How to work with me
My user's manual 🔧
About me:
Name
Guilherme Dias Simões
Title
Although I might be acting as a Lead or a Manager, I consider myself to be a Designer first and foremost
If I were an animated gif/meme/animal/song, I would be...
My favourite saying
"Your gift — as a Designer — is not having the right answers, is having the right questions" Peter Merholz
Things I love
Quality time with my family
Drawing
Cooking and baking
Reading
Spend time with friends (eating, drinking and playing games preferably)
Other things I want you to know about me
I don’t take myself too seriously
I love being part of a team and I appreciate honest and open collaboration
My brain works faster than I can put into words, specially if the topic is something I care about. That can lead me to talk too much and not listen enough. I’m always trying to become a better listener so, please let me know if I ever talk over you or if you feel I’m not letting you express yourself. I’ll take that as a great help on my personal growth and never as something negative.
At my Best:
My preferred working hours
My preferred working hours is from 9h to 17h.
I have small daughter and time management can be tricky. I like having flexibility to do earlier or later hours work if/when needed.
I am most engaged at work when…
I have a clear problem to solve and a good challenge to overcome
How I prefer to communicate
As a Brazilian, I don’t mind being asked personal questions.
I'm pretty talkative and engage in conversations very quickly, but I'm good at taking cues when someone needs to say something.
I like humor and always try to lighten things up, especially in complex situations. I won't spare opportunities to share some "dad jokes."
How I prefer to collaborate
Hands-on work together is my preferred way. I like to show instead of telling.
I don't micro-manage. If I’m being too specific on my suggestions is because I care about the problem you’re trying to solve. I expect you to challenge whatever I propose.
I particularly value these qualities in people who work with me
Transparency: As mentioned, I don’t like to follow up closely on nitty-gritty details, so I expect that you keep me up to speed on what’s important, and I’ll fully trust you to deliver your work
Openness for feedback: I believe the most critical skill a designer can have is their ability to embrace feedback
My relationship to deadlines
Deadlines should be agreed on. If so, they should be met. If things are indicating it's not going to happen, communication and adjustments need to be made as early as possible.
I respect punctuality, transparency, and active (over) communication.
What does success look like to me?
Being trusted by people
Seeing my reports, colleagues and peers succeeding
Delivering great work but still balancing work and family time.
My Aspirations:
At work I’m trying to get better at
Be more strategic: Improving my business acumen and how to leverage Design as a force for business success
Delegating and mentoring Designers to deliver Design excellence
It’s important to me that my manager/team see me as
A trustworthy team member
A responsive/responsible person
Open to feedback
A supportive colleague
One thing that may change for our organisation that I hope doesn’t is…
That we disconnect from each other as human beings. I believe that, as companies grow, we tend to lose track of individuals and instead focus on org charts
Preferred ways to receive feedback
Constantly, about anything I do
Praises are a good for the soul, but pointing out improvements is the only way for me to actually grow
Preferred ways to give feedback
On a 1:1, if it’s about the behaviour
Openly if it’s about projects and processes
Things I need
Support from my peers
Purpose
Clear problems to solve
Things I struggle with
Anxiety (mild)
Time management (child factor)
Interpreting Me:
How to build trust with me
Keep me in the loop proactively
Be open about where you’re struggling (show vulnerability)
Give me feedback and show that you also care about problems I might be facing (2-way street relationship)
It’s important to me that my manager/team see me as
A trustworthy team member
A responsive/responsible person
Open to feedback
A supportive colleague
How to break trust with me
Keep me in the dark
Sharing judgemental comments about colleagues with me
Blame the situation, other people, environment instead of looking into yourself first
What it looks like when I disagree
I can’t hide, just look at my face and you’ll know
How I can be misunderstood
If I want to know more about your life outside work. It’s ok if you don’t want to share, so feel free to tell me.
When I’m stressed I tend to
Become VERY vocal about what I don’t agree with (I don’t hold things back)
How I own mistakes/errors
Assuming them openly
Apologising
Learning from it and doing internal retrospect on what I can do better
These things really ‘push my buttons’/are my ‘pet peeves’
Designers complaining about Product Managers (it’s a normal thing, but at times, it’s a signal of lack of maturity in handling communication with peers)
Tons of Figma artboards and no documentation. Lack of reasoning behind things
I may have more challenges working with these personality types
People who say something but act differently: I expect consistency in what you say and do. If those differ frequently, I might lose trust and respect.
Arrogant, disrespectful people
Support Me by:
How I learn best
Youtube. There's nothing one can't learn in there
By making mistakes. It’s a painful way but I embrace mistakes and learn from them.
Others can help me be more creative by…
Co-design sessions
Sharing inspiration material, books, articles. Anything that will inspire me
When I get stalled in a project, I need others to…
Push me into making a decision and sharing my problem with others.
