Shows
Finding Our Way78: AI is Expensive, Teaming is Free (ft. Clay Parker Jones)
Show Notes
Peter and Jesse are joined by organization designer Clay Parker Jones, author of Hidden Patterns: A Playbook for More Human Workplaces, who has led organization design work at Airbnb, Undercurrent, R/GA, and August. The conversation covers why roles persist, the importance of indexing on trust over role clarity, the difference between psychological and structural safety, organizational rule of law, and why demonstrating better teams beats trying to convince skeptics.Clay Parker Jones: https://cpj.fyi, Hidden Patterns book
Jesse James Garrett: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Peter Merholz: https://petermerholz.com/
2026-10-2448 min
9Natree Malaysian[Ulasan] Org Design for Design Orgs (Peter Merholz) Diringkaskan.Org Design for Design Orgs (Peter Merholz)
- Amazon USA Store: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491938404?tag=9natree-20
- Amazon Worldwide Store: https://global.buys.trade/Org-Design-for-Design-Orgs-Peter-Merholz.html
- Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/audiobook/org-design-for-design-orgs-building-and-managing-in/id1670834055?itsct=books_box_link&itscg=30200&ls=1&at=1001l3bAw&ct=9natree
- eBay: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=Org+Design+for+Design+Orgs+Peter+Merholz+&mkcid=1&mkrid=711-53200-19255-0&siteid=0&campid=5339060787&customid=9natree&toolid=10001&mkevt=1
- Shopee: https://asia.buys.trade/shopee_Org-Design-for-Design-Orgs-Peter-Merholz.html - Lazada: https...
2026-10-1710 min
Finding Our Way77: Automate All the Things!? A UX Reality Check on AI (ft. Dr Stefanie Hutka)
Show Notes
Intentional Design Leadership Circle
Are you a director-plus design leader looking to connect with others and grow your capabilities? Join Jesse and Peter for the fall cohort of the Intentional Design Leadership Circle, taking place on Wednesdays from October 7th through November 10th. Only 20 seats available for this live online program. Learn more and register.
About this Episode
Dr. Stefanie Hutka, design researcher, Berkeley educator, and author of What Your Machines Should Do, joins us to look to the history of industrial automation for lessons on AI transformation. From...
2026-09-1951 min
Finding Our Way76: Embrace the Chaos—Design Operations in the age of AI (ft. Z)
Show Notes
Peter and Jesse are joined by Chengying “Z” Zheng, who shares her experience migrating a design team to be AI-first — off Figma and into code. She discusses how design leadership and operations divide the work, what happens to roles and titles when everyone becomes a builder, and how to make good design easier than bad design.
Z on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/changyingz/Z’s Substack: https://changying.substack.com/Jesse James Garrett: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Peter Merholz: https://petermerholz.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I...
2026-08-1453 min
Finding Our Way75: The Steady State of Unsteadiness
Show Notes
In this episode, Peter and Jesse compare notes from Config, Figma’s AI study, Lenny’s newsletter survey, and countless conversations to read the current state of design leadership. The signals: existential AI panic has cooled into exhaustion, organizational chaos and leadership churn are the new normal, and design still stumbles on business acumen. Their case for thriving—lead, don’t just design, and reclaim design’s unfinished mandate.
For more from Jesse James Garrett, including his AI transformation practice: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
For more from Peter Merholz, including his newsletter, his consul...
2026-07-2443 min
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—4: You As A Service (ft. Dave Gray)
Show Notes
Dave Gray, author of Liminal Thinking and founder of School of the Possible, joins Peter and Jesse to examine what’s actually getting in leaders’ way right now: not the disruption itself, but the expertise that blinds them to it. The conversation moves from beginner’s mind to the compression of corporate work, landing on a provocative question — what does your value look like when you define it yourself?
Dave Gray’s School of the Possible: https://schoolofthepossible.com/Dave Gray on The Practice Economy: https://schoolofthepossible.substack.com/p/the-practice-economyMore on Pe...
2026-05-2547 minFinding Our Way73: Charting an Adaptive Path toward AI Transformation
Show Notes
In this episode, Peter and Jesse compare notes from on how AI is reshaping design teams. The conversation moves through the operational chaos of proliferating tools, the urgent need to articulate a value proposition, why design operations got cut right before they were needed most, and the window of expertise power that won’t stay open.For more about Peter Merholz, his consulting, thought partnership, and teaching offerings: https://petermerholz.com/For more about Jesse James Garrett, and his AI transformation and leadership coaching offerings: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Je...
2026-05-1653 min
Finding Our Way72: The Worst Technology Rollout in History (Ft. Paul Ford)
Show Notes
Journalist, technologist, and Aboard co-founder Paul Ford joins Peter and Jesse with the perspective of someone running a services firm in the middle of being remade by AI. The conversation covers the collapsing cost of software, blurring roles, what machines do well and badly, what design’s value proposition becomes, and Paul’s practical advice for staying upright through indefinite change.Paul’s company: https://aboard.com/; Paul’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ftrain/Peter’s website: https://petermerholz.com/Jesse’s website: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’...
2026-05-0954 min
Finding Our Way71: Finding Our Way Live! (ft John Gleason)
Show Notes
For more about The Future Of… Design conference: https://www.thefutureof-conference.com/. Use code FINDINGOURWAY for 26% off the registration price. Find out more about Jesse James Garrett and his upcoming live session on AI Transformation at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Find out more about Peter Merholz at https://petermerholz.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design a...
2026-04-1953 min
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—3: The Waves within Waves
Show Notes
As of publishing this episode, the Intentional Design Leadership Circle starts in 5 days, on April 15. https://www.eventcreate.com/e/intentionaldesignleadershipThere are still a few spots left.
Also, Jesse announced “AI Transformation for Digital Design Teams,” a new online event taking place April 30.
For more information and registration, head here: https://www.eventcreate.com/e/aitransformation4design
For more about Jesse James Garrett, and his coaching and AI consulting practices visit https://jessejamesgarrett.com/For more about Peter Merholz, his organizational effectiveness, leadership development, and coac...
2026-04-1048 min
Finding Our Way69: In a World of AI, What is the Work Really About? (ft. Jorge Arango)
Show Notes
For more about Jorge, visit https://jarango.com/
For the Claude skills he discusses, visit: https://github.com/jorgearango/llmapper-skill
To learn more about Jesse and Peter’s Intentional Design Leadership Circle, starting April 15, visit https://www.eventcreate.com/e/intentionaldesignleadership
To join the first Finding Our Way Live! on April 3, visit our event page on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/events/7442678896506068992
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding...
