building your design a-team
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Building your A-Team 25 October 2016 | Leading Design conference 2016
Jason Mesut Resonant Design and Innovation
@jasonmesut
We’re in interesting times
Exciting & challenging
There is
Growing demand
Organisations have
Desire to scale
A frustrating
Shortage of supply
A s**storm of
Charlatans Product designers
UX/UI designers
UX engineers
Post discipline designer
UX architects
Ever-changing
Fierce competition
People that don’t stick around
Fickle talent
More money
Better process
Nicer office
Bigger team
More worthy projects
Variety
Packed diary
Never enough time
How do you
Build a great team that lasts?
Q:Given… – High demand – Supply shortage – S**tstorm of charlatans – Fierce competition – Fickle talent – Never enough time – Desire to scale
How do you
Build your A-Team?
Q:
– London focus – 17 years experience – Mostly agency/consultancy – Long-term projects – Hired 100s of designers – Reviewed 1,000s of cvs + folios – Built small and large teams – Advise others
Caveat
Personal perspective
Caveat
Haven’t built a team in years* * Yes, I got sick of it
Caveat
No silver bullets
Given the complexity
Where should you focus?
Key team building activities
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Manage those that don’t and can’t fit into your team
Develop individuals, scale the team, increase its presence it
Flex to changing needs and the team dynamics itself
Get out to let others grow and shape things without dependence on you
They are parallel, not sequential
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Join date
Changing context over time
A focus for the next 15 minutes
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Manage those that don’t and can’t fit into your team
Develop individuals, scale the team, increase its presence it
Flex to changing needs and the team dynamics itself
Get out to let others grow and shape things without a dependence on you
A focus for the next 15 minutes
Frame
Hire
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Sets the direction for everything else
Frame Understand and position your team within its current and future context
How framing helps
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Helps all key steps of building your A-Team
Sell to and assess candidates
Manage performance and fit against
Defines shape of future team, how you sell it and how you develop others
Gives you something to adapt from and to
Gives you clarity on whether to stay, go or move
Hire Honestly represent your positioning to others to ensure the right fit and manage expectations
You want to
Attract and assess talent to your frame
You should
Create a positive environment
Honest
Fair
Respectful
Professional
Open
So that
People have the best opportunity to shine
Clarity helps the hiring process
A good framing of your team helps you
1. Write a unique job spec
2. Review cvs and folios
3. Interview candidates
4. Profile them
5. Assess their skills
6. Check references
7. Negotiate a package
How should you frame and hire your A-Team?
Think
W A T C H
Think
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
What type of work do you (want to) do?
– Research – Strategy – Concept – Delivery – Optimisation
– Web – Mobile – Desktop – Products – Environments
– eCommerce – Marcomms – Enterprise apps – Financial tools – Consumer apps
– Finance – Healthcare – Retail – Startups – Big brand…
Frame
Hire
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Level of innovation
Medium Nature Who for
Frame
Hire
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Relevant or transferable experience
Interests and reservations
Level of innovation
Medium Nature Who for
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Introduce yourselfEmployers will want to know who you are, and if people (the team and your clients) are going to get along with you. They also want to know what makes you different to everyone else.
blog posts you have written) LinkedIn references)
Demonstrate your workingthe result
Share your project experienceand structured case studies that
research or analysis uncovered)
involvement (e.g. increased revenue, happier customers)
Structure with a clear journey and strong narrativeWork out a clear structure, and try to stick to it throughout
Don’t let the medium or the design get in the way
access to your content?
Keep it real
UX Portfolio Tips
2
1
3
includ
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
How do you approach the work you do?
– UCD – Service Design – Lean – XP / SCRUM
– Organisation – Proximity
– Philosophies – Time
Methods + mindset Inter-team collaborationFrame
Hire
– JTBD – JFDI – CHAOS – Double Diamond
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Methods + mindset Inter-team collaborationFrame
Hire Alignment Flexibility to change
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
It’s hard to assess someone’s approach
Assessing approach
Design challenges offer context control
Design challenges
They are flawed
– False negatives + positives – False context – Take time – Puts people off
Design challenges
Not all bad – Understand their flaws – Appreciate the positives – Focus on approach – Use sparingly
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
What’s your team like?
Frame
Hire
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
– Individuals – Skills – Quality bar – How you talk
about them
– Shape – Reporting lines – Project vs.
functional
– Culture – Socials – Official get
togethers
People Structure Intra + inter team
Frame
Hire Role they play Informal references
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
People Structure Intra + inter team
Profile
Soft skills How do they engage with others and how do they think?
Profile
Hard skills and expertise The craft execution skills
Popular, reductive, bastardisation of Adaptive Path framework
Profile
Shape the role and the talent –What do you need? –Where do you/they think they are?
How do you support career development?
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Frame
Hire
– Train – Advise – Coach
– Monitor – Review – Assess
– Progress – Incentivise – Praise
Develop individual
Manage performance
Reward and recognise
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Frame
Hire Journey
Develop individual
Manage performance
Reward and recognise
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Work / life balance
Future Personal situation
Experience
Aptitude
Aspiration
What have they got evidence of doing?
Where do their skills and temperament seem to align?
Where do they want to develop?
Identify capabilities and growth areas
Over 70 areas and growing
Techniques, methods, approaches
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Where do you need help?
Frame
Hire
– Competition – Pace – Quality
– Role – Culture – Expertise
Organisation
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Team You
– Time – Support – Sounding board
Frame
Hire Experience
Organisation
Skills
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Team You
Perspective Desire
Key takeaways
– Create a positive environment to assess people fairly
– Profile what you need and assess against that
– Use design challenges to understand approach but beware false positives + negatives
– Frame your A-Team and the roles within it
6 key activities for growing a team
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
To frame, think
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help
Thank you Jason Mesut Resonant Design and Innovation
@jasonmesut
slideshare.com/jasonmesut
betteruxportfolios.wordpress.com
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