Welcome to Wimp, a very chill revolution. No pitchforks or storming the castle — just decaf, the underdog of coffee, coming to play with the big kids.

Wimp Decaf Coffee Company

And a quick word on 🇺🇸 politics…

The Road Less Stupid

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/road-less-stupid

Ted Goas is a reliable product designer and front-end developer working on websites, applications, and HTML emails.

Newsletter | Ted Goas

Sr. Product Designer, Dialpad Connect

A few lessons learned from being a product design lead and manager at a late stage startup.

How I manage a packed calendar while keeping my sanity

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/how-i-manage-a-packed-calendar-while-keeping-my-sanity

Job Application for Senior Product Designer, Design Systems at Dialpad

https://bsky.app/profile/tedgoas.bsky.social

I see more and more communities for design leaders and they’re all the same. Their websites showcase logos from very large, global enterprises or tech companies or popular brands. Sometimes they are all three. They promote their “members” who work at these very big companies and sometimes they are

Design doesn't need yet another fancy leadership community, please.

https://www.brilliantcrank.com/design-doesnt-need-yet-another-leadership-community/

With Dialpad, you can connect to customers, coach customer-facing teams, & deliver amazing experiences—all with one Ai-powered communications platform.

Dialpad - The Ai-powered Customer Communications Platform

https://www.dialpad.com/careers/open-opportunities/apply/?id=7595004002&location=San-Ramon-US&title=Sr.-Product-Manager

Sidebar is back from its break

https://uxdesign.cc/sidebar-is-back-from-its-break-af1a4280385c

Dialpad is an AI-powered cloud communication platform that makes it easier and more efficient to connect and collaborate with your team. Try for free!"

Dialpad - Cloud Communication Platform Powered by AI | Dialpad

https://www.dialpad.com/careers/open-opportunities/

A fortnightly newsletter product design and leadership

The Last Two Weeks

Config 2024: Design as therapy: emotional dynamics of aerospace engineering   As a designer at NASA JPL, Joyce wears many hats – researcher, designer, interviewer, UXer, pixel pusher, collaborator, translator, educator, strategist, leader – and her engineer coworkers believe that designers just make things pretty. Joyce works with system engineers to build a software suite that helps JPL model new mission concepts. To do that, she has to build trust to listen to engineers gripe about historical tools, methods, and processes. A lot of times, they talk endlessly about problems and pain points. Joyce is their therapist.  Featuring: Joyce Croft, Senior Human-Centered Designer, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Config 2024: Design as therapy: emotional dynamics of aerospace engineering | Figma

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjcdZi9rdA&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx698IZ7mm09s95f8kKQH3Hg

Senior Product Designer, Dialpad Connect

Plus... am I quitting social media? Maybe.

How senior designers get promoted

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/how-senior-designers-get-promoted

Senior Staff Product Designer, Mobile & Devices

I don’t like my job

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/dont-like-job

I’ve been part of the interviewing teams before, but this is my first time being the hiring manager. It’s been quite a learning experience.

How I Interview Product Designers

https://tedgoas.medium.com/how-i-interview-product-designers-b096441e5607

Three books: Escape the build trap, what’s our problem, and Engineering management for the rest of us.

It’s ok deviate from our personal brand every so often.

This design newsletter isn’t about design

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/video-games-not-design

https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/managing-disappointment

It’s your secret weapon for performance reviews and job interviews

Why you should have a brag document

https://medium.com/@tedgoas/why-you-should-have-a-brag-document-eb6cc82ec80a

Sr. Design Manager, Connect

An old-timey, worn out street sign that reads 'move fast and break things'

https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4120228612

I drink mostly decaf coffee these days and I'm really excited about Wimp from my friend Matthew and friends: https://www.wimpdecaf.com/

I sent a newsletter that mentioned politics and only got 1 unsubscribe, I'd consider that a win.

Also most of the newsletter is about a really good book I read: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/road-less-stupid

Who is using Sketch for UI design?

(I love❤️ Figma just can't justify the cost for personal projects.)

I’ve been a design manager for a year and am still figuring out how much I like it. Some days I leave work feeling like I’ve nailed this whole management thing, and others leave me feeling like a fraud.

More detail in today's newsletter: https://www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

Got promoted to Product Designer Manager after a year of being a player / coach, can I get a hell yea from the chat.

Alright it's been almost a month since my last newsletter and I swear this weekend I'm gonna finish a post about brag documents!

Sign up here: https://www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

Hey all, I wanted to share a very bittersweet update here before we shared it anywhere else. First, the hard part — we’ve made the difficult decision to wind down Read.cv and Posts starting this month.

If you can't be a fan, don't be a critic.

Love moving Ai towards different UIs and away from text boxes.

Does your work calendar look like this every week? Mine too? Monday's newsletter discusses about what I'm doing about it. https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

🔎 Looking for yet another amazing Sr. Product Designer to join our growing team in the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 London area! I'm happy to DM / chat if you have questions or want a referral.

Full description here: https://grnh.se/848eac292us

As a manager, my days are packed with meetings. I’ve written about a few techniques I use to get enough breathing room each week to stay grounded and keep myself sane. https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/how-i-manage-a-packed-calendar-while-keeping-my-sanity

I'm hiring a senior product designer on our design systems team at @dialpad! You'll get to make stuff all day, have a lot of ownership, move quickly, and help us evolve our design system.

