Most software is bad. I neither know why, nor how to solve the problem. Instead, the best I have to offer is a technique to keep the badness away for a while: friction logs.Friction logs are what they sound: a detailed log of everything that caused friction when using a product. This post teaches you how to make one. I recommend you to make one if:

A new set of principles for better workflows when making digital products

“Ready for dev”

It’s safe to say that there is a natural tension between the fields of design and engineering. Traditionally, the role of design is to question, create meaning, and to argue for solutions that make for a better user experience. The role of engineering is to systematize, solve technical problems, and to argue for solutions that make for a simple, scalable, and future-proof implementation. The design process begins before we know what we want, and engineering usually happens when there is a clear notion of what is being built.

"Unfortunately, these projects often do more harm than good if the organization uses the design system as yet another initiative to centralize the decision-making process..."

1. Flatten your waterfalls
2. Make code the design product
3. Operate like an open source project
4. Increase visibility through automation
5. Plan like a farmer

What good design managers do
A good design manager focuses on 5 key responsibilities to build a healthy and happy team:

1. Ensure a steady stream of challenging and meaningful work for you & your team
2. Show where the quality bar is, by doing exemplary work yourself
3. Protect time and focus of your reports so they can do their best work
4. Communicate timely & clear feedback to every team member
5. Create a personalised growth path for every member in the team

_The perdocent exploits the claim of not having been taught how to do something, as a means of not understanding, of taking control, or to avoid doing any actual work.

As a management professional, no matter their appeal to credential, never let a perdocent take control. Always seek to maintain familiarity with the perdocent's tactics…_

As a software engineer manager, I’ve reflected on the unique behaviors I prioritize. This post will cover the gestalt of my successful onboarding experiences within the first 90 days.

Starting with Having Good Tact

Good tact is the ability to deal with others to maintain good relations and avoid offense. To say and do the right things at the right time, to behave in a way that promotes cooperation and reciprocity.

My go-to’s are to make myself available, never criticize a previous decision, and avoid being standoff-ish.

Be Explicit About Change

I have been known to repeat an expectation numerous times in front of the team. In a room of ten people, I say the “thing” ten times for one person to “get it.” Being specific about change means being explicit. One of the lessons I’ve learned as an engineer manager is being implicit or nuanced is considered cruel to the team.

Change Means Documenting

The stereotypes that lump IT professionals together are misguided. It's actually the conditions that surround the IT pros that are stereotypical, and the geeks are just reacting to those conditions the way they always react -- logically.

It's all about respect

Few people notice this, but for IT groups respect is the currency of the realm. Those whom they do not believe are worthy of their respect might instead be treated to professional courtesy, a friendly demeanor or the acceptance of authority. The amount of respect an IT pro pays someone is a measure of how tolerable that person is when it comes to getting things done, including the elegance and practicality of his solutions and suggestions. IT pros always and without fail, quietly self-organize around those who make the work easier, while shunning those who make the work harder, independent of the organizational chart.

This self-ordering behavior occurs naturally in the IT world because it is populated by people skilled in creative analysis and ordered reasoning.

While everyone would like to work for a nice person who is always right, IT pros will prefer a jerk who is always right over a nice person who is always wrong. Wrong creates unnecessary work, impossible situations and major failures. Wrong is evil, and it must be defeated. Capacity for technical reasoning trumps all other professional factors, period.

Foundational (bottom-up) respect is not only the largest single determining factor in the success of an IT team, but the most ignored. I believe you can predict success or failure of an IT group simply by assessing the amount of mutual respect within it.

Delegate problems, not tasks

The simplest and most relevant one is the GROW framework, created by Sir John Whitmore. Here’s how to use the GROW model when delegating problems:

• Goal: Establish the goal
• Reality: Examine the current reality
• Options: Explore the options
• Will: Establish the will

Communicate Every Day

• PURPOSE: Link individual accomplishments with the business objective
• FOCUS: Reserve new ideas until current major projects are done
• GUIDE: Demand excellence in providing ongoing specific feedback in writing
• GROWTH: Actively discuss professional development opportunities
• RELATIONSHIPS: Improve relations by chatting about non-work
• Express Feelings With Emojis, Emoticons, or Descriptive Words

1. Say it three times
   Rather, the first time serves as a primer, the second as confirmation, and the third as a reminder.

2. Mean (and do) what you say
   If you can’t stand behind your statements or answers at work, repeating them will be both hard to do and misleading for the listener.

3. Remember that real love has real boundaries
   So often frustrations arise when a decision seems arbitrary or contradictory.

4. Expect change regularly
   But if we can accept that most things at work will change at some point, and account for that in our plans, we’ll be able to better recover and face new realities with perspective.

5. Provide a soft landing for transitions
   No amount of self-awareness can stop the emotions my daughter — and all of us — feel around transitions.
   We should be gentle with ourselves during these moments, recognizing that our emotions are legitimate and normal.
   We should extend the same generosity to our colleagues, whether or not they acknowledge they’re having a difficult time.

Let’s take a deep breath together

#1: How’s life?
#2: What are you worried about right now?
#3: What rumors are you hearing that you think I should know about?
#4: If you could be proud of one accomplishment between now and next year, what would it be?
#5: What are your biggest time wasters?
#6: Would you like more or less direction from me?
#7: Would you like more or less feedback on your work? If so, what additional feedback would you like?
#8: Are there any decisions you’re hung up on?