Rudra B

Reflecting on the past six months at Lucid Software, I’m filled with excitement and gratitude. I was lucky to land in a place and field where I’m passionate (AI) and joining Lucid, has been nothing short of a thrilling journey. From the get-go, I knew this was the perfect fit. The innovative environment at Lucid constantly pushes boundaries and keeps us at the forefront of AI. Every day presents a new challenge and an opportunity to learn, grow, and make a meaningful impact. What excites me most is our focus on AI-powered capabilities, such as the Microsoft Copilot plugin and AI integration in Slack, and especially our AI generated diagrams in Lucidchart. Although a larger company comes with its own level of bureaucracy, Lucid’s culture embraces this challenge by constantly adapting and evolving. It’s been incredibly exciting to work with a team that is both dynamic and responsive to change. Working closely with Anthony Morelli and the rest of the talented team has been incredibly rewarding. The collaborative spirit, coupled with a shared passion for solving real-world problems, makes every project an adventure. It's also a testament to how much you learn building a startup and how companies can benefit from the founder mentality. Something Sam Altman taught me, "The best founders are relentless, constantly seeking out and solving problems." This mindset has been invaluable at Lucid, where innovation and adaptability are key. Embracing the founder mentality means never settling, always pushing the boundaries, and continuously striving to create meaningful solutions. I’m immensely proud of what we’ve achieved and can’t wait to see what the future holds as we continue to innovate and lead in the visual collaboration space. Here’s to many more milestones and breakthroughs with Lucid Software!

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I posted a couple weeks ago about reframing and the Amazon return to office mandate - from the company perspective. But what about employees? I posit reframing is also useful as we face these challenging "gravity" problems. Check out this article to learn more, and I'd love to hear in the comments about times you reframed a gravity problem to good effect! https://lnkd.in/gzFMXgaM

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The newest issue of The Pragmatic Engineer found a surprise uptick in eng hiring in the typically slow summer season - I'm curious to see how the macro environment impacts this uptick as we head into the fall, but I remain hopeful. I asked Gemini to give me the tldr of the article to share with my team (sorry, Gergely Orosz) and found it missed one of the most interesting pieces of the article. Gemini's highlights - Unexpected surge: Tech recruitment has seen an unusual spike in June and July, contrary to typical trends. Increased demand: Startups, especially AI-focused ones, are driving the hiring uptick. Global phenomenon: This trend isn't just limited to the US; Europe is also experiencing increased recruitment activity. Reasons for hiring: Companies are backfilling positions, investing in growth due to improved financials, and responding to increased VC funding. Challenges remain: While the job market is improving, finding qualified candidates and offering competitive compensation remains difficult for many companies. What I found most interesting - The nature of the backfills: the article finds that a lot of new headcount are actually backfills of folks that were "over-slashed" during rounds of layoffs. Not entirely surprising with the "trim the fat" and "rebuild lean" mentality, but interesting nonetheless. Either way, the uptick is encouraging (and don't always rely on Gemini's tldrs). #hiring #startups #VCbacked #softwareengineering

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How do design system teams prove their value? Finding hard metrics around the impact of design system teams has historically been a challenge. A year ago, I met the design system team at Eventbrite who could confidently say that they saved 534 days of engineering effort with their design system. Here's their calculation: Time spent to develop a component pre-design system - time spent to install the design system component = Time saved In order to extrapolate this number, though, you need to know how many times a component has been used. And, that used to require a savvy dev on the team to build something custom. That's no longer the case. We built something at zeroheight that will allow you to track component use in a single repo or across all of your repos. This should help teams show how valuable they are, plus do things like: see which components to prioritize based on use see which product teams are adopting As an added bonus, anyone using the new feature set can also monitor design system packages, allowing them to quickly see which teams are using outdated packages. On a personal note, I'm hoping with data like this, more teams can confidently quantify their impact. And along the way, we'll get better as design system practitioners at identifying the right things to work on. This new feature set is in beta and totally free. Even if you aren't using zeroheight to document your design system, you can use it. Takes like 15 minutes and you've got rich data. Here's the sign up:

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Always be asking: Do our team members have extreme clarity? Or will our stock soon be 30% off? 🗞 Following weeks of headlines about autonomous driving and executive compensation Tesla is again making news with more sweeping layoffs. Above all of these distractions I see a most pressing concern: Its astonishing how quickly Tesla went from having a crystal clear mission and strategy to having neither. For a growing number employees, investors, and customers Tesla is now adrift. S&P 500 is up 6% YTD. TSLA is down 26% YTD. This change in sentiment happened within just a couple quarters and it could happen to anyone who takes their eyes off the ball. The lesson here is to always and constantly be asking: Do our team members know the mission we are on, the strategy to achieve it, and our top priorities? Do they have extreme clarity? 🙏 Give your employees the remarkable gift of getting to YES. #strategy #execution #transformation #okrs #outcomes #outcomesobsessed #extremeclarity #collaboration #productvity

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As an athlete and product manager, this message deeply resonates with me. In product management, it’s easy to get sidetracked by various priorities, like pleasing managers or stakeholders, or aiming for promotions. I appreciate Shreyas' point about how long-term career success lies in making the product win. The drive to win fosters a relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation. In my experience, whether in endurance sports or managing a product, the true competition is often with oneself. The drive to constantly improve and be better than yesterday is essential for reaching the full potential of both our genetics and new enabling technology.

