Brad Alphonso

Squishy stuff. The intangibles. Feelings. How do they live in our organisations? Our economy? Capitalism, Communities, and the Future of Work An article from Miki Kashtan (linked in comments) got me thinking about the tension between capitalism's focus on profit and the need for strong, supportive communities. Growth vs. Wellbeing: Can we reconcile capitalism's relentless growth model with the needs of our communities and environment? Competition vs. Collaboration: Does competition in the workplace foster innovation, or does it ultimately hinder the creation of supportive networks? Profit vs. Purpose: Is it possible to create a business environment that prioritizes both financial success and employee well-being? So I'm left thinking - Is a System Shift Needed? Is it even possible? If the core principles of capitalism are incompatible with building strong communities and a purpose*-driven workforce. **Help me out with this existential question (ironically on linkedin where we're all excited to share geting more and more) **What do you think? Can we reform or do we need a fundamental shift? Are there examples of people, organisations, communities that are exploring a balance? #schooloffeels #organisationchange #culture #doescapitalismeatcultureforbreakfast #communitiesforthewin #workplacelife #collaboration #futureofwork

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Check out Allison Ravenhall's insightful talk from A11y Camp on Customer Informed Accessibility in the CommBank app. This session highlights how usability testing with low vision users revealed an issue in our App 5.0 redesign. Some of you might remember Jacob Torres Agudo and Liam Corry's presentation at The Research Society Human Insights conference, where they discussed the research journey behind the new CommBank app home screen (I might of mentioned it a couple of times, did you hear they won an award?). Allison's talk goes deeper into how our testing with low vision users uncovered an unexpected design flaw. Usability testing often gets a bad rap for being boring and low value, but for me, it's some of the most crucial work we do. A lot of the time designs pass with flying colours, but it's those moments when we uncover a usability issue that are truly invaluable. This is especially true when we're addressing the needs of users with accessibility requirements. Enjoy this super informative talk and learn more about the importance of usability testing in creating accessible designs: https://lnkd.in/gKrQTexE #commbanklife #accessibility #a11y #research #humaninsightsconference

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Why do we need equity in women’s health? One reason is that our bodies are different and so they need different research. Check out our latest report. Would love to hear your thoughts.

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🤦🏼‍♂️ Australia's move to introduce a minimum age for social media access has sparked much debate. While the focus has largely been on safety, privacy, and compliance, there’s an angle that seems to be missing: digital literacy and resilience. Banning kids from platforms until they hit a certain age may seem like the simplest way to protect them, but does it address the root of the issue? How do we ensure kids are equipped to navigate these platforms responsibly when they inevitably gain access? Social media isn’t just about risks; it’s a major part of how the younger generation communicates, learns, and expresses themselves. A blanket ban risks missing the opportunity to teach kids how to use these platforms thoughtfully, recognize harm, and build resilience in a digital world they’re already growing up in. Instead of focusing solely on age restrictions, shouldn’t we also invest in education and tools that empower both kids and parents to create positive online experiences? Whether it’s improved parental controls, digital literacy programs, or in-app guidance for young users, there are ways to approach this challenge without cutting kids off entirely from the digital spaces they’ll one day need to navigate. What’s your take? Should the conversation around social media age restrictions shift towards equipping kids for the digital world rather than simply shielding them from it? 🤔 Let’s think bigger than bans. Let’s think about building a digital ecosystem where kids thrive. #DigitalSafety #DigitalWellbeing #YoungLivesMatter #ChildRights https://lnkd.in/g_t7NzRP

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I think there may be some confusion about the difference or similarities between rapid research, rolling research, continuous research, iterative research and probably a bunch of other [insert prefix] research. In an attempt to unravel the confusion and learn about each of these, I have embarked on a new interview series. My first guest was Amanda Gelb and amongst other things, she told me all about setting up a Rapid Research program at Lyft. You can find the interview on our website and also on our YouTube channel: https://lnkd.in/ew6Uqmix If you have a story to tell about setting up an innovative program of research, I would love to hear from you. #uxresearch #userresearch #ux247

