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My UX back story… in 13 Lessons

My UX back story… in 13 Lessons

A presentation about my career progression from Art to UX.

Tim Broadwater

March 21, 2018
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Transcript

  1. Hello, I’m Tim Broadwater
    ● Certified UX Unicorn
    ● Artist
    ● Foodie
    ● Gamer
    ● Horror Aficionado
    ● Poodle Owner
    ● Tattoo Enthusiast
    ● Volunteer UXer

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  2. My back story… in 13 Lessons
    ● From Lumberport, West Virginia
    ● Youngest of three (older brother and sister)
    ● Graduated college in 2001 / Art and Graphic Design
    ● First job out of college / Graphic Designer (at the place I interned)

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  3. Career Lesson #1:
    There are business deadlines and
    goals... it’s not always about
    making things look pretty.

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  4. After that...
    ● Spent a couple years teaching Animation, Desktop Publishing, Graphic Design,
    and Video Production / IADT
    ● Started graduate school / M.A. in Art
    ● Accepted a position as a Multimedia Designer / CET

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  5. CET & Graduate School
    Helping make educational software (about volcanoes, Lego Robotics Program, flight
    simulation, etc.) while pursuing my M.A. in Art taught me to:
    ● Collaborate with developers and subject matter experts
    ● Refine and focus my work
    ● Perform research to inform and strengthen my work

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  6. Career Lesson #2:
    Multiple mediums like text,
    imagery, video, and gamification
    can work together to craft a
    positive (or negative) experience.

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  7. Grant-based work...
    Eventually the work wasn’t reliable and I looked for more stable employment
    ● Accepted a position as Web Designer / WVU SOJ

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  8. The web as a medium
    While working at WVU I could transfer to different departments, schools, and units
    and focus/learn:
    ● Accessibility
    ● Analytics
    ● Content Strategy
    ● Interactivity
    ● Pattern Libraries
    ● Style Guides

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  9. Career Lesson #3:
    Benchmarking
    alone isn't the best
    way to design
    experiences or
    product roadmaps.

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  10. Eventually, after 3 years...
    I worked on a WVU HSC dev team which made a LMS and CMS. This is where I
    became familiar with:
    ● Product Development
    ● Product Life Cycles
    ● Dev Practices
    ● Project Management
    ● Sprint Cycles
    ● User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

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  11. Career Lesson #4, 5, 6:
    ● Product design without users is product
    design in a bubble.
    ● Development = Implementation
    (many devs don’t consider the user)
    ● Prototyping in code is the best way to
    show interaction design to a developer.

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  12. UX isn't on the road map!
    ● I constantly yearned for something, I didn't know that it was UX at the time
    ● I begged product and web development to talk to our users, test our software
    against users, and to ask users what they thought (so we could improve)
    ● I included UX into my practices – development, design, and research – and I
    would walk others through the same process

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  13. First step into UX, officially...
    After about three years on a UX-less software team, I accepted a hybrid position at
    WVU Libraries as a Front-End Developer/UX Designer. I immediately started:
    ● Building out a usability testing platform and process
    ● Writing and conducting usability tests
    ● Combining both qualitative and quantitative user data

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  14. Before long I was...
    ● Conducting moderated usability test with TechSmith Morae
    ● Using Qualtrics to gather user feedback
    ● Analyzing data from University Relations.
    ● Making recommendations based on user data and insights

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  15. Career Lesson #7:
    UX is not UI (and
    that still needs to
    be explained).

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  16. Career Lesson #8:
    UX can facilitate
    workflow
    improvements
    through data
    visualization.

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  17. Within several years...
    ● Improved web applications and websites through quantifiable metrics
    ● Started going back to school for Graphic Design and UX / SCAD
    ● Pursued UX certification from the NNg
    Eventually I got a promotion to UX Architect – informing web decisions and web
    development based on usability test results – advancing WVU Libraries’ digital
    repositories and special collections. I was the only person at WVU with UX in their job
    title.

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  18. Usability Stir Fry
    A recipe called in the ‘Website and
    Web Services Assessment’ chapter
    of the Library Assessment
    Cookbook.

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  19. Propagayda
    My M.F.A. focused on the parallels
    between usability testing and play
    testing for games.
    By examining the intersection of
    Design, UX, and Gamification I
    developed a educational game that
    taught the differences between sex,
    gender, and attraction.

