Nice Work: Maybe don't go so big?!

Hi there,

There’s a theme Sara and I have been hearing loud and clear this year: design managers are struggling. We’ve coached them through post-layoff crises and reorg challenges. We’ve supported them as they put in their resignations—with no new jobs lined up. We’ve helped them weigh whether they even want to do this work anymore. Do I go back to being an IC? Do I fully leave design?

This summer, Sara and research consultant Urszula Pruchniewska decided to dig deeper into managers’ experiences and see if the patterns we were hearing about extended outside our circle. They designed a study to answer two big, meaty questions: How is this moment of layoffs and gloomy outlooks affecting line managers’ wellbeing? And…how is it impacting their ability to lead their teams? 

At home, my nickname is The Spoiler. But I won’t spill the tea on all of their findings in this newsletter. (You can hear them yourself on Monday at Managing this Moment. Event details are below!) 

However, I do want to share one piece of the research that’s really been sitting with me since I read the report. And, surprisingly, it’s not about the managers who are suffering. It’s about the ones who aren’t. 

Here’s what I learned: the managers who aren’t suffering aren’t thinking big—they’re thinking beautifully small.

What does that mean? It means they’re not spending their energy defending the field. They’re not fighting battles for the soul of their orgs. All the stuff that’s out of their control? They’ve let it go. (Mostly, at least. No one is perfect, after all.)

Instead, they’re narrowing focus: being ambitious about their team’s wellbeing. Investing in their own interests, in and out of work. Leaning on their colleagues and friends for support. And solving problems that are actually in their power to solve. 

These are small, simple things. No moon-shot required. And yet, of the managers surveyed, only 25% reported that they’re doing well. A full 50% admitted they’re struggling. That tells me there are some fundamentals we’ve all got to learn.

This weekend, I’m going to reflect on what it feels like to narrow my own focus—to stop feeling like I have to change the goddamned world at every turn, and focus on one small, single effort that still feels satisfying. 

Can I challenge you to do the same? If you can’t find that one thing to focus on, learn from the managers Sara and Urzsula spoke to and start small with this: What’s one thing you can let go of? 

—Jen

Managing this Moment

Findings from our 2024 research study on managers in design/UX

Join us on Monday, September 30 at noon ET as we reveal the biggest themes we found in the data—and what both line managers and their senior leaders can do to make managing humans in this moment more successful and sustainable.