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This article from Vision Australia shares five simple tips for designing accessible web forms. #Accessibility

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Another great Macquarie Design Blog post by Leah Ochroch went live this morning. Insightful, practical tips to ensure your design is accessible for all. #design #experiencedesign #uxdesign #accessibility

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Will I ever stop talking about the business value of design? NEVER. Designers are under selling themselves if they don't know how to connect the dots. It only took me first half of my career working directly with founders to build business through different stages, plus 7 years to build my own side hustle from nearly drain out my life savings to turning over multi six figures to figured out:👇 Designers absolutely need to know more than design to succeed in the business eco system. so where do you even start? All will be revealed in this session. Warning: this talk will be filled with relationship analogies. come for a laugh 😂 ✌️🌈🚀 #businessdesign #designcareer #productdesign #uxdesign

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Next week. I'm talking about disconnection of business and design Atlassian Sydney. Looking forward to share few nuggets about getting these two to talk to each other. Thank you for the crew behind the scene Kevin Wilkins, Lydia Bradshaw, Sylvia Luk, Ashlee King, Sarah Stokes, Tim Dixon, PhD, Timothy Parker for organising. Reminder for everyone, I also run a half day in bootcamp on 21st JUNE in Sydney on - Mastering Business Acumen for Designers. Link in comment. 💬🔗 #businessdesigner #productdesigner #productstrategy

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🚨 SERVICE DESIGNERS 🚨 Before the 2nd of September, complete this survey! Your responses will help ensure that Strategic Design, Service Design, and related disciplines are properly recognised in the updated ANZSCO classification #servicedesign #design #strategicdesign #strategy #systemsdesign

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In doing research and design for ANZ, one of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how emotional and irrational finance and financial decisions can be. It's just numbers, how many ways can it be interpreted or mean right? What we consistently find is that often those mindsets and attitudes come directly from our parents and upbringing, but there are ways reclaim control and build awareness around decisioning and the role of money. A great article around financial therapy and how to improve your FWB.

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Australia is deciding on banning social media for minors, potentially up until the age of 16. As a UX designer, I think this is great, and here's why ↓↓ 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘅𝘁: "𝘈𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘪𝘬𝘛𝘰𝘬 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦'𝘴 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩." Instead of approaching multiple platforms and asking for changes (which we'll unlikely see), the Australian government has suggested age verification processes, which many other countries have also discussed in recent years. Those who oppose the idea have argued about personal freedoms. Still, they forget that social media platforms profit from all ages and do the bare minimum to create better safety for young audiences. User experience has been ranked second to profits, and big platforms would rather keep users glued to the screen than deliver ethically sound experiences. As UX designers and developers, we should not allow young audiences on these platforms if we can't deliver safe and exceptional experiences for them. Original Articles: https://lnkd.in/d8BeRjF9 https://lnkd.in/dMEWCGxY

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Thanks Steve. It's a noble quest, for sure. An effective answer should be one that will unlock someone's understanding of design, and cause them to act differently as a result. I think you are close. To me, a definition using design as a strategic capability should include the things you've mentioned. I feel it should also include bringing the ambitions to life (eg a future state experience vision of sorts). As you know, strategy is also as much about what you say no to as what you say yes to, and being very clear about the path you take to get there. Those decisions could be made with any number of customer insights or lack thereof, and therefore I would include the fact that design can play a part in prioritising, defining horizons and also de-risking the big bets.

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"Austerity service design has been going on for so long, and has crept up on us so slowly that it isn't something that we notice now" We reflect on a career of designing under austerity and how this has shaped the field of service design over the last 14 years since the 'Big Society' term was introduced Can we end austerity-era service design? https://lnkd.in/eUCP5jX6

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eSOne™ InstaNote Prototype Testing Program: Validating User Experiences and Insights #UserExperience #PrototypeTesting #InstaNote #HealthTech #PatientCare #HealthcareInnovation #HealthcareSolutions

