312: Design vision work and how to have a strategic impact

Thank you to our sponsor, Workflow. As a listener, you can experience the Workflow too with an exclusive 30-day trial (instead of the usual 14) — so you can see the magic for yourself. Head to workflow.design/designlife to start your extended trial today. Femke and Charli discuss the nature of vision work—whether it’s expected of designers, how their teams create space for it, their approach to the outcomes of pitches, and the criteria they use to prioritize ideas from vision presentations. Timestamps: 0:30 Episode start 01:23 Workflow sponsorship 02:47 Can you define what vision work is? 04:56 In your company, are you instructed to do vision work, or is it something product designers are expected to do at some point? Are you expected to present the vision? 10:37 Do you think it's important for designers to make time for this work, especially if they haven't been explicitly asked to do it? 12:47 How does Charli's team allocate time for strategic impact work, and what is their approach to it? 17:51 Have any outcomes from those pitches surprised you? For example, did you prioritize an idea that ended up being very successful? 21:53 If several design visions are presented twice a year, how do you decide when to deeply consider the ideas within those visions? 24:36 Did you go through any exercises like vision work prior to your brand redesign? Links: A huge shoutout to our sponsor for this episode, Workflow Make sure to check them out Femke's new community Femke’s course “Product strategy for designers” Share your topic suggestions for the show with us at [email protected]