A note-thinking tool for rich, messily connected, multi-dimensional work Roam Research is a (relatively new) productivity tool that’s been compared against popular apps like Notion and Evernote, but is more closely similar to apps like Workflowy / Dynalist (known as outliner tools), and Obsidian (also an outliner, but has more…

Recently, I’ve been saying designers should be thinking more like product managers but continue to solve problems through the work of design. I‘ve extended this to learning, because as designers we seem to be tackling increasingly complex problems. I coined this phrase because there’s something powerful about expressing learning, thinking…

Principal designers navigate unconventional career paths as they grow. What can we learn from these messy paths to navigate transitions? This is my contribution to the Designed Transitions publication, featuring perspectives on transitions, design, leadership, careers, and coaching. Big thanks to my friend, Jason Mesut, for starting this initiative and…

Day 7 of the eclectic Service Design Advent Calendar — Hello, readers. This is my contribution to the Service Advent Calendar. Thanks to Jason Mesut and Niclas Ljungberg for organising this! I recently completed Keiko University’s “Methodologies for service design” course on FutureLearn because I was interested in perspectives and teachings on service design beyond the craft of user journeys…

Discovery as a verb Lisa, one of our talented UX researchers on our team, organised a “discovery methods” learning session recently. It was really refreshing to have everyone come together and go through the various approaches we’ve used in the past. …

I’ve amassed a sizable collection of sketchnotes over the years mostly from conference talks. I started in 2010, and it’s been a really good run. Although I’ve lapsed sketchnoting since not attending in-person conferences due to COVID, I’m still fond of the medium and have been grateful for the opportunities…

2020 has obviously been a very different year—I’m grateful my situation has been largely uneventful, somewhat repetitive throughout. I’ve cherished working from home and not missing the daily commute, learning how to bake sourdough bread, spending more time with my family, and gradually doing up the house. I did break…

In my travels, I’ve been equally confused and inspired by strategy. By strategy, I mean: Roles and departments with the word “strategy” in them The need and ask from organisations/leaders for a “strategy” Strategies of all kinds – brand strategy, marketing strategy, design strategy, experience strategy, corporate strategy, technology strategy…

The shadow of systems thinking looms over everything I do, partly because I really enjoy learning and understanding complex things, but more so because the nature of our problems—and thus, solutions—avail themselves very differently when viewed through this lens. …systems thinking is also a sensitivity to the circular nature of…