“When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth.” ~Kurt Vonnegut Let’s face it: Blogging is hard. Writing — not to mention writing well — is challenging for most. You’re putting your thoughts and ideas out into the world, for the trolls and the fans alike. Maybe someone … Continue reading It’s not about the page views
Author: Brie Anne Demkiw
Designing Your Remote “Office”
Photo credit: Matteo Vistocco “So, where do your designers sit?” I was at a lunch table during a design leadership conference late last year, chatting with other leaders in the industry. This question left me...confused. I finally realized what we were talking about and laughed. I’ve spent the vast majority of my career working remotely. Figuring … Continue reading Designing Your Remote “Office”
The Messy Middle
“No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” ~Helmuth Graf von Moltke Ever been in this scenario?: A new project starts. Everyone’s excited to jump in and get started. Everything is possible. Only good outcomes await and everything in this moment seems right with the world. You can feel the energy driving the team … Continue reading The Messy Middle
Running Remote Design Sprints
I lead a team of designers who work on WordPress.com and other products. Last year, my team ran our first design sprint together in-person at a team meetup. It was a great way to kick off a new project and we became instant fans of the format. But Automattic is a remote company. Most of … Continue reading Running Remote Design Sprints
Travel, Design, & Beginner’s Mind
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” ~Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind I’m fortunate to get to travel internationally several times a year, both for work and personal trips. A few weeks ago, I hopped on a flight to Cuba. The country had been on my list for … Continue reading Travel, Design, & Beginner’s Mind
Kill Your Darlings
As designers, we spend most of our time solving problems for our users by building products. How can we save a user time on a task? How can we make an experience more delightful? What do we need to build to help a user accomplish their goal? However, sometimes we can create more value by … Continue reading Kill Your Darlings
