UX Like Us

As the pandemic recedes, unprecedented numbers of employees seek new jobs that better suit the new reality of work-from-anywhere. And as the economy recovers, companies need to fill roles put on hold or eliminated during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Space industry is shaping up to be one of the most significant growth areas in the market, estimated to exceed $1 Trillion by 2040. All this growth leads to new opportunities for User Experience professionals. Join us as we chat with Paul Lumsdaine, UX Designer at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, about the unique challenges facing Designers in space.

Show Notes

Building successful products requires Design, Product, Engineering, Marketing, Support, Documentation, Operations... everyone working together. So why do we continue to structure our organizations in silos? This week Larry and Roman discuss how to align people, goals, and incentives with cross-functional teams while continuing to mature and evolve skills with communities of practice.

Show notes

The right answer to every question does in fact depend on the context. But answering every question with "It depends" makes designers seem spineless, undermining others' confidence in our ability, judgment, and leadership. In this episode, Roman and Larry offer practical suggestions for building decisiveness and eliminating "It depends" from your vocabulary.

Designers should be given the freedom to make the best design they can without the fear of their designs getting changed for arbitrary reasons. This is a tricky scenario because design leaders have to believe in the designs their team produces. In this episode, we discuss finding a balance between trusting your designers and leading them in a positive direction.

Also, Larry got a puppy and is definitely not dead.

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In a world where everyone has to learn online, why are the platforms so bad? Larry and Roman discuss the user experience of distance learning sites and some low hanging fruit that could make life a little easier for students and their parents.

We also briefly discuss Alexa’s push to be more proactively helpful, and follow up on the Anova Precision Oven’s capabilities when it comes to making holiday prime rib.

Episode art by Giu Vicente on Unsplash

Show Notes

Larry and Roman wrap up 2020 with a discussion of Design Ops (after a quick diversion into the Anova Precision Oven). In the last few years Design Operations (or DesignOps, as the cool kids call it) has emerged as an important role for a lot of teams. We discuss what Design Operation are, what kind of teams need DesignOps, and the right way to say it.

Show Notes

Larry and Roman explore the design of robots in science fiction and real life. Should robots have faces? What about gender? Are Asimov ‘s Laws of Robotics enough for responsible robot design?

Product Designer Jordan Singer (@jsngr) recently shocked the design world with his Figma plugin that renders interface designs using narrative text as the input. Larry King (@LAKing) and Roman Bercot (@Stuporman) discuss whether designers have reason for concern in this episode of UX Like Us.

Show Notes

Summary

With #DesignTwitter becoming increasingly toxic, @LAKing and @Stuporman take on one of the issues making designers lose their minds:
Is everyone a designer?

We discuss a bit of background, why it matters, and our own takes on the issue as well as the dumpster fire design discourse has become.

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Summary

Roman Bercot and Larry King discuss a variety of maturity models and how to choose one that suits your needs. What is a maturity model? What is a model used for? Which model works best? Listen to this episode for most underrated tool in the designers tool belt.

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Show Notes

Kelly Nakawatase (@UX_Kelly) joins the show to share her experience entering the design field as a graduate of General Assembly. 

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Show Notes

Summary

Roman Bercot and Larry King explore Clayton Christensen’s Jobs to be Done framework and whether product design professionals need this “occasionally useful gimmick.” What is a JTBD? Why should designers use them? How many milkshake jokes can we make? And the new Staples branding gets a nod on Stuff Designers Love.

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18 years after the Agile Manifesto was published, Agile development methodologies dominate the way we make software. But are any of these methodologies truly Agile? Roman and Larry discuss the 4 Agile Values and 12 Agile Principles to see where we have gone astray.
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Show Notes

As designers realize greater impact and influence in their organizations, Design Ethics becomes an increasingly important discussion. We start the conversation with the UX of Ts & Cs, the Surveillance Industrial Complex, and designing weapons.

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Show Notes

Nelson Yu, Director of Strategy and Business Development at Experian, joins us to give a product manager’s view of the overlap between PM and Design. And you’ll never guess what Nelson picks for Stuff Designers Love!

In light of several high-profile redesigns greeted by user revolt, Larry asks when is redesign the right move? How might we allow for user choice, while also allowing us iterate and innovate? Stuff Designers Love: indoor skydiving.

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Show Notes

Kevin M. Hoffman, author of Meeting Design, discusses the power of culture in our organizations. What shapes culture? What transcends cultures and works across contexts? What levers can we pull to influence our cultures, regardless of title?

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Larry and Roman discuss exciting new talks from UX Camp DC presenters:

Larry considers the overlap between UX and Product Management. And a great new sketching app for iPad Pro.

What do you think of the Stuff Designers Love jingle? Let us know what you think on Twitter.

@LAKing and @Stuporman

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