How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer
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How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer
- 1. How being a jock makes a better interaction designer Interaction 12, Dublin 2012
- 2. Jock noun. - athletic person @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 3. Jock Interaction Designer noun. - athletic noun. - complete person opposite of jock @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 4. Lis Hubert UX Consultant @lishubert www.elisabethhubert.com @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 5. Lis Hubert • Shooting Guard (Basketball) • Defender (Soccer/Football) • Wide Receiver / Linebacker (American Football) • Bowler (Avg: 110) @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 6. “This design sucks! Let me design it better.” Project Team @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 7. My Amazing Production Design Ideas = @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 8. Great Design Interaction Skills Designer = @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 9. Great Interaction Design Skills Designer Selling your + = design ideas @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 10. Be a Teammate @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 11. Be a Teammate Dennis Michael Jordan Rodman @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 12. Be a Teammate "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships." ~ Michael Jordan @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 13. Be a Teammate Know what position you play @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 14. Be a Teammate Know what position others’ play @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 15. Be a Teammate Respect positions @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 16. Be a Teammate • More respect • Greater acceptance @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 17. Be a Motivator @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 18. Be a Motivator Cheer on your teammates @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 19. Be a Motivator Keep a positive attitude @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 20. Be a Motivator • Builds trust • Builds relationships @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 21. Understand Strategy @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 22. Understand Strategy @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 23. Understand Strategy Know the game plan @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 24. Understand Strategy Know how IxD contributes to the game plan @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 25. Understand Strategy • More leverage with team • Better designs @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 26. Great Interaction Design Skills Designer Selling your + design = ideas @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 27. • Be a Teammate • Be a Motivator • Understand Strategy @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 28. 100% All Star @lishubert How Being a Jock Makes a Better Interaction Designer February 2012
- 29. Thanks! @lishubert www.elisabethhubert.com
Editor's Notes
- \n\n\n
- Nothing quite says athlete...\n
- Like being an interaction designer...\n
- I’m Lis Hubert, I live and work as a UX Consultant in NYC, I’m on twitter and have a blog but who I really am is...\n
- .... a self proclaimed Jock.\n\nI’ve been playing team sports at a competitive level since I can remember, and continue to play to this day. Through sports experiences and metaphors is the top way that I view the world. I use the lens of sports as a guide to solve many of the problems I have in my life. One particular problem that I wanted to talk about today was something that happened to me early on in my ixd career. \n\nYou see in the early days we were a thorn in everyone else’s side. Everyone already had an idea of how the problem should be solved and we got in the way of that solution. Now things really aren’t that different today, but nobody told me that half of my career was going to be about knowing this. So, when I got my first project I went out and do what we all normally do. Research, sketch, etc and I couldn’t wait to show my concepts to my larger project team. But their response...\n
- was less than positive. Instead of critique or feedback I would get negativity. I would barely even be able to get my ideas out to them before they started slashing it apart. And it wasn’t long before I realized that...\n
- All the great design ideas I had would ever see the light of day. What was the point of designing for my users, if they would never be able to use my ideas to solve their problems?\n\nHow many of you have also had this frustration?\nHow many of you would like to see your designs reach production more? Well that is what we’re going to talk about today.\n
- so we can see, and what I realized is that having excellent design skills did not make one a great interaction designer. There had to be something more to work on. \n
- That something was being able to sell my ideas, myself and my profession to others. \n\nAnd when we talk today about being a better interaction designer, that is what we are referencing. This is the part that sports will help us solve, at least it did for me. The first thing I did was take a step back and really understand what the problem was. It was really that my team didn’t accept or respect me. So, the first lesson learned from being a jock that helped me to earn that respect and acceptance was...\n
