Maxime Frere is Partner and Principal Designer at Source Paris and leads a design team at Bpifrance. He has changed companies seven times, run a team of 25 as Head of Design at BPCE, worked at frog and Capgemini, and gone back to craft on purpose.In this episode he says the things most hiring managers only say in private:→ Why "taste" is the wrong word, and the 80/20 rule he uses instead→ Why he forced his whole team to go full AI, and what he now refuses to let them use it for→ Why designers who don't understand code are "trapped inside the tool"→ The one thing he looks at before hiring anyone (it's not the portfolio)→ Why "a lot of designers are lazy", and what he means by it→ The Capgemini feedback culture that made him ("it's not a line")→ The advice he'd give his younger self: take the risk, follow the manager, not the company nameWhat you'll steal: the 80/20 rule for every design decision, the "know when to stop AI" workflow, the schema habit that gets executives to say "I see what you mean", and the reason to build something this month even if the only user is your grandmother.Chapters00:00 Trailer01:10 Seven companies, one rule03:30 Kindness is not enough. Discipline.05:30 From IC to Head of Design: what actually gets you picked10:30 The schema trick: make people see, not imagine15:30 Follow the manager, not the company18:00 "We forced everyone to go full AI"19:00 Taste is the wrong word. The 80/20 rule.22:30 Prototypes between two user tests. And the slop risk.26:30 Trapped in the tool: why designers must understand code30:00 "A lot of designers are lazy"32:00 "It's not a line": the feedback that made him33:30 Don't design to make everyone happy35:00 Read the job description (Guidione's 80%)37:30 How they judge your AI use when hiring39:30 Know how to stop AI. Grab a pen.41:30 Advice to his younger self: take the risk48:30 "The chance is not for the shy"Guest: Maxime Frère — Partner & Principal Designer, Source Paris. Design lead, Bpifrance.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maximefrere/Host: Guidione Machava, founder of World Class Design.world-class.design
