Why delegation is the most important design skill | Ryan Lucas (VP of Design, Rippling)

Описание: In the second Executive Function episode, Brett sits down with Ryan Lucas, VP of Design at Rippling. Before Rippling, Ryan led design at Retool and co-founded multiple startups, bringing a rare founder's perspective to design leadership. A trained industrial designer, Ryan traces the roots of modern software design back 2,000 years to make the case that products must be useful, usable, and desirable - and above all, used.

In today's episode, we discuss:
• Why design leaders who stop designing stop leading
• The four pillars every design manager must master
• How to delegate when you're a perfectionist
• Why leaders need strong opinions
• How to scale good judgment
• What Rippling's operating system teaches about speed and commitments

References:
• Airbnb: https://www.airbnb.com/
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
• Apple: https://www.apple.com/
• Asana: https://www.asana.com/
• Brian Chesky:   / brianchesky  
• CrossFit: https://www.crossfit.com/
• Figma: https://www.figma.com/
• Honeywell: https://www.honeywell.com/
• Liz Sanders:   / sandersliz  
• Nest: https://store.google.com/category/goo...
• Notion: https://www.notion.so/
• Parker Conrad:   / parkerconrad  
• Patrick Collison:   / patrickcollison  
• Retool: https://retool.com/
• Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/
• Stripe: https://www.stripe.com/

Where to find Ryan:
• LinkedIn:   / ryanwlucas  

Where to find Brett:
• LinkedIn:   / brett-berson-9986094  
• Twitter/X:   / brettberson  

Where to find First Round Capital:
• Website: https://firstround.com/
• First Round Review: https://review.firstround.com/
• Twitter/X:   / firstround  
• YouTube:    / @firstroundcapital  
• This podcast on all platforms: https://review.firstround.com/podcast

Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:08 What design actually does at a software company
01:40 The roots of design: from industrial design to software
03:29 Useful, usable, desirable — and used
04:49 How design relates to engineering, product, and marketing
08:15 Measuring success as a design leader
12:40 The gap between director and VP-level design leadership
14:23 Why great design leaders jump up and down in altitude
19:26 The four pillars every design manager must master
21:34 Over-indexing on quality and the perfectionist trap
25:11 When lowering the quality bar actually cost the business
27:53 How to build judgment through pattern matching
31:25 How Ryan's design team differs from the rest
34:31 Why Figma is not the source of truth
36:32 How Ryan spends his week: recruiting, crits, and staff meetings
38:39 The "Do/Try/Consider" framework
42:12 The most important decisions of the past year
44:05 Should one-on-ones exist?
46:45 How to scale judgment
50:49 What to look for when hiring your first design leader
54:54 Advice for young designers who want to lead
58:24 Demanding yet supportive: A balanced management style
01:02:43 What Rippling's operating system teaches about execution