One company I worked for had Intercom set up. Intercom made it really easy to access our existing user base, narrow them down by attributes or behaviors in our product, and send them an email (not a sales pitch, I don't work for intercom lol).

Usertesting.com will source participants for you, but it's best for usability testing.

When I worked at a consulting agency, we would put an ad out on Craigslist and source participants that way.

For scheduling, Calendly is still my favorite tool. Kind of surprised Google hasn't bought them yet.

Thanks to everyone for this conversation. There's a lot to think about in all of your comments.

I do think I might be more interested in management-type responsibilities if I was building my own business. Like at least it would be something of my own.

I've always worried that working as a consultant or freelance (vs being in-house) wouldn't allow me to invest in the product. But maybe that's wrong of me to think.

I had a conversation with my manager about this. He's been encouraging and wants to make sure that I feel like I have a path to grow. I might have to figure out how to define my role for myself. I don't think there's really been a senior role that didn't evolve into a management role in our company before.

Mostly, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's been thinking about this. I was starting to think I was a little crazy. :) Glad to have support here!

I don't read many, personally. But when I want to get my brain turning I usually read:

• https://hbr.org
• http://nautil.us/

Seems like we could also default links to open up to the thread here on DN, instead of opening up the link itself.

It's almost like they don't want you to start a comment thread on links shared because it's harder to get to the thread than to just open the link.

Weekly discussion threads about design subjects

I like that idea! I think that would help a lot. Conversation starters tends to get people engaged.

I've recently started engaging more in the Designers Guild Facebook group. It seems like there's a little more discussion there.

I remember when DN started it seemed like the intent was to create a community like Hacker News but for design. I agree the interest around that agenda has changed. I think the industry has changed.

I would hate to see places like this die out. I hope we can implement some of the ideas you had to keep it interesting around here!

I've been working on this series for a few months. I've been working with my manager and a couple other designers to get feedback. But I'd love to hear thoughts from more designers.

https://mobbin.design is great for UI patterns!

Had to tweet that: https://twitter.com/carolanncan/status/746413703147315200

Totally thought this was a joke post. Also not sure this post is really designer news-relevant.

Yay thank you for writing this! Well put.