Design Engineer Principles

Obsess over usefulness

  • Solve real problems for users and teammates
  • Make useful things feel effortless

Own the whole experience

  • Shape the product, design the interface, ship the code
  • Do whatever the outcome needs: product, design, code, docs, support
  • Care about every state, edge case, word, and interaction

Understand the constraints

  • Know the user, product, code, business, and tradeoffs
  • Find the real constraint before choosing the solution

Build for everyone

  • Design across skill levels, abilities, and contexts
  • Make complexity available, not required

Make it excellent

  • Scope small enough to do it well
  • Push back when clarity, craft, performance, or trust is at risk
  • Leave every surface better than you found it

Make the team better

  • Be kind, direct, and low ego
  • Share work early and give specific feedback
  • Turn repeated feedback into better defaults, tools, and systems