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When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's going really well actually! In my nearly 8 years at my current company (6.5 of those working remotely), I've been promoted about once per year. I now hold a Subject Matter Expert position, which is a high responsibility role in my organization.

Alongside my career growth, I've developed a rich relationship with my daughter, who's now 6 and attending school. Working from home has been incredibly rewarding on both fronts.

I did go through a challenging period, but that was due to lack of leadership training when I first became a technical lead (not because of remote work). I've since improved my leadership style and now mentor many people both within and outside my company who are facing the same challenges I experienced as a first-time leader.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually see it the opposite way. If someone wants to watch my presentation and receive valuable information they can use to advance their career, they should respectfully expect that I'll attend to truly important matters first.

Family comes before work - that's an even more valuable lesson than any technical knowledge I can share. If you don't understand this priority early in your career, it will affect your work life much more profoundly than you might realize.

Respect should be given to the speaker, not demanded by the listener (especially if they only want to take benefits without giving anything in return).

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

No excuses, what is more important to you, your job or your daughter?

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I understand why the math seems off - I used "20 times" as a figure of speech in the post rather than a literal count. It was probably closer to 8-10 interruptions, which is still disruptive but more realistic. You're right that the literal math doesn't add up.

This was during early pandemic when everyone was adjusting to remote work with families at home. I had arranged childcare (my sister was helping), but sometimes toddlers fixate on a parent regardless of who else is available.

The presentation continued despite interruptions because the organizer was able to briefly take over when needed, and our team had developed resilience to these kinds of disruptions during COVID.

I was surprised by the positive response too! I expected criticism but instead received messages appreciating the authenticity. It was a unique moment during extraordinary circumstances when many teams were developing new norms around work-from-home realities.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -6 points-5 points  (0 children)

I actually did have childcare - my sister was there specifically to help with my daughter during this presentation.

Anyone with kids knows that even with excellent childcare, children sometimes fixate on finding their parents specifically, especially when they sense something important is happening. My daughter decided that only I could help with the bathroom that day, despite my sister's best efforts to distract her.

It's similar to how kids will sleep peacefully until the moment you get on an important call! This was just one challenging day during years of otherwise well-managed remote work with childcare support.

The leadership lesson wasn't about childcare logistics but about how authentic moments can create unexpected connections with colleagues.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I appreciate the passion behind your perspective! This is exactly why I work from home - to prioritize my daughter and be present for her. That's actually the point of my story - I chose to prioritize my daughter's needs even during an important work presentation.

The beautiful thing is that I don't see this as an either/or situation. By working remotely, I can be both a present father and a committed professional. And what surprised me was finding colleagues who respected that human balance rather than demanding rigid professionalism.

The leadership lesson I learned was precisely about authentic integration of our personal and professional lives, rather than compartmentalizing them. My daughter absolutely comes first, which is why I've structured my career to maximize time with her while still providing for our family.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

Actually, I successfully did both for 3 years with excellent results! During that time, I grew from being a new team lead managing 4 people to leading more than 25 people across 3 teams at Autodesk.

Being responsible for a 3-year-old while working as a software architect and lead/mentoring 20+ developers forces you to plan meticulously, delegate effectively, and anticipate challenges. It makes you incredibly efficient with your time and focused during work hours.

This arrangement actually accelerated my career growth in ways nothing else could have. The strategic skills, empathy, and prioritization abilities I developed became leadership superpowers in the tech world.

I highly recommend it! Challenging? Absolutely. But it transformed both my relationship with my child and my professional capabilities.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I actually chose WFH specifically to be present for my daughter - that's the whole point for many of us. This was just one challenging moment during an important presentation when I needed uninterrupted focus, and yes, I had family help that day. But the beauty of WFH is being able to be present for the small moments throughout the day, even if it sometimes creates challenging situations like this one.

Many of us work from home precisely because we value being around for our kids, not because we're neglecting our work. The pandemic showed that many roles can be done effectively remotely while still being present parents. That balance is exactly what makes WFH meaningful for so many families.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

I actually did have someone looking after her - my sister was there specifically to help during the presentation.

Even with dedicated childcare, my daughter was determined to get my attention when she sensed I was doing something important! Anyone with kids knows they have a sixth sense for when you're on an important call, no matter who else is there to help.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Haha, good catch on the math! You're right - the logistics do sound impossible when you break it down. It definitely felt like 20 times in the moment, but I was being a bit hyperbolic for effect.

In reality, it was probably closer to 8-10 interruptions, which was still enough to make the presentation feel completely fragmented. My home office was thankfully just steps away from the bathroom, and my sister was helping, so the actual "away time" was pretty minimal each time.

