Transitioning a team from business-centric or feature-centric to user-centric needs a guiding philosophy. Here are 12 principles I've found help me to build team morale and alignment.
Transitioning a team from business-centric or feature-centric to user-centric needs a guiding philosophy. Here are 12 principles I've found help me to build team morale and alignment.
Transitioning a team from business-centric or feature-centric to user-centric needs a guiding philosophy. Here are 12 principles I've found help me to build team morale and alignment.
Design is a team sport.
We all make design decisions, whether we know it or not. Design is not just about aesthetics. Engineering, Marketing, and Business leaders all are designers.
Mobile-First Keeps Us Lean.
Because we're at work, we tend to use our laptops, or desktops to design. Yet, our new customers will meet our brand for the first time on mobile smartphone.
We are not the users.
You may be solving your own problem, but let's ensure you're not the only one via user testing and UX research.
The user is never wrong.
A common tendency is to blaim the user for being stupid when they can't figure out our super obvious user interface. In reality it's not their fault. It's our design.
Alignment is Paramount.
Alignment is Paramount.
Alignment is Paramount.
All too often, teams fall into the downward spiral of waterfall, relay race, hand offs. This is no longer the high performace and efficient way of doing things. Instead, we must work in parrallel, and ensure we're in alignment through check-ins.
We can all sketch and doodle.
In kindergarten, if we asked your class who here can draw. Everyone would raise their hand. Either confidently or because everyone else did. In this framework, napkin sketching helps us to reengage our inner child.
Fail Fast. Fail Often.
Failure is the best teacher. Our strategy is imperfect, our user interface is ugly, and our design is flawed. That's ok. Incorporating user research into our process yields the progress, not perfection, we're seeking.
Have Fun and Users will too.
90% of startups fail. What makes you think you're so special? Don't take it so seriously, because that takes the wind out from the wings of our team. Have fun with this, and the users will too.
Learn by doing is faster.
Always be learning. Read conflicting perspectives. Use divergent thinking to think outside the box. Each person on our team doesn't have the time for a vocab test. They learn faster by getting out of the office and user testing too.
Time is the only thing we can't get back.
The bigger your team the more accommodation you have to do to appreciate each others' time. Work life balance is critical to a good mentality. If you're too busy to work with your team, there's some time management in order.
Give users money Not yourself.
Give users money Not yourself.
Give users money Not yourself.
It's easy to fall into the common mistake of focusing on bringing money into the business. This will happen at its most efficient when we focus instead on providing value to our users instead. The money will follow.
Embrace and Pivot to Process.
To win an argument you must first learn to agree. There's no need to compromise. Instead focus on synergy. Embrace each other, and pivot back to the design process as a guide rail.
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