Hard-learned lessons in leading design

As the first designer hired at MailChimp, Aarron Walter founded the product design practice and scaled it as the company grew from just 6 employees to 550. The waters were at times difficult to navigate for him and his team. Aarron shares hard-learned lessons, guiding you around the obstacles that tripped him up and exposing the shortcuts that helped his team succeed.

As the first designer hired at MailChimp, Aarron Walter founded the product design practice and scaled it as the company grew from just 6 employees to 550. The waters were at times difficult to navigate for him and his team, and constant company growth required adaptation. Eight years later—and now leading the Design Education team at InVision—Aarron has a new perspective on the challenges of creating a strong design practice. Visiting companies in various stages of growth has taught him that the struggles he experienced are actually common to many teams. We’re all on a difficult journey as designers, doing our best to press forward. If only we had a map. Aarron shares hard-learned lessons, guiding you around the obstacles that tripped him up and exposing the shortcuts that helped his team succeed. Along the way, he’ll explain how other design teams also found their way and learned to develop a stronger design practice.