Hunting Unicorns - What makes an effective UX Professional

Patrick Neeman, Director of Product Design, Apptio @usabilitycounts | www.usabilitycounts.com Hunting Unicorns What makes  an effective   UX Professional{

@usabilitycounts Who’s Patrick Neeman? Almost 20 years of UX and Web Experience Runs UsabilityCounts.com and UXDrinkingGame.com Built several UX teams Drinks Whiskey

@usabilitycounts What makes an effective   UX Professional?

@usabilitycounts Be A Unicorn Thank You!

@usabilitycounts Why am I even thinking about this?

@usabilitycounts I have to build teams

@usabilitycounts Patron Saint of Lost Designers

@usabilitycounts Some Articles I Found… ! Nine Essential Characteristics of Good UX Designers http://userexperience.evantageconsulting.com/2009/07/ characteristics-good-ux-designers/ ! And about nine other articles linking to Fred Beecher’s article… ! Essential and Desirable Skills for a UX Designer http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/essential-and- desirable-skills-for-a-ux-designer.php ! Which a laundry list of skills that is unachievable… ! And a bunch of short articles. Fred Beecher

@usabilitycounts Why is it hard to deﬁne what an effective UX Professional is?

@usabilitycounts There is no front door to UX… That’s part of the problem

@usabilitycounts …and there is no blueprint That makes it worse

@usabilitycounts For example… Dave Hogue Ph.D. Psychology Background Good looking Great public speaker Drinks gin (Boo) Patrick Neeman Three Time Dropout Print Design Background Has a great goatee Presentation has funny photos Sophisticated Whiskey Drinker

@usabilitycounts “When I grow up, I want to be a UX Designer.” Lion Tamer,  Print Designer, Web Designer, Creative Director,   Program Manager, Product Manager, and  Director of Development

@usabilitycounts T-Shaped Skill Set They have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the T — they’re mechanical engineers or industrial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well.” Tim Brown, IDEO CEO “

@usabilitycounts A compartmentalist isolates themselves from the other disciplines around them, not really learning what they do or how they do it.” Jared Spool Ideal UX Team  http://www.uie.com/articles/Ideal_UX_team/ “

@usabilitycounts They want us to be unicorns… …dammit.

@usabilitycounts What are the hard skills?

@usabilitycounts The Competencies of User Experience User Research  and Analytics Understanding the users through observations and data Content   Strategy Planning for the creation, delivery and governance of usable content Information Architecture Organizing information in a product or website in a usable way Interaction  Design Designing interactive behaviors with a specific focus on their use Visual  Design Designing the visual qualities in an aesthetically   pleasing way Front End Development Building the interactive behaviors to be used by the end user http://www.nickfinck.com/blog/entry/ux_career_progression_finding_a_niche_building_a_personal_brand/

@usabilitycounts Interaction Designer User Research  and Analytics Content   Strategy Information Architecture Interaction  Design Visual  Design Front End Development

@usabilitycounts Visual Designer User Research  and Analytics Content   Strategy Information Architecture Interaction  Design Visual  Design Front End Development

@usabilitycounts Content Strategist User Research  and Analytics Content   Strategy Information Architecture Interaction  Design Visual  Design Front End Development

@usabilitycounts Design Technologist User Research  and Analytics Content   Strategy Information Architecture Interaction  Design Visual  Design Front End Development

@usabilitycounts The Core Apptio Team of Five User Research  and Analytics Content   Strategy Information Architecture Interaction  Design Visual  Design Front End Development

@usabilitycounts Every Project Is Like A Different Lego Set Teams need multifaceted players — their skills ﬁt each other and ﬁt project needs

@usabilitycounts But… Is it really about the hard skills?

@usabilitycounts What are the soft skills?

@usabilitycounts So what are those soft skills? Empathy Curiosity Methodical Fearlessness Self Aware Articulate Pragmatic Passionate

@usabilitycounts Empathy Curiosity Systematic Pragmatic Fearless Self-Aware Articulate Passionate

@usabilitycounts I have to convince my developer to build a feature… Empathy Curiosity Methodical Fearless Self Aware Articulate Pragmatic Passionate

@usabilitycounts I want to understand user needs… Empathy Curiosity Methodical Fearless Self Aware Articulate Pragmatic Passionate

@usabilitycounts I want to analyze user data… Empathy Curiosity Methodical Fearless Self Aware Articulate Pragmatic Passionate

@usabilitycounts I want to sell design thinking  within an organization… Empathy Curiosity Methodical Fearless Self Aware Articulate Pragmatic Passionate

@usabilitycounts Context Matters Every situation demands different soft skills

@usabilitycounts What’s the point of this presentation?

@usabilitycounts We need to better deﬁne who we are

@usabilitycounts Hard skills are table stakes http://www.uxisnotui.com/

@usabilitycounts Soft skills turn us into superheroes

@usabilitycounts Further Reading ! The Unicorn Designer Dilemma, and How to Avoid It http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2013/07/24/the-unicorn-designer-dilemma-and-how- to-avoid-it/ ! Eight Organizational Challenges for UX Professionals http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2012/05/02/eight-organizational-challenges-for-ux- professionals/ ! Six Things Misunderstood About User Experience Designers http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2011/03/14/six-things-misunderstood-about-userexperience-designers/ ! How to Get Started in User Experience for People I Want to Hire http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2011/10/18/how-to-get-started-in-user-experience- seven-tips/

Patrick Neeman, Director of Product Design, Apptio @usabilitycounts | www.usabilitycounts.com Thank you!