Shoo be doo, How do you do? Who Am I?

You should listen to this song while you read my post

I’ve always struggled to tell people what I do. Not that it matters much, but it makes me think a lot about it. At the hospital, despite what I say, the doctor still puts down, ‘IT Technician’. My family say, ‘website designer’. My friends say, ‘She does something weird’. Some others, ‘She works with computers’. So I went to a clinic.

A UX clinic. What was I diagnosed with? Ignorance mostly. There’s still a lot I am having to learn, and learn really fast too. The clinic was organised by UK UPA in conjunction with UX London. It was technically one of such events for those who could n0t secure a ticket for UX London holding the same week.

The format was Q & A, with a panel of speakers, who were going to be answering questions from the audience (on and offline). The names I recognised were J Spool and Luke W. It was an All American panel, no complaints here. I had a bit of regret for not sending off questions, my rationale was that I’d love to hear what other folks were tackling. There was no wifi and I had no phone to tweet in my questions when they finally came to mind.

The QA began.

One of my key learnings was around talking,

Talking to the top in an organization - Do not speak to folks at the top of the food chain without figures, it would make everyone’s life easier. Speak in language people understand, that is why you do UX.

The most captivating question was,

Skill Set: What should a UX designer know? There was a huge discussion over this, but I tended to favour Jared Spool’s argument even if he wasn’t quite clear.

A UX designer should definitely to able to recognise Great Visual Design and Great Code, even if they don’t want to or actually have enough skill to build/design. A UX designer should understand quality principles. A UX designer should understand prevailing technologies so they can find the best fit for what ever it is that is being built, When should you use Flash? Flex? HTML5? Javascript? JQuery? Is it HTML/CSS that should be changed? Should Magnolia be called? What Database? Which Development team?

These are some of he things I encounter every day, and a good UX designer will not only do a better job with this knowledge but they will earn the respect of the people in these teams., thus creating a better ork environment for everyone. No one can really complain about anything when things are in sync.

Best Answer for the night went to Jared Spool’s answer on a graduate’s entry into the UX market. After someone had put the usual out there graduates should do any job they can pick up and internship. He suggested that this really had to change. People didn’t go through 5/6 yrs of school to come out to do free jobs. If its an internship, let it be paid! they are going to be doing real work, so why not pay them. I felt it because haven graduated in 2010, and didn’t get an internship until 10 months after, it was quite a hard transition.

Book to Check out Shaping Things by Bruce Sterling (I’ve started reading it)

School to Check out Brightworks (A game changing school in the States)

There was a brief talk, about how we ought to do away with titles, something I’ve written about before but then you realize it’s necessary for communication. At the end of the day, I thought ‘Really, I’m going to tell everyone I’m an architect’ At the least, everyone can understand this, and truly is what my role at present is all about.

Traditionally, An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings.

Digitally, An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of digital builds (and much more) so there.

Who am I? What do I do? I am an Architect..Digital.

Growing Up.

My boss called me into a meeting room and said to me ‘Antonia, you need to grow up’ I was stunned, ofcourse I don’t give a believable poker face and he quickly added, ‘No’ *chuckles* ‘You are no longer a Junior here’ The first I thought of was ‘Already? Have I improved that much?’ Apparently, he thought so. Pleasing a German is no mean feat *pat pat* but I have pushed myself, not just in the quality of deliverables but out of my comfort zones and quality of engagement.

I started out learning the ropes and I stuck to one project at a time. I had to deal with people who use our products, Customer engagement officers, Developers, Product owners, Business Analysts, Gaming Analyst, Quantitative analysts. Some times I thought, ‘whoa the graphic designers have it easy’ But the beauty of my responsibility is being enable to bring all these elements, these resources to work together for the greater good.

Am I the best I can be? Not even close. I’m having to stepup every single day plus there are skills that I left behind I need to pick up again.

What are my strengths now?

Sticking to my word. If I state I’m going to deliver something, I deliver it. Sometimes you have to underpromise and over-deliver.

Handling Pressure. My boss said he was pleasantly surprised at how I managed to keep going and thinks it’s really good on me.

Listening to others. We should never ‘own’ projects. The result is always a collaborative effort. UX is never down to one person. But my job as a UX-er is to listen to what others are saying, and filter according to the vision of the project. It is not ‘my way or the high-way’ I particularly love how a project comes together and you know all who had an input, we are all proud.

Next Steps?

Again, I need to up my pro-activeness. I got feedback recently that I was too quiet in the boardroom. While I will never be ‘the voice’ because I’d rather absorb information and then go to work, I can make better preparations before meetings so I understand and absorb much faster, and actually say my thoughts on the matter.

