Design Life

Charli and Femke discuss the common challenges people face when pursuing promotions, share strategies to prepare for performance reviews, and explore options for those who perform well but are unable to get promoted.Timestamps:0:57 Episode start01:50 Catch up07:25 What are the main challenged people that you mentored were having around promotions?10:37 Thinking about promotions as a manager16:01 Advice to people to whom it is not clear what needs to be done in order to get promoted22:17 How to set yourself up for success l for the performance review time28:32 What if you do a good job but you cannot get a promotion?Links:Femke's communityFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Charli and Femke discuss their evolving perspectives on side projects, preferred platforms and content formats, and how these have changed throughout their careers, while also sharing their current goals—Charli opening up about her book writing journey and Femke explaining how her approach to her course is continuously evolving.Timestamps: 01:26 - Episode start03:11 - How are you currently thinking about side projects? How do you describe what you do on the side when meeting new people?05:23 - Perspectives on different platforms and content formats08:38 - Charli’s main side project at the moment: writing a book09:42 - Updates on Charli’s YouTube channel16:00 - How Charli incorporates Claude into her creative process17:00 - Strategies behind choosing and developing content formats25:25 - Femke shares her vision for her business Links: Femke's communityFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected] 

Femke and Charli discuss how to foster a culture of knowledge sharing at a workplace. They explore how to structure language-sharing sessions, whether these should focus on work-related topics or personal expertise, how to encourage team members to participate, and what roles leaders and team members play in sharing knowledge.Timestamps:01:25 Episode start02:27 Catch up06:52 How did educational 'Lunch and Learn' sessions come about at Femke’s work?08:06 Are these sessions about work topics or personal expertise?11:26 Does Kit have a format for ICs to sign up or volunteer to share with the team? How is knowledge sharing structured at Charli’s and Femke’s jobs?21:03 Does sharing come from anyone on the team or mainly leaders? How much do leaders set an example, and how did you get that started?21:47 How do you protect team members’ time and set expectations for knowledge sharing beyond their regular responsibilities? Do you expect everyone to share knowledge at a certain level, and how much of it is built into their responsibilities?26:32 How often do you do knowledge sharing?26:52 Do you encourage your team to consume any of your content?Links: Femke's communityFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Femke and Charli discuss the challenges of staying up-to-date with AI tools, the importance of developing horizontal skills rather than just tool-specific knowledge, integrating AI into your workflow, the financial and environmental impacts of AI and strategies for keeping up with rapid advancements in the tech field.01:11 Episode introduction01:53 Catch-up05:16 How the episode came about: Charli shares a story from her workplace about integrating AI into their processes10:17 Challenges in staying up-to-date with AI and design tools14:01 Is tool-specific knowledge important? The value of learning horizontal skills versus tool-specific skills16:00 Building AI workflows and exploring what’s possible with AI17:51 Financial costs of using AI23:23 Environmental impact of AI24:58 Goals for keeping up with the rapid pace of AI developmentLinks: Femke's communityFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]

Femke and Charli discuss how to balance product quality with commitments, deadlines, and the pressure to ship quickly. They explore the best approaches to building MVPs and new features, and consider whether AI is influencing the expected pace of work in design.Timestamps:01:14 Episode start02:25 Catch up07:56 The background of the issue at Femke’s work10:42 Did Charli experience anything similar?12:56 Has the rebrand and the new systems in place helped your team unlock more velocity, allowing you to work more quickly?17:19 What does your team think about MVP?24:45 As a design manager, what’s your role in solving this?26:07 Any ideas of solutions Femke can share?32:15 Is AI influencing leadership’s push for speed? Do you think it’s making teams move faster?Links: Femke's new communityFemke’s course “Product strategy for designers”Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]