5 Habits to Accelerate Your Career In UX

Summary

This video script emphasizes five key habits for boosting a career in UX design: practicing critical thinking, being well-prepared with thorough research, focusing on relationship building, embracing change management, and thinking beyond design to align with business goals. It also introduces 'gravitas' as a unifying habit, encouraging designers to contribute meaningfully to the business's bottom line and take their work seriously.

Takeaways

• 🤔 Cultivate critical thinking in UX design to avoid assumptions and make informed decisions.
• 🔍 Prioritize research as a continuous habit to enrich decision-making and demonstrate preparedness.
• 🤝 Focus on building relationships and partnerships for effective communication and collaboration.
• 🛠 Embrace change management as a key discipline to drive design maturity and organizational improvements.
• 🎯 Aim to be a change agent, understanding strategic timing and diagnosing issues for impactful design.
• 📈 Think beyond design to align user needs with business goals for meaningful outcomes and KPIs.
• 💼 Develop a business mindset to connect design hypotheses with organizational objectives and strategies.
• 🧐 Practice gravitas to be taken seriously, contribute meaningfully, and demonstrate confidence in your work.
• 📚 Continuously learn about business to transition from a design team to a wider organizational team.
• 🏆 Pursue a balance between advocating for users and contributing to the business's Northstar and OKRs.
• 🚀 Invest in change management skills to become a design leader who shapes design organizations and outcomes.

Q & A

What are the key habits mentioned in the transcript that can boost one's career in UX design?

The key habits mentioned are practicing critical thinking, being prepared for more than you think, focusing on relationships, being a change agent, thinking beyond design, and developing gravitas.

Why is critical thinking considered a crucial habit for UX designers?

Critical thinking is crucial because it helps UX designers question assumptions, make informed decisions, and avoid taking requests from stakeholders at face value without proper research.

What does the speaker suggest as a method to improve critical thinking skills in UX design?

The speaker suggests honing critical thinking by practicing it proactively, using tools like Socratic thinking, and asking meta-questions to put puzzle pieces together for better decision-making.

How does being prepared for more than you think you should be contribute to career progression in UX design?

Being prepared contributes to career progression by ensuring that designers have an agenda, know the outcomes, and can enrich their decisions with enough signals, which makes them appear proactive and trustworthy.

What is the importance of focusing on relationships in UX design?

Focusing on relationships is important because UX design often faces challenges due to communication issues and misunderstandings. Building partnerships can help in making meaningful changes and being perceived as a team player.

What does the speaker mean by 'being a change agent' in the context of UX design?

Being a change agent means being involved in change management, which includes understanding strategic timing, diagnosing issues, and creating action plans to improve design maturity within an organization.

Why is thinking beyond design important for a UX designer's career?

Thinking beyond design is important because it requires designers to balance user needs with organizational goals, ensuring that their work results in meaningful outcomes and contributes to business objectives.

What is the role of gravitas in a UX designer's career?

Gravitas plays a role in making a designer appear serious and capable, contributing to the bottom line, and being taken seriously by stakeholders, which can lead to more opportunities and career growth.

What is the speaker's approach to discussing these habits in the video?

The speaker's approach is to share these habits as transformational for their career, attempting to discuss each habit within one minute to make the content concise and engaging.

How does the speaker emphasize the importance of research in the context of being prepared?

The speaker emphasizes the importance of research by stating that it's a habit and a discipline that should be employed before making decisions, enriching the designer's ability to make informed choices.

What feedback did the speaker receive during a job interview that made them reflect on their approach to UX design?

The speaker received feedback that they were focused too much on business and not enough on the user, which made them reflect on the importance of balancing user needs with business outcomes.

Outlines

00:00

🤔 Developing Critical Thinking in UX Design

The speaker emphasizes the importance of critical thinking in UX design, suggesting it's a skill that should be honed rather than just developed. They highlight the prevalence of poor critical thinking among junior designers, who may make assumptions without sufficient research or question the validity of business stakeholders' requests. The advice given is to practice critical thinking proactively, questioning all variables and oneself, and to apply tools like Socratic thinking to make more informed decisions. The speaker also shares a personal anecdote about the importance of research and framing experiments to prove design hypotheses.

05:00

📚 The Power of Preparation and Relationship Building

This paragraph focuses on the necessity of being over-prepared in UX design, equating research to a habit that should precede decision-making. The speaker stresses the importance of having a clear agenda and being well-researched to enrich decisions and communicate effectively with stakeholders. They also discuss the value of building strong relationships in the field, acknowledging past difficulties in being too rigid with UX standards and forgetting the need for pragmatism. The paragraph concludes with the assertion that focusing on relationships and being a change agent are crucial for career progression in UX.