Using information. The UX team is lucky to have people who solely analyze user behavior and feedback off applications and our websites. These bits of information and research really go along way into our designs. I have to utilize this at every chance possible.

Maximizing time. One of our team members had to leave recently due to unfortunate circumstances. Right now, my workload has doubled even though we’d get replacement. I’m not sure it will ease but I think it’s a good thing. I need to learn better how to spread products out and use my time wisely. Seek out the right people who are involved on the projects, get questions out there, iterate and feedback.

Exciting Times!

So I am officially a Middle Weight UX-er now (Can’t wait for April, so my salary would reflect this. lol ), I got to interview possible junior candidates and even though I did feel a bit odd being on the other side, I was excited that I’d be able to mentor someone in this role.

Finally, I need to give credit where it is due. Yesterday I was at work, after dark and went to the kitchen to get a meal before heading out (long story). I met my CEO in there and he asked me how the six months have gone. ‘Really ok’ I smiled. ‘Your Boss’ he said, ‘Your Boss is the best, you are in good hands’ I laughed and replied ‘Oh yeah, He has set a real high standard, but I’m getting there’ ‘Your Boss is the best, and it is good for you’ ‘Yes’, I thought, ‘I want to be like him and better when I grow up’.

The Story of A Donner

I almost killed myself on Friday. I had gone straight home after work, I was really tired and couldn’t stomach any alcohol or jokes, I only wanted to eat and sleep. This time, I was just going to order some food from my favorite food app, HungryHouse, too tired to cook.

So I did, it and they came quite fast too. I had never ordered a donner before, if I knew how it looked I really wouldn’t have (Should suggest this to Hungry House), but I was achingly hungry at the time, and proceeded to dig into the wrap.

Two minutes later, I was choking. I even went ahead to embarrass myself by gatecrashing my Landlady’s Ladys night out. They were all surprised while I sat in their midst positively out of breath with a heart rate threatening to make me implode. They helped me calm down as I was having a Panic Attack.

Five hours later, I found my self in the back of an Ambulance headed to Northwick Park. How did this happen I thought to myself. I’m quite surprised that people say there are no Atheists in Foxholes. I never once, thought to myself,  ’God help me’maybe I did but I can’t remember, I had thought, How did I do this to myself? and How can I get out of this situation?.

Fortunately after an X-Ray and examinations, I got off with a bruise on my throat, pain in my neck and chest area, which was guraranteed to ease in three days, and bruised pride.

Glad to be alive, It made me understand how much important details are. The big picture which I could see quite clearly was satisfying my hunger but I didn’t pay much attention to the details of how to get there. A single detail neglected or badly done/designed is capable of destroying the whole picture.

Story Cubes

A colleague introduced me to Rory’s Story Cubes yesterday, which I thought would be a useful UX tool, for brainstorm workshops, idea generation and much more. The Graphic designer who showed me, said he uses it, when he has to come up with game concepts and the like.

How it Works

It’s all in the roll of dice. There are nine dice with 6 faces which have different pictures.

You can roll three at a time, and find a way to connect the pictures to what it is you are doing or what you want to work on.

It forces you to be creative by connecting the ‘dots’

Try it.

First Work Day of the Year.

This is the first time, I’ve had to get back to the same job in a new year. In the past, I’m always starting something completely new or school.  By 1pm, lunch time, I had cleaned my computer files, arranged them, sent all non-entities to the trash and emptied it.

A cup of tea.

Ran through my project files, trashed non-entities and arranged the files accordingly.

Had a chat with a member of my team on holiday events, UX predictions for the year and our team.

All done before 1pm,

What next to do?

I am not used to this.

Finally settled on project updates, and some reading was in order. I felt revived and fresh, ready to take on the year. My work resolution includes;

Pro-activeness – Being an INFJ to the core can get in the way of this, but if I’ve been given the go ahead (“Don’t worry, you can bother me anytime”) chances are, I will run with it. I have to get to asking more questions, and recommending on the go.

Work Value – I’d love to increase the value of the projects I work on, by increasing standards and communicating as clearly and contained as possible.

New Skills – I want to take some time to hone my existing skills and add on new ones e.g I’d love to be able to understand back-end technology more, this would definitely impact on my dealings with Development.

So help me God.

Smurf Me, I Smurf You.

The Smurfs, I.Love.Them. When I was younger we watched the Smurfs, recorded them on video cassettes, and got Smurf merchandise. Those blue people rock! What’s even better the Smurf language! However this post is not really about the Smurfs.

