On building respect for designers in an organization, with our guest Scott Zimmer. In part 2 of this guest episode, Juli and Scott continued their hike on the Buda Hills, discussing hiring designers, giving them a seat at the table, and building a culture that respects design. The path we took: Treating designers as a partner, not a resource; The risks of hiring external design help; Explaining and selling the idea of iteration; Why the first impression is important, and how a bad experience wit...
Feb 22, 2024•55 min•Season 2Ep. 6
On building respect for designers in an organization, with our guest Scott Zimmer. In this guest episode, Juli and Scott hiked the Buda Hills and talked about hiring designers, giving them a seat at the table, and building a culture that respects design. The path we took: Making connections over a Medium article; Building design teams and the dangers of naive hiring; Entrepreneurship as a creative output; How a culture that respects design can look like; Designers getting a seat at the table, an...
Feb 21, 2024•49 min•Season 2Ep. 5
On Service design as mediation, on the borders of organizational development, with guest Morten Pedersten. In this guest episode, Juli, Morten, and guest dog Max hiked around the Hålandsvatnet lake near Stavanger and talked about Scandinavian design and business culture. The path we took: A brief intro to Morten, and the step to leave a management role to build something new; How a background in psychology and organizational development can merge with service design; A dream Scandinavian company...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 2Ep. 4
On the need for service design in the age of AI, with award-winning Service Designer and Human-Computer Interaction researcher Pontus Wärnestål. The second part of a two-part episode. In this guest episode, Juli, Pontus, and the pack hiked up to the Hármashatárhegy airport to dive deep into all the things we call AI. The path we took: Thought leaders who can expand our understanding of tech possibilities Humans changing the job landscape with AI, or AI taking our jobs How AI is about predicting ...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 2Ep. 3
On the need for service design in the age of AI, with award-winning Service Designer and Human-Computer Interaction researcher Pontus Wärnestål. In this guest episode, Juli, Pontus, and the pack hiked up to the Hármashatárhegy airport to dive deep into all the things we call AI. The path we took: The importance of having a critical eye toward AI, and why it is no longer optional to be interested in AI Defining AI and ML among fluffy terms, stochastic parrots, and semantic dragons The five pillar...
Dec 12, 2023•50 min•Season 2Ep. 2
On AI, with its threats and hopes, history and religion. We are back! In the last season, we mostly focused on our past: where we came from, and how our history affected the value we seek to create in our career. This season, we are looking towards the future. This time we recorded among the mushrooms of the autumn forest. While the dogs ran around sniffing the wind, we discussed what we hope from AI, and what we fear the most. The path we took: Science fiction's AI promises, teaching us to fear...
Dec 05, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 2Ep. 1
On the topic we have been avoiding this whole time: the rise and fall of our co-owned company. In the last episode of this season, we took the dogs to the Buda Hills to have a surprisingly chill conversation about the emotionally loaded subject of our experience with co-ownership, distributed decision-making, and trust. The path we took: A journey back in time to 2015: the pitch to join a co-owned company, and what made us say yes. The era of building end-to-end product agency / venture builder ...
Jul 22, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 10
On learning models, DnD, and dressage. This time we grabbed a light topic with roleplaying games, horse riding, and arts, and gathered around an unlit campfire with the dogs for what turned out to be a deep dive into our learning and teaching experiences. The path we took: Our most recent learning choices, favoring tabletop roleplaying and literary writing over tools of the trade. How learning things unrelated to our profession helps build context for our work. Teaching university classes, bootc...
Jul 11, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 9
On working towards social and environmental impact as an entrepreneur. For this guest episode, angel investor turned social impact entrepreneur Antal Károlyi joined Juli and the dogs for a walk on Margaret Island. The path we took: Steps from being an investment banker to being a good person, through startup investments and impact projects. The limits of the angel investor role and the missing "why" of startup pitches. Impact investing and social enterprises, and why making money and having a pu...
Jul 04, 2023•54 min•Season 1Ep. 8
On different attitudes towards work across two generations with our guest Balázs Fejes. This is our second guest episode, recorded between concerts at Primavera Sound Festival, where Anikó and her brother Balázs, who lives on the other side of the globe, reconnect each year. We walked around the parks of Barcelona, discussing the diverse values that drive our two very different careers. The path we took: Getting to know Balázs, who manages product teams across the APAC region from their office i...
Jun 27, 2023•47 min•Season 1Ep. 7
On how our need for impact and value creation affects our career choices. This time we climbed the hills of Normafa with the dogs, watched out for the boars, and talked about some projects we worked on from the perspective of an impactful career. The path we took: An unexpected career move and how it fits or does not fit in our impact-driven pattern. The triangle of impact, fulfillment, and stress in our work projects. Structure in working environments: the structure of processes and the structu...
Jun 20, 2023•37 min•Season 1Ep. 6
On how to make a meaningful design-driven change in a product-focused organization. This is our first guest episode. Long-time friend and fellow service design leader Kata Dóczi-Nagy joined Juli and the dogs for a walk on the muddy slopes of Three Border Mountain, where they talked about her approach to service design, and the organizational prototyping project where their paths converged. The path they took: How an industrial design background can lead to service design leadership. The sustaina...
Jun 13, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 5
On why we struggle with defining what we do. This time we took the scenic route to Three Border Mountain in the Buda Hills and let the dogs frolic in the wildflower fields, while we fought with job titles and talked about how we work. The path we took: Defining service design, and the difference between a service and a product. Working "in business" and business in a job title. What makes someone an expert in something - with a short rant on the inflation of knowledge. Developers coding in a dar...
Jun 06, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 4
On how we work less to be happier and to make clients happier as well. The weather finally allowed us to venture out into nature: we took the dogs to Óbudai Island, and while they ran around in the grass and took a dip in the Danube, we rambled about our self-management experiences in the freelance world. The path we took: How do we manage our day-to-day work? Our tricks for incentivizing clients and bosses to respect our time. Spoiler: it's just communication. Our addiction to clear roles and r...
May 30, 2023•46 min•Season 1Ep. 3
On what drove us to freelancing, how our paths converged as co-owners of a company, and how we both found ourselves in the burnout puddle. The weather was not kind to us this time, so we're recording from our homes - no birds, only crickets. ★ Support this podcast ★
May 23, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Introducing the Paths, Puddles, Products podcast - a quick hello from the forest. ★ Support this podcast ★
May 22, 2023•1 min•Season 1Ep. 1