10:01

🛠 Change Management and Thinking Beyond Design

The speaker discusses the role of a UX designer as a change agent, underscoring the importance of change management skills in the field. They describe change management as a strategic habit involving understanding the timing and process of implementing changes within an organization. The speaker also talks about the need to balance user advocacy with business outcomes, suggesting that focusing too much on one aspect can limit career growth. They advise thinking beyond design, aligning design hypotheses with business goals, and developing an operational mindset to accelerate one's career in the industry.

💼 Embracing Gravitas for Professional Credibility

In the final paragraph, the speaker introduces the concept of 'gravitas,' which they learned from a manager and found transformative for their career. Gravitas is defined as a serious demeanor that contributes to the bottom line and commands respect. The speaker suggests that developing gravitas involves taking a more active role in business discussions, conducting thorough research, and preparing diligently for meetings. They conclude by summarizing the discussed habits and inviting viewers to explore more on the topic through other videos, indicating the significance of these habits in their personal career transformation.

Keywords

💡Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgment. In the context of the video, it is emphasized as a skill set that UX designers need to hone and practice proactively. It is crucial for making informed decisions and avoiding assumptions, especially when dealing with user needs and business requirements. The speaker mentions that a lack of critical thinking is evident in junior designers who might cut corners or take requests for granted without questioning them thoroughly.

💡Habits

Habits, in this video, refer to consistent patterns of behavior that can shape a person's professional principles and identity. The video focuses on the idea that certain habits are transformative for a career in UX design. These habits are what keep the designer in check and are essential for engaging with stakeholders effectively. The speaker shares five habits that have been particularly impactful for their career progression.

💡Research

Research, as discussed in the video, is a fundamental habit for UX designers. It is not just a one-time activity but a continuous practice that informs design decisions. The speaker stresses the importance of being prepared with research before making any decisions, which ties into critical thinking. Good research helps in framing experiments and seeking evidence to support design choices, much like a scientist would in exploration.

💡Relationships

Relationships in the video pertain to the importance of focusing on people first in UX design. The speaker highlights that many issues in UX stem from communication and misunderstandings. Building strong relationships and partnerships is crucial for a successful career because it fosters trust and collaboration, which are vital for making meaningful changes in an organization.

💡Change Agent

A change agent is someone who initiates and manages change within an organization. In the video, the speaker mentions being a change agent as a key habit for UX designers. This involves understanding the strategic timing and the process of implementing change, from diagnosing issues to creating action plans. It is an essential skill for advancing in a career, especially when joining an organization that requires improvement in design maturity.

💡Change Management

Change management is the structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state. The speaker underscores that every UX position involves some aspect of change management. It is about understanding the strategic aspects of change, including the time required for policies and strategies to take effect, and is a skill that is often underrated in the UX field.

💡Business Logic

Business logic refers to the underlying principles and strategies that drive a company's operations and decision-making. In the context of the video, the speaker advises UX designers to think beyond just design and focus on how their work ties into the business goals and outcomes. This includes understanding operational mindsets and ensuring that design efforts contribute to meaningful changes in business metrics or KPIs.

💡Gravitas

Gravitas, as mentioned in the video, is the quality of being perceived as serious and dignified. It is a habit that the speaker learned from a manager and found transformative. Gravitas involves taking a stance that contributes to the bottom line and being seen as someone who is serious about their work and its impact on the business. It is about developing confidence and practicing it in a way that commands respect and is taken seriously.

💡Stakeholders

Stakeholders are individuals or groups that have an interest or concern in a project or organization. In the video, the speaker talks about the importance of engaging with stakeholders effectively. This involves being well-prepared, having an agenda, and sharing meaningful insights that can enrich decision-making processes. Building trust with stakeholders is crucial for a successful career in UX design.

💡Design Maturity

Design maturity refers to the level of sophistication and integration of design practices within an organization. The speaker mentions that UX designers rarely join organizations where design maturity is at its peak. Instead, they often need to work on improving design maturity through change management and strategic initiatives. Understanding and working towards enhancing design maturity is a key aspect of a UX designer's role.

Highlights

The importance of cultivating habits in UX design for career progression, regardless of career stage.

Critical thinking as a foundational habit for UX professionals, including questioning assumptions and conducting thorough research.

The advice from Haan on becoming adept at research and framing experiments for better decision-making in UX design.

The application of Socratic thinking in UX to question subjects, stakeholders, and oneself for deeper insights.

