The future belongs to designers who build.

A common dynamic I observe with AI: it feels most impressive when you don’t know much about the subject, don’t care or don’t have a clear idea of what the you want. This applies across design, code, legal, and more. If I don’t know code very well, every piece of code it writes feels very impressive. Once you know what something should feel or look like, it becomes almost impossible to guide AI there. And you definitely can’t one-shot it.

Now you can use AI agents to design directly on the Figma canvas, with our new use_figma MCP tool and skills to teach them. Open beta starts today.

This is Episode 2 of Executive Function with Ryan Lucas, VP of Design at Rippling and former Head of Design at Retool. For Ryan, everything begins with being very clear about what the job of design and a design function really is. In his words, “Useful, usable and desirable are the three things we need to deliver. And I think people often forget about the last bit, but it’s incredibly important to the practice of professional design, whether it’s physical products or software products. Henry Dreyfuss said the designer’s job is not done if the product doesn’t sell, and I’ve always believed that.” We go on to discuss: - Design leaders who "shield" their teams from organizational chaos are doing them a disservice, not a favor. - To truly scale quality, you probably need a benevolent dictator, one opinionated person who sets the bar. - Parker Conrad goes directly to the individual designer when he sees a problem, skipping Ryan entirely, and Ryan thinks that's great. - At Rippling, individual designers sometimes own a Series C company's worth of product by themselves. - Great creative work cannot come from fear because fight-or-flight shuts down the prefrontal cortex, which is where all creative thinking lives. - In the absence of a date, there is no commitment, and that rigor around commitments is what makes Rippling's speed possible. - One-on-ones should be jam sessions on hard problems, not status updates or career development chats. - He'd rather a young designer have opinions he completely disagrees with than no opinions at all. - The hardest skill in the job is knowing which balls are rubber and which are glass, and you only learn by letting some drop. - The most successful use of a design crit is when designers tell you upfront what feedback they actually need, otherwise everyone wastes time on things that have already been decided. - The perfectionism that makes someone a great designer is the same trait that will prevent them from becoming a great design leader. - The best designers steer the business, they see a problem, come out of their lane, and move the tiller without being asked. Timestamps: 03:29 The Useful, usable, desirable — and used — design framework 04:49 How design relates to engineering, product, and marketing 08:15 Measuring success as a design leader 12:40 The gap between director and VP-level design leadership 14:23 Why great design leaders jump up and down in altitude 19:26 The four pillars every design manager must master 21:34 Over-indexing on quality and the perfectionist trap 27:53 How to build judgment through pattern matching 34:31 Why Figma is not the source of truth 38:39 The "Do/Try/Consider" framework 44:05 Should one-on-ones exist? 46:45 How to scale judgment 50:49 What to look for when hiring your first design leader 54:54 Advice for young designers who want to lead 58:24 Demanding yet supportive: A balanced management style 01:02:43 What Rippling's operating system teaches about execution

Today marks a new chapter for @retool. A work forever in progress. Our ode to good software. We have a new brand that I'm beyond excited to finally share. Designed and built in house by a team of the most talented people. Check it out for yourself. 👀 retool.com