Vinny Feeney - The accidental businessperson

I had no idea what CLV meant when I got into my first design role. Or ARPU. Or CAC.

In my presentation, I'm not going to discuss every acronym I’ve learnt recently. Instead I’ll cover how I came to learn what all those terms mean and why knowing what they mean, makes me better at what I do.

If you're working in an environment where you'd like to convince 'the boss' to hire more designers, to have a dedicated design systems team or maybe even hire your first UI writer, then I hear you. In fact, maybe you just want to convince a product manager that the thing you want to work on really is the most important thing for your team right now.

I'm going to talk about how to embrace your inner businessperson (it's in there!) and put your design skills to use where they are needed the most. It all starts with being able to understand and communicate with the decision makers in your business.

Transcript

1. The accidental businessperson Vincent Feeney Design Lead @ MYOB
2. My whole career was an accident.
3. BSc Music Technology  “Genius” Digital agency producer 2006 2009 2013
4. Coding Graphic design Customer service ‘Empathy’ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
5. Coding Graphic design Customer service ‘Empathy’ Commercial skills
7. Designers are business people too.
8. OBSERVATION ONE UX and product designers tend to not come from a commercially focussed background
9. UX Designers come from everywhere Formal qualifications aren’t necessary and there’s no patterns with the training people do have. Nielsen Norman UX Industry Survey 2019
10. Business skills are a blindspot Out of 358 comments, 20 mentioned ‘business’ as a useful skill. Compare that with 33 technical. Nielsen Norman UX Industry Survey 2019
12. DELIVERY FOCUSSED PRODUCT FOCUSSED
13. OBSERVATION TWO Design has a mental model problem.
14. (NIELSEN NORMAN INDSUTRY REPORT, 2019) …designers often had degrees in design-related subjects, such as graphic design, industrial design, product design, digital media, visual communications, and fine arts.
15. @GERHARDKUEHNE
17. Every time I work on a new team there’s a bit of fighting against ‘you do the UI’
18. OBSERVATION THREE Product designers are design-oriented not product oriented.
19. PAUL ADAMS, VP PRODUCT @ INTERCOM Design is not the centre of the world “
20. This is not what customers see.
22. So what??
23. REALISATION To have more impact as a designer, I needed to be a better businessperson
25. THE OPPOSITE • Become an expert in (my) business • Create new mental models • Be product orientated
26. 3 things you can do tomorrow
27. ACTION POINT Learn business basics, then learn how your business operates. #1
28. LEARN ABOUT BUSINESS, THEN LEARN ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS
29. DO YOUR OWN MBA
30. FIND A MENTOR, DO A COURSE
31. LEARN HOW YOUR BUSINESS MAKES MONEY AND UNDERSTAND IT DEEPLY Good revenue Bad revenue
32. LEARN HOW YOUR BUSINESS MAKES MONEY AND UNDERSTAND IT DEEPLY Revenue ($) 0 25000 50000 75000 100000 Last Year This Year $100,000.00 $95,000.00
33. LEARN HOW YOUR BUSINESS MAKES MONEY AND UNDERSTAND IT DEEPLY Revenue ($) 0 65000 130000 195000 260000 Last Year This Year Competitior $250,000.00 $100,000.00 $95,000.00
34. ACTION POINT Build great relationships and become a connector. #2
35. All problems are interpersonal relationship problems -ALFRED ADLER “
37. Find your way of being a connector.
39. ACTION POINT Figure out how you can best contribute to the business goals #3 (Note, not ‘how can I justify more design’)
42. One way I can help is to make this goal tangible.
43. REDUCE THE GAP FROM THE TEAM TO THE CUSTOMER
44. The best outcomes come from inspiring people to action, not telling them what to do. - JULIE ZHOU “
45. In summary
46. Improving business acumen skills will lead to having more impact as a designer
47. From the dMBA
48. THE ‘TRUE’ PRODUCT/UX DESIGNER • Knows how to communicate to various stakeholders, in their language • Forms relationships across their business and gets the right people talking to each other • Is connected to the business, shares goals with the team and knows design is a (critical) part of the bigger picture • Operates at the right level, performing the highest leverage tasks more often
49. ANY BUSINESS PERSON • Knows how to communicate to various stakeholders, in their language • Forms relationships across their business and gets the right people talking to each other • Is connected to the business, shares goals with the team and knows design is a (critical) part of the bigger picture • Operates at the right level, performing the highest leverage tasks more often
50. Thank you! @doublethought
51. THINGS I REFERENCED • Nielsen Norman Report (Link) • Paul Adams, Intercom (Naval Gazing Talk) • Courage to be disliked - Ichiro Kishimi (Book) • Making a Manager - Julie Zhou (Book) • High Output Management - Andy Grove (Book) • Emmet Connolly, Intercom (Chat with MYOB) • Measure What Matters - John Doerr (Book) • Personal MBA - Josh Kaufman (Book) • Innovator’s Dilemma - Clayton Christensen (Book)