Design Leadership Memos

Design Leadership Memos

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Fresh starts and hostile hiring conditions
Having just left my full-time gig of the last 6 and a bit years, I am embarking on a new chapter of my own Design Leadership career through my…
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Stuart Frisby
Some things to remember about promotion processes
Perhaps it’s the time of the year, or perhaps just another manifestation of the ever-present anxiety which is working in Tech in 2025, but I’ve had…
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Stuart Frisby
Never fall in love with the tools
We are watching our entire industry and the wider community of people who make software fall over themselves to fall in love with - and try to convince…
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Stuart Frisby
The Logbook method of designer performance management
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago my belief that observation-driven performance management processes do designers a particular type of disservice in…
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Stuart Frisby
Five things a good designer hiring process never has
🚩 Homework, Spec work, whiteboard tasks, etc. - This has been spoken about endlessly so I won’t go on too much about it, but suffice it to say if the…
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Stuart Frisby
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Rethinking Performance Evaluations for Designers
I’ve long held a belief that observation-driven performance reviews do a disproportionate dis-service to designers.
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Stuart Frisby
Design Systems as vehicle for leadership
I would posit that the large majority of the overall impact of Design Systems work is actually not about consistency, speed of delivery, quality of…
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Stuart Frisby
Why aren't designers getting invited into big fun meeting where all the imagineering happens?
Throughout the 20 odd years that I’ve been designing products and designing organisations, I’ve repeatedly heard designers lamenting their lack of…
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Stuart Frisby
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Your job needs a new job description
Design leadership is a heady blend of Culture, Strategy, Organisational Design, Talent Management and Collaboration. So just the easy stuff.
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Stuart Frisby
Writing – or not writing – your first Levels & Expectations Framework
There comes an inevitable moment in the growth of an organisation where someone suggests formalising titles, levels and criteria for progression.
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Stuart Frisby
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Why Design Leadership Matters
As I sat down to start work on what would become this newsletter in the summer of 2024, I was in reflective mood having reached a milestone in my Design…
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Stuart Frisby
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Welcome to Design Leadership Memos
Between the posting of a humble tweet (RIP) and the herculean publishing of a book there lies a gap which I hope this small publication can help to…
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Stuart Frisby
Design Leadership Memos
Design Leadership Memos
Short form musings on design leadership by Stuart Frisby
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