Today is my last monday at work for this year, and while I have to work as a ‘designer’ I always think about ‘design’ in every way, while I’m on holiday, eating, christmass-ing it will be there.

So what am I trying to write about? Design has become well… Smurfy I should be very happy. I have to say thanks to one of those I follow on Twitter (@annettepriest), who gave me this insight. To understand read up The Smurf Language It all started with my observation that well, there’s been a lot of ‘fights’ in the ‘design’ community. Everyone is writing up blog posts faster than I can say JACK, countering some person’s opinion, what is even more glaring is that there has been the lack of context in which these posts are written. One person says Design is everything, another person says Design is just ‘Somethings’, I’m sure a Smurf will probably know the true answer.

CONTEXT!! ok..:) We are not Smurfs, so we aren’t somehow intune with everyone’s mind. I think it will really help, if people talking about design, define the context, refer to it all through as they talk about ‘design’

My own opinion is, in the context of solution providing, Person + Tool = Solution, where Design is the Tool. Design is A WAY not the only way. This is different from Creativity which is mainly the ideas one has with Design being one way to actualize such, one tool that I have chosen, a tool I love. Please people let’s think more about Context, and perhaps much more Intuition

Oh Christmas time!

It’s that time of the year again! High Blood Pressure and Innocence go hand in hand..No wonder Santa Claus is in red and white. We had a design challenge to decorate our work spaces, I still don’t know who won but I got to snap a photo with Santa. For the first time in my life, I’m trying to build a Christmas list, I may end up not using but it will still be a far cry from the days of Christmas Dresses and Shoes.

I also had my first official Office Christmas Party, oh my! did I fret! The Dress Code said ‘Dress to Impress’ the none-specificity almost made my brain explode, Impress who? what? why? Still, I managed to find something after running a hurricane through my room.

The party was really well done, fake smoke, snow, a cross-dresser, live band and a big club, great! However being in a place out of my comfort zone, was tasking. My first drink was a spritzer and then I went on to observe my colleagues in this environment. Had long chats that made me wonder why chatting is encouraged in clubs, I would need an amplifier for my mouth and a reciever for my ear next time.

What I really love is that although I left the party at about 12 am, ( this pained me as the best music just started playing but it was either the last train or £70 cab fare) I managed to leave with some useful nuggets.

Bosses are human too. I managed to see a number of my bosses even in the dim light, and even met the CEO at the door. It seemed, well surreal; how could anybody be intimidated by anyone here, I thought. So, do people really change depending on environments? I don’t think so. It now seems quite ridiculous that back at work, one would allow another person no matter the rank intimidate them. We are all made of the same flesh and bone, really.

Everyone loves a good time. I am not kidding, everyone was knocking back drinks and digging it on the dance (in the limited way they could) It was amazing seeing everyone in a good mood. I immediately connected this to the worksphere. I think one of my tasks is to make sure that those that depend on me for one thing or the other, have a good time. Users, Business, Colleagues, Bosses…if I can do one thing everyday that makes them have a good time, I will be pleased (It’s also likely I’d get a raise )

Always take responsibility. I only had three glasses of alcohol; a spritzer, a wonderful cocktail with syrup and rum, a glass of champagne. I could have had more, but I thought if I wanted to leave at 12am (my initial exit time was 10pm) and in one piece, taking more would be funny. There is always a point where you can either say Yes or No, where you can analyze the decisions you are taking and choosing whichever. People that say, ‘I had no choice’ make me wonder. I could decide to do my work better or just laze around all day, All I would need to ask myself is what I am trying to achieve and own up to what ever choice I take, even if it is tumbling into a £70 cab at 4am.

Fret Not. Everyone was too busy having a nice time to really notice what I wore, though I had a number of compliments. One of my colleagues even wore a teeshirt and jeans just as he had gone to work. The aim of the party was to have a good time, and have fun as workmates, so why did I sweat the small stuff. I learnt that focusing on the important things will be more rewarding anytime, how do you know what is important? Look at the overall aim or goal of the task (Agile swears by this).

You can learn in any situation. I had a long chat with two people, in that limited time, learnt quite a bit. There was a discussion on lots, from drugs to careers to countries. The party itself gave me something to take away with, and even though I wasn’t exactly ‘into’ it, I was happy.

Learning could be fun, and fun could be learning. yay. Each day I hope to leave work with something..Today I’ve learnt to use tact better..(OUCH)..and some people need humble pies (:o lol)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!