I’ve always held the thought that, like a joke, if you have to explain what an award is then it doesn’t really matter. Having said that, I just learned that the book I co-authored with Ben Goldman and Abby Sinnott received a gold MarCom Award. Our book, Remote Work for Design Teams was conceived, written, and published in three weeks. We crammed to meet the immediate need of thousands of leaders who were struggling with leading teams remotely for the first time in their careers. It’s not a large book but we poured our heart and soul into each sentence. I have a happy memories of working closely with Aarron Walter and Susan Kaplow during the editing process. Both of them helped illuminate a path in my journey to become a better writer. …

Earlier this week my colleague Adam Fry-Pierce presented the following to attendees of Remote Design Week. Here are the top ten insights in design and business during COVID-19. All sourced from the top design leaders around the world during April 2020. A report sourced from Design Leadership Forum events and team research conducted earlier this month.

Disclaimer: This report has an inherent bias as the data source is employed, leaders. We should acknowledge that people have been laid off or worse. …

Adios Muchachos! And Thanks for all of the Sun Downs.

Not in any hurry to tell a story, I typically like to take my time to get to the point, but I think this news warrants the shorter path. Kitchen Storey and I are leaving Tejas and moving to the other side of the Continental Divide to Seattle.

In a few weeks we’ll head for the land of Pearl Jam, the finest of ocean foods, Patrick Dempsey (I know he just retired but I’m going to include him anyway since he’s the reason why we’re Sounders fans), Mac and Jacks African Amber Ale, a body of water called a “sound” with a ferry transit system, and weather that doesn’t melt your face off and incur instant melanoma. …

Show Notes

Season One of Sprints & Milestones was all about the principles of digital project management, taken from Brett’s book Project Management for Humans. We released seven episodes full of discussion and stories about our experiences leading projects. It was very much about us, but really it’s for you. In our final episode of the season, we respond to questions submitted by listeners.

Several questions about project leadership came in, so we sat down to share our two (sometimes different) perspectives. …

Kitchen Storey has Left the Airport

Yesterday morning Kitchen Storey came home from a two week gig in Des Moines, Iowa. American Airlines flight AA1326 to Austin arrived at 9:53AM, and with that, almost eight years of constant travel — life on the “road” — came to a welcome conclusion.

For those who don’t know the last eight out of ten years Kitchen Storey and I have lived mostly apart due to travel requirements for her job. She is a chemical engineer who compiles and facilitates hazard safety reviews for manufacturing and refining process that deal with hazardous chemicals. Name the worst chemicals on the planet and she’s dealt with it at places that make things like dynamite, frozen food, beer, food additives, oil, and natural gas. It’s her job to review processes around the use of these chemicals and try to kill people on paper so that she can work upstream and figure out how to ensure that particular event never happens (in simulation anyway, it’s up to the facility owners and operators to follow the recommendations derived from the facilitation work). …

I made an Internet radio program and it’s called Sprints & Milestones.

I’m pleased as punch to share that a friend and I have begun recording the first season of a podcast called Sprints and Milestones.

Brett Harned — one-time co-worker and a long time friend of mine — wrote a book last fall called Project Management for Humans. After reading the first draft, I asked about Brett’s plans to market the book and suggested that he start a podcast to help continue the lift that new books typically get when they launch.

Many, many months later we finally have a program that not only compliments the many messages in the book but should provide useful to anyone who has to manage projects whether it’s a part of their job or a full-time role. We had a lot of fun putting the show together, and we’ve already got a handful of ideas to keep things fun and informative in the future. …

Get your half-baked social media strategy off my followers list.

This morning I woke up, but my brain was still in Park. As I sat there trying to process information (the day of the week, the time of the day, is it a work day or non-work day, where is the cat), my phone screen flashed. I leaned over to pick it up wondering if this was it, the big announcement of the Cheeto’s Apocalypse. Nah, it was just a follower notification from Instagram.

It read, “Furniture Store in Linden NJ (roomandhome_linden) started following you.” So maybe the Earth isn’t going to end today, but this didn’t make me feel any better. A furniture store in BFE, nowhere near my constant proximity, decided to join around a thousand humans in following the photos I upload to Instagram. …

The now cliché quote from hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, has been overplayed when it comes to talking about business, products, and services. The point of the quote, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been,” is not to react to what’s immediately in front of you, but what will be in front of you shortly.

The same strategy should be used in hiring. I’ve used it in the last twenty years, and it rarely fails. I don’t hire the person in front of me, but the person I know that I can help them become. Sometimes this means getting a designer to their next level of craft or into a confident leadership role. …