Andy Polaine
Why I started coaching
I'm often asked about my coaching philosophy and why I coach. Here's the story of where it all started.
Writing & Thinking
A mix of essays and commentary about design, innovation, technology, society, coaching, personal and leadership development. Since 1996.
Featured
Service Design 2nd Edition
The second edition of Service Design: From Insight to Implementation is out. Every chapter revised, a new organisational change chapter, new case studies, evidence, and thinking, based on over a decade of practice.
Read →Recent Writing
Insights Unlocked Podcast – Speed can kill creativity
An interview with User Testing exploring design leadership in the age of AI and why slowing down, embracing creativity, and focusing on human insight leads to better product design.
AI Demos are the new storyboards
AI demos are the new storyboards. The storyboard allows everyone to understand the goal of what they're planning to make. The key thing is that everybody knows the storyboard isn't the final movie.
Discernment, Design and AI
AI tools are bringing back the playful noodling with interactive media that disappeared when Flash died. The role of discernment in design becomes more essential than ever when building demos and prototypes.
Tell the story of yourself, not just your work
When you present your case study in an interview, it's not just a documentation run-through. It's really not about the work, it's about the story of you.
A Slopsided Marketplace
Many people use AI to write summaries and posts, yet I know nobody who enjoys being on the receiving end of them. It's a slopsided marketplace.
The AI sparkle is the new Intel Inside
The ✨ emoji that has come to signify "AI lives here" is the new Intel Inside sticker. Nobody cares.
More Writing
The Importance of Project Closure
Jumping straight from one project to the next without closure is a fast track to burnout and missed learning. Project sunsets matter as much as kickoffs, and they don't take that long.
Leadership Renewal Retreat 2026
A small, intimate retreat for senior design leaders in Bergamo, Italy. Time away from performance mode to reconnect with energy, clarity, and direction.
For Work Conflicts, Try Couples Therapy
Most work conflicts are emotional at their core, dressed up as process. EFT couples therapy, the pursuer-withdrawal cycle in particular, offers a different way in.
Direction vs Micromanagement
There's a fine line between giving direction and micromanaging. Cross it and your team develops learned helplessness, and the quality of their work gets worse, not better.
Emotions At Work
Would you rather quit than have a difficult conversation at work? Most conflicts are emotional at their core, and voicing that, carefully, changes things.
Politics Is Not A Dirty Word In Leadership
Aligning people, making allies, navigating governance and diplomacy: this is what politics in an organisation actually is. It doesn't need to be a dirty word.
Resolve Opinion Clashes With Questions
When opinion clashes at work, the counterintuitive move is to ask questions about intent, evidence, and governance, rather than pushing your view harder.
Stop Asking For Permission To Do Your Job
In a leadership role, nobody more senior usually knows design better than you do. At some point you just have to stop asking permission and get on with it.