2026-03-2756 min
Finding Our Way68: AI and Design: Fundamentals and The Future (ft. Dan Saffer)
Show Notes
About the episode:
Dan Saffer—designer, author, and CMU professor—joins Peter and Jesse to take stock of design education at a moment when everything is in flux. What’s worth teaching when the tools change weekly? How do you define quality when AI can spin up a passable prototype in minutes? And what are today’s students teaching their professors about where design is headed?
Special Announcement: Jesse and Peter are excited to announce the launch of the Intentional Design Leadership Circle, a six week cohort for director and above de...
2026-03-141h 07
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—2: Liminal Mindset, Skillset, and Leadership
Show Notes
When the ground is shifting and the destination isn’t clear, how do you lead? Peter and Jesse explore the mindset and skills required to navigate the liminal moment—when old ways have dissolved but new ones haven’t taken shape. From core mindsets of maintaining situational awareness and striving for balance, to core skills around communication, persuasion and connection to build lifelines, this is a conversation about what it actually takes to lead through uncertainty.
More about Jesse: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
More about Peter: https://petermerholz.com/
Transcript
2026-02-2845 min
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—2: Liminal Mindset, Skillset, and Leadership
Show Notes
When the ground is shifting and the destination isn’t clear, how do you lead? Peter and Jesse explore the mindset and skills required to navigate the liminal moment—when old ways have dissolved but new ones haven’t taken shape. From core mindsets of maintaining situational awareness and striving for balance, to core skills around communication, persuasion and connection to build lifelines, this is a conversation about what it actually takes to lead through uncertainty.
More about Jesse: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
More about Peter: https://petermerholz.com/
Transcript
2026-02-2845 min
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—1: The Liminal Moment
Show Notes
When the old ways no longer hold and the new hasn’t taken shape, you’re in a liminal moment. Peter and Jesse explore what it means to lead through that in-between space—navigating uncertainty without retreating to the past, letting go of what defined you, and finding opportunity in the chaos rather than being consumed by it.
More about Peter: https://petermerholz.com/More about Jesse: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re...
2026-02-2247 min
Finding Our WayLIMINAL—1: The Liminal Moment
Show Notes
When the old ways no longer hold and the new hasn’t taken shape, you’re in a liminal moment. Peter and Jesse explore what it means to lead through that in-between space—navigating uncertainty without retreating to the past, letting go of what defined you, and finding opportunity in the chaos rather than being consumed by it.
More about Peter: https://petermerholz.com/More about Jesse: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re...
2026-02-2247 min
Finding Our Way65: Design—Stuck in the Middle with AI (ft. Christina Wodtke)
Show Notes
Stanford professor Christina Wodtke joins Peter and Jesse in exploring the real contradictions of AI in design and product work: revolutionary prototyping speed versus the need for critical thinking, efficiency gains versus cognitive loss, and loving the technology while hating the exploitative companies building it. She shares exactly what designers and PMs must vigilantly protect.
Christina’s blog: https://eleganthack.com/
Peter’s website: https://petermerholz.com/
Jesse’s website: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Me...
2026-02-0353 min
Finding Our Way65: Design—Stuck in the Middle with AI (ft. Christina Wodtke)
Show Notes
Stanford professor Christina Wodtke joins Peter and Jesse in exploring the real contradictions of AI in design and product work: revolutionary prototyping speed versus the need for critical thinking, efficiency gains versus cognitive loss, and loving the technology while hating the exploitative companies building it. She shares exactly what designers and PMs must vigilantly protect.
Christina’s blog: https://eleganthack.com/
Peter’s website: https://petermerholz.com/
Jesse’s website: https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Me...
2026-02-0353 minFinding Our Way64: The State of Design Orgs—Growth Paths, Quality Standards, and Empowerment Gaps
Show Notes
Peter and Jesse discuss findings from Peter’s survey of 750 UX pracitioners on organizational health. Designers feel good about their work but struggle with quality standards, staffing, and career growth. Senior practitioners are the unhealthiest group. Reporting structure predicts team health. Consulting teams outperform in-house teams, where visionary design capabilities have atrophied and empowerment remains elusive.
Read the 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health report, including access to the survey data for your own exploration.
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merhol...
2026-01-2448 min
Finding Our Way64: The State of Design Orgs—Growth Paths, Quality Standards, and Empowerment Gaps
Show Notes
Peter and Jesse discuss findings from Peter’s survey of 750 UX pracitioners on organizational health. Designers feel good about their work but struggle with quality standards, staffing, and career growth. Senior practitioners are the unhealthiest group. Reporting structure predicts team health. Consulting teams outperform in-house teams, where visionary design capabilities have atrophied and empowerment remains elusive.
Read the 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health report, including access to the survey data for your own exploration.
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merhol...
2026-01-2448 min
Finding Our Way63: AI Means Product Needs UX More than Ever (ft. Christian Crumlish)
Show Notes
Product leader, author, and civic tech veteran Christian Crumlish joins Peter and Jesse to discuss his transition from UX to product management and his experimental AI product manager, Piper Morgan. The conversation explores how product and design roles can be natural allies rather than adversaries, where AI truly adds value versus hype, and how practitioners can thoughtfully adopt new tools while staying grounded in fundamental UX principles and maintaining agency over their practice.
Find Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mediajunkie/
Find Jesse at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
...
2025-11-011h 00
Finding Our Way63: AI Means Product Needs UX More than Ever (ft. Christian Crumlish)
Show Notes
Product leader, author, and civic tech veteran Christian Crumlish joins Peter and Jesse to discuss his transition from UX to product management and his experimental AI product manager, Piper Morgan. The conversation explores how product and design roles can be natural allies rather than adversaries, where AI truly adds value versus hype, and how practitioners can thoughtfully adopt new tools while staying grounded in fundamental UX principles and maintaining agency over their practice.
Find Christian on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mediajunkie/
Find Jesse at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/
...
2025-11-011h 00
Finding Our Way62: Design as Differentiator in a World of AI (ft. Andrew Hogan)
Show Notes
Figma’s Head of Insights Andrew Hogan joins Peter and Jesse to explore emerging trends in design practice as AI transforms creative workflows. The conversation examines how role boundaries are blurring across product teams, where AI delivers real value versus hype, and design’s growing opportunity to lead strategic orchestration in increasingly complex digital experiences.
