Three signals to the future 001
This is a new effort to offload articles that I find on the interwebs and they are connected in one way or another with holistic design.
I call this edition "three signals to the future" and if you are subscribed (first of all, thank you!) then you will receive those periodically and likely as irregularly as my normal personal ramblings. So let’s give it a go!
On hiring disabled people
If you are in the world of technology, you likely bumped upon Cat Noone and her work with Stark. Stark is a pillar of design for everyone and Cat is steering the wheel. In her article published in Fast Company, Cat lays 4 reasons that hiring disabled people is good for business. Lack of diversity in the workforce affects negatively innovation, but also finances (spoiler: lawsuits). Diverse teams bring to light situations that other teams might miss, plus they have impact in improving and constantly rethinking to wellbeing of the workplace.
“Your product is a distillation of your work culture, team makeup, business mentality, and genuine stance on the mission you set out to achieve. And when you decide to make software that can help, it is your ethical duty to question who it, in turn, may hurt.”
▶︎ 4 reasons why hiring disabled workers is good for business — Cat Noone
On being glue
This talk resurfaced in my radar lately and I remember reading it (there’s a trascript on the link) and nodding along the way. If you start reading it, you will notice Tanya Reilly speaks about software engineers, however seeing this from the design lens, this is basically my journey into DesignOps.
“You'd like to have time to code, but nobody else is onboarding the junior engineers, updating the roadmap, talking to the users, noticing the things that got dropped, asking questions on design documents, and making sure that everyone's going roughly in the same direction. If you stop doing those things, the team won't be as successful. But now someone's suggesting that you might be happier in a less technical role. If this describes you, congratulations: you're the glue. If it's not, have you thought about who is filling this role on your team?”
▶︎ Being glue – Tanya Reilly
On being a polymath
There’s a lot to be said about the fixation of our society to push specialists into the world. And this essay by Salman is really saying a lot about it. And about being a polymath. You can certainly learn to do one thing and do it damn well, but there’s a wealth in being able to see things from different perspectives based on your experience when you are more than just that.
“I believe the strongest reason polymaths become polymaths is that they simply don’t have a choice. The urge to pursue one’s inner passions is strong, and those blessed with a variety of them often find them difficult to ignore.
The polymath’s search for meaning and purpose through different pursuits can be related to the Japanese concept of Ikigai (“a reason for being”)”