LavaCon: Hunting Unicorns - What Makes an Effective UX Professional

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

@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

What makes an effective
UX Professional?
@usabilitycounts

@usabilitycounts
Be A Unicorn
Thank You!

Why am I even thinking about this?
@usabilitycounts

@usabilitycounts
I have to build teams

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.
@usabilitycounts
Fred Beecher

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

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

@usabilitycounts
For example…
Troy Parke
MSCE
Civil Engineering
Good looking
Great public speaker
Drinks Diet Coke (Boo)
Patrick Neeman
Three Time Dropout
Print Design Background
Has a great goatee and hair
Presentation has funny photos
Sophisticated Whiskey Drinker

“When I grow up, I want to be a UX Designer.”
@usabilitycounts
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.

What are the hard skills?
@usabilitycounts

The Competencies of User Experience
User Research
and Analytics
Understanding the
users through
observations and
@usabilitycounts
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?

What are the soft skills?
@usabilitycounts

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

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

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

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

I have to convince my developer to
@usabilitycounts
build a feature…
Empathy Curiosity Systematic
Pragmatic
Passionate

I want to understand user needs…
@usabilitycounts
Pragmatic
Passionate

I want to analyze user data…
@usabilitycounts
Pragmatic
Passionate

I want to sell design thinking
within an organization…
@usabilitycounts
Pragmatic
Passionate

@usabilitycounts
Context Matters
Every situation demands different soft skills

What’s the point of this
presentation?
@usabilitycounts

UX needs to
better define
who we are
so others
@usabilitycounts
get us

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

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-user-experience-
@usabilitycounts
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/

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

LavaCon: Hunting Unicorns - What Makes an Effective UX Professional

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