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Design as a strategic capability What does it mean to use Design as a strategic capability? This is a question I've been chipping away at for the better part of nine months in my role at the Australian Design Council. On the one hand, there's an implied question here about what we mean by a Design capability, with hints of what 'good' looks like thrown into the mix. And on the other, what would make that capability a strategic one within the organisation. Typically, we think of a strategic capability as one that helps an organisation deliver on its ambitions. That applies equally to private enterprises, government entities, and not-for-profit organisations. It's a capability that helps do something that would otherwise not be possible, and would leave the organisation short of achieving its goals. For Design to sit in that category, it typically means some combination of the following is occurring: - design methods and processes are utilised at a high level of quality - the outputs of those methods and processes are themselves of a high quality - the areas within the organisation's overall decision-making apparatus in which design can be found are sweeping. Obviously, the phrase 'high quality' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in this description, and it's something we've spent a lot of time grappling with. Where we've landed (currently) is somewhere that feels like a description of contemporary design practice that brings with it the traditional elements of craft, aesthetic, and function; and embeds them within ideas of circularity, de-colonisation, and co-design. In practice that means Design within the organisation is an integrated part of decision-making from the executive to the shop floor, retail store and contact centre. There is a free flowing cycle of information from product/service design through distribution/sales, to customers/users, driving insight and innovation. And there's an awareness of, and explicit designing for a circular economy and long-term preservation of material value in the system. It means the things being put out into the world have been shaped by the people who will use them, particularly in the services realm, but also more broadly in the built environment and physical objects. And it means a focus on value creation rather than rent-seeking or value extraction. Of the 2.6m-odd businesses in Australia, we know that Design is an under-utilised capability. It's clear from the drop-off in the innovation pipeline that occurs as R&D efforts run into actual customers; and in the many businesses stalled in the almost-medium-sized enterprise space. There is so much additional value that can be created through this application of Design. We just need to keep pushing for it. #strategicdesign #designcapability #design

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Trauma can show up in places we may not expect, and is not restricted to specific cohorts, topics or contexts. If you are interested to learn more about Trauma Informed Design Research? Come to my next 3 part training for AU/US time zones starting June 11 (AU) /June 10 (USA) or July 10 for AU/Europe/UK time zones. (Dates for August and September on the link too). If you are interested to read some personal reflections about my journey and interest in trauma-informed design practice and how I came to see that for me, trauma was not something out there, but something that was inside of me too click the article link in the comments. https://lnkd.in/gfR2e7EK 

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On #BraveUX this week, Greg Petroff discusses the practicalities of executive design leadership 👨‍🔧, why he believes in ‘make to think’ 🏗️, and the ins-and-outs of working with product and engineering 🔀. Highlights include: ⭐ How much advocacy for design is too much? ⭐ Why do you prefer project-based teams over product-based teams? ⭐ How do you align the engineering, product and design organisations? ⭐ How have your recent experiences in the labour market changed you? ⭐ What does effective compromise look like in enterprise software design? Plus much more! - - - - - 📺 Want to watch or listen 🎧 to the episode? 👉 Find the links in the comments, or search for Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦 on YouTube or on your favourite podcast platform. - - - - - Who is Greg Petroff? A 25 year veteran of the design field, for the past 10 years Greg has led significant design organisations at some of the world’s largest and most recognisable companies 👀. Until recently, he was the vice president and chief design officer of Cisco Secure, where he led the design innovation and transformation of one of the world’s largest cybersecurity solutions providers 🔒. His highlight reel also includes being the chief experience officer at GE Digital, managing director of Google Cloud ☁️, vice president and global head of design at ServiceNow, and senior vice president of design at Compass. One of the early members of our emerging field, Greg is a founding board member of the Interaction Design Association 🔷, where he also contributed as the treasurer and as an early conference chair. A generous contributor to the field, Greg has shared his insights on stages across the world, including at TedX, the Interaction conference, UX Australia, Enterprise UX, and on the most-excellent Finding Our Way podcast 🎙️. - - - - - Don’t forget to check out the show notes on YouTube for quick-access to interview chapters, as well as where to find Greg. #DesignLeadership #UX #UXDesign #ProductDesign #CDO #CPO #ProductLeadership

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