In today’s episode of Design Life we talk about something every designer needs to do in order to progress in their career - take initiative. The further you want to get, the more initiative you need to show. Taking initiative might sound like working harder, but really it means working smarter and coming up with better solutions to the problems you are presented with.

Today on Design Life we chat about building design team culture. A strong culture can help your team to have more impact in your company. Building design team culture improves how you get the work done and how you operate as a team, it can also make your team a more enjoyable place to work. We also discuss how Charli's approach to team building has changed since she became a manager.

Today on Design Life we tackle a listener question on a topic we haven’t gone in depth on before - how to work with PMs, POs and other stakeholders. Not familiar with these titles? Don’t worry! Listen as we dive deep into how to make the most of the relationship between product and design so you can make your best work.

Do you use daily themes to get more work done? Today we chat about the challenges and benefits of implementing daily themes to organise your schedule in a new role and to give your current schedule a productivity boost.

Is becoming a manager the next step in your career? How can you figure out if being a manager will be a good fit for you? In today’s episode we discuss why a move into management isn't the best course of action for every designer and what to consider before making the leap.

There are many benefits to working in public but sometimes it can be difficult for designers to share their work. This week on Design Life we talk about how to start sharing your work and some prompts to help you begin.

Today on Design Life we discuss taking ownership of your career growth. Pursuing your dream career takes courage but the risk is worth the reward. In this episode we answer a question from a listener about how to discuss career growth with your manager as a junior designer and also as a woman. We share the times that we have succeeded, and failed, at taking that leap in our own careers and what we have learned along the way.

Have you ever thought about organising a hack or jam day at your work? A hack, hackathon or jam day is an event for you and your team to put aside your usual work and focus on one project or idea, an opportunity to make progress within a tight time constraint, like one day or a half a day. In this episode Femke shares her experience of running jam days at Uber as Charli prepares to run a hack day for her team at Convertkit.

How has your daily routine changed over the past year? Working from home has meant our daily routines have adapted so that we start a little later, spend more time on our morning routines and get more from our day as a result. Today on Design Life we chat all about our daily routines and really break down how we spend each part of our day.

How do we balance our side projects and our full time jobs? This is a question we get asked a lot! The thing is, time gets filled up very easily. You’ll never find the time unless you are purposeful about how you spend it. Today on Design Life we discuss how working from home, taking on more responsibility in our day jobs and having shorter blocks of time in which to get work done has made us change our priorities and find balance in new ways.