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It has been a while since but we had a guest post here at Design Sojourn. This one has been written by Sharon, a good friend, and fellow designer. I hope you enjoyed it!
Sharon Goh graduated 5 years ago from TU Delft with a Masters Degree in Strategic Product Design. She is currently in charge of the sales and marketing of Dutch-designed products in the Asia Pacific. She has worked in Japan, Netherlands, and Singapore, in the competencies of industrial design, design management and product marketing.
Cristina
September 24, 2020 at 9:27 amGreat article! I would edit the “he” and “his” framing. There are also women design managers you know 🙂
Brian Ling
April 6, 2021 at 2:55 pmThanks for the feedback Cristina. Have made the edits. That said, good thing this article was written by a lady!
Design Translator
November 18, 2010 at 1:55 pm@Eric: Thanks for stopping by with your comments.
Technical design skills give managers a great baseline to discuss. Knowing what the work entails, as well as how long it takes, helps push the conversation forward with the team. The other advantage of strong skills is the credibility issue. Designers tend to be an egotistical bunch that, from my experience, rarely listen to managers who they find superficial or are not credible.
Eric
November 11, 2010 at 10:11 amAdding a few.
– A good story teller.
– Ability to identify and foster the team member’s potential.
– A creative generalist.
– Ability to connect the dots.
Regarding the strong design skill, I feel that it may not be important for the manger to equip with a strong technical skill. Well, I do agree that it helps to convey the message to the fellow designer or developer. Maybe a proficient level of understanding is fair enough. What they do need to know and have, is a strong fundamental of design knowledge and clear understanding of business and technical application.
2 cents worth.