“And then you do your tech stuff,” I said to the business analyst, architect and regional CTO. They stared back. Apparently, calling it tech stuff isn’t a way to engender unbridled engagement from technical people. Learning to work with technologists. When I joined EPAM, I felt like I had enough technical knowledge to fit in…

Deciding is a messy business. It seems to be all logic: Do things that will create a better customer experience. Don’t invest in features that won’t give us an appropriate return. But logic is flexible. Customer needs are slippery. Even basic concepts like convenience are relative. My version of convenience…

I brought my 7 week old daughter down to Central Hong Kong to meet the specialist today. I had a little mishap before, and considered going home first and arriving at the doctor’s late. But I thought, “No, better arrive on time, you don’t want to mess up the schedule.”…

Digital changes everything, but it means nothing until it’s human. — It was fall the first time I heard Radiolab’s episode on color. I was driving across the German countryside from Worms to Cologne. I passed through glowing fields of wheat, leafy greens and carpets of tiny yellow blossoms. The forests are a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, sometimes creating…

Our outcomes could impact entire cultures and communities. And we’re responsible. Have we considered whether those impacts constitute a desirable future? — Designers are creators. We make typewriters and books, digital and analog interactions, concepts and systems, services and experiences. We can create feelings of awe or disgust, and build attention or ignorance. Through our creations we imagine, generate, experiment, devise, discover and connect. Our work is to reflect upon life and our…

With new disciplines and capabilities, design does more than it ever did before. Hint: it’s about human lives now. Not stuff. — I am a designer. This job title is one of my favorite things about me. It’s also the reason I can’t get through a networking event without cringing. Every time I say I’m a designer, the first follow-up question is a truncated and outdated list of job titles. “Do you…

Life lessons from the lady across the arm rest — Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid My recent arrival back to Germany was paired with a nice review lesson on the uses and effects of grumpiness. In the last leg of my flight I was placed between two fully German business travelers, who weren’t excited to have me in…