Find Andrew on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahhogan/.Learn more about Jesse James Garrett and his coaching and consulting at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Learn more about Peter Merholz and his digital book “Design Org Dim...
2025-09-1447 min
Finding Our Way62: Design as Differentiator in a World of AI (ft. Andrew Hogan)
Show Notes
Figma’s Head of Insights Andrew Hogan joins Peter and Jesse to explore emerging trends in design practice as AI transforms creative workflows. The conversation examines how role boundaries are blurring across product teams, where AI delivers real value versus hype, and design’s growing opportunity to lead strategic orchestration in increasingly complex digital experiences.
Find Andrew on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/ahhogan/.Learn more about Jesse James Garrett and his coaching and consulting at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Learn more about Peter Merholz and his digital book “Design Org Dim...
2025-09-1447 min
Finding Our Way61: The Paradoxes of Product Discovery (ft. Teresa Torres)
Show Notes
Product Discovery coach, teacher, and author Teresa Torres joins Peter and Jesse to explore the messy reality of organizational change and cross-functional collaboration. She discusses why external coaching has limits, how individual contributors can drive change within resistant systems, and what the rise of AI means for blurring roles between product, design, and engineering teams.
Learn more about Teresa Torres and her teaching at https://producttalk.org/Learn more about Jesse James Garrett and his coaching and consulting at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Learn more about Peter Merholz and his new digital...
2025-08-0948 min
Finding Our Way61: The Paradoxes of Product Discovery (ft. Teresa Torres)
Show Notes
Product Discovery coach, teacher, and author Teresa Torres joins Peter and Jesse to explore the messy reality of organizational change and cross-functional collaboration. She discusses why external coaching has limits, how individual contributors can drive change within resistant systems, and what the rise of AI means for blurring roles between product, design, and engineering teams.
Learn more about Teresa Torres and her teaching at https://producttalk.org/Learn more about Jesse James Garrett and his coaching and consulting at https://jessejamesgarrett.com/Learn more about Peter Merholz and his new digital...
2025-08-0948 min
Finding Our Way60: Making the World– Design Education and Social Change (ft. Lesley-Ann Noel, PhD)
Show Notes
Help Jesse and Peter better serve you by sharing a bit more about who you are, what you’re into, and what you’d like to hear from us in this listener survey which should just a few minutes to complete. Thank you!
Summary: Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, Dean of Design at OCAD, joins Jesse and Peter to discuss her global journey from Trinidad to Toronto, leading design education through relationships over craft, preparing students for social change, and her vision for decolonizing design while navigating the tension between academic values and industry demands.
2025-06-2953 min
Finding Our Way60: Making the World– Design Education and Social Change (ft. Lesley-Ann Noel, PhD)
Show Notes
Help Jesse and Peter better serve you by sharing a bit more about who you are, what you’re into, and what you’d like to hear from us in this listener survey which should just a few minutes to complete. Thank you!
Summary: Dr. Lesley-Ann Noel, Dean of Design at OCAD, joins Jesse and Peter to discuss her global journey from Trinidad to Toronto, leading design education through relationships over craft, preparing students for social change, and her vision for decolonizing design while navigating the tension between academic values and industry demands.
2025-06-2953 min
Finding Our Way59: Design Isn’t Dead, But It’s Seen Better Days (ft. John Gleason)
Show Notes
Help Jesse and Peter better serve you by sharing a bit more about who you are, what you’re into, and what you’d like to hear from us in this listener survey which should just a few minutes to complete. Thank you!
Summary: Peter and Jesse are joined by design and business consultant John Gleason. Coming up through P&G’s famous design initiative, we get his perspective on design beyond digital products, such as consumer packaged goods, we explore some significant parallels across industries and design domains with important lessons on the pi...
2025-06-0653 min
Finding Our Way59: Design Isn’t Dead, But It’s Seen Better Days (ft. John Gleason)
Show Notes
Help Jesse and Peter better serve you by sharing a bit more about who you are, what you’re into, and what you’d like to hear from us in this listener survey which should just a few minutes to complete. Thank you!
Summary: Peter and Jesse are joined by design and business consultant John Gleason. Coming up through P&G’s famous design initiative, we get his perspective on design beyond digital products, such as consumer packaged goods, we explore some significant parallels across industries and design domains with important lessons on the pi...
2025-06-0653 minFinding Our Way58: AI is a Stress Test for Your UX: What Cracks Will It Show?
Show Notes
Jesse and Peter explore how AI is revealing the true value proposition of design teams. They discuss why “whoever controls the prompt controls the product” and why design leaders must understand their organization’s expectations before embracing AI. The more things change, the more they stay the same—AI may be new, but the fundamentals of design leadership remain critical.
Jesse’s presentation “The Elements of UX in the Age of AI” is now available as a digital download. Get your copy today.
Peter has just launched his masterclass “UX/Design Leadership Demys...
2025-05-0252 minFinding Our Way58: AI is a Stress Test for Your UX: What Cracks Will It Show?
Show Notes
Jesse and Peter explore how AI is revealing the true value proposition of design teams. They discuss why “whoever controls the prompt controls the product” and why design leaders must understand their organization’s expectations before embracing AI. The more things change, the more they stay the same—AI may be new, but the fundamentals of design leadership remain critical.
Jesse’s presentation “The Elements of UX in the Age of AI” is now available as a digital download. Get your copy today.
Peter has just launched his masterclass “UX/Design Leadership Demys...
2025-05-0252 min
Finding Our Way57: On Being a Chief Experience Officer (ft. Amy Lokey)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. Joining us today to talk about what’s next for design is Amy Lokey, Chief Experience Officer for the enterprise software platform, ServiceNow. We’ll be talking about building a team that unifies product experience with customer experience, defining experience metrics that actually matter, investing in her own...
2025-04-1353 min
Finding Our Way57: On Being a Chief Experience Officer (ft. Amy Lokey)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. Joining us today to talk about what’s next for design is Amy Lokey, Chief Experience Officer for the enterprise software platform, ServiceNow. We’ll be talking about building a team that unifies product experience with customer experience, defining experience metrics that actually matter, investing in her own...
