Aaron Irizarry

@aaronirizarry.bsky.social

Cubano Magnifico. Head of Design, Consumer Lending PNC Bank. Co-author of Discussing Design. https://aaroni.me

The design leaders I watch for wisdom are almost always the ones whose teams are quietly better a year after they get there, in ways that don't show up in a launch review. Their teams give each other better feedback. Their teams hire people who make everyone around them stronger, including partners.

Gardening and leadership share many of the key principles for success. In both, we're tending a living system, and almost all the leverage lies in the conditions we cultivate, not so much in the outputs we chase. 🌱

While I appreciate the uptick in talk about craft, I wonder if this is an over correction for design trying to get so concerned with being business focused. Business acumen as a designer is huge, but not everything.