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At Dreamforce, I witnessed two groundbreaking technologies - Agentforce and Waymo's driverless cars. As I rode in the back of a Waymo, I couldn't help but ponder the profound impact of these innovations. While Waymo is a fantastic achievement, I firmly believe that Agentforce holds the potential to revolutionize our industry in ways we're just beginning to imagine. But what truly sets our Agentforce apart is how easy and fast agents are to build using low-code tools. An inspiring example of this was witnessed firsthand at Dreamforce, where an 8-year-old successfully built an agent for their lemonade stand. This demonstrates just how intuitive and powerful our agents genuinely are. #Agentforce #AI #futurework #Salesforce

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GM's head of software Baris Cetinok did a great job communicating almost everything about General Motors' in-car software strategy except this: what a customer gains in day-to-day usability by sacrificing Apple CarPlay in GM's latest EVs. Automotive software absolutely needs to be better. More integrated inside the vehicle, as well as more end-to-end integrated with external data sources like weather, charging, traffic, even cultural inputs. But GM nor Rivian or any of the OEMs who are trying to break away from CarPlay can ever muster a response to the very obvious customer question, which is "Why did my old car support all my phone's apps, and my new car doesn't?" There are only two outcomes to this strategy: OEMs who abandon CarPlay will eventually relent due to loss of sales or they will relent due to the lack of fleet-wide subscription revenue for their integrated, proprietary systems. Locking customers into a single software platform makes as much sense as locking customers into a single vendor of tires. It's a dead end. The only question is how much money will be wasted trying to implement a financial strategy that not a single customer on the planet has actually asked for. https://lnkd.in/gpbzkZSH

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🤖 My Experience with Waymo's Self-Driving Cars 🚗 I recently spent a week in San Francisco, a city that never fails to amaze me with its diversity, energy, and cutting-edge technology. This time, I made it a priority to try out Waymo’s self-driving cars. Last year, I couldn't get on the list of test riders during Google Next, so I was thrilled to see Waymo more widely available now. Over the course of the week, I took 10 trips with Waymo, getting a comprehensive feel for this groundbreaking technology. Waymo, a fully self-driving car service from Alphabet (Google’s parent company), is being tested in parts of Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about trusting my life to a robot. However, the buzz Waymo created every time it drove by was palpable – people would stop in their tracks and pull out their phones to capture this driverless marvel. Here are some highlights from my rides: Seamless App Experience 📱- Finding your ride through the mobile app is super easy. When the Waymo pulls up, your initials flash on top of the car. Having a clear indicator about which car is yours is incredibly helpful, especially if you've ever hopped into the wrong ride. Adapting to the Technology 🤖 - The first couple of rides were a bit unsettling as I watched the steering wheel turn itself. By the third or fourth ride, I barely gave it a second thought. Consistency and Comfort 🚘 - On trips outside Waymo’s operating area, I found myself annoyed when I had to have a human driver. Every Waymo ride was clean, pleasant, and I felt safe knowing the system was constantly analyzing data to ensure a safe trip. This level of consistency and comfort was a stark contrast to the unpredictable nature of other ride services. Modern Marvel ✨ - After riding in Waymo, even the Tesla I rented felt a bit outdated. It’s crazy how quickly we can adapt to new tech and expect more. Human Touch When Needed 🧑‍💼 - During one trip, a bicyclist touched the car while it was parked at a stoplight. Immediately, a human agent called in over the car speakers to check if we were okay. It was seamless and reassuring. I'm absolutely convinced and excited about the future of driverless cars. Im curious what your thoughts and experiences with Waymo has been? Do you see any untapped potential? 

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🤷‍♂️ "I have no idea what I'm talking about..." The first conversation I recommend my design team has when starting a new partnership with product or engineering is about what they "don't" know. Being willing to be vulnerable at the outset of a new collaboration allows all parties to let their guard down and let go of any imposter syndrome that hangs in the room. 😐 Be honest about what you don't know ✨ Surface what you're personally excited about doing or learning 🤝 Figure out together how you can trade skills, "do each other's homework" and learn from each other After some open sharing, the team can always dig deeper and generate some artifacts like a simple DACI model (driver, approver, contributor, informed) to eliminate ambiguity around overlapping skills. #vulnerability #design #product #collaboration #communication

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Working on Design Systems means dedicating your career to fostering "buy-in." This article provides excellent strategies for managing this throughout the product lifecycle. My favorite sections are "Offer No Easy Exits" and "Make It Everyone’s Baby." Read the article: https://lnkd.in/ei26MMjR Thank you for writing this PJ Onori! #DesignSystem #UXEngineer

