This is my first time writing a year-in-review, a habit I’ve long wished to establish but failed to take action on for the past few years. I tend not to write too much about my personal life on this blog, and normally I wouldn’t publish something so personal as a year-in-review, opting to keep it tucked away in my private notebook. But one of the habits I plan to cultivate in 2025 is a more consistent writing practice. And I feel that to be successful in both writing more, and, consequently, publishing more, I’m going to have to be less precious about my writing and simply get more words out into the world. That might mean both more varied and less polished writing on this site, including more personal posts like this.

Anyway, let’s see how it goes.

Professional growth

2024 was a year of substantial growth and learning for me professionally. One of my long-term professional goals remains focused on helping promote and elevate design engineering, UX engineering and design prototyping as valued and respected disciplines within the tech industry. Last year I directed much of my energy on this quest internally at Adobe, pushing to take on more ownership of design system engineering within my team, and ensuring ample recognition for the outsized impact of our team’s prototyping prowess in the design and development of new products and features.

I’m happy to say this paid off dividends. In a year when much of the tech world was battered with layoffs and the job market was particularly icy, I was fortunate to be hiring. My team and I took good advantage of that position, hiring so many great people last year, both for prototyping and for building out Adobe’s design system, Spectrum. I’m starting 2025 with the largest organization I’ve ever led in my career—a deep pool of substantial and awe-inspiring talent—of which I am both immensely grateful and humbled to be leading.

And while much of my attention last year was internally-focused, I did manage to look outwards as well, albeit to a lesser degree. I wrote and published an article about design engineering on adobe.design. I also wrote a few similar pieces on this blog. I spent time networking with other leaders in similar positions of leadership at other major tech companies. And I spoke with many design technologists, UX engineers, design systems specialists, and other design engineering practitioners as part of interviews and regular friendly networking conversations. Despite being a natural introvert, I thoroughly enjoyed all of this.

Just two years ago I was a senior engineer without any direct reports—which is not unusual for me, having spent much of my career swinging back and forth on the engineer-manager pendulum—but this is the year that cemented for me that the management track is where I truly thrive.

Health and wellness

A leukemia diagnosis in my early 20s instilled in me the importance of good health and never taking it for granted when you have it. This year reminded me—once again(!)—how health issues can really put the kibosh on an active and vibrant life.

Around May I was beset with some gastrointestinal issues which created some rather unpleasant workdays, travel experiences and weekend excursions, eventually culminating in a diagnostic colonoscopy. Fortunately, I’m fine now and mostly recovered. The GI issues were not fun, but the colonoscopy was surprisingly easy. The prep was uneventful and the procedure itself was essentially not much more than a very pleasant nap. This might seem like “too much information” for a public blog post, but I share this intentionally because—like many—I had plenty of unwarranted anxiety about the whole thing. So I’m here to lend my voice to the chorus of people telling anyone over the recommended age about this potentially lifesaving procedure: It’s really no big deal. Just do it.

In spite of all the health nonsense for nearly half the year, I did improve my the consistency of my overall exercise regimen—a mix of running, cycling and weights. It’s the most consistent I’ve been since my kids were born, and while I’m by no means a “quantified self” kind of person, I’ve found diligent use of the Apple Watch and Apple Fitness to actually be a strong contributing factor to this consistency.

I also continued my meditation practice this past year, though not as regularly as I would have liked nor should have. Like exercise, meditation pays dividends when practiced consistently over time, and I can’t say I honestly saw those dividends this year as I have in the past. I’m committed to a more regular practice in 2025.

Family

My extended family both grew and shrank. In the 11th hour of 2024 I became an uncle for the first time. And at the beginning of the year, my grandfather passed away at the age of 92. I won’t use this space to eulogize my grandfather, but I’d be remiss in at least saying how much he is deeply missed. A voracious reader and ever the optimist, my grandfather cared deeply about his family and almost never had anything bad to say about anyone. This was the first year of my life that has passed without any living grandparents, a pointed reminder to be better about cherishing the relationships I have with the people I care about while they are still alive.

Creative endeavors

Before my son was born I was an avid bread and bagel baker, the kind of person who could cite dough hydration ratios and bore you in dinner party conversations on the different characteristics between hard red winter wheat and soft white spring wheat. I gave up the hobby for the past few years, but this year I finally restarted a sourdough culture and began baking again. I forgot how much I loved it. There’s something deeply meditative about working with dough, and I love being able to gift hand-made, nutritious food to friends and family using such simple ingredients.

Outside of baking, I dabbled in a few side projects to keep up my technical skills, though I haven’t released any of them in the wild. These projects gave me an excuse to tinker around with web components, try out new libraries and frameworks like HTMX, and learn Go through some server-side programming. Last year I spent much of my spare time on creative coding projects, mostly using Python and Clojure, and getting deep into pen plotter artwork. A small home remodel project at the beginning of the year forced me to disassemble the makeshift plotter studio I keep in a large storage closet, and I failed to reassemble it afterwards. I plan to return to creative coding projects in 2025.

Jury duty

I served on a jury for the first time in my life. The process was painfully slow and deliberate—even boring at times with all the waiting around—but it also immensely fascinating and educational. I was pleasantly surprised at how thorough the jury selection process was, even for a case as relatively small and simple as the one I served on. Many people try to shirk away from this civic duty, but honestly I’m happy to have finally had the experience. Not only do I have greater appreciation for the judicial process, I got to meet and befriend several interesting members of my local community I would never have otherwise met.

Reading

Here’s a full list of everything I read this year. Not a lot by some standards, but I take my time and often take notes on any works of non-fiction.

Trajectories for 2025

I call these “trajectories” because they indicate desired direction of focus without committing to specific goals. I prefer “quests” over goals anyway and plan to craft a few quests that will carry me along the trajectories outlined below.

  • Continue to develop myself as a leader. There’s always more to learn here that I can apply in my professional life—from books, from coaches, from others more experienced than me.
  • Spend more time in nature. Once upon a time I would do things like solo hike for a week north of the Arctic circle in Sweden. But I haven’t been hiking and camping like I used to since before I became a father. Now that my kids are old enough to hike without (too much) complaining, I hope to simply get out into the wilderness more often.
  • Host more gatherings. In the wake of the US election, my wife and I are making a concerted effort to strengthen and build friendships with neighbors and other families in our community.
  • Read more philosophy. I read a lot of Stoic philosophy last year, and I’d like to continue reading some more of the classic texts in ancient philosophy: Aristotle, Plato, etc.
  • Focus on creative output in writing and coding. I have more to say on management, leadership and design engineering that I haven’t written on this blog. And I have a strong desire to jump back into a creative coding practice that is part of creating tangible artifacts and artwork. What this looks like, exactly, I am unsure but I’m keen to explore and figure it out.