A couple of years ago I started a Slack Team for Design Leaders. We currently over 1,500 members; mostly Heads, Directors and VPs of Design at prominent tech companies and large traditional organisations.
We’ve been very careful building the community. As a result the signal to noise ratio is remarkably high. Recent conversations have included:
- Discussions around recruitment and whether design tasks are a good idea.
- Various design leaders sharing their career progression ladders.
- An ongoing debate around the perfect team structure.
- Whether managing Millennials required a different set of skills (the general conclusion being they don’t).
- The challenges of managing fast growing teams.
- Tactics for your first 90 days in role.
The criteria for joining is fairly straightforward.
- You’re a senior design leader of an in-house (i.e. not agency) team.
- You’re either the most senior design representative in your company, or a member of the design leadership team (at larger orgs).
- You’ve moved away from delivery and aren’t a “player-coach.”
- You’re a genuinely nice person who wants to contribute to the evolving filed of knowledge we’re creating.
If this sounds like you, drop me an email and I’ll hook you up.
Once you’ve joined, please feel free to lurk for a while and get a feel for the place. When you’re ready to jump in, please introduce yourself to the group, letting folks know a little about your background, the company you work for, the team you look after, and the leadership challenges that are interesting you at the moment.
We expect members of the Slack channel to respect each others privacy. If you do wish to disclose anything discussed here, please use Chatham House Rule and refrain from identifying individuals or their companies.
Members of this group are generally kind, considerate, constructive and helpful. Heated discussions may occur, but they should always be done with respect and a desire to advance the conversation. If you witness any disrespectful behaviour, please inform myself or one of the admins. We aim to resolve any conflicts peacefully and in a positive manner. However on the rare occasion this isn’t possible, we may ask individuals to leave.
Originally published at www.andybudd.com.