2025-04-1353 min
Finding Our Way56: Design’s Role in the Evolution of Product Management (ft. Sara Beckman)
Transcript
Jesse: Hey everybody, it’s Jesse James Garrett here. I wanted to let you know before we get into the show, we’ve got a special event coming up this week on Friday, March 28th, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the elements of user experience with a live 90 minute virtual seminar at 8:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM Eastern.
I will be talking about the elements of UX in the age of AI. We’ll be looking at the connections between the history of user experience design, and the future of artificial intelligence. You do not wa...
2025-03-2357 min
Finding Our Way56: Design’s Role in the Evolution of Product Management (ft. Sara Beckman)
Transcript
Jesse: Hey everybody, it’s Jesse James Garrett here. I wanted to let you know before we get into the show, we’ve got a special event coming up this week on Friday, March 28th, we are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the elements of user experience with a live 90 minute virtual seminar at 8:00 AM Pacific, 11:00 AM Eastern.
I will be talking about the elements of UX in the age of AI. We’ll be looking at the connections between the history of user experience design, and the future of artificial intelligence. You do not wa...
2025-03-2357 min
Finding Our Way54: At the Intersection of Design and Business, Be The Anomaly (ft. Roger Martin)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. Joining us today to talk about what’s next for design is business strategist Roger L. Martin, former Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, who advanced the conversation about design and business with his influential work in the late 2000s.
We’ll t...
2025-02-0849 min
Finding Our Way54: At the Intersection of Design and Business, Be The Anomaly (ft. Roger Martin)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. Joining us today to talk about what’s next for design is business strategist Roger L. Martin, former Dean of the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, who advanced the conversation about design and business with his influential work in the late 2000s.
We’ll t...
2025-02-0849 min
Finding Our Way53: Leading Design Through Continual Evolution (ft. Peter Skillman)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the Centralized Design Group at Dutch manufacturing powerhouse Philips. Current Head of Philips Design, Peter Skillman, joins us to share lessons from Philips’ century of design innovation, from light bulbs to the compact disc to healthcare technology.
We’ll also talk about the cu...
2025-01-0457 min
Finding Our Way53: Leading Design Through Continual Evolution (ft. Peter Skillman)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the next phase. 2025 is the 100th anniversary of the Centralized Design Group at Dutch manufacturing powerhouse Philips. Current Head of Philips Design, Peter Skillman, joins us to share lessons from Philips’ century of design innovation, from light bulbs to the compact disc to healthcare technology.
We’ll also talk about the cu...
2025-01-0457 min
Finding Our Way51: Design-led Innovation in Emerging Markets (ft. Gaurav Mathur)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the Next Phase. On today’s show, we’re joined by Gaurav Mathur, VP of Design for Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart. He’ll share with us his perspective on the big issues facing design leaders in India today, including hiring and training for junior designers, as well as design leaders making the case...
2024-11-2043 min
Finding Our Way51: Design-led Innovation in Emerging Markets (ft. Gaurav Mathur)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the Next Phase. On today’s show, we’re joined by Gaurav Mathur, VP of Design for Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart. He’ll share with us his perspective on the big issues facing design leaders in India today, including hiring and training for junior designers, as well as design leaders making the case...
2024-11-2043 min
Finding Our Way50: Balancing Design and Business as a Utopian Pragmatist (ft. Leslie Witt)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the Next Phase. Joining us to talk about what’s next for digital product design is Leslie Witt, chief product and design officer for mental health care platform Headspace. Along the way, she’ll share with us her journey from designer to design leader to P&L business leader, she’ll also talk...
2024-10-2657 min
Finding Our Way50: Balancing Design and Business as a Utopian Pragmatist (ft. Leslie Witt)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: Welcome to the Next Phase. Joining us to talk about what’s next for digital product design is Leslie Witt, chief product and design officer for mental health care platform Headspace. Along the way, she’ll share with us her journey from designer to design leader to P&L business leader, she’ll also talk...
2024-10-2657 min
Finding Our Way47: Seeking Balance (ft. Koji Pereira)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Koji Pereira, Chief Design Officer for Brazilian fintech Neon, joins us to talk about his career journey from Brazil to Silicon Valley and back again, finding the balance between speed and quality, and strategies for making the design team and the design process more inclusive.
Peter: Thank yo...
2024-05-1849 min
Finding Our Way47: Seeking Balance (ft. Koji Pereira)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Koji Pereira, Chief Design Officer for Brazilian fintech Neon, joins us to talk about his career journey from Brazil to Silicon Valley and back again, finding the balance between speed and quality, and strategies for making the design team and the design process more inclusive.
Peter: Thank yo...
2024-05-1849 min
Finding Our Way46: Leading with Clarity (ft. Vuokko Aro)
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Some errors may remain.
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Vuokko Aro, VP of Design for the UK’s popular digital-only bank Monzo, joins us. We’ll talk about shifting your design approach as your company scales, building a true peer relationship with product leadership, and creating...
2024-05-0552 min
Finding Our Way46: Leading with Clarity (ft. Vuokko Aro)
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Some errors may remain.
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Vuokko Aro, VP of Design for the UK’s popular digital-only bank Monzo, joins us. We’ll talk about shifting your design approach as your company scales, building a true peer relationship with product leadership, and creating...
2024-05-0552 minFinding Our Way45: The Phase Shift
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated, and then hand-edited. It may contain some errors.
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, design leaders are feeling some major shifts in the landscape these days. In the wake of COVID and sweeping industry layoffs, leaders are facing difficult questions about the value of design, both from inside and outside t...
2024-04-2447 minFinding Our Way45: The Phase Shift
Transcript
This transcript is auto-generated, and then hand-edited. It may contain some errors.
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, design leaders are feeling some major shifts in the landscape these days. In the wake of COVID and sweeping industry layoffs, leaders are facing difficult questions about the value of design, both from inside and outside t...
2024-04-2447 min
Finding Our Way44: The Mindful Executive (ft. Christina Goldschmidt)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, in a conversation recorded in November 2023, Christina Goldschmidt reflects on her first 60 days on the job as the newly appointed VP of product design for the music industry giant Warner Music Group. She offers thoughts on getting up to speed and finding early success as an incoming leader, profili...
2024-03-2551 min
Finding Our Way44: The Mindful Executive (ft. Christina Goldschmidt)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, in a conversation recorded in November 2023, Christina Goldschmidt reflects on her first 60 days on the job as the newly appointed VP of product design for the music industry giant Warner Music Group. She offers thoughts on getting up to speed and finding early success as an incoming leader, profili...
