477 - Parker Ehret

Parker Ehret is a Product Designer at Meta and the Co-Founder of Beacon, where they are creating Autonomous Building Intelligence for commercial and residential buildings.

His product design experience spans across a wide range of industries including autonomous vehicles, social networks, content platforms, fintech, security and encryption, utilities and compliance, health and beauty, streaming video, AR and VR.

Some of his previous roles were at Yahoo!, Intuit, and Logitech.

He also built Every Year Calendar, a perennial calendar iOS app to keep track of annual recurring events like birthdays and anniversaries.

He currently lives in wine country with his wife and 2 (almost 3) kids.

Twitter (X) → x.com/parkerehret
Threads → threads.net/@parkerehret
Instagram → instagram.com/parkerehret
LinkedIn → linkedin.com/in/parkerehret
ReadCV (RIP) → read.cv/parker

Parker's Workspace Tour

Hardware

• 14” MacBook Pro with M3 Max
• Apple Studio Display
• Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad
• Apple HomePod Mini
• Apple AirPods 4
• Fully Desk Jarvis Bamboo Standing Desk
• Herman Miller Sayl Chair
• Work Louder x Figma Creator Micro
• Belkin BoostCharge Pro
• Leica Q2
• 1984 Pentax P3
• Stanley IceFlow Flip Straw Tumbler

Software

• Figma
• Xcode
• Cursor
• VSCode
• GitHub Desktop
• Spline
• Final Cut Pro
• After Effects
• Logic Pro
• Linear
• Notes

Current Preferred Tech Stack

• Swift
• SwiftUI
• React
• Next.js
• Vercel
• TypeScript
• Tailwind
• Vite
• GitHub

What does your typical WFH day look like?

5am: Walk/Workout

6am: Shower/Get Ready

6:30am: Breakfast with my wife and kids

7-7:30am: Drive to Coffee

7:30-9am: Beacon

9-11:30am : Meta

11:30am-12pm - Lunch

12-4:30pm : Meta

4:30-6pm: Beacon

6-7pm: Dinner/Bath/Books/Bedtime

7-9pm: Beacon/Other Side Projects

9-10pm: Time with my wife

10pm: I’d be shocked if I was still awake at 10

What is the most recent item that you've added to your workspace?

I recently added the Work Louder x Figma Creator Micro to my desk. I don’t utilize it as much as I’d like to, but I have mapped design and dev shortcuts to different modes based on what I’m doing. Mode 1 is basically just for Figma. Mode 2 is for Cursor and Xcode. Yes, designers should code. But, engineers should also probably take the time to develop an eye for design.

How do you spark creativity?

I've found that my best ideas come in the quiet of the morning. I orate a lot of notes during morning walks and while driving to get coffee. My best ideas usually hit me in the shower. I try to use my mornings for problem solving so by the time I get in front of my computer I know what I want to execute on and can spend less time doing explorations.

How do you balance multiple projects at once?

Whether I was working at a startup, doing side projects, or parenting, I’ve gotten pretty used to context switching over the years. When I decide to focus on something, I don’t allow myself to think about anything other than the thing I’m currently focused on. Additionally, I’ve found it super useful to use small physical changes to help switch context. For example, I don’t wear shoes in the house but I always wear shoes in my home office, so not wearing shoes has now created a Pavlovian response to switch back into family/dad mode. Another fun hack I use is that for some projects I only use my standing desk, while other projects I will only sit. If I have a ton on my mind, I’ll walk around the block, put everything into Notes, and settle my thoughts before I go in the house.