Applying Virtue Design to Build a High-Performing Product Design Team

Why Virtue?

Ask most designers about their guiding principles, and you’ll likely hear about empathy, user-centricity, or rapid iteration. But what about virtue? Despite millennia of philosophical discourse on the subject, virtue is absent from modern design conversations. And I think that’s a massive oversight.

I’ve been a Product Design Manager for several years, leading a team of thirteen talented researchers, designers, and a design manager. Over time, I realized that our rituals and frameworks—from sprints to retros—often focused on efficiency and output but rarely on the deeper question: How do we fulfill our highest potential as creative, moral, and intellectual beings?

That question led me to the concept of arete—the ancient Greek notion of excellence, or realizing one’s inherent purpose. Inspired by this, I began weaving virtue design principles into my leadership and product development. In this post, I’ll share how these centuries-old insights have transformed my team’s dynamics and design outcomes.

Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplash

What Is “Virtue Design”?

From Arete to Agile

In Greek philosophy, arete points to using all faculties—intellectual, moral, social—to achieve real results. Translating that into design means pushing ourselves, our processes, and our products toward fulfilling a higher purpose, not just filling backlogs. Instead of leaving virtue as an abstract concept, I focus on four classical virtues:

1. Knowledge – Seeking truth and understanding, including self-awareness and reflective learning.

2. Justice – Acting with fairness, kindness, and a commitment to serve.

3. Temperance – Practicing balance, restraint, and essentialism—focusing on what truly matters.

4. Courage – Embracing uncertainty, failing fast, and treating feedback as a gift.

   
   

We’ll dive into each virtue through the lens of how I applied these ideas to elevate my team’s performance, morale, and impact.

Team & Project Background

• My Role: Senior Product Design Manager overseeing a team of 13.

• Context: Our company provides event-management technology for large and small conferences.

• Primary Challenge: Balancing aggressive product timelines with deep user empathy, while also addressing career-development concerns and creating a culture of openness and innovation.

  
  

Despite being a seasoned design team, we found ourselves craving clearer feedback channels, more intentional growth paths, and a willingness to experiment—without fear of failing in public.

The Four Virtues in Action: A Case Study

1. Knowledge: “Know Thyself”

When Socrates said, “Know thyself,” he highlighted that the most crucial knowledge is self-knowledge. For a design team, this translates into continuous introspection—about our own biases, blind spots, and how we show up for each other.

Team Retros as Mirrors

• I initiated retrospectives where neither I nor my co-manager would attend. Instead, a trusted senior designer facilitated and anonymously synthesized the feedback.

• This simple change offered unfiltered insights and gave the team autonomy in shaping the conversation.

• Results: Clearer understanding of internal friction points (e.g., confusion about on-site event staffing, requests for more coaching and development frameworks).

Investing in External Learning

• Based on their desire for professional growth, I lobbied with our Chief People Officer to partially fund attendance at Config, Figma’s annual conference.

• This not only expanded the team’s technical toolkit but also reaffirmed that our organization actively invests in their knowledge.

2. Justice: Fairness & Service

Justice in a product-design context means making decisions that are both equitable for the team and responsible toward our users.

Revisiting On-Site Event Staffing

• Retro feedback showed frustration over inconsistent opportunities to attend events in person.

• I set up a transparent rotation system with the department responsible for event staffing, ensuring every designer gets a fair shot to experience user interactions firsthand.

Clarifying Career Growth

• We created a career development rubric outlining what it means to “meet” vs. “exceed” expectations.

• The rubric helps designers see how their day-to-day tasks map to bigger-picture skills—design thinking, collaboration, leadership, and user impact.

3 & 4. Temperance & Courage: Balancing Focus with Boldness

In modern product teams, it’s easy to either spread yourself too thin or avoid risks altogether. Temperance is about doing less but doing it better, while Courage is about embracing feedback and bold experiments.

One-Minute Prototype

• To combine temperance (focus on the essentials) with courage (share early, fail fast), I introduced the concept of a one-minute prototype.

• Here’s how it works:

  • Record a 60-second video demo of your prototype—no fancy production needed.

  • Provide just enough context (the scenario, the user need) and then walk through the key interaction or feature.

  • Circulate this short clip for immediate feedback from peers, PMs, or stakeholders.

• Why It Matters:

  • By limiting the demo to one minute, designers must distill the design to its core value.

  • Encouraging the team to share early in the process fosters a culture where honest critique is valued, not feared.

  • Rapid, focused feedback loops reduce the risk of overbuilding and pivot us toward solutions that truly matter.

Feedback as a Gift

• One-minute demos inherently invite quick critiques, which we frame as “gifts,” not criticisms.

• This practice has helped the team become more comfortable exposing half-baked ideas and iterating faster, strengthening both design quality and team bonds.

Results & Impact

Although this journey is ongoing, we’re already seeing promising outcomes:

1. Higher Engagement & Morale: The retro process and equitable on-site rotation gave team members a sense of ownership and fairness.

2. Clarity in Career Paths: With the new rubric, people know exactly what meeting or exceeding expectations looks like. Designers are more proactive in taking steps to level up.

3. Stronger Feedback Culture: One-minute prototypes and extended one-on-one sessions have made feedback more timely, less intimidating, and more action-oriented.

4. Boost in Innovation: With a clearer understanding of user needs and the freedom to share rough concepts, the team is proposing bolder ideas—and swiftly refining them.

   
   
   
   

Key Takeaways

• Virtue Is Actionable: Far from being abstract, virtues like Knowledge, Justice, Temperance, and Courage can reshape your design process and team culture.

• Feedback Loops Matter: Whether it’s a no-manager retro or a one-minute prototype, creating safe, consistent opportunities for feedback amplifies learning and trust.

• Fairness Fuels Collaboration: Transparent policies—like how on-site roles are assigned—motivate people to participate more fully, knowing the process is equitable.

• Focus & Boldness Go Hand-in-Hand: By trimming the fat (temperance) while embracing iterative risks (courage), design teams can rapidly move toward high-impact solutions.

Conclusion: A Call for More Virtue in Design

Design is never just about features and metrics—it’s about human potential. When we overlook virtue, we miss out on deeper alignment, genuine collaboration, and products that serve people in meaningful ways. My experience weaving these classical virtues into modern design practices has shown me that ancient wisdom can fuel contemporary innovation.

As you think about your own design processes, I encourage you to ask: Where could virtue make a difference for your team? The answer might lead you to more honest feedback loops, fairer resource allocation, or bolder experimentation—and ultimately, a more fulfilling design journey for everyone involved.

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Hi, I’m T.J. 👋 A product design leader who loves mixing big ideas with practical advice to help people create their best work—and enjoy life along the way.

Each Monday, I publish 4 Virtues & Design—a newsletter that explores important questions about how we work, lead, and live well through insightful analyses of books, podcasts, and real-world experience.

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