Everyday we use human-centered tools to improve the experiences for our end users. Why not use our tried and true approaches to better our team relationships, work, and experiences for ourselves and those we work with in the trenches everyday?
a little bit about me 20+ years helping to improve healthcare experiences and impact lives Focus on UX research, operations and design systems at ResMed Advisor for Scientella, a non-profit STEM organization and ADPList mentor
what typical challenges do we face throughout our UX career journeys? BUT FIRST, Landing first job in UX Pre-UX career exploration Growing and developing
UXing our own work experiences benefits Opportunity to be our best selves at work, happy and fulfilled Opportunity to improve end-user experiences by addressing our own and our teammates Opportunity to practice and develop your UX skills Opportunity to demonstrate UX value to lead to work opportunities
challenge Team effectiveness Time forming storming norming performing T U C K M A N ’ S S TA G E S O F G R O U P D E V E L O P M E N T, 1 9 6 5 New cross-functional product teams were recently formed. C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
research With team members to understand existing ‘storming’ characteristics opportunity personas Outlining jobs and needs defined from research workshop 1-hour empathy mapping workshop with team members 1 2 3 Using empathy mapping to address characteristics of the ‘storming’ phase at the upcoming in-person team summit C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
Ten 30-min ‘coffee-chat’ interviews with cross-functional team members Daily check-in surveys to team members for 1 ½ weeks Day-in-the-life Challenges? Thoughts, feelings? research 1 C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
Persona menu in Figma Example of persona personas 2 C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
Sharing back with group and voting on best display of empathy workshop 3 C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
What you're doing is a good initiative, to get feedback on how our day was and why. -Senior Test Engineer outcomes & wins Overall, team members found value in the workshop and felt it improved their understanding and empathy for each other. It was interesting to see the immediate effect of the empathy mapping workshop in our daily communications. It was great to feel understood and valued. -TechComms Manager ’’ Putting ourself in other's shoes was a great way to build empathy for [teammates]. -Senior Software Engineer, iOS It provided insight into parts of teammate's workflow/jobs that we never really see or take into consideration. We…only really see the obstacles we are individually working through. -Lead Engineer, iOS ’’ ’’ ’’ C A S E S T U D Y # 1 : E M P A T H Y B U I L D I N G I N T H E T E A M ’ S T O R M I N G ’ P H A S E
challenge A small, recently formed research team in a growing product organization; some lack of familiarity with UX research across functional departments UX Researcher UX Researcher UX Operations Manager UX Researcher Research Coordinator C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S
opportunity Mapping our unique value proposition to each stakeholder/thought partner. research team workshop Whiteboarded UXR capabilities, our challenges, and stakeholder pain points value prop canvas Created a value prop map for each of our primary stakeholders (e.g. product manager) communications strategy Included tailored communications and conversations for each stakeholder 1 2 3 C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S
Research capabilities, skills and experience Partner pain points, aligned on 3 partners to focus on research team workshop Framing our UXR-stakeholder partnership 1 C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S
C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S (Based on work of Blank, Christensen, Godin, Pigneur, Osterwalder) UXR-as-a- partner Stakeholder partner (e.g. PM, Designer, etc) Gain creators Pain relievers UXR offerings/ capabilities FI T Pains/needs Gains Jobs value prop canvas 2 P R O B L E M S S O LU T I O N S Co-created each stakeholder profile with a stakeholder
value prop canvas 2 UXR value proposition stakeholder partner Designer A research partner who can provide quick user-centered insights: • Save me time, give me confidence and autonomy in design decisions • Provide evidence to help our product team align and avoid lengthy discussions C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S
value prop canvas 2 UXR value proposition stakeholder partner A research partner who can provide quantifiable insights to: • Inform the roadmap and backlog • Provide evidence my solution will be successful and stand out to management C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S Product Manager
value prop canvas 2 UXR value proposition A research partner who can provide brief, easily digestible and actionable insights to: • Best prioritize efforts and resources across the organization • Give me confidence teams and their work will impact business outcomes stakeholder partner C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S Upper Management
communications strategy 3 Team overview video Syncs with product teams and partner groups, 1:1s, UXR office hours Quarterly ‘lightning’ readouts and and newsletters Emails/Teams posts on reports, highlight videos, and roadmaps Timing Partner Messaging Content Method communications calendar C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S Crafting general, time, and tailored communications centered on partner’s needs.
(early) outcomes & wins The activities helped us identify UX allies and improved our understanding for our partners. Increased inquiries and research requests Increased dialog and transparency between research groups to coordinate efforts ’’ ’’ Kudos for an excellent presentation. This work is valuable across the entire organization – looking forward to future reports and outcomes. - Creative Services That was wonderful, I really enjoyed it. Our team will reach out to see if there is a way to utilize your research in some of the initiatives. - Customer Experience Improved user/product knowledge and feeling of inclusion by other groups C A S E S T U D Y # 2 : D E F I N I N G O U R V A L U E P R O P T O F I T S T A K E H O L D E R N E E D S
tips on UXing your work experiences Break up big challenges into small and specific challenges Celebrate wins, big or small Right size your efforts Collaborate with partners, be mindful of biases, and respect confidentiality
thank you @ResMedUX @clickheremaybe Special thanks to you, my team, and supporters throughout my career and SDXD who inspired this talk. adplist.org/mentors/dawn-ta
Image credits: Slide 1, Jason Goodman on Unsplash; Slide 2, Path8; Slide 4, Getty Images; Slide 9, Matheus Potsclam Barro on Pexels; Slide 18, Leone Venter on Unsplash; Slide 28, Getty Images; all icons by Icons8; Dawn brandmark by self
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