In design, you are typically taught the "hard" skills (the design process) and are expected to somehow know the soft skills (people and team skills). This is the biggest expectation that is never talked about.

Here's a fact: design is HIGHLY collaborative.

Designers who can't play along nicely with others may find soon themselves in a number of uncomfortable situations:

• You may get fired for not playing nicely with others.
• You may not get fired, but put on smaller projects.
• You may not get promoted to a leadership position.
• Your influence and ability to get your ideas accepted by others may be impeded.

And more.

That's why I created this site.  To help you master the "inner game" of design - the soft skills.

My name is Monish Subherwal and I have been in the User Experience Design field for 10+ years.

My journey started when I went to UC Berkeley and studied Computer Science and Cognitive Science.  This was inspired by my interest in the intersection of technology and how people think.

I have been a practitioner, educator, community organizer, and entrepreneur - either currently or in the past.

Feel free to learn more about me and what I'm doing now, by checking out my LinkedIn page.

Soft skills are the often considered the "people skills". They are often hard to measure, less tangible than hard skills, and harder to quantify.

Here's a few examples of soft skills that I write about:

So what are hard skills?

By contrast, the hard skills tend to be knowledge and skills that are tangible, measurable, transferable, and more easily learnable than the soft skills. This is the typical training you get in schools.