This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for organizing icon systems in Figma.
Golden Ratio Supporters:Zeplin lets designers spend more time on design, and less time prepping design files for the team. Effortlessly build user journeys with native connectors, flow groups, and text labels — no more maintaining extra layers in your design tool. Zeplin is so much more than just specs — get started for free to see why.
The Sidebar:The Sidebar is an exclusive weekly segment for our Patreon supporters. You can subscribe starting at $1 per month for access to bonus content going forward! Sign up at patreon.com/designdetails.
Latest VIP Patrons:This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way.
Anonymous asks:
I’ve been promoted to a lead, and I’m managing a few entry-level designers working on small features. When discussing UX flows and sketches, they seem fine. But I randomly popped into their Figma files and noticed that their files are not as organized, and their UI work has some issues with padding, margins, decimal values, etc.
I feel like this is something easily trainable, since it’s UI related. I could jump on a call with them to educate them and show some examples of how to do things. But I have a tiny doubt about if I’m micromanaging, since this role is new to me.
Am I micromanaging if I jump into their files and do padding checks? If yes, how do I do this right? If not, what’s the difference between managing and micro managing?
Cool Things:Byeee!
404: Visual Design and Craft ft. Justin Stahl
403: The Confidence Gradient
402: Margin Considered Harmful
401: Three Dots
400: Is Software Ever Finished?
399: Strong Opinions, Weakly Held
398: Proof of Curiosity
397: Customer Feedback vs. Team Intuition
396: Career Cheat Codes
395: Config 2021
394: Open Source Design ft. Joey Banks
393: The Not-So-Humble Button
392: Becoming a Strategic Designer
391: Portfolio Review Tips for Senior Designers
390: Building Design Infrastructure ft. Kathryn Gonzalez
389: Better Design Reviews
388: Design Tips and Tricks, Part 2
387: Design Craft Tips & Tricks
386: Designing with Grid Systems
385: Raising Your Team’s UI Bar
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Design Matters with Debbie Millman
99% Invisible
Design and Architecture
The Observatory
ShopTalk