How AI designers are bridging the gap between user needs and technological capabilities. — About 4 months ago, I began managing the product design organization for Facebook’s Artificial Intelligence team. We are a central organization that provides AI services for Facebook, Instagram, and other Facebook apps. We also work to develop new experiences, powered by AI. Before joining the Artificial Intelligence team I had…

I’ve been giving and getting feedback for a while now, as an employee and as an organizational leader. I have to say I don’t think I’ve always been particularly good at processing my own feedback. Over the past few years, I’ve learned to use a repeatable process when receiving feedback…

Building your portfolio, getting noticed, and interviewing successfully at tech companies — I recently spoke to a group of students who wanted advice on how to build their portfolios, to stand out to recruiters, and successfully interview at tech companies. Below is the advice I gave which I hope is useful to other designers out there as well. …

One of the most common questions I get from designers is, “How did you convince your company to invest in design?” I usually answer that I didn’t, and to an extent that’s true. I’ve more often been asked to work on large design projects that have already been identified, rather…

April 4th was equal pay day, and it made me think about how frustrating it is that many women still earn less than men for doing the same jobs. …

I’ve been a people manager for over 10 years, but it’s only in the more recent roles I’ve held that I’ve approached team management with the explicit goal of making myself obsolete. If I’m honest, prior to that my focus was largely about earning more scope and responsibility personally. …

It’s interesting to me that whether I’m talking with designers or business leaders, I often hear variations of the same question: “What does it take to make great design outcomes happen?” CEOs and business leaders ask the question because they want to know how much they need to invest in…

Adjust your management style throughout the design process to get better outcomes. Amanda Linden, Head of Design, Asana I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much I enjoy managing creative people, and how managing creatives is different from managing those in less creatively intense roles. One thing that I observe is that what creative people need from me as a…

by Amanda Linden, Head of Design at Asana In John Maeda’s recent article, “The Distinction Between Designing for Enterprise vs Consumer Customers,” he explains why designing for enterprise is different, and maybe more challenging than designing consumer applications. But, as a person who has designed applications for enterprise companies, as…