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  20. Career Lesson #9, 10:
    ● If we aren’t testing then we’re just
    guessing. #MetricsMatter
    ● You may not get the results you want
    from user data, user research, or
    usability testing.

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  21. Library to eCommerce
    After focusing on UX in a library environment – digital repositories, collections, and
    services – I found myself wanting to do different work in the field of UX.
    I accepted a position at Dick's Sporting Goods as a Senior UX Designer.

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  22. All hail the UX Team!
    At Dick's Sporting Goods I was able to do the following:
    ● Function in a UX Team instead of being the sole UXer
    ● Collaborate with BAs, PMs, PdMs, UI, CX, and Dev
    ● Work on larger projects with a greater audience of users
    ● Focus on aligning business goals with user goals
    ● Utilize new KPIs (from Clicks to Conversion)

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  23. To help PM and PdMs...
    By being able to refine my focus on just UX design and research, I was able to:
    ● Calibrate my LOE to different projects, timelines, and deliverables
    ● Deliver the user insights that made the most impact
    ● Execute multiple UX design and UX research projects
    ● Plug into different teams while filling different roles

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  24. Career Lesson #11:
    UX is a conversation...
    a conversation to get different
    people working together…
    to consider the user.

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  25. +17% Holiday Taxo
    As DSG prepared for the 2016
    holiday season, Senior eCommerce
    Merchandising Strategy requested
    user research on naming
    conventions, content, and L0 / L1 /
    L2 structure for the “featured”
    mega-menu item.

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  26. Shoe Searching
    Preferences
    UserTesting.com was used to
    develop and administer remote
    usability tests for Senior
    eCommerce Merchandising
    Strategy analysis. Tests focused on
    men’s footwear taxonomy.

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  27. MyAccount Tests
    100 Remote Users
    50 Non DSG Users 50 DSG Users
    50 Qualtrics All Tasks Ranking 50 Qualtrics All Tasks Ranking
    25 Qualtrics New Features
    Ranking
    25 Optimal Open Card Sort
    All Tasks
    25 Optimal Tree Test
    Current Nav
    25 Qualtrics New Features
    Ranking
    50 Qualtrics Sentiments Test 50 Qualtrics Current Experience Test

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  28. Conducting Team
    Training
    ● Accessibility
    ● Label Auditing
    ● UX Audits
    ● Moderated Usability Tests

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  29. Simultaneously...
    I started talking on UX podcasts, doing webinars, writing articles for LibUX, talking at
    UXcamps, and advising other UXers through Slack and social media. Some examples
    are the following:
    ● UX Quackery
    ● User Interviews to JIRA tickets
    ● Usability of the Switch
    I also started use my skills for a couple nonprofits on the side, helping them redesign
    or fix their taxonomy, while completing my UXMC through the NNg.

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  30. Institutionally...
    DSG was moving towards eCommerce independence with a lot of silos and gray areas
    in regards to roles, responsibilities, and ownership. This lead to confusion about UX’s
    role in the company, and the following perceptions and struggles:
    ● UX performs SIT / UAT
    ● UX does bug-finding
    ● UX and UI do the same thing
    ● UX is an unlimited resource

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  31. Career Lesson #12:
    A UX Team has to have services,
    policies, and workflows that are
    communicated to other business
    partners.

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  32. DSG to Leidos
    I started working as a UX Software Design Engineer for a software development
    company that has a same-sized UX Team, but working more tandem with developers
    (not offshore developers).

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  33. 2X UX Team Leads
    Now I work incorporating Lean UX within SAFe sprint cycles, giving the developers
    what they need through design thinking facilitation, usability testing, interactive
    wireframes, mockups, or even style guides. Projects on which I currently work are:
    ● AFATDS
    ● Quantum
    ● DMHS DVA
    ● Skyline

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  34. Career Lesson #13:
    Get users in the process –
    research, design, development,
    redesign, feature mapping, etc. –
    as early as possible.

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  35. Going forward...
    I'm still finding it's an uphill battle to justify ux in the institution, even though there is
    perceived value, they're still has to be some justification. I'm looking for employment
    where instead of fighting the uphill battle to teach the value of UX… the value is
    understood. I want to focus on:
    ● Delivering quality UX
    ● Being part of a great team
    ● Consultation to help others learn how to do UX
    ● Finding user data to answer problems and questions

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  36. The End… Questions? Thanks!
    Visit www.timbroadwater.com for design work, white papers, and prototypes.

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