- To be a teammate. On your left is MJ on your right is Dennis Rodman, two extremely successful basketball players with tremendous talent. But what you may not know is that they are...\n
- is that they are two of the most different personalities you can imagine. Think of MJ as the IxD and Dennis as the Developer, 2 completely different points of view on the same game. However they knew they needed more than talent to win all the championships they did. In fact, MJ was once quoted as saying "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."\n
- In fact, MJ was once quoted as saying "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence wins championships."\n
- The first thing that made these guys great, and great teammates is knowing their roles and responsibilities. Jordan was the “shooter”, Rodman was the “rebounder” Of course this wasn’t all the two did, but they were responsible doing so. On your team... You’re position is to be the interaction designer. Own it, but don’t be selfish about it. Do be confident about it.\n\n
- Next, know everyone else’s position. Jordan knew that Rodman was the rebounder. As the ixd, you need to know who is responsible for what. The developer is responsible for the code. The project manager the schedule, etc.\n\n
- Lastly respect the other people and their position. Don’t try to infringe on it. Show them the respect you want them to give you. \n
- If we can follow the steps to being teammates, to doing so within our project teams then we, as interaction designers, will earn our teams’ respect and acceptance. Which only makes our design discussions easier to have.\n\nSo, after I earned respect and acceptance I realized there were still other facets missing. Particularly were trust and relationships. I took the second lesson learned from being a jock in order to get these things. That is...\n
- To be a motivator\n\nThere was not a bad moment in any sports team I’ve played on, no matter how many shots I was missing (and I missed a lot) or how bad i was doing that a simple “you can do it, cheer up, or you’ll get ‘em next time wouldn’t fix”. We are missing this in our project teams today. Do you take the time to motivator your team? How do we go about doing that?\n\nI did it by...\n
- cheering on my teammates. We learn this as part of sports teams. If someone misses a shot you don’t yell at them, you say that’s ok you’ll get the next one. Be supportive within your project teams! Help people do better. When there is a tight timeline, encourage your team (devs included) instead of stressing out and putting them down. Offer to pick up lunch for someone who is busy or who is having a hard time.\n\n
- Keep a positive attitude. When there is a tight deadline don’t despair. keep your head up and encourage your teammates to do the same.\n
- By being a motivator I was able to build trust and relationships with my team. Once we establish that trust and relationships we can better advocate for our design solutions.\n\nSo now that I had respect, acceptance, trust and good relationships there was one last piece missing. I wanted to have a better understanding of how ixd fit into the project as a whole, and in order to do that, I took the 3rd lesson learned from being a jock... that is.\n
- Understanding Strategy. \n\nI want to exemplify this by pointing out the story of the most famous race in the history of sports.\n
- That of the tortoise and the hare. The tortoise had a strategy and so did the hare. The difference is that the tortoise knew his place in that strategy, and how to make the strategy a reality. The hare did not. \n
- Athletics consists of a healthy mix of strategy and execution. Without a strategy, what would you be executing on right? People who have played team sports before know this, this is a shift in thinking for those that haven’t or that are new. Good team athletes are big picture thinkers, and they are, most importantly, aware of the game plan.\n\nAre you aware of your game plan for project success? How then do you know what you are designing for?\n\nNext jocks know how they contribute to the game plan. “I know I score the points”. “I know I block the goals”, etc. \n\nBy knowing how you as the ixd contribute to the game plan, you are more likely to actually contribute and be a productive member of the team.\n
- Athletics consists of a healthy mix of strategy and execution. Without a strategy, what would you be executing on right? People who have played team sports before know this, this is a shift in thinking for those that haven’t or that are new. Good team athletes are big picture thinkers, and they are, most importantly, aware of the game plan.\n\nAre you aware of your game plan for project success? How then do you know what you are designing for?\n\nNext jocks know how they contribute to the game plan. “I know I score the points”. “I know I block the goals”, etc. \n\nBy knowing how you as the ixd contribute to the game plan, you are more likely to actually contribute and be a productive member of the team.\n
- By better understanding strategy, I was able to become a better designer because I had a lot more leverage within my team discussions. I also knew how my design fit into the whole of success and I also could target my designs towards the end goal.\n
- Even though we talked about three lessons here today, the most important thing to remember from our discussion is that being a great designer is more than having great design skills. It is also about being able to sell your design ideas\n
- By using lessons learned form being a jock we can start to really sell our ideas. and once you do that you might become something that everyone, both athlete and not want to be. \n
- An all star\n
- \n