Andy Polaine
Your time is a non-renewable resource
Companies pay you in money, a renewable resource. You pay them with time, which is finite and non-refundable. Make sure the organisation deserves it.
Writing & Thinking
A mix of essays and commentary about design, innovation, technology, society, coaching, personal and leadership development. Since 1996.
Escaping your personal escape room
New Year resolutions are really about the dissonance between the life you have and the one you want. Two coaching exercises for finding your shape and inner compass.
Futurice Show and Tell – Design Leadership
A short talk on design leadership given at Futurice Berlin''s Show and Tell, with a Q&A on the challenges and transitions of leading design teams.
Finding meaning and purpose in work and life
A conversation with Jungian psychoanalyst James Hollis on meaning, purpose, and why the transition into leadership so often triggers a deeper personal reckoning.
Understanding services as games with janky controls
The concept of janky controls from game studies turns out to be an excellent lens for understanding why so many services feel broken and frustrating to use.
Antirom reunited apart
Most of the Antirom collective reunited on camera for a Raw Interview, reflecting on the influence of those years and how far the ripples have spread.
Finding the Shape of You
On finding and trusting your own shape rather than reshaping yourself to fit. Lessons from a difficult professional break-up and the work of staying true to yourself.
Boiling the Ocean: Complexity, Service Design, & Systems Thinking
A recorded talk on complexity, service design, and systems thinking: why organisations habitually try to boil the ocean and what to do instead.
A new home for Power of Ten
Power of Ten has a new home on polaine.com and on all major podcast platforms. Update your subscription to the new feed.
Design Leadership as Slow-Motion Facilitation
Design leaders are often excellent facilitators. Thinking of leadership as slow-motion facilitation is a more useful frame than trying to be a Marine Corps general.
Design Politics Online, On Sale
Design Politics 2020 is now an online event, with seven keynote speakers and workshops from Lou Downe, Marc Stickdorn, and Vimla Appadoo.
The Design Leadership Dip
On the confidence crisis that hits designers moving into leadership: the dip where you''re not good at craft or management yet, and how to navigate through it.
Taking bookings for Design Leadership coaching
Announcing one-to-one design leadership coaching: for designers navigating the confidence dip that comes with moving into leadership roles.
Workplaces need to change, not women
Michelle King and HBR research show that gender inequality at work is really about a culture of overwork, structural denial, and accumulated micro-barriers.
Teams learning from families learning from teams
Teams and families share a lot of dynamics, but confusing the two can lead to promises organisations can''t keep. What lockdown teaches us about boundaries and roles.