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🌟 Unlocking Value: Integrating EVs with Battery Storage - The UX Design Perspective Recently, I had the privilege of attending an insightful presentation at QCells on "Driving Solar and EV Innovation," where @Kartikay Chaudry and @John Doolet shared groundbreaking insights. One key highlight was the potential for electric vehicles to serve as battery storage units with bi-directional capabilities, significantly enhancing grid stability and resilience. Imagine the possibilities: EVs not only powering our daily commutes but also storing excess energy to support homes and communities during peak demand periods. This integration presents a paradigm shift in sustainable energy solutions, underscoring the transformative impact of UX design. UX designers at QCells could be tasked with designing the entire user journey for this innovative concept. From intuitive interfaces that allow seamless integration of EVs into home energy systems to empowering users to monitor and control their energy usage effectively, our role is pivotal in ensuring a smooth and engaging experience. #UXDesign #SolarInnovation #EVRevolution #SustainableEnergy #QCells #CleanTech #Innovation

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Want to know more about How Figma's Databases Team Lived to Tell the Scale? Still skeptical of why we built horizontal sharding on RDS instead of <insert-cooler-database-technology>? Wondering if you should copy what we did? Check out out my new podcast with Software Engineering Daily as we dive deep on spicy stories that didn't make the blog post from surviving my first Figma Config conference to debating which database technology comes out on top. https://lnkd.in/gFfh7C-A

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A snippet that stuck out to me from a recent piece by Noelle Lansford: "As you reflect on your own journey, pause and celebrate the fact that you are still here reading this article and caring about how design systems operate. As a design system practitioner, you know the work is still important. It solves critical problems the world faces. If you are job searching currently, let me affirm your suspicions, and offer encouragement: The hiring process is broken. I’m sorry for what you are going through. Keep finding ways to be kind to yourself. It’s not your fault, you’ve got this." Give the article a read! The snippet above was a nice breather, but it hits on a lot of the common mental spirals we practitioners find ourselves in AND, more often, are up against with some reminders on ways to untangle them (by challenging our own perception/charters). Link in comment.

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Probably the case outside of engineering as well. (Written) Communication is a hard skill.

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“Where am I?” As our design system matures, things move around. We’re trying to invest in ways that allow feature designers and engineers to locate where they are within a design system, and where to find what they need. → Multiple design libraries can be hard to track and become confusing when designers and engineers aren’t aware of what does and doesn’t exist in each library. → Every component and pattern has a varying degree of specificity from generic to a specific business context or content pattern and deciding what goes where is confusing. → Theming in Figma is great, but... the current nature of variables can make managing multiple modes across multiple brands challenging. Here’s how we’ve been trying to get our head around reducing complexity for our team and consumers 🏗 Figma file architecture - Having a clear plan for structuring your design system libraries is critical for folks to find stuff. Our early attempts at a highly modular system with numerous smaller libraries were too unwieldy. We’ve landed into a Tokens, Components, Patterns, and Features structure that streamlines the process for everyone. It was super cool to stumble on these Figma docs that deep dive into various strategies for organizing your files https://lnkd.in/dGyN-SQw 🚦 Wayfinding elements - Once designers and engineers are in the files themselves, it's still easy to get lost. We’ve implemented consistent color-coded “file covers” distinguishing design system files from feature files, “getting started” pages outlining file dependencies, and consistent page naming conventions indicating iterations from elements that are ready for development. Thanks to Vitaly Friedman for the reference to Saurav Rastogi's post on Figma file organization which is packed with insights. https://lnkd.in/giBs_Jgn 🎨 Multi-brand variables - Our team has worked hard to figure out the most intuitive way to allow for white-labeling our design system for custom theming. We currently leverage modes at multiple layers of the design system based on their specificity from global to semantic to component to pattern. Romina Kavcic has endless resources for teams who are looking to build out their token strategy. https://lnkd.in/deiMGCe9 💎 Wayfinding within design systems is hard but a couple of things that help folks understand where they are and what they can do → Partner with engineers on an architecture that maps somewhat to their mental model making things more intuitive → Setup wayfinding documentation within your Figma files that orient users to where they are within the system → Map your tokens and variables across your system so that it is clear how to layer modes to achieve custom themes #designsystems #figma #uidesign #tokens #components #patterns

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If you always do what you know is going to work, then you'll have less failure, but you'll never make a substantive change or breakthrough. - James Dyson Beautifully, and impactfully conveyed in this 1 min video - https://lnkd.in/g9tMqCi8

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Can you spot the dark UX pattern? I took a Waymo (self-driving car) in San Francisco last week and I gotta say, it was the smoothest ride of out of all the rides I had that week. So it got me thinking... What If you could tip your "driver". Obviously tipping has gotten so out of hand that this is mostly a joke for a fun exploration. But imagine if that tip can be send to a charity of your choice. It may create a higher incentive to 1) use Waymo and 2) For Waymo to keep optimizing their drivers. Did you find the dark UX pattern? _______ 👋 Hey there I am Carlos, and I post weekly "What If UX" ideas to get your gears turning and your feed varied. Follow me for more. #ux #uxdesigner #productdesigner #uidesigner #uxdesign #productdesign #uidesign #uiux #uiuxdesign #uiuxdesigner #waymo

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