People Management

Be a Mensch & Lead with Compassion

Organisation

My team is spread out across Seattle, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh. I try to have people in a location work with the product teams in that location. I also try to make people on my team work across studios to help us become one team.

I have a manager in Atlanta and one in Pittsburgh. Each has three people. All the people in Seattle report directly to me. My team is a mix of Designers and Researchers with a single IoT developer also.

I try really hard to always have more than a single designer or even a designer - researcher pair on a project. When more people work on a problem the solutions are usually more varied and better. Sometimes I can add an industrial designer (ID) to a project and typically ID and UI designers can push each other. I still aim for each person having clear accountability and ownership of something. We also have discipline project i.e. the UX researchers are working across projects on protocols and templates.

Building Culture

Inclusivity



I've worked to build a team with a diverse background and perspectives. The youngest person is 23 and the oldest is 63. We're about 50% female and 50% male. We're from at least four continents. We have people with a formal design background and people who are auto-didact or have changed careers.

More importantly however, is building a team with room for different workstyles and perspectives. On one hand this may be as simple as adjusting projects and daily schedules. On the other hand it may mean being a mediator between two people who have very different points of views.

Purpose



People need to feel like they are part of something bigger. I strive to help my team see how they what we work on fit into the world at large and with the company vision.

The image above is a slide from a presentation to my team.

Values



I've found that if I'm explicit with my team about what I value and care about it gives them context for the feedback they get throughout a project. It also opens the door for conversations about what they care about and want to grow in.

My top five are: Real people, Building products with teams, microinteractions, strategy and business, and storytelling.

Identity



Every group needs an identity. Something to help them know that they are in this together. I've had my team create laptop stickers for projects. It's great to see an executive with a laptop sticker for your project.

Be Interested in People

It's hard to recruit, keep people motivated, and retain people in difficult situations. And it's hard to stay motivated and leading with a good example in difficult situations whether that is crunch time or organizational changes.

I genuinely care about the people I work with. And not just my own team. Also, the people on the product, engineering, and other teams. I've found that if I am truly interested in the people I work with and always assume they are competent good people even when I disagree with them, then work also becomes a lot more enjoyable for me.

At Honeywell we don't have the same brand recognition among designers as many other companies. When recruiting it's been important to win people over on our design culture and show candidates that they will be mentored and that we care about them as people. This has been the deciding factor in a candidate choosing us over another company more than once.

Letter from someone leaving my team


Hi Christian, I wanted to say thank you for the last two years. Thanks to your guidance, I can say I’ve grown as a designers and overall person. Our one on ones always helped clarify what I want from my career, what it means to build software, and how to help the business. More importantly, you helped me prepare for fatherhood, were always supportive, genuinely caring. I'll always appreciate having you as a manager and mentor.

Email to me and the other design manager in Seattle from peer non-UX manager retiring


Don’t know if I’ll have a chance to chat with you at my farewell party, but I wanted to tell you how much I’ve enjoyed working with you both. It’s been a real pleasure, especially after you guys took over the studio. I used to hate going downtown because of all the yelling, swearing, tension, and negativity, but you guys turned it into a really nice place to work. You both grew SO much after being set free—you just flourished. Should you leave Honeywell, I really hope that you will go to an environment that lets you thrive again.