Remote (in americas) full time. Happy to answer any questions!

https://grnh.se/4992012a2us

I've pretty much abandoned twitter at this point if anyone wants to hang with me on 🦋 Bluesky https://bsky.app/profile/tedgoas.bsky.social  (Obviously I love Posts too!)

I love finding someone's home-made blog (not a Medium or Substack or something) and binging three years worth of articles in one sitting.



Plz keep making your own websites folks, the world appreciates it ❤️

Design doesn't need yet another fancy leadership community, please. Yes, I vibe with this. https://www.brilliantcrank.com/design-doesnt-need-yet-another-leadership-community/

My team is hiring a product manager for our analytics product. Position is remote with the americas (despite city listed in the ad). I'm happy to chat or refer! https://www.dialpad.com/careers/open-opportunities/apply/?id=7595004002&location=San-Ramon-US&title=Sr.-Product-Manager

Sidebar is back! 5 design links a day, right in your inbox. https://uxdesign.cc/sidebar-is-back-from-its-break-af1a4280385c

What's it like being the only designer supporting a bunch of engineers? I wrote about my experience in my latest newsletter, sending this Monday: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

📣 Dialpad is hiring
Multiple positions in 🎨 Design, 🛠️ Engineering, 🧠 Product, and more. Generally if you're in the same country listed in the ad, remote is ok. I'm happy to DM / chat if you have questions or want a referral
https://www.dialpad.com/careers/open-opportunities/

Leadership (and management) is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.

Email goes out Tuesday 👉 https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

My favorite Figma #Config2024 talk so far is Joyce Croft's talk on emotional intelligence. Because design is more about working with people than working with tools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLjcdZi9rdA&list=PLXDU_eVOJTx698IZ7mm09s95f8kKQH3Hg

🔎 Estamos buscando un Sr. Product Designer increible en 🇦🇷 Argentina! (Hablamos íngles, pero español tambien). Estaré disponible para charlar si tiene preguntas o quiere una referencia.

Full description here: https://grnh.se/35b6b72a2us

my toxic trait is going into my spam folder and marking legit emails as not spam

"Any newsletters you’d recommend?"

My next newsletter is about newsletters. And some other stuff too. Sending Tuesday evening. Subscribe here: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

I wrote about how Senior Designers gets hired / promoted, and some thoughts on the current state of social media in my newsletter. Plus some fun links and a neat website: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/how-senior-designers-get-promoted

Sign up here: https://tedgoas.com/newsletter

🔎 We're looking for an amazing Senior Staff Product Designer to join our Mobile & Devices team, remote in the 🇺🇸 US! I'm happy to DM / chat if you have questions or want a referral.

Full description here: https://grnh.se/6b04f6532us

"Delight" is such a hard thing to define in design. It is animation? Visual polish? A new way of doing something?

How do you define "delight" in design?

I’ve been a design manager for a year and I’m still figuring out if I like it. Some days I feel I’ve nailed mgmt and others I feel like a fraud

If you have similar thoughts you’re not alone and you’re likely doing better than you think
https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/dont-like-job

I've been part of the interviewing teams before, but this year was my my first time being the hiring manager. It's been quite a learning experience.

Here's how I interview product designers: https://tedgoas.medium.com/how-i-interview-product-designers-b096441e5607

So far I only have the tabs part of the Figma update and honestly I'm good we can just stop here.

Last month I installed rollerblade wheels on my office chair. It makes moving around really fast and at first I was crashing into things daily. But after a few weeks I'm happy to report that I've mastered the ability to drift back and forth between my work and personal desks 🏆

I just sent out the latest issue of my newsletter. It's not about design. And that's ok: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/video-games-not-design

Black Friday / Cyber Monday (and the waste it produces) is out of control. It's time we think beyond the instant gratification and short-term profits. Without getting too preachy, I wrote some thoughts in my newsletter, going on Wednesday: https://www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

"Designers don't need to code, but damn it sure does make things a lot easier" is a thought I've been gravitating towards more and more.

After 20+ years in design, it still feels great to code. Figma is great for so many things, but to be able to type a few characters and have the actual website / product reflect my changes... to this day, it still feels magical.

Management is disappointing people at a rate they can absorb.

Reality will always mess with our perfect world, so it’s our responsibility to coach our teams through it: https://tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/managing-disappointment

For the past ~10 years I've kept a brag document. I honestly couldn't imagine doing a performance review or job interview without it.

I finally wrote about what a brag document is and how to start one: https://medium.com/@tedgoas/why-you-should-have-a-brag-document-eb6cc82ec80a

🔎 We're looking for an Sr. Design Manager to join our team remote in the 🇺🇸 US! I'm happy to DM / chat if you have questions or want a referral.

Full description here: https://grnh.se/99c8b0462us

“Move fast and break things” gets a bad rap these days, but I think there’s still a place for it in modern times. I wrote about that (plus a short note on the US election) in my newsletter going out later today: https://tedgoas.com/newsletter

I'm sending my last newsletter of the year today and am trying a new format: A few small thoughts and good links from around the web. Sign up here: https://www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

🔎 We're looking for an amazing Creative Director to join our team, remote in the 🇺🇸 US! I'm happy to DM / chat if you have questions or want a referral. https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4120228612