Beyond the PX: In Conversation with Rakesh Patwari, Director Of Product Design at Salesforce
Welcome to the #IndianDesigner conversation series in the 8px magazine.
This is the 8th interview with Bay Area-based Product Design director, Rakesh Patwari.
Rakesh’s experience spans large enterprises, consulting organizations, and startups in diverse domains over 20+ years. He has shipped multiple products, including productivity-focused products, marketing experiences, and sizeable cloud-based enterprise SaaS products.
He enjoys mentoring startups, has been invited as a speaker, as a panelist to talk about design, storytelling, leadership, and security, and has been featured in podcasts.
Enjoy, and see you next time :)
What team are you working with at Salesforce?
I have the privilege to manage design for four pillars in the Experience Cloud. I get to enable, present, and represent the incredible work of a diverse, driven, and passionate design team.
We build tools that help our customers build digital experiences — from simple marketing websites to mobile apps to complex portals and everything in between.
What has been your design journey up until now?
My jagged journey so far has been paved with opportunities, challenges, doubts, and gritty choices. My curiosity and almost OCD-level passion for finding answers have kept me going and served me well so far. I grew up in a small town called Tandur near Hyderabad, where both my parents were teachers. Growing up in the teaching scene with a super-smart elder brother naturally put me on a path of becoming an engineer — the most sought career path for a respectable life and career for a South Indian :)
After failing to secure a seat at IIT, I did my bachelor’s in computer applications from Osmania University. While in college, my curiosity met my passion. I fell in love — not with a girl but with Photoshop. My head and heart hi-fived. Those were pre-Google days, days became weeks, weeks became months and I lost my sleep to learn everything I could about photoshop and design, which laid the foundation for my design career.
I started as a programmer who can design and evolved with the design industry. I am fortunate to have had opportunities across consulting companies and startups. After few stops and many more loops of make- break-learn led me to Salesforce, where I am currently a product design director.
During this journey, I started teaching part-time at UC Berkeley, one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, as an ode to my teacher-parents. Whenever possible, I also mentor upcoming design leaders and startups.
Throughout the years, I was fortunate to work with very understanding managers, teammates, and companies. I am forever thankful to all of them who helped me in my journey. My heart is filled with immense gratitude to my family — especially my wife Sirisha and son Ridhiman-for being my rock and rockstars.
What does your typical morning look like?
Most of the weekdays, I get up at 7.00, freshen up, make breakfast, which is usually avocado toast (with an Indian twist) or cereal and a big cup of chai 😃 Tea time is meditative as I try not to think about anything while sipping it. Charged up, I head to check my emails, messages, and jump-start with my workday.
If there is anything pressing that needs attention, I get up at 5.30 and get most of it done by 7.00 before the routine starts.
What does your design tool stack look like?
Primarily whiteboard/paper, Figma, Sketch, Invision, Abstract, Slack, and a lot, like a lot of Google slides and Quip.
Do you have any design hacks or particularly smart processes?
I try to do work based on my energy levels. If there is something strategic that needs a lot of thinking to be done, I try to do it first thing in the morning.
Any tasks that do not need deep attention are reserved for later in the day. I do not have my “best time” thing nailed down but am constantly working to get there
Do your career aspirations encroach on your life?
Yes, all the time. I continuously strive to draw that line but have not cracked the code to it. I think I got lucky to get away with it since my wife knows me well and supports me with my crazy (read passionate) thoughts.
I think subconsciously design does influence my choices with fashion and as far as music goes, it is design that gets influenced.
How do you design ‘for the future’?
For me, designing is solving a problem, as simple as that. If it is something that we are working ‘for the future,’ I would look at what the future has to offer that can help me solve the problem better.
Will it unlock new things that will make it efficient to solve the problem? Is there a new tech that helps me solve this problem faster? Does the new form factor increase access to the solution, and more people can use it? How can I leverage what the future has to offer to make it easier to solve the problem? Can I do the heavy lifting for the user, thereby making the solution seamless? Etc. You get the drift.
I heard this quote in one of my son’s animation show that sums up my approach — Use your superpowers to enhance what you can do, not as a crutch.
I do not worry about being cliche or not. If an existing thing works, use it and make it better. If not, invent new.
What drew you to working in this area?
It evolved as I kept learning more and more, initially, it was the ability to create cool visuals — the freedom to express my ideas and creativity was mind-blowing — it was like learning to speak (I guess so since I do not know how I felt when I first spoke).
As my understanding of design matured, the tools and grammar of design helped me to solve complex problems, and the ability to impact all humans is what keeps me going.
Who do you work with regularly?
Right now, we are a team of 7 designers and have aligned ourselves based on the tools that work cohesively together. The majority of the design team is based in San Francisco.
The whole COVID situation has accelerated the need for businesses to go digital. This means our products have to grow from being a casual teenager to a mature adult, and that is too soon to support the various use cases and the demand.
There is so much to solve, and it is an inspiring time to be at Experience cloud, which brings me to the top-of-my-mind charter — growing the team. (Yes, we are hiring senior and lead designers).
Will your product exist in ten years time?
Given the pace at which the technology is advancing, ten years is a long time to be certain of anything. The problems we are solving now and the jobs-to-be-done would still exist and continue to evolve. Likewise, our solutions will adapt, innovate, and evolve synchronously with the changing landscape. What we are building now will have a foundational role to play in such future-state solutions.
If we talk analogy, if what we are working on today are wheels to solve current and near-future problems, they may play a role in solving tomorrow's transportation problems.
What’re your thoughts on burnout?
Burnout is real. I think the fable of boiling frog sums up my perspective. There is so much visible and invisible stress on everyone due to all that is going on globally. Unknowingly, we tend to work more to distract from all that and end up getting burnt out without realizing it until it is too late. I think it’s important to be aware of our feelings and be lenient on what we can and cannot achieve. Look for those early signs -physical, mental, and behavioral and catch them early.
At work, the team’s well-being is the top priority. We continually check on each other to see how we’re doing, what’s going on, and anything that may cause burnout, and ask for help if we need it. The team is empowered to take a day or more off when necessary. Salesforce leadership, too, has been tremendously empathetic in this regard. We have regular wellness days off across the board, further emphasizing the importance of our well-being.
What advice would you give for those interested in kick-starting a career in designing for the market?
To become a great designer be prepared to be vulnerable. You need to go in with an open mind, share your early raw thoughts, get judged on your work. Learn to treat your designs as not personal, though it feels so at first. The result will be a better designer and design a better solution.
Do you work on any side projects?
Yes, I teach information architecture at UC Berkeley Extension, SFO. I try to give back to the community by hosting free workshops, speaking engagements, and mentor startups. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to do that and grateful to my family for supporting me in these endeavors.
I thank Rakesh on behalf of the readers of 8px for being a part of this series and sharing his inspiring insights. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed it
Until next time 👋
Follow 8px Magazine for all future articles & interviews.
A selection of our other interviews:
- Beyond the PX: In conversation with Junaid Hashmi, Design lead at Bolo
- Beyond the PX: In conversation with Saloni Sinha, Senior Visual Designer at frog design
- Beyond the PX: In conversation with Tanya Bhandari, Design lead at YLabs
About the author:
Shivam Dewan is a product designer based in New Delhi, India.
Remote worker by day, Flaneur by night. Feel free to reach out to him over Twitter @theshivamdewan.
