Raven Chai is a principal UX consultant who has observed common pain points among startups regarding UX competencies. Many startups do not properly define their target users or validate ideas, instead prioritizing features and aesthetics over usability. Job postings also often have unrealistic expectations by requesting a "UX rockstar." Chai recommends startups hire agencies initially, attend conferences to learn, and consider government grants to build internal UX capabilities over time rather than relying on a sole "UX person."

1. How Startups May Build Your UX Competencies
Hire or Just a Myth?
RAVEN CHAI
Principal Consultant,
UX Consulting
Startupz Job Fair Singapore 2013
14 November 2013

2. INTRODUCTION

3. About Myself
•
Engineer
»
Animator
»
Technologist
»
UX
Designer
•
Founded
UX
Consulting
in
2008
in
Singapore
•
Love
any
type
of
sports,
except
golf
•
A
foodie
and
will
continue
to
be
one
•
A
lifelong
Liverpool
FC
and
Roger
Federer
fan
User
Experience
Professional
Associa2on
-­‐
Asia
Region,
Leadership
Team
Founder
of
UXSG
Community
Administrate
grants
under
SPRING
Singapore
@ravenchai
3

4. What I do for a living?
Public
Sector
Private
Sector
@ravenchai

5. What I hope to achieve today?
•
Share my observations on startups’ pain points
•
Debunking UX Myths
•
Hiring situation
•
Building competencies
•
Start a dialogue
@ravenchai

6. THESE ARE MY PERSONAL
OPINIONS, EXPERIENCES
AND LEARNINGS ABOUT
CULTURE CHANGE.
@ravenchai

7. I MIGHT BE WRONG.
YOU MIGHT DISAGREE.
IT’S PERFECTLY OK!
@ravenchai

8. @ravenchai

10. Lean
UX
Metrics-­‐Driven
Design/Research
SHIPPING
IS
ONLY
THE
BEGINNING

11. The
Value
of
the
Minimum
Viable
Product
The
bare
feature
set
needed
to
prove
out
a
hypothesis
Source:
Ar*cle
from
Jeff
Gothelf,
Mar
07,
2011:
Lean
UX:
Ge>ng
Out
Of
The
Deliverables
Business
hHp://i-­‐cdn.apartmenHherapy.com/uimages/re-­‐nest/plane12609.jpg

12. MINI-EXERCISE
What are your pain points or needs with
regard to design / UX / product?

13. MY OBSERVATIONS

14. These are the common questions I usually heard
“Do you have any UX/UI designers to recommend at $100
per day?”
“Need someone to make my product’s UI pretty urgently”
“I need to improve the UX of my product badly, make the
buttons more intuitively and appealing for end users?
@ravenchai

15. Some dialogues I had with Startups
I
think
this
idea
will
change
the
world,
super
excited
about
it!

16. “So,
who
are
your
intended
users
(or
customers)
for
the
app
you
are
designing
for?”
“Everyone
I
have
just
mentioned
a
while
ago.
Furthermore,
I
believe
people
from
here
+
there
will
Kind
it
attractive
too,
we
can
extend
the
modules
to
do
this
and
that
too”
“Really?!?
Basically
you
don’t
even
know
what
speci9ic
problems
you
are
trying
to
solve”

17. “How
do
you
come
about
building
this
app
in
the
6irst
place?”
“I
6ind
it
frustrated
or
inef6icient
to
do
certain
things,
I
believe
I
can
solve
the
problem
better
through
my
idea.
I’m
the
best
user
after
all,
isn’t
it?”
“Great,
so
who
else
have
you
validated
your
ideas
with?”
“Myself,
...
and
a
couple
of
my
friends,
they
said
the
idea
is
cool!”
“Err.....
you
mean
everyone
else
behaves
exactly
like
you???”

18. “I
have
built
a
list
of
great
features
but
I
(or
my
investor)
feel
that
the
user
experience
is
not
good”
“In
what
way
you
6ind
the
user
experience
is
not
good?”
Why the UX of my
app is not good?
“The
UI
is
not
sleek
enough,
I
need
to
make
it
more
beautiful
and
attractive
-­‐
perhaps
by
adding
a
couple
of
nice
icons
here
and
there...”
“I
see,
your
de9inition
of
good
user
experience
=
better
user
interface,
no
wonder
the
user
experience
of
your
app
sucks...”

20. Dear
VCs,
these
slides
are
specially
for
you
:)
hHp://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/25/if-­‐vcs-­‐understood-­‐ux/

21. hHp://whitneyhess.com/blog/2012/08/25/if-­‐vcs-­‐understood-­‐ux/

22. Companies like Apple are making design impossible for
startups to ignore. Startups like Path, Airbnb, Square,
and Massive Health have design at the core of their
business, and they're doing phenomenal work.
But what is ‘design’ actually? Is it a logo? A Wordpress
theme? An innovative UI?
hHp://startupsthisishowdesignworks.com/

23. hHp://startupsthisishowdesignworks.com/

24. Relationship - UX is not UI
UI
UX
hHp://www.kickerstudio.com/blog/2008/12/the-­‐disciplines-­‐of-­‐user-­‐experience/

25. UX
UI
Em
oti
ona
l
how
people
feels
while
they
do
certain
things
Tec
hn
ica
l
what
people
use
to
interact
with
the
product

26. HIRING SITUATION

28. Different roles of “designers”

31. MINI-RESEARCH
Let’s look at the kind of job openings out there?

32. Singapore Listing

33. Singapore Listing

34. Singapore Listing

35. Singapore Listing

36. Singapore Listing

37. Singapore Listing

38. Singapore Listing

39. Indonesia Listing

40. Hong Kong Listing

41. US Listing

42. US Listing

43. UK Listing

44. UK Listing

45. Australia Listing

46. Australia Listing

47. Google Job Opening

48. Google Job Opening

49. Silicon Valley Job Opening

50. Silicon Valley Job Opening

51. Silicon Valley Article

52. Danger sign: UX Team of One

53. Startups - you are looking for a UX rockstar that never exist

54. BUILDING UX
COMPETENCIES

55. 1
Hire
an
agency

56. 2
Build
an
internal
team

58. 3
Bring
in
a
“full-­‐time”
agency
team
for
X
no.
of
months

59. 4
Ux
Team
as
the
“Internal
Agency”
(only
if
your
startup
has
grown
to
multiple
products)

60. Regional Conferences
User
Friendly
China
UX
Taiwan
UX
Singapore
UX
Hong
Kong
UX
Malaysia

61. Local Community Platforms
Agile
Singapore
IxDA
Singapore
chapter
SLSC
UXSG
Meetup
Design
Singapore
Council

62. Recommended Books

63. Online UX Web Resources
UIE
Blog
UX
Booth
Smashing
Magazine
Fast
Company
Johnny
Holland
UX
Matters

64. Government Grants
Design
for
Business
Innovation
Grant
Innovation
Capability
Voucher
(ICV)
Design
Engage
Programme

65. Let’s
Start
a
Dialogue

66. RAVEN CHAI
Email:
raven@uxconsulting.com.sg
Twitter:
@ravenchai
Publications
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Featured
in:
http://www.slideshare.net/uxconsulting
http://www.uxconsulting.com.sg/articles