Book Summary: Launch It! by Shane Mielke

This book helped me understand the Shane's thoughts and principles on how to help motivate, redirect, focus and launch your career on the right pathway based on his experiences as an award winning Creative Director.

📖 The Book in 3 Sentences

1. You should have high standards torwards your career and always find opportunities to learn and grow by applying your knowledge on real world projects as much as you can that are aligned with your career goals
2. Share your work and personal style via a carefully curated portfolio or portfolios that show your past projects the best light
3. Clients and employers can be difficult to navigate however there are techniques to still be a successful trusted advisor and set appropriate boundaries to achieve work-life balance

🖼 Impressions

Shane Mielke led the design and development of the SpaceX Dragon capsule user interface which has now seen multiple manned missions to the International Space Station.  He also worked on the simulators, critical to astronaut training and mission preparation at SpaceX. Due to the astronomical (no pun intended) success of his career, many people in Shane's network have asked him what his recipe for success is.  Over many years of presentations, individual connects and questions, Shane has put all his anecodotes, advice and principles into his book titled "Launch It".   The book covers how Shane found success in his career through his design skills, client project experience and portfolio self promotion all whilst still being able to work-life balance with his family.

👥 Who should read it?

Anyone who has an interest in building technology applications that humans interact with.  Whilst this book does have a design emphasis, you can apply a lot of the same principles to your own career.  You will enjoy this book if you:

• Want to work on more interesting projects
• Need some guidelines on how to be a better designer
• Suggestions and advice on how to grow in your career
• Guidance on how to better navigate difficult clients and projects
• Perspective on how to handle good and bad projects
• Manage work-life balance with demanding projects and roles

💡 How the book changed me

• It reminded me that to continue to grow and focus honing my skills via applied projects
• I have set myself the goal to develop a portfolio and share my work more often to build awareness about my own capabilities and track record with work outputs
• I have to make sure that my projects and skills applied will contribute torwards my end goal
• If my current projects are frustrating and difficult I will channel that frustration into personal projects that are fulfilling
• Take time to organize my workspace and use the monotonous task to fill in time when stuck in a rut
• I won't wait for someone to give me a project - I'll create one myself
• Rather than always looking for financial incentive I am shifting my focus to deliver creative cool work instead and let the rewards come later
• I plan on finding more people who have the same interests and work I do and connect with them
• Continue to be open minded and collaborate with other professionals and clients
• I should continue to plan vacations well in advance and activities with my family so I can spend more time with them

✍️ My Top 3 Quotes

Actions speak louder than words. Don't talk about producing great work. Do great work. Or at least be on the pathway towards learning how to produce great work.

Don't insist upon greatness from others if you can't lead by example.

Make cool shit for the love of creativity, and the money will come as a result. My passion has always been to work on as many cutting edge projects as possible no matter what they paid. The visibility, notoriety and creative freedom gained from this focus have always led me to more money. You do not have to sacrifice fun & creativity for more money.  You can have both because the two go hand in hand.

📒 Summary + Notes

I'm still learning to take better notes so my summary and quality below may not be the best.

