Published in UX Collective·Updated Jun 17A product design process for the real worldThe product design playbook I use to break down and execute on design projects. — At the start of 2021, Dialpad’s core product was a business phone platform. We supported several use cases, but making and receiving phone calls over the internet was our bread and butter. By the end of the year, however, we acquired two companies and pledged to add email, chat, and…Product Design8 min read
Published in UX Collective·Aug 19, 2020All design projects should start in a Google DocMost designers jump into their UI tools too quickly. — What typically happens when you start a new design project? Maybe a kickoff meeting is organized. In an effort to keep things efficient, the guest list is kept small(ish). Some folks can’t attend. Ideas are brainstormed. A few do most of the speaking while others listen. Attention wanders as folks check their messages. Hopefully someone’s taking notes. When the meeting…Design5 min read
Mar 18, 2020Suddenly Working from Home?A Short Guide to Working Remotely for Co-located Teams COVID-19 is unlike anything we’ve seen in our lifetime. Companies are taking precautions to protect their employees and (hopefully) curb the Coronavirus’s spread. This means many are closing their offices and asking employees to work from home. That’s the right call…Remote Working4 min read
Published in UX Planet·Oct 8, 2019The business case for good design“Good design is good business!” Makes a nice sound bite, but how does design actually contribute to the bottom line? It’s almost become a reflex at this point. My timeline was abuzz, I clicked, I saw, I ooh-ed, and aah-ed. I scrolled up and down, viewed source, and wondered, ‘How?’ …Design4 min read
Published in UX Collective·Oct 2, 2019My experience as a design mentorDesign is not just about pixels. It’s also about sharing, coaching, and giving back to the community from which you’ve learned so much. — This year, I had the opportunity to be one of Stack Overflow’s first design mentors for Phoebe Leung, one of our new hires this year. I love the people part of my job and dove headfirst into this opportunity. A good mentor is someone whom the mentee would describe as…Mentorship6 min read
Published in Email Design·Sep 17, 2019Outlook Rendering Issues: 5 Tips to Ensure Your Emails Display ProperlyEarlier this year, I wrote an internal guide for my co-workers explaining some of the common gotchas that make coding HTML emails for Outlook so tedious. This is a lightly edited version that that article. There are more than 400 million users worldwide using what might be the best corporate…Web Development5 min read
Published in Prototypr·Aug 12, 2019What It’s Like Working Remotely on Stack Overflow’s Design TeamA lightly edited transcript of an AMA (Ask Me Anything) I did in the Remotive Slack community. — Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your professional background? I’m a designer at Stack Overflow, where I create better workflows for over 50 million developers. Before that, I designed digital products in the medical industry. Since 2001, I’ve been trying to create work that’s cool enough to show my friends and honest enough to show my parents. When not…Remote Working7 min read
Jun 7, 2019Front Utah👋 I’m a senior product designer at Stack Overflow. This week I attended Front Utah. I chose this conference because I’m growing more interested in the business and product management side of being a product designer. Going to a product management conference seemed like overkill, so I was happy to…Design5 min read
Apr 4, 2019My New Home OfficeI joined Stack Overflow in 2016 as a remote employee. In the 15 years before that, though, I worked in the offices of my various employers. I spent the last five of those years at a windowless cubicle. When I went remote a few years ago, I set up my…Remote Working4 min read
Published in Prototypr·Dec 17, 2018The Best Design Things I Read in 2018A small collection of design articles that stuck out in my mind this year. I did this last year too.Design5 min read