Power of Ten: design at every level of zoom, from thoughtful detail to organisational and societal change, hosted by Andy Polaine.

In this episode, staff product designer, game maker and developer Catt Small, author of The Staff Designer: Grow, Influence, and Lead as an Individual Contributor, talks with Andy about what it takes to keep growing as a designer without moving into management. Drawing on sixteen years at companies including Asana, Etsy, SoundCloud, and Dropbox, Catt explains where the staff role came from, how it differs from senior, and why communication became the “final boss” of her career. They discuss defensive calendaring and focus, swapping “no” for “yes, and”, letting go of glue work, managing up, where AI helps and hinders at the staff level, and why taking agency rather than waiting to be told made the biggest difference.

Catt
Catt's website: https://cattsmall.com/
The Staff Designer book: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/the-staff-designer/
Catt on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cattsmall/?isSelfProfile=false

Andy
Website: https://www.polaine.com
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Design Leadership Coaching: https://polaine.com/coaching
Courses: https://courses.polaine.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apolaine/
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/andypolaine.bsky.social
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@apolaine