2024-03-2551 min
Finding Our Way43: Leading Enterprise UX for LEGO Group (ft. Rebecca Nordstrom)
Transcript
[This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Please forgive any copy errors.]
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, one of the largest scale and highest precision plastics manufacturing operations in the world belongs to Denmark’s LEGO Group. LEGO’s Rebecca Nordstrom leads the team designing the software they use to produce thos...
2024-03-0949 min
Finding Our Way43: Leading Enterprise UX for LEGO Group (ft. Rebecca Nordstrom)
Transcript
[This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Please forgive any copy errors.]
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: and I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, one of the largest scale and highest precision plastics manufacturing operations in the world belongs to Denmark’s LEGO Group. LEGO’s Rebecca Nordstrom leads the team designing the software they use to produce thos...
2024-03-0949 min
Finding Our Way42: Leading From Trust (ft. Cynthia Savard Saucier)
Transcript
[This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Please forgive any copy errors.]
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: And I’m Peter Merholz.
Both: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Cynthia Savard Saucier, co-author of the book Tragic Design and VP of UX for the Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify, joins us to talk about what’s worth fighting for and what’s not, sharpening t...
2024-02-2352 min
Finding Our Way42: Leading From Trust (ft. Cynthia Savard Saucier)
Transcript
[This transcript is auto-generated and lightly edited. Please forgive any copy errors.]
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: And I’m Peter Merholz.
Both: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership,
Jesse: On today’s show, Cynthia Savard Saucier, co-author of the book Tragic Design and VP of UX for the Canadian e-commerce giant Shopify, joins us to talk about what’s worth fighting for and what’s not, sharpening t...
2024-02-2352 min
Finding Our Way40: The Cross-Trained Design Leader (ft. Rajat Shail)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: And I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership.
Jesse: Hardware design, software design, package design, experience design. Rajat Shail oversees all of it for home automation company Vivint. Rajat joins us to share what he’s learned about managing design as a holistic function, the benefits and pitfalls of using design thinking training to engage executives, and what to do when your manda...
2024-01-1955 min
Finding Our Way40: The Cross-Trained Design Leader (ft. Rajat Shail)
Transcript
Jesse: I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Peter: And I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And we’re finding our way,
Peter: navigating the opportunities
Jesse: and challenges
Peter: of design and design leadership.
Jesse: Hardware design, software design, package design, experience design. Rajat Shail oversees all of it for home automation company Vivint. Rajat joins us to share what he’s learned about managing design as a holistic function, the benefits and pitfalls of using design thinking training to engage executives, and what to do when your manda...
2024-01-1955 min
Finding Our Way39: Reflections on the State of Design Leadership (Season 3 finale)
Jesse and Peter drink a “Warp Core Breach” at the Star Trek Experience, 2007. Photo by Leisa Reichelt.
In this episode, Peter and Jesse reflect on the conversations they had with senior design leaders, the themes that emerged, the challenges facing design leaders today, and our hope for a brighter future.
Transcript
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Together: And we’re finding our way…
Peter: …navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, for our se...
2023-05-3155 min
Finding Our Way39: Reflections on the State of Design Leadership (Season 3 finale)
Jesse and Peter drink a “Warp Core Breach” at the Star Trek Experience, 2007. Photo by Leisa Reichelt.
In this episode, Peter and Jesse reflect on the conversations they had with senior design leaders, the themes that emerged, the challenges facing design leaders today, and our hope for a brighter future.
Transcript
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Together: And we’re finding our way…
Peter: …navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, for our se...
2023-05-3155 min
Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦Peter Merholz - Demystifying Design LeadershipPeter Merholz demystifies design leadership, openly shares the ups and downs of a trail-blazing design career, and how we can keep design “weird” without getting fired.
Highlights include:
⭐ What is the fundamental job of the designer leader?
⭐ Why do design leaders find it difficult to figure out what their job is?
⭐ What advice did Obi Wan give Luke that design leaders need to hear?
⭐ Why are you a design pragmatist and not an idealist?
⭐ What do design leaders need to know about politics and relationships?
#DesignLeadership #UX #UXDesign #AdaptivePath #BraveUX
2022-08-151h 10Finding Our Way30— Mailbag: UX maturity, conflict fatigue, and getting past imposter syndrome
Transcript
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
And we’re finding our way
Peter: navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, Peter and I take a break from interviewing guests to ask each other some questions and answer a few of yours as well. Along the way we get into topics like organizational maturity, career trajectories, the role of diplomacy and leadership and connecting leaders to their true sense of purpose. That’s right. It’s time for t...
2022-05-2548 minFinding Our Way30— Mailbag: UX maturity, conflict fatigue, and getting past imposter syndrome
Transcript
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
And we’re finding our way
Peter: navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, Peter and I take a break from interviewing guests to ask each other some questions and answer a few of yours as well. Along the way we get into topics like organizational maturity, career trajectories, the role of diplomacy and leadership and connecting leaders to their true sense of purpose. That’s right. It’s time for t...
2022-05-2548 min
Business X DesignPeter Merholz - The Success of in-house Design and the Design Executive Leader RoleOVERVIEW:In this episode, I am joined by Peter Merholz, Design Executive and Organisational Consultant, Author and Founder of Adaptive Path.His book, co-authored with Kristin Skinner, Organisational Design for Design Orgs is a go-to book for so many Designers, Design and non-design Leaders. In our conversation, we cover specifically the difference between Tech-First and Legacy Organisations in how they see Design within their organisational structure, what difference this makes to the way they invest in and support Design, what this means for newly minted design executives. We touch on themes that I covered wit...
2022-01-1052 min
Rosenfeld Review PodcastPeter Merholz: Design at Scale is People!Design at scale is perhaps the most interesting challenge facing the design industry right now. How do you maintain quality and not get bogged down as your team grows? Much of the discussion focuses on systems and processes, but that starting with systems runs exactly contrary to the true value that design brings to companies, which is a humanistic and creative problem-framing and problem-solving approach. In other words, this focus on systems could ironically undercut design’s potential within organizations— in other words, “Design at Scale” is humanism at scale, and share what’s needed to keep people at the center of...
2021-05-0433 minFinding Our Way25—The Reckoning
Transcript
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Together: And we’re finding our way
Peter: Navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: Here we are at episode 25. We have had a whole bunch of interesting conversations that were just the two of us. We have had a whole bunch of interesting conversations that involved some other folks as well. We’ve definitely been chasing some threads. We have been following some emergent themes. And we’ve each had different things, I t...