The necessity of being over-prepared in UX, emphasizing the value of research before making decisions.

The significance of focusing on relationships and communication in UX to avoid misinterpretations and foster understanding.

Creating partnerships as a key habit for career advancement in UX, influencing design maturity and organizational change.

Being a change agent in UX, understanding the strategic timing and processes involved in change management.

The underrated skill of change management in UX and its impact on an organization's design maturity.

Thinking beyond design to align user needs with organizational goals for meaningful business outcomes.

The balance between advocating for users and contributing to business objectives in UX leadership roles.

The concept of 'gravitas' as a habit for UX professionals to be taken seriously and contribute meaningfully to the business.

Developing gravitas through research, critical thinking, and taking an active role in business discussions.

The transformative impact of the discussed habits on the speaker's career in UX design.

The invitation for viewers to explore more about these habits through additional resources and live streams.

Transcripts

there's a lot you can do to actually

boost your career in ux design doesn't

matter if you're just breaking in or if

you're a senior or if you're a manager

like there is an endless amount of

learnings and you know it could be

technical it could be soft skills but

the habits the habits is what it's going

to come down to the most because those

things are what's going to keep you in

check they're going to shape your

principles they're going to shape you

who you are how you do things how you

engage with stakeholders and so forth

and as such let me share a few habits

which kept me in check and actually

boosted my career

[Music]

