Designer Delivers Consistently

Shaan shares a story about identifying and celebrating a team member's unique strength in design work.

"I had this designer Derek. Most designers I've worked with are creative types - messy desk, procrastinator types. They pull all-nighters when they get creative inspiration and do amazing work sometimes, while other times they get stuck with creative writer's block.

Derek's superpower was that he was a great designer, but he was like the mailman - he delivered every day at the same time. I'd give him the brief, I'd scribble a poorly written address of where I'm trying to get this package, and he'd interpret it like a mailman and say 'Oh, I know where this is trying to go.' Then he'd deliver it every day at 5 PM before leaving.

He was like the mailman - he didn't work weekends. I knew he wasn't the type of guy I should hit up for that crazy weekend project. He had this amazing ability to consistently take a loose set of instructions and deliver on it. That's why I called him the mailman."