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The secret trait of all successful product designers
The secret is self-awareness. (and it’s also helpful if you’re not a product designer)
I’ve managed and mentored hundreds of designers in design firms, startups, large companies, and most recently at Facebook. There are hard skills that successful product designers have—product thinking, craft/visual design, interaction design, plus the equally-important soft skills around intentionality, communication, and collaboration. Yet, across the board, every successful designer has self-awareness. And when young, talented designers lack self-awareness, I see their careers stagnate over time.
Self-awareness is a conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires.
Let’s break it down into actionable parts.
1. What You Want
Do you know what you want and why it really matters to you? When you’re in school, there are easy externalities to want— good grades, loyal friends, social status, to get into a good college. As we start to adult, we may get trapped into wanting the conventional path that we see modeled around us— a corporate job, a promotion, a partner, a house, kids, that dream vacation.
