I made it 90 days. Here’s some stuff I learned.

At the beginning of April I took on a new role at Treehouse: Director of Design. I wanted to do one of those “x things I learned in x days” posts, but 90 things in 90 days seemed a bit ambitious whereas 3 things in 3 months felt like mailing it in. So I just rattled off some of the things I have had in my head lately.

Many thanks to Joshua Krohn for help with editing out all my short hand. If something is awry, it’s my fault not his.

A few caveats before we begin: this is just a list I made up. It’s not official. Nor is it exhaustive by any means. Also, I could be totally wrong with anything I write here (feel free to call me out if so). Ok… Here we go!

Your life is now measured in quarters.

You plan and measure time in quarters (this seems to be how senior management works). Quarterly priorities. Quarterly progress. Quarterly metrics. Quarterly follow up. I now have one quarter in the books. I can finally measure something.

You move slow. Sometimes slothfully slow.

Continuing on the theme of quarters: a quarter is just enough time to build clarity around priorities — then make a wee-bit of progress on it. It’s enough to move the needle a notch or two, but not enough to call it a smashing success. I’ll make a note to report back next quarter so we can follow up.

Your bad days hurt real bad.

As a Project Manager, I had an incredible team I could rely on to push projects forward. I could have a bad day, but as long as the team didn’t have a bad one as well, it was all good. As a Director, there is no team to make up for my mistakes. All the designers are embedded in cross-discipline teams so I don’t manage any of them directly.

One bad day in a week means progress slows down. Two or more bad days, that’s trouble. I am well on my way to losing a full week’s worth of progress. My mantra at the beginning of every week: No bad days.

Also, your bad days can be really bad. And they are inevitable. The number of Mondays I signed off wanting to throw it all away is sobering. But, Tuesday always presented another opportunity to reset and try again.

You can’t do everything.

Typically, when you get your bearings from this vantage point (senior management), the scope of what needs to be worked on gets wider and wider. Then it gets a bit wider. Now make it a little bit wider. There. That’s wide enough. There is a lot to work on.

You need to make peace with the fact that there will always be more work to do than people to get it done. That’s reality, no matter where you work. The beauty of embracing this truth is that it forces you to focus, set priorities, and be intentional about what will get worked on. Keep in mind, choosing what not to work on is a part of this.

You get to fix the foundation.

Part of the reason I love being a designer is that I get to solve problems. The more I researched, learned, and dove in to understanding whatever problem the team was focused on, the more I realized the importance of fixing the foundation. As the designer on a team, I often was given enough latitude to address the symptom or make an improvement that fit within the scope of the project. I wasn’t able to dig deep and address the root cause. Now, at this level, I get to unearth the entirety of a problem and address it holistically. I don’t just help the teams solve problems. I get to help them rework the foundation. And it is so, so, so satisfying. This is something I thoroughly love about my new role.

You must have a plan.

One of the biggest lessons I learned when I moved into management was how important a proactive mindset is. Going into the day or week on the offensive (being prepared, like a boy scout) as opposed to being on the defensive (this is when you react to everything) would make or a break a day — sometimes even a week. As a Project Manager this meant taking time to prep for meetings (as opposed to winging it, like I used to do — and very much enjoyed), making sure the right documentation was available to the team (prior to the meeting, not right as it starts), and figuring out who needed to connect with who to make progress. It was all about anticipating needs, then working to meet them. As a Director, this mindset has served me well. Although, it’s been less focused on having a clear path for a team and more on communicating objectives and process. You might pass out if you knew how many slide decks I have put together in the last few months (I see you judging me internet person. But you know what? They get the job done). Knowing what needs to be done, articulating it, and having a plan to accomplish it will make or break you.

Your follow through is only as strong as your follow up.

Once you’ve figured out what problem you need to work on, you have to actually do it. In the new role, I have had enough time to take a first swing at a handful of items (that’s the follow through part). Now I need to circle back and see how those things are going (that’s the follow up part). I think this is the aspect of management people often forget about. It’s not just enough to simply introduce a new policy, process, or experiment. You have to help the team iterate on it. Grow it, improve it. Follow up and help make it better.

You can’t do it all by yourself.

This one has two parts. The first is all about delegation. In this role, my job is not just to get things done. It’s working with and through the right parts of the company to get them done. Delegation is foundational to success as a leader. Just this last week I had a conversation with my boss in a 1–1 about what I can delegate off my plate. If you aren’t able to do this, you will become a road block and won’t last long in a management role.

The second is all about relationships. If you want to be successful as a leader or manager you have to learn how to build healthy relationships with the people you work with. I am not advocating you drop everything to go read How to Win Friends and Influence People. What I am talking about is genuinely caring about your team mates. Listening to them. Seeking to understand what drives and what helps them. Making their priorities your priorities. It’s amazing the impact that simply asking how you can help without any strings attached has on a relationship. I wholeheartedly believe that committing to help the people around you succeed is the best possible agenda to have in life. And as a designer, I get to do that and bring a very unique and powerful skill set to the table. It’s awesome. Give it a shot, see what happens.

Alright, so that is all I have for this quarter. Didn’t quite make it to 90 items. But I’ll see if I can’t add some more to the list at the end of Q3. A few books that have helped me and likely influenced the contents of this list: Crucial Conversations, Crucial Accountability, The Zen of Listening, and The Effective Executive.

Have feedback? I would love to hear it. You can find me on Twitter if it’s short, or just drop a response below.