Thoughtworker Spotlight: Federico Galindo

His job title is Lead Product Designer, but Federico G. 's role stretches much more beyond those three words. Just ask any Thoughtworker, client or practitioners from the community who’s met him - when Federico leads, people follow. Whether he is designing and testing concepts or mentoring others in the community, human connection and bringing experiences to life are at the heart of his journey.

Woodworker, world traveller, proud cat father, and avid musician (can you guess what instrument), everyone who crosses paths with this indelible teacher considers themselves the better for it.

Discover this, his favourite product and more in this week’s Thoughtworker Spotlight.

Tell us about what you do

I am a product designer who focuses on product discovery. My primary role is to aid client teams in designing and testing concepts and opportunity areas while gathering customer evidence so that they can better understand their customers. I collaborate with strategists and researchers by using alternative strategies, research methods, and perspectives, such as hypothesis-driven validation and the jobs-to-be-done framework, to design, test and validate solutions that target current and specific customers' jobs, pains and gains.?

When I’m not working on a project, I am mentoring fellow designers in the team to help them develop their practice and, by extension, better the quality of work the team delivers during client projects.

What’s the most interesting challenge you're working on?

Currently, I’m exploring an established media space for a client that is hoping to expand access to younger audiences by creating trust through inclusivity and social connection. We’ve researched to understand their primary behaviors when it comes to consuming content, their current challenges with current solutions, and their values and aspirations overall in this space.?

This problem is interesting to me because we are in a time where information is readily available and finding valuable and trustworthy perspectives and opinions has become a much more mindful task, so finding opportunities to cater information to all and breaking the pattern is exciting to me.

What inspired you to have the career you have today?

It was a combination of things. I come from a traditional graphic design professional background. I grew up around people who communicated visually with their work and I, a neurodivergent kid, loved being able to connect with people through my art.?

Much later in life, when technology was beginning to thrive, I carried this interest forward in digital products. At the time, I was primarily studying graphic design in many forms but the digital space is what called to me, so I taught myself to code to bring experiences to life. Ultimately, I desired to connect with humans, which put me on a path to understand them and then to help them accomplish things in their day-to-day life.?

What achievement are you most proud of in your career to date?

In addition to my focus in product design and research, I’ve also found a great interest in sharing the things that I’ve learned in my time in this industry. I’m very proud of the opportunities that I’ve gotten to mentor new and seasoned folks in this industry within Thoughtworks Canada but also in the community.?

An example of this is working with Co.Lab ?? joincolab.io , a company whose mission is to give folks “practical experience to confidently break into (and thrive within) the tech industry.“ In this program, I was able to mentor groups of folks at the beginning of their journey in product design, share the learnings I’ve gathered throughout my career, listen and answer their questions, and provide constructive feedback on their ideas.

If you could go back in time and give yourself career advice, what would it be?

Thinking back on my early years in this industry, I would probably tell myself to say “no” at the workplace more often, in other words, to permit myself to have boundaries at work. It’s very easy to get caught in the excitement of building products for startups and forget about your own mental and physical health to the point that it’s too late and you are burnt out, so being able to take breaks and celebrate your wins is important early on.?

What do you love to do outside of work?

Currently, I’m learning the wonders of woodworking so I'm taking a class to build a table for my house! But once upon a time, before the pandemic, I traveled the world quite a bit thanks to my previous team being fully remote. I traveled to many countries in the last nine years and every place I went to created a very special place in my heart. I learned a lot about the many things that make up my identity during this time, and will probably pick up where I left off soon. Three of my favorite places are H?i An in Vietnam, Paris in France, and Barcelona in Spain. Aside from that, I love to spend time in nature, playing my guitars, wandering in video game worlds, napping with my cat Lulo, and enjoying a big glass of red wine.

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what album, movie, and book would you take with you?

Album – I recently rediscovered SOLACE by RüFüS DU SOL and I have it on repeat.

Movie – I would bring the extended editions of The Lord of the Rings movie

Book – Maybe Pulp by Charles Bukowski (or any of his books really)

And finally, what’s your favourite product and why?

Pen and paper. As long as I can remember, I’ve had some equivalent of these around me, it’s how I learned to express myself when I couldn’t find the words or the actions. It’s a set of tools that help me be creative or help me learn or unlearn new things, tools that listen without judgement and capture the wild things that go on in my very weird but unique brain.