WeekNote 1: Design leadership transition
I’m moving into a new role in April 2021. Head of design at DfE. I aim to write and reflect here.
Design is my communication method and I’m lucky I have a career in doing what I love and enjoy. I’m also very lucky to have met some amazing people who’ve become friends along the way.
Serving the education sector goes deep into why I do what I do. It’s an integral part of me and my childhood — a story for another day.
I've come from an environment where I’ve been a hands-on designer. I’m now entering a space outside of my comfort zone. As a design leader, I’m interested in exploring;
- When designers get involved
- how we deliver end to end services
- how we measure outcomes to help us influence the prioritisation of delivery for our users.
There’s also a whole ecosystem view of design itself and how it operates which interests me too. There’s opportunities I want to explore and influence. I want to listen to the design community and put strategies into play that work for us. I want to try and help the education sector and put my design passion into practice.
My courage today is down to lots of people, teams and life experiences. I have role models I am inspired by and aspire to be like. My role models have helped me define and challenge who I am. Some of my courage has come from bad examples too. Where experiences have made me realise that I don’t want to be like [xx].
I’m not sure what is ahead of me or what the journey will look like. What I do know is… I’m excited (and admittedly, a little afraid) about the prospect to define and push boundaries where we put people first. I come into this role with hope and desire. I will take a human-first approach in the way I lead and the way in which we deliver our services. And if at any point you think I’m failing, let me know over a cup of tea. I may not be perfect, but I want to learn and develop so I can put things right.
Wish me luck x
Grab a tea with me to chat about how design outcomes could be better, how we in design can make it work for you? Or ideas/opportunities/pains you experience you’d like to share. In return, I stand a chance to do my role justice. Together we can make design work.