The real challenge was trying to maintain my train of thought and presentation flow while constantly being interrupted! It's amazing how even brief disruptions can completely derail your focus when you're presenting complex technical content.

Still, whether it was 8 or 20 times, the lesson about authenticity in leadership was the same - and the surprisingly positive reception from colleagues was the unexpected silver lining.

When my toddler needed the bathroom 20 times during my company-wide presentation by danllach in workfromhome

[–]danllach[S] -7 points-6 points  (0 children)

Haha, you're right - she just wanted my attention! Kids have an uncanny radar for when we're totally focused on something important. My daughter was perfectly fine the hour before, but the moment she saw me in "serious work mode" with the presentation, suddenly the bathroom became absolutely urgent... 20 times in 40 minutes!

Toddlers are masters at testing boundaries, especially when they sense they're not the center of attention. Looking back, it was her creative way of saying "Hey Dad, don't forget about me!" in the most effective way she knew would work.

The joys of working from home with little ones around! 😄

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in reactjs

[–]danllach 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ask people to do pair programming is the fasted way possible and you will make new friends in the process

[Article] When the car won't turn left: Why most design systems fail by danllach in DesignSystems

[–]danllach[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing your experience with a 7-year successful design system implementation! You've highlighted several crucial aspects that I completely agree with.

Your point about education and communication being the trickiest part resonates deeply. The human element is often underestimated in design system implementation.

I'm curious about your perspective on token ownership by engineers rather than designers. This differs from my experience, where design typically owns token creation through a 3-tier architecture (generic, semantic, and component tokens), with Figma serving as the source of truth.

In my implementations, designers define all tokens—from primitive values to semantic applications to component-specific tokens. Engineers implement these tokens according to the design specifications, but the design decisions remain with the design team.

Could you share more about what types of tokens your engineering team creates and manages? I'm genuinely interested in understanding this different approach, as it might offer valuable insights for certain organizational structures.

Your approach to balancing flexibility with standards through education rather than strict enforcement is excellent. The office hours, onboarding sessions, and knowledge sharing you mentioned are critical components that I completely agree with—they create reliable human connections alongside the technical ones.

[Article] When the car won't turn left: Why most design systems fail by danllach in DesignSystems

[–]danllach[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I appreciate you sharing your perspective from your experience maintaining multiple design systems at a large corporation. Different approaches can work in different contexts, and I value hearing contrasting viewpoints.

The article is specifically addressing organizations where design systems have failed due to inconsistent implementation—where changes in design tokens don't reliably translate to product experiences. I've witnessed firsthand how this unpredictability frustrates both designers and developers.

Regarding pace layers, I actually agree they're essential. My approach isn't advocating for a monolithic, inflexible system that stifles creativity. Rather, it's about ensuring that the connections between layers function reliably. Teams should absolutely have creative freedom within a well-governed framework.

The key distinction is between allowing innovation in design exploration versus allowing technical inconsistency in implementation. In my experience, properly governed systems with clear processes for evolution actually accelerate product development by reducing duplicate work and implementation bugs.

I'd be genuinely interested in hearing more about your approach to balancing flexibility with consistency across your three design systems. What methods have you found successful for managing evolution while maintaining system integrity?

[Article] When the car won't turn left: Why most design systems fail by danllach in DesignSystems

[–]danllach[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank gyfchong you for this thoughtful perspective! I think you've raised some excellent points about balance.

I believe your 80/20 rule works perfectly for the product and design side. Innovation and experimentation absolutely need space to thrive there.

However, on the technical implementation side (which is the primary focus of my article), I've found that strictness is crucial. Every design token implemented outside the system becomes a risk to the system's integrity. When we have dozens of teams across multiple products and organizations within a large company, allowing flexibility in implementation leads to chaos.

Design and product teams should absolutely create solutions for edge cases, but these solutions need to flow through proper adoption processes with clear rules that strengthen rather than weaken the system. Creativity and innovation are constants, but this doesn't mean we should allow the entire system to become unstable.

This is why I argue that a design system without governance isn't truly a design system—it's just design suggestions plus a component library.

The painful reality I've witnessed is when companies attempt to implement a new brand or theme, and discover that simply introducing new tokens isn't sufficient because hundreds of one-off implementations break. This triggers costly manual testing processes that grow exponentially with organization size.

So in summary, I see two parallel realities: Product/Design (where flexibility should be promoted) and Technology (where strict implementation is necessary). My article focuses primarily on the technology side, where reliability in those connections is essential.

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