Chapter 1: Motivation & Work Ethic

• You are only as good as last project
• Experience is earned - prior work and struggles usually lead you to better opportunities
• Put in extra effort to learn as much as you can and hone your craft
• Take the time to experiment on personal projects outside of work hours
• It’s normal to feel that our work is not as good as it can be but don’t let it stop you from sharing your work
• Even the most famous and successful people have others they look to for inspiration
• You are always in control of your destiny
• Be humble and kind
• Work smarter harder and longer than everyone else and you will be rewarded with bigger and better opportunities
• Be the best you can be in your discipline of choice
• Infuse as much of you, your passion in all your projects
• Finish your projects
• Always reflect on yourself, what is not working and be brave to make the changes to improve yourself
• Setup long and short term goals and how you will accomplish them.
• Change your plan process and attitude to accomplish goals and make sure they are observable and measurable
• Goal overload can be counterproductive
• Success is uncommon therefore is experienced by uncommon people and or efforts
• Doing the bare minimum always returns average results
• Promote and share your work otherwise nobody knows and work basically does not exist
• Treat every project as an opportunity to do something special
• You can always handle more than you think - stretch the limits of yourself and your designs
• Don’t get too comfortable with praise as it will stunt your person growth
• Be selective with your time and stay off time sinks like social media, tv
• If you don’t set yourself a goal to produce award winning work you won't win any
• There is no perfect client/project - take action and embrace each one instead
• If someone is better than you it’s because they’ve worked longer and harder than you
• Experience and knowledge expands your confidence
• Embrace criticism
• Treat each project as a special opportunity and don’t go through the motions
• Being good gives you the freedom choices and control over your life and direction of career
• Establishing goals and constantly curating, measuring and working torwards them should be part of the process
• If you are the best person at what you do then you can set the rules
• Consistently producing influential work requires an attitude that says “I will not compromise my standards”
• Create habits
• Keep learning, growing and expanding your horizons
• Nothing comes without a lot of effort and maybe some pain
• Put in the time and skill that others are not willing to do
• Surround yourself with the best or the hungriest creative people you can find
• Live wherever makes you and your family happy
• What’s your dream and what is your plan to make it happen?
• Work through challenges and not around them!
• If you’re not where you’re at you should be motivated to work torwards it
• What are you willing to give up in order to achieve something you want to accomplish? You have to manage your bandwidth

Chapter 2: Growth & Mastery

• If there gaps in your project, a great designer/developer can fill in the gaps
• If you’re lacking inspiration try to get away from your workspace like going outside or doing some physics activity
• Focus your efforts and curate activities you don't need to do
• When you get stuck, keep doing other key activities like cleaning up or organizing your space to keep your flow going
• Doing mindless tasks that are administrative in nature help to clear the mind
• Don't design as you develop, plan and prepare
• Add some personal flair only when the objective is complete to exceed client expectations
• Each project you get better - do more and you’ll get faster and breed confidence
• Set up templates for consistency in your projects and don’t deviate once established
• All techniques are valid and should be evaluated in the light of project timelines and resources
• Keep track of your moments of inspiration otherwise your ideas will get lost
• Skills are developed and earned by doing tasks over and over.
• Know your target audience and tailor for them
• First designs or plans should focus on overall big picture plan not trivial details
• Cultivate and develop your process, style and skills and problem solving abilities and when you have inspiration your creativity will shine through
• Always pursue more design and planning time to get the big picture details right first up front
• Tight deadlines require tight processes to ship work out faster
• Being multi disciplined allows you not to try on others to realize your vision
• Lots of small compromises can lead to larger scale quality issues on a project
• The creative process is never straightforward and sometimes an ineffective path must be explored to know it’s not the right one
• It is better to deliver unique and impactful creative than boring and safe concepts that are memorable because they will be forgotten
• Set deadlines for personal projects
• Avoid projects that are motivated by budgets and money
• Apply tutorial knowledge on projects to remember it
• Be wise with your time applied on projects efficiently
• Always be open minded
• Validate a trend whether it adds value or is just short term hype topic
• Always fight to have design autonomy without requiring committee consent is an asset to all projects
• Attend conferences with goals and a purpose
• You must be an expert at a topic to truly stand out
• Take on projects where you are forced to learn new skills that will benefit you later
• Master one skill at a time - do not try to take on several
• Be a specialist with a unique skill or knowledge of a tool
• Skills come from hours of experimenting with your ideas, observing trends, re-creating style that might influence you and learning from all your successes and mistakes you experinces on projects
• Experience is earned through repetition and hard work on real projects. Not from reading a tutorial
• Don’t hide what you’re experimenting on - it needs to visible and talked about

