user experience design and leadership
TRANSCRIPT
Applying Leadership Thinking in User ExperienceA Strategic Approach
December 15, 2015
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
User Experience
Designer
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Experience
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Experience
Series of Interactions
A Coherent Journey
Invoking an Emotion
A Relationship
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Back-end Developers
Clients
Front End Developers
Researchers
Customer ServiceMarketing
Designers QA’s
Dev-ops
Strategists Brand Designers
Copywriters
Systems Administrators
Experience
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
USEREXPERIENCE
IS A TEAM SPORT
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
DESIGN FOR USERS
DESIGNPRINCIPLES
FOR ENGAGEMENT EXPERTS
DESIGN FOR AUDIENCES
DESIGN FOR EXPERIENCE
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
CURIOSITYDRIVES EVERYTHING WE DO
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
QUALITIESOF A GOOD LEADER
QUALITIESOF A GOOD DESIGNER
COLLABORATION
EMPATHY
DIRECTION AND FOCUS
MENTORING
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Our Work Defined
Too many people view management as leadership, It’s not.Leadership comes for influence, and influence can come from anyone at any level and in any role. ”
“
— Kurt Uhlir
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
11 The qualities of a good designer
Are the qualities of a good leader
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Empathy
Getting groups of people excited about an idea requires understanding what motivates them.”
“— Bryan Zmijewski
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
AGOOD
LEADERIS EMPATHETIC
THEY LISTEN TO OUR EXPERTISE
THEY UNDERSTANDOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
THEY LISTEN TO AND PRIORITISE OUR CONCERENS
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
When there is no empathy you get:
“I decided not to do it
that way.”
“I told the designer
we couldn’t do that”
“The developer didn’t follow my design.”
“I thought someone else was
doing that?”
Lack of commitment to decisions
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
A good designer is empathetic
They can put themselves
In a users shoes
They are good at
understandingHuman behavior
They can Prioritize Needs of others
Understand what
Motivatesthem
Take time to
understandTheir concerns
Consider colleagues
needs As you would users needs
Use empathy to connect with colleagues
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Direction and Focus
The greatest leaders mobilize other by coalescing people around a shared vision”
“— Ken Blanchard
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
AGOOD
LEADERSETS DIRECTION AND FOCUS
THEY EXPLAIN WHY THOSE GOALS ARE IMPORTANT
THEY COMMUNICATE GOALS, NOT DETAILS
OPEN TO CHANGE WHEN CHANGE IS NECESSARY
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
When there is no direction and focus you get:
“The current trend is…”
“Because I’ve been doing
this for 10 years”
“Won’t work because of the
flux capacitor.”
“This is best practice”
Conflict
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
AGOOD
DESIGNERPROMOTES DIRECTION AND FOCUS
THEY MAKE DESIGN DECISIONS WITH INTENT
THEY KEEP THE DESIGN GOALS FOCUSED
THEY ARE KEEN TO MEASURE AND IMPROVE
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
SET GOALS FOR
YOUR WORK
1
2
3
DEFINEMETRICSTO MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS
IFSOMETHING ISN’T
WORKING, CHANGE IT
DON’TWAIT FOR SOMEONE ELSE TO DEFINE THOSE GOALS
To avoid conflict
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Collaboration
Individual commitment to a group effort –That is what makes a team work.”
“— Vince Lombardi
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
AGOOD
LEADERFACILITATESCOLLABORATION
THEY EMPOWER TEAMS TO MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS
THEY MAKE SPACE FOR NEW IDEAS TO BE CONSIDERED
THEY DON’T CLAIM PERSONAL CREDIT FOR TEAM SUCCESSES
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
When there is collaboration you get:
“The feature description
was unclear”
“The developer implemented
my design badly”
“That wasn’t the palette
I specified”
“The QA should have
checked that”
Blame
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
AGOOD
DESIGNERFACILITATESCOLLABORATION
THEY CREATE ASSETS THAT ARE EASY TO REUSE
THEY ARE OPEN TO FEEDBACK AND NEW IDEAS
THEY PRESENT INFORMATION IN A WAY USERS CAN UNDERSTAND
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
To avoid blame Design for Internal Collaboration
Consider your team
as your users when presenting
ideas. AvoidUsing jargon others may
not fully understand
FocusYour
communication on what is relevant to
them
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Empower your colleagues to be design-led
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3
1
DON’T BE ”THE EXPERT”, BE THE MENTOR
HELP COLLEAGUES TO PROBLEM
SOLVE
FOCUSADVICE ON VALUE
AND IMPACT, NOT “BEST PRACTICE"
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
User Experience Design
EMPATHY COLLABORATION DIRECTION AND FOCUS MENTORING
Applying Leadership Thinking to User Experience
Thank you