Reading The Engineering Leader:
An AI generated image of one paper boat leading others on a blue table.
I think it’s important to pick up the occasional book that might not seem like it aligns with your current interests or career objectives and wow, am I glad I picked up Cate Huston’s awesome The Engineering Leader: Strategies for Scaling Teams and Yourself.
At the moment, I am not interested in picking up software engineering again, been there, done that, as they say. I am, however, always interested in leadership, continuous growth, and personal + professional development.
Huston’s book is one I will reread throughout different points of my career, but what really grabbed me right now as a Designer just a few years into my career is her concept of DRI, or “Directly Responsible Individual.”
So what does DRI mean for my career?
Sometimes there’s an idea that is so obvious you don’t even stop to think about it. And the concepts are so important, but they become background noise. Finally, when a person draws your attention to the concepts, it’s like being unexpectedly doused with a cold, fresh perspective.
I am, of course, the Directly Responsible Individual for my career and I get that on a basic level. I know I have to keep my portfolio up to date, sharpen my skills through classes, and find inspiration and feedback for myself. But I’d been hoping for too long for someone to spell out for me how to progress in my role and by extension, my career as a designer. I had been hoping for guidance and a path to follow. I know now that true design leaders and innovators take inspiration from competency matrices and career ladders, but ultimately it’s entirely up to me to drive myself to that next level.
How freeing and empowering is that?!
And, as an excellent mentor and engineering leader, Huston gives us a great framework to apply DRI to our careers with five principles:
1. Expect less from your job and more from your career.
2. Learn from feedback.
3. Own your professional development.
4. Distinguish what your employer rents versus what they buy.
5. Build your support system.
Frameworks can be so helpful to find areas where you’re already excelling or areas that could use improvement. I’m going to tackle these areas more strategically moving forward.
One principle that I think many designers are well set up to incorporate into their career based on the nature of iterative design is “Learn from feedback.” We set up design critiques and iteration in our day-to-day and we’ll become more effective owning our professional development if we build in these feedback loops outside of the structure of work. I know I’m excited to work with more extra-professional mentors, attend webinars, and participate in meetups so I can continue to share my ideas and refine them with others.
Huston has her own fabulous blog post on Being the DRI of Your Career and I recommend you give her a read.
Quoted material from:
Huston, Cate. "Being the DRI of Your Career." Accidentally in Code, 20 September 2021, https://cate.blog/2021/09/20/being-the-dri-of-your-career/. Accessed 20 April 2024.