Chapter 3: Be Unique & Stand Out

• It’s ok to be different and you should be comfortable with that
• You have your own personal style which you have control over - don’t wait for others get started
• Observe and be inspired by other artists techniques and approaches
• Criticism is growth but also be informed on what is valid and what is not
• How do you stand out when your work looks like everyone elses?
• Know your own style by being yourself
• Always be opened minded to new ideas, approaches and techniques
• Be mindful of how much you learn about others and not establishing your own approach
• We are always influenced by other people’s style and approaches - embrace it
• Be confident in your own work and you will stop worrying what other people think of it
• Not being known in the design community is an oportunity to act without the pressure that comes from the expectations of others
• You will get more projects from being consistently great rather than your style
• Portfolio will help you gain control over work and clients
• Self-promote yourself even if it’s not comfortable, there’s communities like Behance and Dribble, submitting work to showcases and awards
• Don’t just rely on your day job for opportunities to be creative - sometimes you have to find your own
• Choose your audience when building a portfolio
• When deciding on where to start designing your portfolio, take a look at the type/style of work you’d like to be doing and then do that work yourself
• Don’t blend in - stand out!
• If you don’t share your work it’s as if you do not exist
• It takes hard work to become visible in the community, and it’s even harder to remain visible and relevant over a sustained period of time
• A good portfolio requires a number of revisions and must have a target audience in mind
• We all have unlimited creative freedom
• Archive all projects when the are done just in case you need to pull it out someday
• When connecting with people on social media, make sure you are interesting and even more importantly GOOD at what you do - the quality of your work will mean the difference being noticed and or ignored
• You can’t rely on social media to tell your whole story
• Projects that didn’t live up to expectations can be reborn in your portfolio
• An award winning portfolio has the ability to transform your career by lifting your confidence, perception and reputation
• Be a creator and make things people like and the money will come

Chapter 4: Career / Clients / Freelance

• Work for companies whose internal hierarchy work best for you, your career goals and interests - if you work for a big company they will require specialization which limits your influence. Smaller companies value a more diverse skill set
• Attitude is everything so be cognizant of the energy you are bringing to the room
• You are always replaceable
• Design by committee always results in poor solutions
• Don’t insist on greatness if you can’t lead by example
• Avoid working for people/companies that do not invest time in solid creatives
• The reputation of the company you work for will influence your own reputation in some way. Choose carefully!
• Have positive relationships with your colleagues/clients and be curious about their own backgrounds and stories
• Never work with unethical or dishonest people
• It’s time to leave if your employer does not respect you or working torwards your personal/professional development
• Important discussions and presentations need to be done in person or on the phone so your audience can hear the passion in your voice and experience it in person
• Love what you do - makes the journey a bit easier
• When leading a team, clearly vocalize what you’re trying to accomplish and what you need your teammates to do so that all tasks are out in the open
• Avoid companies or clients that don’t allow you to have a portfolio or post your work - future opportunities become limited
• Don’t take career advice from someone that you wouldn’t trade places with professionally
• It’s normal to get frustrated with our jobs, focus the frustration on a personal project
• As long as you’re happy, challenged and executing solid work, then there is nothing wrong with staying at the same company and rising up the ranks with hard work and a solid reputation for always delivering
• With every new job comes the stress of having to give 110% to prove yourself to a new group of people
• Surround yourself with the people who have the skills you want, the same goals you have or are the type of people you want to be
• Most effective way to get freelance work is through past jobs, friends and client relationships
• Charge appropriately for your knowledge, experience and creativity
• Do good work, treat your clients with respect , meet their goals, finish the projects on time and on budget and it’s likely you’ll get more work
• Deadline, budget and creative opportunity are all important factors to weigh before taking on a project or client
• It’s important to collaborate and listen to the client

Chapter 5: Work-Life Balance

• Dream of both the career and lifestyle you want. You can have both
• Work smarter not longer
• Have more important things you’d rather be doing outside of work. Book vacations, friends etc to work harder and faster and achieve better work in less time
• Sometimes it’s ok to say no to manage your personal bandwidth
• Fight to stay happy and excited about your career
• Spend quality time with family and friends is a requirement for success as a human being
• Always plan vacations and worry about projects and deadlines second
• travel to other states and countries
• Learn how to say no and ask for help when needed
• Make the time to teach, mentor or inspire someone. You will make a difference to their life and it will also impact yours as well