Krys Blackwood – Medium

Krys Blackwood

Avoiding Mutiny: How to Lead a Design Team

We’ve all heard the saying, “People don’t quit jobs, they quit managers”. Well, if you hadn’t, you’ve heard it just now. It’s pithy and…

May 21, 2024

A meme including a still shot from the movie Office Space, with a bad manager standing at the edge of someone’s cube, holding a coffee cup. The caption on the meme says “Yeah, if you could go ahead and print some office space memes, that would be great.”

May 21, 2024

The other side of layoffs: navigating survivor’s guilt

Yesterday, my beloved NASA JPL laid off 570 hard-working, brilliant, good people. I’m grateful to say I wasn’t one of them, and neither…

Feb 8, 2024

Deep Space Network antennas at Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex in Canberra Australia. The antenna in the foreground is pointed straight up at the sky. Two background antennas are pointed in different directions.

Feb 8, 2024

Layoffs don’t have to be the end of the world

Gather round, whippersnappers, it’s story time.

Jan 9, 2024

A journey map showing my happiness level as my career progressed, with a low point during the dot-com bubble burst in 2001 and a high point now, as I’m so lucky to be at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Jan 9, 2024

The Interns are Coming

Summer is here. And despite the title of my story, the interns are too.

Jun 8, 2022

Interns looking at screens in mission control.

Jun 8, 2022

Hiring is Like Getting Hitched

Here’s how we do it in the Human Centered Design group at NASA JPL.

Apr 4, 2022

Hiring is Like Getting Hitched

Apr 4, 2022

Do you need a degree to be a designer?

The year was 1999. We were on the cusp of a millennium, when arbitrary not-round numbers were about to become arbitrary round numbers. I…

Feb 4, 2022

Do you need a degree to be a designer?

Feb 4, 2022

Standups with Meaning

I’m a big fan of Agile methodology. I love the idea that you share every piece of your work with your peers and stakeholders as soon as…

Nov 18, 2021

Standups with Meaning

Nov 18, 2021

Published in
Bootcamp

It is actually rocket science: design at NASA’s JPL

Nestled in the hills just north of Los Angeles is a magical place. People of all ages and genders come together in a park-like setting to…

Dec 17, 2020

Photograph of JPL from above. A sprawling complex of medium-sized buildings with trees and mountains in the background.

Dec 17, 2020

Krys Blackwood

Krys Blackwood

Principal user experience designer & technical group lead of Human Centered Design group at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 27 yrs in UX. Opinons my own.

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