Published in Range·Feb 28, 2019Are you doing OKRs right?A conversation with OKR-expert Ken Norton from Google Ventures — This article originally appeared on the Range Blog I recently caught up with a ex-colleague of mine, Ken Norton. I’ve always admired Ken and I’ve learned a ton from him over the years. …Okr9 min readOkr9 min read
Published in Range·Oct 9, 2018Intentionally building team culture with Molly Stevens of UberI recently caught up with Molly Stevens, director of User Experience Research at Uber. In this conversation, Molly discusses how she became a manager and how she approaches crafting a healthy team culture on a team that’s spread across several offices. Can you tell me about the team you lead at Uber? I lead the UX Research team across the entire…Startup10 min readStartup10 min read
Published in Range·Sep 13, 2018Why You Have Too Many MeetingsFour root causes to meeting overload and what you can do about them — If you work at a large or growing company, you’ll eventually face the problem of too many meetings. It’s a common, yet tricky villain. Too many meetings will quietly suck away productivity by breaking everyone’s day into little chunks and robbing everyone of deep work. Worse, when people feel their…Management7 min readManagement7 min read
Published in Range·Aug 1, 2018Standups are broken. There’s a better way to keep everyone connected.How to use the science of habits to make written updates work for your team. — When I first read about standup meetings, I couldn’t wait to try them. Just imagine: instead of slogging through long boring meetings, you could instead be a rebel, refuse to sit down, share what’s happening, and quickly get back to work. …Agile7 min readAgile7 min read
Published in Range·Jun 22, 2018Becoming a better manager with Andrew SandlerI recently caught up with Andrew to chat about what he’s learned becoming a design manager. Andrew is currently Director of Design at Grand Rounds. His career has spanned from research institutions, to design agencies, to small startups, and large companies. He loves working on multi-sided marketplaces and has a…Design8 min readDesign8 min read
Published in Range·Mar 23, 2018Check-in roundsHow the start of a meeting can be the beginning of so much more — Working with new people is always full of surprises. About a year ago, I learned that my co-founders have a very particular way of starting meetings: they like to take turns and share how each person is doing personally before the meeting begins. At first I thought these “check-in rounds”…Management5 min readManagement5 min read
Apr 3, 20174,227 days at GoogleToday is my last day at Google, but I still clearly remember my first day on the job. That morning I was parked in a training room for an onboarding lecture. My eyes were glazing over as some nice person explained the finer points of our healthcare plan. In my…Startup3 min readStartup3 min read
Published in GV Library·Mar 23, 2015GV Guide to Design CritiqueCritiques are one of the most important ingredients to great design, but far too often designers leave critiques secretly feeling scattered, frustrated, and disempowered. Even when everyone is well-meaning, there are many subtle ways a critique can go off the rails and hurt your design process. Thankfully, with a bit…Design8 min readDesign8 min read
Published in GV Library·Feb 3, 2015Behind the scenes: Design sprint with Gimlet MediaThis is a prototype we built with a company called Gimlet Media. They’re a startup that makes incredible podcasts. They were struggling with a tough decision: should they also build an app? To help Gimlet answer this question, we gathered together their best ideas, built this prototype in about a day, and then we tested it out with some of their listeners. For more about design sprints: gv.com/sprintDesign1 min readDesign1 min read
Published in GV Library·Jan 5, 2015How startup designers can focus on what really mattersMost startup designers focus on delighting customers with how their products look and feel. But if a product isn’t solving a problem or meeting a need, customers won’t care how pretty it is. So, how can design be used to help shape the core of products? In this talk from the Warm Gun 2014 conference, I explore the disconnect between where designers typically focus, and what startups really need. How can designers spend less time on delightful veneers and start tackling core business challenges?Design1 min readDesign1 min read
