Shaping design, designers and teams
Summary
Through his role as a team leader, and with workshops he runs with the community and his clients, he has seen how valuable it is for designers to self-reflect on who they are, and project the areas in which they feel like they should develop. Whether that’s within, or beyond the context of the organization in which they work.
Key Insights
-
•
Traditional spreadsheet methods for profiling UX skills are often cumbersome and quickly become outdated.
-
•
Visual tools like career timelines and blog mapping promote faster, more engaging self-reflection among designers.
-
•
Creating personal skill 'shapes' with physical objects such as skittles reduces self-consciousness and encourages honest assessment.
-
•
Soft skills like empathy for stakeholders, developers, and colleagues are more critical for UX success than purely technical skills.
-
•
Design leadership responsibilities overlap with domains like design ops and individual designer roles—not just confined to leaders.
-
•
A UX spectrum tool can clarify distinctions across product strategy, UI, service design, and customer experience roles.
-
•
Mapping individual skills and growth desires allows organizations to identify role gaps and better target hiring and mentoring efforts.
-
•
Most designers rarely take time for structured self-reflection without engaging tools or frameworks.
-
•
Simple peer-to-peer development methods such as mentoring, shadowing, and reviews are often preferred over formal training.
-
•
Facilitating skill-mapping exercises needs sensitivity as the process can reveal personal vulnerabilities among participants.
Notable Quotes
"Just assume we haven’t read it and keep it quick."
"Spreadsheets for profiles across an organization become really difficult to update."
"The important thing was the conversation around it. Do it quickly, explain your thinking, have a discussion."
"I’m not happy with reducing visual design down to one segment because of my previous work with those types of people."
"Soft interpersonal human relationship skills matter more than technical practice domains."
"Design leadership responsibilities aren’t just for leaders; many overlap with design ops and individual designers."
"People rarely spend time to self reflect, but visual tools help engage them."
"Hundreds of things designers are expected to do can be paralyzing; focus is critical."
"Development is often best supported through pragmatic peer activities—not just training or conferences."
"We’re human, sensitive, passionate, but fragile; we must be careful how we facilitate this kind of work."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"I jump out of bed every morning because an executive said for the first time, this feels like home, this is how I want to work."
Erin HauberDesign is Not the Frosting on the Scaled Agile Layer Cake
October 24, 2019
"Supporting authenticity in the workplace lets people be themselves, which naturally boosts confidence."
Megan KiersteadYou Are a Badass at UX: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
March 10, 2021
"The power to say no has been a blessing in disguise, helping us refocus on high priority work after layoffs."
Maggie DieringerCreating Consistency Through Constant Change
January 8, 2024
"Hubris is that belief the market will wait for your big bang release—executives have lost jobs over this."
Meaghan Waters Fotina KoutropoulousLack of Product Thinking will Doom Your Legacy Modernization
June 9, 2021
"Ultimately, we’re all here to help our companies care about the customer faster, no matter the tribe or method."
Jemma AhmedBringing together market and user research
October 17, 2019
"Start small by delivering the minimum amount of useful information, like a UX glossary or a single community of practice."
Maria TaylorKnowledge is Power: Managing the Lifeblood of the Design Org
October 3, 2023
"Screen curtain mode isn’t for sighted people simulating blindness; it’s a privacy feature to keep screens safe from prying eyes."
Sam ProulxUnderstanding Screen Readers on Mobile: How And Why to Learn from Native Users
June 6, 2023
"We were spending 90% of our resource responding to tactical queries or performance reporting — essentially marking everyone's homework."
Catherine BlizzardUsing Integrated Insight to Drive Growth
March 10, 2022
"I know who you are and I have opinions."
Randolph Duke IIWar Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
March 30, 2020
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How do enterprises balance qualitative and quantitative tools while integrating AI into UX research workflows?
How can storytelling challenge and shift existing organizational narratives effectively?
Where can UX researchers find reliable, up-to-date information and recommendations on research tool options?