. (Eg. write an email, Make a Design Spec, review a product brief, etc.)

• Ideas - Usually they require a bit more explanation so I take a note, or make a quick sketch.

• Worries - I write these as if they were tasks. (Eg. Follow-up to make sure John knew you were joking and not serious when you made that comment about “burning it all down.”)

These three tend to cover 99% of things that distract me outside of work. When I’m with others, I politely excuse myself from the conversation long enough to write it down on my phone.

2. Capture it

The second step is to write it down. Make it real. You can use anything! A piece of paper, a to-do list app, a voice-note. Anything that works for you. Just try to stick to one primary way. Using the same method reassures your brain it won’t get lost. Today, I use the Todoist app because I always have my phone on me and use Todoist for both my professional and personal life. I also find it flexible enough to capture most things.

Pro-tip: getting into the habit of capturing everything that comes at you can even help you focus while at work and work intentionally on the right things.

3. Review it daily

Having a repeatable process further reassures your brain the task won’t be lost. And helps you stay productive. I start and end my day with a list. At the end of the day I write down all the things in my head. My remaining tasks, things I’m worried about, or ideas I’ve been batting around. This allows me to fully unplug my brain and transition to personal life.

When I start my day I review my list. I add more if necessary, and then I prioritise. I use the Eisenhower Method which helps me focus on the most urgent but important items. Here’s a helpful overview of that method written by James Clear. I’ll write more on this method later.

Final thoughts

The process (Identifying, capturing, reviewing) works like a cycle. Once you set it up, it'll be easier in the future to avoid fighting your feelings and use them.

This process has worked well for me, but ultimately you need to see what works best for you. The main goal is to be more present and fully enjoy the time you have with friends and family.

If you’ve tried techniques like this and your anxiety is interfering with daily activities, consult a mental health professional. 

Have a fun week!

-Mat

P.S. Have you tried something similar? How was it? What worked and what didn’t? Hit reply, I would love to hear your experience!

Anxiety resources:

• Anxiety Resource Center. A not-for-profit organization dedicated to educating people about how to live with anxiety and how to overcome it.

• The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) has an online resource that can help you locate a licensed mental health professional in your area who specializes in helping people with anxiety.

• National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI). A large, grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for Americans with mental health conditions. NAMI has a helpline staffed with trained volunteers to help answer questions, offer support, and provide practical next steps.

"A wise leader always considers both advantages and disadvantages equally. By pausing to consider the disadvantages of an advantageous situation, he can be sure of achieving his aims; by considering the potential advantages of a perilous situation, he can find a way of resolving his difficulties."

— Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Layoffs suck.

I can't imagine the emotions being felt right now from my former Spotify colleagues this week and also my colleagues who had to leave earlier in 2023.. Right now, emotions are raw. Even as someone not laid off, I feel survivor's guilt, anger, frustration, loss, confusion, instability. One of the greatest managers I have ever experienced in my design career was let go. Leaders were let go. Researchers, designers, experts were all let go. It's hard to get a job at Spotify. These people did it — and thrived. They should be proud. It sucks to see them go.

The hopeful thing about these kinds of painful moments is the emotions will eventually fade. Eventually, it will be time to get back to work. And as I do my best to get back to the closest version of my “normal,” I've been thinking about how I can help, and I want to share a perspective from the other side. A perspective you may not have considered yet, but I hope you will.

You may think being laid off is a disadvantage from others who are still employed. From my point of view, I believe it's the opposite. 

Turning a disadvantage into your advantage

Right now, the Ukrainian army is outnumbered, outgunned, and facing tanks worth $2MM. They are at a disadvantage. How do they respond? By fighting back for as little as $400.

Facing an enemy with superior numbers of troops and armor, the Ukrainian defenders are holding on with the help of tiny drones flown by operators like Firsov that, for a few hundred dollars, can deliver an explosive charge capable of destroying a Russian tank worth more than $2 million.

Instead of buying tanks to fight tanks or ask for help from other countries, they are being resourceful and have flipped their disadvantage into an advantage.

Your new advantages

As someone newly laid-off, here are some things that, from here, look like advantages. I hope they make your transition faster and less terrible. Use them when you’re ready. In order of what I believe is important:

1. People want to help you right now.

Use this to your advantage and do not feel bad — feel good. You have a wellspring of social capital to use right now, don't wait. Imagine you left Spotify under different circumstances or you just wanted to reach out to someone for a referral in normal times. It's a pain to reach out and ask: People are busy, balls get dropped, good intentions are left unfulfilled. But now, today, people are there for you. Use this time.

How to use your advantage:

• Get a recommendation in writing from a colleague, manager, or peer.

• Get connected to people on LinkedIn and use their network to help you land your next adventure.

• Get a review of your portfolio or resume.

• Get connected with other Spotifiers who were also laid off. They may know of opportunities or have someone in their network who does.

• Ask people for referrals to open positions you find.

• Reach out to recruiters who have sent you messages in the past. Turn the tables. Ask for open opportunities or roles. Your inbox is your new rolodex.

• Ask for discounts or offers on Professional Developments, Coaching, or other services you might want to use.

2. You have more time to do what matters most to you

I still need to show up to an office Monday-Friday 9-to-5 with limited vacation or time with family and friends. If I want to update my portfolio, work on a side-project, network, or explore a hobby, I need to use my nights and weekends. Use your lack of corporate-imposed structure to build a schedule that suits you (as much as you can with your continued obligations to family, job searching, etc.).

How to use your advantage:

• Spend extra time with your family, kids, or friends over the holidays.

• Take the time to update your portfolio, resume, website, LinkedIn, or Github.

• Take a vacation. Explore somewhere new. Visit a museum.

• Get healthy. Get outside. Treat yourself. Invest in you.

• Help others. Volunteer. Use your time to give back.

• Reflect on your core values and what you really want in your next opportunity. (Example)

• Read a book, magazine, or online articles you've been putting off.

• Book a coffee, fika, drink, or meal with someone you've missed.

3. You get to start something new.

Whether that's a new job, a new project, or just a new outlook on life, it's all ✨new✨. New can be exciting, nerve-wracking, but also fun if you approach it with a beginner's mindset. Trying new things has benefits. Trying something new summons courage, opens the possibility for new enjoyment, prevents boredom, and forces personal growth. And it can make you feel good, too.

How to use your advantage:

• Spend a little more time with a hobby, passion-project, or side-hustle. These open more opportunities than you think.

• Explore an opportunity outside your direct experience. Worked for B2C companies? Try B2B. Worked in tech? Try working in nonprofits. Been at big companies? Try a startup.

• Start a business. The only way to protect yourself from layoffs is by owning the company.

• Start a newsletter, podcast, daily habit, or joyful activity.

• Teach. Mentor. Coach.

• Play a video game. Learn a new skill. Reignite an old passion.

I am sure there are many more ways to use your advantages —and many more advantages. Sometimes, it can help to take a step outside the awfulness of the now. I hope I did that, and I hope this perspective helps.And if you need anything from me I am here for you.

P.S. I've tagged a few of you I’ve spoken with in person, but the list of talented people is too long to mention everyone. Please share with them if you think this helps. Careers are long and evolving. I loved working with you, and I hope we get the chance to work together again soon. ❤️

I’ll leave you with this…