progression and these are five habits

right there could be more but these were

the most transformational for me and the

results I got in my career so far and to

make it even more fun let's put a timer

on it I'm going to try to do that in 1

minute each I don't know if I'm going to

succeed but let's attempt it minute

number

one let's talk about the first habit

which is practicing critical thinking

and I'm not going to say develop

critical thinking because of course it's

a skill it's a skill set you could spend

a lot of time looking at it but it's

really honing critical thinking and

proactively practicing critical thinking

because it's so uncommon the lack of

critical thinking is very evident when

you have a lot of especially Junior

people who come into the field and they

just say oh I just want to do a app

design for this and then figure out ux

around it or they try to kind of cut

corners and instead of focusing on

projects they focusing on case studies

or they don't do enough research about

the user needs and they make a lot of

assumptions or just take the request

from the business stakeholder for

granted we don't apply critical thinking

questioning if it's right if there's

more to this if there's more statistics

or some sort of qualitative data which

could inform your decisions better so

you can make more critical decisions for

example I had this podcast with Haan

just the other day and we discussed

critical thinking and her advice was

I've repeated this so many times and

people never do it it's really becoming

really good at research and I don't mean

knowing how to interview people or I

mean like when you design you're

actually trying to get frame your

experiment you're trying to figure out

what is the proof proof like when

scientists

that in Exploration they're trying to

design the proof I I used this example

before and meet my pm at the time said I

was right but I got yelled at by the

researcher so I said it's sort of like

you know when when you run those

experiment with mice and then you you

block the Maze and the mouse goes a

different direction So you you're

basically building different mazes to to

see what the mouse would do the the idea

that you're you're thinking critically

about what you want to happen when you

design and then you're also thinking

critically about about different

dimensions like scope you can't make it

all happen at once so you're trying to

say what am I trying to prove first what

Behavior am I trying to scale but my own

simplified take on that is that critical

thinking comes with questioning more you

could apply tools like Socratic thinking

which is basically questioning not just

the subject not the user not just the

stakeholder the surrounding variables

but Al yourself it's basically asking

meta questions and then putting the

puzzle pieces together and then making a

decision of what's right to do to

research more or design more or take a

project in a certain direction I think I

blew through that minute but let me try

to see if I can compact the rest so the

next

one is really being prepared for a lot

more than you think you should be

prepared because research is not just

about doing user research research is a

habit it's not just a practice it's not

just a discipline or skill set

it's not just the methods you employ

it's the habit of researching first

before you make decisions again it's

kind of going to tie in into critical

thinking a bit but besides that point

you should be always prepared for each

and every session you should have an

agenda you should know what the outcomes

are you should do a bit more research so

you have enough signals to enrich your

decisions but also share meaningfully

with a stakeholder which is aside or who

you're interacting with that's going to

boost your career because you're going

to be looked at someone who knows a bit

more than anyone else or someone who can

tip the needle in the right direction

you're basically going to perceived as

someone who's much more proactive as

someone who can be trusted in a way and

trust is such a massive thing in career

in teamwork in relationship building in

success and on that note habit number

three is focusing on relationship ships

focusing on people first and ux is

difficult yet again and again which I

repeat so many times because of a people

because of communication because of

miscommunications because of fasm

between being understood and

understanding others and as such you

need to focus on relationships and I say

this I don't say it lightly because I

have had so many issues with that

because I sometimes tend to be too

formidable in my ux Approach too

standards heavy sometimes forget to be

pragmatic even if I pride myself to

being pragmatic and trying to find the

right solution and situation push back

lightly at that but sometimes and often

it's easy to forget that it's easy to

just go with a methods with a standards

with the things you read up on the

Internet which says that you must do

design a certain way I've been guilty on

that you probably noticed that on the

channel as well I know this but the

Habit which is going to excel your

career is ability to create partners

ships because without the Partnerships

you're not going to tip the needle on

the design maturity improvements or the

change you seek to make and the Habit

number

four is the change making or being what

I think debb levit from Delta CX calls

being a change agent if I put it

correctly she was on our podcast back in

the day and we had such a good chat

every ux position you're going to have

if you're at actually doing ux design is

going to have to do with a change

management you're rarely going to join

organization which has it all sort of T

where design maturity is at its peak at

three or four or five on the scale of n

design maturity let's say it's never

that and change management is a set of

disciplines almost it's a lot of

philosophy involved it's a lot of

understanding of a strategic timing and

how much time do policies take how much

time does the good strategy take take

how much time do you need to spend in

the action plan in the policym in

understanding and diagnosing the issues

and things of that nature change

management is such a underrated skill in

ux it's such an underrated Habit in ux

or a had someone has to wear as a change

agent but it's necessary because again

you're going to join an organization

tomorrow which might be big Tech and we

have their crap in order let's say we

don't you're always going to need to

make change

or if you don't you're going to get

frustrated you're going to leave that's

just usually how it goes and as such

invest in change management think about

what else can you do think about in what

sort of scenarios you could make it

happen how much time it would take who

to involve and exactly what the action

plan could be it's a strategic habit and

that's what makes design

leaders and habit number five Thinking

Beyond design actually I remember

applying for this job for one of the big

companies I'm not going to name them

because it doesn't matter but I got

rejected because I was focused too much

on business and not enough on user

that's exact feedback I got after

interview meeting them in person and

doing a workshop together now at that

point I took it personally but they

shouldn't have you know why because I

should have been more confident and

reflected that at that level at the lead

level at the staff level you should be

focusing as much on the organizational

goals and outcomes as much as the user

needs there has to be a good balance

you're not just there to advocate for

the user or design screens you're aare

to actually do that so it results in

some sort of meaningful change for the

business meaningful outcomes meaningful

Northstar increment or kpis or okr

exchange there has to be some sort of

connection to the specific Quant you're

going to change and as such business

logic operational mind mindset and

thinking about exactly how your changes

or ideas or hypothesis are tying into

the business are going to accelerate

your career probably the most important

thing you could do to your career

especially as you get more and more

senior and it's never too early to do

that even if you're a junior still

learning tools or a senior who already

learned your tools and you have so many

methods in your mind it's time to you

know buckle up and learn more about the

business because you are going to get

into that organization ation realm and

hopefully at some point become maybe a

business executive or someone who's

managing the teams or the future design

leader who's shaping design

organizations as such your team is going

to become not really a design team it's

going to be wider organizational team so

business business business I lost count

of how many habits I shared so far and I

think I could keep going so do let me

know if you want more maybe I'm going to

make a live stream but I'm going to

finish off with this one the last habit

which is gravit

a couple of months ago I already made a

video of this so check it out it's

something I learned from one of my

managers back in the day and it has been

transformatory because it really

summarizes all those different habits

together because you need to do the

research you need to critical thing you

need to think about business yada yada

yada it kind of ties into this gravitas

because it ties into your stance and

being more valid being looked at someone

who's serious but serious in a sense

that you contribute to the bottom line

and you're not just there to take orders

and produce something which might be

thrown away nothing boils the blood of

especially experienced designer when

they feel like they are wasting their

time or they feel like they are not

being taken seriously enough and

gravitas is the answer how you develop

it obviously is focusing on it your

mindset your habit should be how can I

stand more serious today than yesterday

how can I stand more serious in this

Workshop how can I contribute more

instead of taking a back seat or

cruising a bit or kind of taking the

easy route how can I become more

confident and actually practice it and

it's really simple speaking out doing

due diligence research and preparing for

the things coming up like an equal

partner in business because you are

there in business and that's what

gravitus means so summary of all those

things and now there's a lot more again

the these were the most transformatory

in my specific career if you like this

video as per usual check out other

videos I'm going to leave the links

floating somewhere here and on that note

I'll see you next time