Building and Keeping a UX Team

UX Strategies Summit 2015, San Francisco

A critical part of a successful UX Strategy is how we actually implement what we want to do for our products and services. We’ll look at selling UX as a priority within our organization and then building a team from scratch. We’ll look into how to find good people, and how to help them grow, and how to make a culture that cares about experience and lets us ship great products. John will describe real-world examples from the past ten years of his building, managing, and helping companies develop design and UX teams.

Transcript

1. BUILDInG A UX TEAM strategies for hiring & retaining good designers JOHN ATHAYDE @BOBOROSHI UX STRATEGIES SUMMIT 2015 SAN FRANCISCO 26” 4” 11” 18” 59”
2. I know it doesn’t look that great but it works. “ ”
3. Just make it pretty. “ ”
4. Just give me whatever you did for the guys at Slack. “ ”
5. Things would be wonderful if we just had our own Jony Ive. “ ”
7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/michael-seljos/2073146716/
12. Photo by Andy Piper https://www.flickr.com/photos/andypiper/6921446493
17. Photo by It’s Holly https://www.flickr.com/photos/itsholly/553263987
18. 1 2 3
19. STARTING FROM ZERO 1
20. SELLING UX to a hostile manager
21. UX + UI
22. http://visual.ly/disciplines-user-experience-design
23. you need a CHAMPION
24. HEAD OF ENGINEERING HEAD OF EXPERIENCE HEAD OF
 PRODUCT
26. VISION BOARDS a new way to see
27. DETAILED CONCEPT MOCKUPS ~2011
28. You do realize that’s EIGHTEEN MONTHS of work, right? “ ”
33. These screens have been REDACTED to protect the innocent and guilty.
36. SHADOW your users Photo by Leo Hildago | https://www.flickr.com/photos/ileohidalgo/15090035480
37. BFF SUPPORT STAFF they hear about problems first
38. RESEARCH & TESTING are not optional
39. CONSULTANTS to start you off
40. EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE for the product experience
42. If there are people in your organization who feel they are not free to suggest ideas, you lose. Do not discount ideas from unexpected sources. Inspiration can, and does, come from anywhere…. It isn’t enough merely to be open to ideas from others. Engaging the collective brainpower of the people you work with is an active, ongoing process. As a manager, you must coax ideas out of your staff and constantly push them to contribute. “
43. DRAW IN YOUR MARCOM DESIGNERS
44. http://principles.adactio.com
46. http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672917/the-8-steps-to-creating-a-great-storyboard
48. GROWING
 THE TEAM 2
49. $92,000 $90,000 $83,160 $80,643 $75,000 $0 $10,000 $20,000 $30,000 $40,000 $50,000 $60,000 $70,000 $80,000 $90,000 $100,000 2014 2011 2009 2007 2005 1353 1113 1496 1312 1069 Median salaries rose slightly (by $2000) but not significantly since the last UXPA survey in 2011. All currencies have been converted to US Dollars. Note: data for 2007 confidence intervals were not available N= Median Salaries 2014 (not inflation adjusted)
50. Photo by John |
51. Everyone wants a super senior design guru unicorn
52. Job descriptions appear to be written by checking every box on the “desired skills” list
53. ENGINEER PRODUCT MANAGER MOTION DESIGNER PROJECT MANAGER VISUAL DESIGNER FRONT END ENGINEER PROTOTYPE
 ENGINEER INFORMATION
 ARCHITECT QA UX RESEARCH
54. Photo by Tobey Steinman | https://www.flickr.com/photos/osubuckeyes/631434470/
55. GENERALISTS over Specialists
56. ONLY HIRE
 THE BEST (potential to grow)
57. Photo by Gry Monica Hellevik | https://www.flickr.com/photos/grymonicahellevik/6009719312
61. EVERY MEETING IS A VIRTUAL MEETING
64. Look in your own BACKYARD for existing, trainable talent
65. Working with RECRUITERS (the good ones)
66. Balance the SKills & Interests of your people
67. KEEPING THE TEAM 3
69. Talented employees need great managers. The talented employee may join a company because of its charismatic leaders, its generous benefits, and its world-class training programs, but how long that employee stays and how productive he is while he is there is determined by his relationship with his immediate supervisor. “
