Notes Design

An Event Apart Chicago is just a few months away, and I'll have the privilege of speaking on a brand new topic, "The In-House Designer":

The fundamental principles of design remain constant irrespective of organization size, technical discipline, and the like. Yet within larger organizations, the dynamics of applying these principles, the ability to produce quality output, and overall job satisfaction are a challenge at times. Learn how to hone your technical skills, and, more importantly, your soft skills, to effectively grapple with the politics and red tape that are common to larger organizations—or, for that matter, to client services work.

In my mind, this is a subject that's long overdue for being addressed in conferences, and I'm excited to take a shot at addressing it.

But I'd like your help. What are the issues common to "larger organizations"? I'd be willing to bet the majority of you reading this work at companies larger than most agencies and startups and therefore have experience and an understanding of the challenges I speak of above.

So, help me start a list of things I may address in the presentation. I'll start:

• Uninspiring workspaces
• Passionless employees
• An abundance of paperwork needed for anything and everything
• Legacy methodologies (e.g. waterfall software development)
• ...

What can you add?