Harnessing our Superpowers - Because Organizations are a Design Problem

Rebecca Blakiston's keynote for the sixth annual UXLibs conference. The conference theme is UX and organizational culture.

We know that culture eats strategy for breakfast, and shifting to a user-centered culture can be exhausting work. But organizations are made up of people, and as human-centered thinkers, we’re well positioned to lead the charge. Harnessing our superpowers of curiosity, empathy, and iteration, we’ll identify some small steps we can take today to foster a design culture, no matter our organization or position within it.

Transcript

1. Harnessing our Superpowers Because organizations are a design problem Rebecca Blakiston UXLibs VI | June 8, 2022
2. We have problems. 01
3. We might feel… 😞 Exhausted 😩 Constrained
6. 75% of academic libraries are low to mid range of maturity Young, Chao, Chandler (2020)
7. How might we climb the UX maturity scale?
8. Design culture An environment where curiosity, empathy, ideation, and iteration is infused across the organization.
9. We have opportunities. 02
10. Struggling? Others are probably struggling too.
11. They might also feel… 😞 Exhausted 😩 Constrained
12. Organizations are just people. Thinking stuff. Doing stuff.
13. We are more powerful than we think.
14. It’s not human error. It’s system error.
15. Organizations are also systems. Run by people. Changed by people.
16. structures norms processes The system contains…
17. structures norms processes The system contains… hierarchies work expectations communication workflows metrics committees governance accountability job descriptions project management level of formality planning pay grades and scales infrastructure
18. We can lead organizational change.
19. We can redesign our systems.
20. Or at least influence them.
21. Let’s get to work. 03
22. We know how to… 💕 Empathize 🤔 Be curious ⚙ Iterate 📝 Ideate
23. Harnessing our powers of curiosity + empathy
24. Understand the people.
25. What do people care about? What motivates people to action? What excites people? What frustrates people? How are people feeling? 💕 Listen
26. What do people care about? What motivates people to action? What excites people? What frustrates people? How are people feeling? 💕 Listen and why??
27. Practice radical empathy. Empathize with those least like you.
28. How could UX help them? The cynic. The naysayer. The bottleneck.
29. example intranet
30. Understand the system.
31. structures norms processes What are the highs and lows in your system? helpful colleagues road maps cross-functional teams process heavy inconsistency silos
32. How are decisions made? How are projects prioritized? Who has influence? What recent projects have seen success? What recent projects have failed? 🤔 Observe
33. example quant data
35. Harnessing our powers of ideation + iteration
36. structures norms processes What pain points can you influence? process heavy inconsistency silos
37. structures norms processes What pain points can you influence? process heavy inconsistency silos partnerships templates lightweight methods
38. structures norms processes What can you leverage in your system? helpful colleagues road maps cross-functional teams Web Strategy Group Space Planning Committee website space services coffee chats interest groups
39. How might we… • advance what people care about? • address what’s frustrating people? • collaborate with people? • leverage our systems? Generate ideas 📝
50. Pick one of your ideas. Exchange ideas with a neighbor. ⚙ Impression test
51. What are you excited about? What aligns best with your strengths? What has potential to succeed? Who could you work with? ⚙ Build on ideas
52. ⚙ Prototype Can you do a lightweight version? Could you run a pilot? How could you get feedback?
54. Let’s discuss. THANKS! linktr.ee/uxrebecca
55. Pernice, K, Gibbons, S., Moran, K., Whitenton, K. The 6 Levels of UX Maturity. Nielsen Norman Group. Spool, Jared. Driving Product Teams to Become More Design Mature. UIE. Young, S.W., Chao, Z., & Chandler, A. (2020). User Experience Methods and Maturity in Academic Libraries. Information Technology and Libraries, 39. Resources
56. ◂ Presentation template by Slidesgo ◂ Icons by Flaticon ◂ Images & infographics by Freepik ◂ Author introduction slide photo created by Freepik ◂ Text & Image slide photo created by Freepik.com ◂ Big image slide photo created by Freepik.com ◂ Overwhelmed slide graphic by Liz and Mollie Credits