70. Do I know what’s expected of me at work? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
71. Do I have the right materials and equipment I need to do my work right? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
72. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what 
 I do best every day? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
73. In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
74. Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
75. Is there someone at work who encourages my development? First, Break All The Rules, pp48
76. Photo by Ross Berteig | https://www.flickr.com/photos/rberteig/7019775623
77. THE CHALLENGES
 OF COMMAND
78. If there is more truth in hallways than 
 in meetings, you have a problem. “ ” -Ed Catmull, President of Pixar/Disney Animation
79. It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks.
 It’s the manager’s job to MAKE IT SAFE TO TAKE THEM. “ ” -Ed Catmull, President of Pixar/Disney Animation
80. Our job as managers in creative environments 
 is to protect new ideas from those who don’t understand 
 that in order for greatness to emerge, there must be 
 phases of not-so-greatness. Protect the future, not the past. “ ” -Ed Catmull, President of Pixar/Disney Animation
81. Photo by Neil Moralee | https://www.flickr.com/photos/neilmoralee/11336155813 “I QUIT”
82. Photo by Corey Balazowich | https://www.flickr.com/photos/coreyann/562941183
83. Photo by takomabibelot | https://www.flickr.com/photos/takomabibelot/2617390027 TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SAVES LIVES
84. emotion DIES with data
86. “Yes, it’s true that a team at Google couldn’t decide between two blues, so they’re testing 41 shades between each blue to see which one performs better. I had a recent debate over whether a border should be 3, 4 or 5 pixels wide, and was asked to prove my case. I can’t operate in an environment like that. I’ve grown tired of debating such minuscule design decisions. There are more exciting design problems in this world to tackle.” “
88. Photo by Jae | https://www.flickr.com/photos/julieedgley/3749350596/ When the 
 challenge is lost
89. CREATE A GURU TRACK Not everyone is a manager
90. TEAM MANAGER DESIGN LEAD TEAM MEMBERS
91. DEFENSE
93. MEETINGS!
94. CREATE A UNIVERSITY for your culture
95. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/11/technology/-inside-apples-internal-training-program-.html?_r=0
97. MENTOR Everyone should have and be one
98. Photo by Tantek Çelik | https://www.flickr.com/photos/tantek/5335291744/
99. Photo by Randy Heinitz | https://www.flickr.com/photos/rheinitz/8499706723/
100. Photo by K2 Space | https://www.flickr.com/photos/k2space/14218792801/
101. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Creativity-thrives-in-Pixar-s-animated-workplace-3261925.php
102. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Creativity-thrives-in-Pixar-s-animated-workplace-3261925.php
104. ACTION ITEMS (collective groan)
105. SELL UX BE A CHAMPION FOR THE EXPERIENCE PROVIDE A DESIGN VISION ESTABLISH THE BASELINE SHADOW, CAPTURE, BEFRIEND YOUR USERS & SUPPORT STAFF ESTABLISH DESIGN PRINCIPLES GET EVERYONE TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE EXPERIENCE
106. GROW THE TEAM HIRE GENERALISTS HIRE THE BEST HIRE FOR PERSONALITY AND WILLING TO LEARN DEVELOP UXERS INTERNALLY BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH A GOOD RECRUITER ALIGN SKILLS AND INTERESTS TO NEEDS GO REMOTE
107. KEEP THE TEAM BE A GREAT MANAGER (easy right?) KNOW THE PULSE OF YOUR TEAM PLAY DEFENSE CREATE A UNIVERSITY / ALWAYS BE TRAINING CANDOR IS KEY ENABLE PERSONAL EXPRESSION
108. READING LIST Creativity, Inc Ed Catmull The User Experience Team of One Leah Buley REMOTE Fried/Heinemeier Hansson First, Break All The Rules Buckingham/Coffman
109. and finally, THANK YOU. John Athayde @boboroshi john@meticulous.com www.meticulous.com