Presentation given at the 2009 IA Summit by Dorelle Rabinowitz, UX manager at eBay. Its chock full of practical advice and stories on how to inspire your team to do great work.

1. Motivating UX Teams:
Inspiring people to do great work
Dorelle Rabinowitz
IA Summit 2009
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2. About me
‣ Designer. Information Architect.
Manager. Storyteller.
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3. What went wrong at the HPL?
‣ Loss of confidence
‣ Unclear expectations
‣ No performance feedback
‣ Lack of 2-way communication
‣ Lack of goals & challenges
= Zero motivation
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4. But I fixed it
‣ Found an ally
‣ Asked for feedback
‣ Initiated responsibility
‣ Inspired trust
and was able to do great work
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5. Top
reason
people
leave
their job?
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6. Top
reason
people
leave
their job?
Their
manager
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7. So where are
the strong?
And who are
the trusted?
And where is
the harmony?
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8. Managers provide the foundation for success
‣Setting the stage
‣Building and trusting the team
‣Leading day to day and design activities
‣Share information freely
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9. Setting the stage: making stuff happen
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10. SETTING THE STAGE
Understand yourself - manage your confidence
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11. SETTING THE STAGE
Clear goals go a long way
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12. SETTING THE STAGE
Clear obstacles
‣Help get stuff done
‣Prioritize
‣Fight procrastination
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13. I’m just a soul whose intentions
are good
Teamwork starts with understanding
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14. TEAMWORK
Understand roles and responsibilities
‣ Manager ‣ Get work done
‣ Lead ‣ Critique
‣ Team ‣ Hands on (or not)
‣ Stakeholders ‣ Get everyone on the
same page
‣ Clients
‣ Assign /delegate
‣ Group/Company tasks & priorities
‣ Get rid of obstacles
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15. TEAMWORK
Understanding team’s strengths/weaknesses
‣ Know what they’re good at and what gives them
trouble
‣ Can you tell when they’re feeling good and
when they’re in a rut?
‣ Can they come to you when they’re in trouble?
‣ What are their personal goals? Career plans?
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16. TEAMWORK
Hire smart
‣ Hire great people and trust them to do their job
‣ Let them do it their way and feel free to tell you that
the way you suggested was wrong and why
‣ Lose bad apples - one bad apple does spoil the
whole bunch
‣ Set boundaries - can you be a friend and a
manager?
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17. TEAMWORK
Over-communicate to build community
‣ Positive reinforcement - a pat on back goes far
‣ Celebrate accomplishments in public
‣ Help everyone see what everyone else is up to
‣ Care enough to confront and correct
‣ Give away the credit
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18. TEAMWORK
Manage emotion
‣ Keep an eye out for complainers
‣ Be a problem-solver to resolve conflicts
‣ Email or in person - whats the appropriate
medium?
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19. TEAMWORK
Gaining respect and earning trust
“I need to be able to look up to my manager
and feel that I can learn from them. If that's
not the case, I am having a hard time
accepting them as a superior”
“Be yourself. Be honest. Set boundaries
and then let it go”
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20. Day to day activities
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21. Day to day activities
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22. Day to day activities
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23. Day to day activities
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24. Day to day activities
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25. A word about design feedback
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26. Three major kinds of design reviews
‣ Peer Reviews
‣ Extremely frequent and informal
‣ Meet 1:1 with designers and stakeholders
‣ Quick feedback on explorations and ideas
‣ Team Reviews
‣ Regularly scheduled
‣ Team provides guidance to improve usability and solve open problems
‣ Collaborative refinement of solutions
‣ Stakeholder Reviews
‣ Scheduled for key project milestones
‣ Stakeholders validate design against competing needs
‣ Decisions based on prioritization of objectives
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27. Sharing info freely
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28. Dealing with
‣ divas
‣ people who want your job
‣ bad projects
‣ uncertain economy - layoffs
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29. Thanks to the photographers on flickr...
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jannem/510243975/
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/64086520@N00/1234372727
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/genuinelam/314061316/
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisarellano/
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/clintjcl/232296239
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitesidetheatre/3110914201
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/jontintinjordan/43060641
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/leonandloisphotos/226800605
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/livlab/2871901572
‣ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pierodemarchis/408123668
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30. Questions?
‣ dorelvis - twitter, IM
‣ dorelle_at_dorelvis.com
Copyright © 2009 Rabinowitz All rights reserved.
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