2021-01-2245 min
Finding Our Way19 – Growth mindsets, vulnerability, sociopathy, totalitarianism… that escalated quickly (ft. Billie Mandel)
Transcript
Billie: The conditions that are required for a more just world line up as the same conditions that are required for a more successful, more creative, more innovative technology team.
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Both: And we’re finding our way…
Peter: …navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Peter: On today’s episode of Finding Our Way is my good friend, Billie Mandel. Billie has an illustrious career in design leadership, and team coaching and UX teach...
2020-10-2043 min
Finding Our Way17 – Design leadership lessons from bicycling (ft. Sally Carson)
Transcript
Cold Open
Sally: Reflecting on it now, I learned so much about my relationship with anger and it really helped me. You know, cause people are trying to kill you.
Intro
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Both: And we’re Finding Our Way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, design leader Sally Carson of Duo Security joins us to talk about her path to design leadership...
2020-09-2946 min
Finding Our Way17 – Design leadership lessons from bicycling (ft. Sally Carson)
Transcript
Cold Open
Sally: Reflecting on it now, I learned so much about my relationship with anger and it really helped me. You know, cause people are trying to kill you.
Intro
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz.
Jesse: And I’m Jesse James Garrett,
Both: And we’re Finding Our Way,
Peter: Navigating the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
Jesse: On today’s show, design leader Sally Carson of Duo Security joins us to talk about her path to design leadership...
2020-09-2946 minFinding Our Way16 – How can a designer grow in their career without becoming a manager? (and more)
In which Jesse and Peter dig into a few emerging trends we’ve seen in product design teams, including the rise of the senior individual contributor, the increasingly tangled relationship between design, engineering, and product management, and what it takes to lay the foundation for lasting change.
Transcript
Peter: Oh, shit. Design leaders are spending all their time managing and recruiting and hiring and, caring and nurturing for their teams, but they’re not spending any of their time leading design.
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz,
Jesse: And I am Jesse James...
2020-09-1546 minFinding Our Way16 – How can a designer grow in their career without becoming a manager? (and more)
In which Jesse and Peter dig into a few emerging trends we’ve seen in product design teams, including the rise of the senior individual contributor, the increasingly tangled relationship between design, engineering, and product management, and what it takes to lay the foundation for lasting change.
Transcript
Peter: Oh, shit. Design leaders are spending all their time managing and recruiting and hiring and, caring and nurturing for their teams, but they’re not spending any of their time leading design.
Peter: I’m Peter Merholz,
Jesse: And I am Jesse James...
2020-09-1546 minFinding Our Way15: Mailbag—Funding models; from output to impact; personal safety and security
In which Jesse and Peter answer questions on funding models, shifting from output to impact, demonstrating value, and the challenges of being a design leader right now.
Questions addressed:
(01:00) “How does a good business fund design activity?”
(09:28) “How can one handle being a good lead designer, when in the company where you work, the majority of product owners don’t understand their role.”
(12:43) “[How can] design influence their orgs to move from an artifact/output-based model of design to a practice/impact one?”
(16:40) “How [can] a design team better frame their uniq...
2020-07-2442 minFinding Our Way15: Mailbag—Funding models; from output to impact; personal safety and security
In which Jesse and Peter answer questions on funding models, shifting from output to impact, demonstrating value, and the challenges of being a design leader right now.
Questions addressed:
(01:00) “How does a good business fund design activity?”
(09:28) “How can one handle being a good lead designer, when in the company where you work, the majority of product owners don’t understand their role.”
(12:43) “[How can] design influence their orgs to move from an artifact/output-based model of design to a practice/impact one?”
(16:40) “How [can] a design team better frame their uniq...
2020-07-2442 minFinding Our Way14: “If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations,” and other Design Leadership Truisms
In which Peter shares some of his Design Leadership Truisms (inspired by the work of Jenny Holzer), and Jesse reacts.
The image that spurred the episode:
Truisms discussed:“People are not their job titles.”“If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations.”“Bad design is a result of context, not individual aptitude.”“If you focus on the organization, quality will take care of itself.”“You cannot calculate an ROI for design.”“If you haven’t pissed someone off, you are not doing your job right.”“For someone wh...
2020-07-1534 minFinding Our Way14: “If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations,” and other Design Leadership Truisms
In which Peter shares some of his Design Leadership Truisms (inspired by the work of Jenny Holzer), and Jesse reacts.
The image that spurred the episode:
Truisms discussed:“People are not their job titles.”“If your team’s work isn’t good, you didn’t set clear expectations.”“Bad design is a result of context, not individual aptitude.”“If you focus on the organization, quality will take care of itself.”“You cannot calculate an ROI for design.”“If you haven’t pissed someone off, you are not doing your job right.”“For someone wh...
2020-07-1534 minFinding Our Way13: Facing Systemic Racism in Design
In which Jesse and Peter discuss their relationship to systemic racism, as individuals, as leaders, and as members of the design and UX communities.
Transcript
Peter: Welcome to Finding Our Way, the podcast where Peter and Jessee welcome you to their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership. I’m Peter Merholz, and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hello, Jesse. What are we going to talk about?
Jesse: Well, yeah. I mean, I think there’s an elephant in thi...
2020-07-0941 minFinding Our Way13: Facing Systemic Racism in Design
In which Jesse and Peter discuss their relationship to systemic racism, as individuals, as leaders, and as members of the design and UX communities.
Transcript
Peter: Welcome to Finding Our Way, the podcast where Peter and Jessee welcome you to their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership. I’m Peter Merholz, and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hello, Jesse. What are we going to talk about?
Jesse: Well, yeah. I mean, I think there’s an elephant in thi...
2020-07-0941 min
Finding Our Way12: Ands Not Ors (ft. Maria Giudice)
In which we are joined by Maria Giudice, founder of Hot Studio, former design executive at Facebook and Autodesk, for a whirlwind discussion of her career, design leadership, and coaching.
Topics: Frank Frazetta; Working Girl; art school; white designer dudes; New York in the mid-80s; Richard Saul Wurman telling us we’re all full of shit; designing guidebooks; command-and-control leadership style; San Francisco in the late 80s; becoming a design leader; hiring misfits; match between leader and the team; inheriting teams; the brutality of corporate America; learning from mistakes; change-making at scale; consulting vs in-house; the ne...
