MURAL enters the VR space, Microsoft goes after Notion and LinkedIn Service Marketplace launches

Amazon, Starbucks, IBM, and McKinsey have embraced design as a critical component of corporate strategy. Design-driven businesses have been proven to significantly outperform their competitors, increasing the demand for skilled designers.

In fact, 92% of companies who rank at the highest levels of design maturity can draw a straight line between the efforts of their design team and their organization’s revenue - InVision Product Design Hiring Report 2019

Welcome to this issue - here are the top stories in Product Design right now:

Featured

MURAL enters the VR space 👋

This may have passed some people by, but the MURAL Labs team at MURAL have been quietly working on bringing MURAL to the virtual reality space.

The hybrid workplace is here to stay, and VR will play an important role in the future of work. Productivity and collaboration experts share their insights and perspective on what this future will look like.

Facebook Connect featured a great conversation, as well as MURAL themselves sharing new ways to collaborate in virtual reality with MURAL and Quest 2. 

But why go VR with your next workshop? MURAL say it could:

• Remove physical constraints
• Set the ideal mood and context for the job at hand
• Seamlessly move between VR and web 
• Increase connection and serendipitous moments with colleagues

I'm personally excited about this new VR frontier. How does work look like in this space? Moreover, to quote Douglas Ferguson: "A headset is cheaper than a flight."

If you want to learn more about what MURAL are doing in the VR space, check out the podcast episode I did with Steve Schofield - asking him more about what MURAL Labs is up to and how he goes about hiring product designers. Worth a listen on Spotify!

Noteworthy

Responsive Facilitation - How to flex, shift, and pivot with confidence with Meg Bolger ⚡️

"In this workshop, Meg Bolger of Facilitator Cards, will lead the group in exploring strategies you can use to gain more confidence and know-how when it comes to flexing and pivoting in your facilitation. We’ll explore why to think about preparing is more important planning, how to infuse modularity into your prep, and how to create plan B’s that don’t take much time to create but boost your confidence in your primary plan."

Great examples to use in leading your team through your next design phase!

Microsoft Loop looks a lot like Notion clone 🙀

Is nothing sacred?! Microsoft Loop, a new Office collaboration app announced this week, takes the company's Fluid Framework vision one step further. Looks like Notion to me!

Get more gigs with LinkedIn 🚀

LinkedIn launched its much anticipated Service Marketplace this week. Following in the footsteps of marketplaces like UpWork and Fiverr, they're working on ways to help people find the services they need, further exploiting their huge database of workers.

Service Marketplace plays well to the Gig Economy . Fellow newsletter writer Paul Estes has talked about the necessity for businesses to work on their gig economy strategy to not be left behind:

I believe that every organization in every industry needs a Gig Economy strategy. Not having one in 2021 is like missing the internet trend in 1990 or the mobile revolution in 2010.

Worth giving a go! I've completed my profile - have you? Here's a handy guide to help.

Here's hoping they'll open up further categories in time (User Experience Design was the closest I could get!).

Get involved

Ask Me Anything 🙋♂️

You can ask me anything related to a workshop you have planned, a presentation you want to make, a Design Sprint proposition or advice on growing sales and even your design career. For Free.

The only ask I make is that we record it so I can share (and help) the wider community. Find a time slot!

ROSS CHAPMAN is a facilitator and product designer in the UK, offering Design Sprints and innovation training.

He is the Head of Design at Obodo, an ambassador for Butter and founder of the Remote Sprinters community.

Regarded as one of the foremost Remote Design Sprint facilitators in the World, Ross has run 150+ Design Sprints and is a contributor to the Official Remote Design Sprint guide.

Ross has spoken at Google, Barclays and high-profile design events including Mural Imagine, SofaConf and DesignMatters. He enjoys talking about Design Sprints, running virtual workshops and redesigning established design processes.

Find Ross on LinkedIn