2020-07-0139 min
Finding Our Way12: Ands Not Ors (ft. Maria Giudice)
In which we are joined by Maria Giudice, founder of Hot Studio, former design executive at Facebook and Autodesk, for a whirlwind discussion of her career, design leadership, and coaching.
Topics: Frank Frazetta; Working Girl; art school; white designer dudes; New York in the mid-80s; Richard Saul Wurman telling us we’re all full of shit; designing guidebooks; command-and-control leadership style; San Francisco in the late 80s; becoming a design leader; hiring misfits; match between leader and the team; inheriting teams; the brutality of corporate America; learning from mistakes; change-making at scale; consulting vs in-house; the ne...
2020-07-0139 minFinding Our Way11: The Leadership Plateau and the Marketing Vortex
In which we address the how to grow as a design leader when the opportunities thin out, and then take a hard turn and address the culture of marketing and the problems it poses for designers.
Topics: Imbalance of leaders at different levels; don’t determine what’s interesting for someone else; the pace of career growth; designers who have found their way; discouraging people from desiring to be a leader because doing it right is fucking hard; dual-track leadership models; UX for marketing and product used to be the same; marketing design wants to work more like...
2020-06-2437 minFinding Our Way11: The Leadership Plateau and the Marketing Vortex
In which we address the how to grow as a design leader when the opportunities thin out, and then take a hard turn and address the culture of marketing and the problems it poses for designers.
Topics: Imbalance of leaders at different levels; don’t determine what’s interesting for someone else; the pace of career growth; designers who have found their way; discouraging people from desiring to be a leader because doing it right is fucking hard; dual-track leadership models; UX for marketing and product used to be the same; marketing design wants to work more like...
2020-06-2437 minFinding Our Way10: We Have Trust Issues
In which we grapple with the multifarious concept of trust, in light of how important it is for leaders to establish, build, and maintain it in their relationships.
Topics: Leadership coaching, psychological safety, resilience, conditions leading to trust, Michael Jordan’s uncompassionate leadership tactics, critique, bestowed authority, Brené Brown, non-judgment, leaders speak last, “being right” behavior, earning trust, maintaining positivity and authenticity in the face of difficulties; integrity; whether organizations can earn trust; trust falls; Amy Edmondson; Google’s Project Aristotle; accountability; trust as an emergent property; why all these models and theorists never mention trust; trust within a...
2020-06-1640 minFinding Our Way10: We Have Trust Issues
In which we grapple with the multifarious concept of trust, in light of how important it is for leaders to establish, build, and maintain it in their relationships.
Topics: Leadership coaching, psychological safety, resilience, conditions leading to trust, Michael Jordan’s uncompassionate leadership tactics, critique, bestowed authority, Brené Brown, non-judgment, leaders speak last, “being right” behavior, earning trust, maintaining positivity and authenticity in the face of difficulties; integrity; whether organizations can earn trust; trust falls; Amy Edmondson; Google’s Project Aristotle; accountability; trust as an emergent property; why all these models and theorists never mention trust; trust within a...
2020-06-1640 minFinding Our Way9: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 2
In which we continue to grapple with in-house vs design consultancy distinctions, and see promise in the creation of senior strategic design roles within some companies.
Topics: working in teams; working like a consultancy; Metropolis; the lie of design schools; the reality of in-house design practice; cycles of abuse; working in truly high-performance design contexts; the stage model of cook apprenticeship; the capacity of design programs; rotation programs within and across companies; the emerging role of Principal Designer.
Transcript
Jesse: Previously on Finding Our Way:
Letter
Peter: We’ve as...
2020-06-0926 minFinding Our Way8: Consultancy Rat Blues, Part 1
In which an email from a design leader self-labelled “Consultancy Rat” spurs a wide-ranging discussion on strategic design leadership, product management, and the differences between in-house and consultancy design.
Topics: consulting vs in-house design; FAANG+; the bifurcation of UX design; product design; design as a handmaiden to engineering; why not both?; product management and product strategy; product management as UX practice from 15 years ago; the craft of product management; making the shift from consultancy to in-house; strategic and principal in-house design roles.
Transcript
Intro
Peter: Welcome to Finding Our Way, the podc...
2020-06-0532 minFinding Our Way7: Leading From Home
In which we discuss the challenges of relationship management when leading from home, and then start a potentially promising discussion on the subject of trust.
Keywords: #OaklandSlowStreets, symbolic analysts, listservs, working from home, intent, distributed teams, serendipity, thresholds, conscious incompetence, improvisation, vision, galvanizing, trust, trust, trust.
Transcript
Peter: Welcome to “Finding Our Way,” the podcast where Peter and Jesse welcome you to their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership. I’m Peter Merholz and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Pet...
2020-05-2633 minFinding Our Way6: Defining Your Charter, Part 2: The How
In which we break down the components of a team charter, and the ways it helps design leaders, particularly with people matters of recruiting, hiring, and retention.
Transcript
Jesse: Previously on Finding Our Way:
Peter: Today we’re going to dig into how design teams define themselves
Jesse: If you keep doing the same things that you’ve always done, you’re not going to be successful anymore, and you are selling your skills rather than your purpose you have just sort of instantly commoditized yourself right from the start
you...
2020-05-1931 minFinding Our Way6: Defining Your Charter, Part 2: The How
In which we break down the components of a team charter, and the ways it helps design leaders, particularly with people matters of recruiting, hiring, and retention.
Transcript
Jesse: Previously on Finding Our Way:
Peter: Today we’re going to dig into how design teams define themselves
Jesse: If you keep doing the same things that you’ve always done, you’re not going to be successful anymore, and you are selling your skills rather than your purpose you have just sort of instantly commoditized yourself right from the start
you...
2020-05-1931 minFinding Our Way4: Management Leadership Jazz
In which reflections on the coronavirus pandemic spark a freeform conversation ranging from Trump to Jobs on management, leadership, power, uncertainty, and more.
Transcript
Welcome to “Finding Our Way,” the podcast where Peter and Jesse welcome you to their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
As always, I’m Peter Merholz, and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hi Jesse. Good afternoon. How are you?
Jesse: I’m, I’m, doing well, all things considered. Yeah–
Peter...
2020-05-0633 minFinding Our Way4: Management Leadership Jazz
In which reflections on the coronavirus pandemic spark a freeform conversation ranging from Trump to Jobs on management, leadership, power, uncertainty, and more.
Transcript
Welcome to “Finding Our Way,” the podcast where Peter and Jesse welcome you to their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership.
As always, I’m Peter Merholz, and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hi Jesse. Good afternoon. How are you?
Jesse: I’m, I’m, doing well, all things considered. Yeah–
Peter...
2020-05-0633 minFinding Our Way2: Elements Turns 20
In which we learn more of Peter’s recent adventures in design leadership, and we reflect on 20 years of Jesse’s Elements of User Experience.
Transcript
Peter: Let me do it.
Jesse: All right. You got it.
[theme music]
Peter: Welcome to “Finding Our Way,” the podcast where Peter and Jesse welcome you on their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership. As always, I’m Peter Merholz and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hi, Jesse...
2020-04-2936 minFinding Our Way2: Elements Turns 20
In which we learn more of Peter’s recent adventures in design leadership, and we reflect on 20 years of Jesse’s Elements of User Experience.
Transcript
Peter: Let me do it.
Jesse: All right. You got it.
[theme music]
Peter: Welcome to “Finding Our Way,” the podcast where Peter and Jesse welcome you on their journey as they navigate the opportunities and challenges of design and design leadership. As always, I’m Peter Merholz and with me is Jesse James Garrett.
Jesse: Hello, Peter.
Peter: Hi, Jesse...
2020-04-2936 minFinding Our Way1: The Story So Far
In which we learn a little of Peter and Jesse, their past history together, and their more recent history apart.
Keywords: Exploring in public, leading design agencies, leading design teams, organizational design, leadership coaching, Adaptive Path, meaning, purpose, creativity, resilience.
TranscripT
Peter: I’m like, wait, a moment what do we call it?
Jesse: We gotta have something to, we’ve gotta choose some theme music. We’ve got a lot still unanswered here for sure, but we can just make the first episode about: “What should we call this thing?”
Tap...
2020-04-2934 minFinding Our Way1: The Story So Far
In which we learn a little of Peter and Jesse, their past history together, and their more recent history apart.
Keywords: Exploring in public, leading design agencies, leading design teams, organizational design, leadership coaching, Adaptive Path, meaning, purpose, creativity, resilience.
TranscripT
Peter: I’m like, wait, a moment what do we call it?
Jesse: We gotta have something to, we’ve gotta choose some theme music. We’ve got a lot still unanswered here for sure, but we can just make the first episode about: “What should we call this thing?”
Tap...
2020-04-2934 min
The Informed LifePeter Merholz on the Structure of OrganizationsMy guest today is Peter Merholz. Peter is one of the co-founders of the pioneering UX design consultancy Adaptive Path, now part of Capital One. After leaving Adaptive Path, he has structured and led design teams in various organizations. Peter and his co-author, Kristin Skinner, wrote Org Design for Design Orgs, the book on how to organize design teams. In this episode, we discuss how the structure of organizations influences their customer’s experiences.Listen to the full conversation https://theinformeddotlife.files.wordpress.com/2020/02/the-informed-life-episode-28-peter-merholz-2.mp3 Show note...
2020-02-0230 min
Rosenfeld Review PodcastDesigning your Design Org with Kristin Skinner and Peter MerholzKristin Skinner and Peter Merholz, co-writers of Org Design for Design Orgs, are teaching a full day workshop at the DesignOps Summit this year. On this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, they discuss the career milestones that brought them to the realization that there was a book to be written about the challenges they faced when coordinating and managing across teams.
What Peter’s reading: Uday Gajendar’s “Rise of the Meta Designer” in Interactions Magazine https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=3338285
What’s inspiring Kristin lately: Scott Berkun’s work http://scottberkun.com
More about the workshop:
As the move to...
2019-08-2032 min
Progression Podcast#12: Peter Merholz (Adaptive Path, Org Design for Design Orgs) on org design and ethicsIn this twelfth episode of the Progression Podcast I'm chatting to Peter Merholz, co-founder of Adaptive Path, long time speaker and blogger on design scaling and co-author of Org Design for Design Orgs (2016).
We get into the weeds on his back story, including learning how to write and speak confidently. We then got onto managing up, down and across, his book and the ethics of design (and a designers' role within it). Finally we got to some listener questions from various Slack channels that I hang out on.
Peter's links:
...
2019-05-281h 14
The Funsize ShowHustle: The Four Archetypes of the Complete Design Leader (with Peter Merholz)
“Many designers don’t realize the challenges their leader faces.”
Peter Merholz is the VP of Design at Snagajob and co-author of “Org Design for Design Orgs”. He previously co-founded Adaptive Path, which is now part of the Capital One Design. In between all of this, Peter was also Funsize’s first client during his time at Groupon.
It’s been a couple of years since Peter’s been on the Hustle Podcast and we’re really excited to have him back. On this episode, Anthony and Peter chat about designing design teams, Peter’s new talk “The Four A...
2018-02-2839 min
The Funsize ShowHustle: Whose Job is UX? (feat. Peter Merholz)Show Notes:
0:55 Rick is back from paternity leave. His new son is awesome.
1:11 Joining us on this episode is the Senior Director of Design at Jawbone, friend of Funsize, and a hugely inspirational designer, Mr. Peter Merholz.
1:30 Anthony chronicles Peter's background with the international consulting firm, Adaptive Path, which is perhaps best known for championing "User Experience."
1:50 Fun Peter Merholz facts: Peter hired Funsize while at Groupon and was Funsize's first client. Thanks, Peter! He also coined the term 'blog'.
3:44 Fun fact about the new Up4 from Jawbone is that it can do NFC payments!
4:00 The theme for...
2015-05-0548 min
UX Discovery Session PodcastDS047 :: Peter Merholz - Independent Designer, OpenTable
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This episode features an interview with Peter Merholz - Independent Designer, Product Lead at OpenTable.
Brought to you by our sponsor:
MarksAndLogos.com
00:00 Intro Theme
00:11 Introductions/Interview with Peter Merholz - Independent Designer, Product Lead at OpenTable.
Links / topics mentioned:
Groupon
Adaptive Path
"Subject to Change" by Peter Merholz
Apple IIe
UC Berkeley
San Francisco
Anthropology
Voyager Company
Quality assurance
Interface design
Studio Archetype
Epinions.com
OpenTable
Product Management
MX 2014 | Design Org Model. Such Power. Very Leverage. Wow.
UX STRAT 2014: Pe...
2014-11-2329 min