Cyd Harrell

THANK YOU Office of Management and Budget for clarifying #PRA rules for #UX. So now Federal teams can leverage automated UX tools like Qualtrics to test prototypes at scale - so you can make #humancentereddesign an integral part of your organizational ecosystem. #customerexperience #userexperience

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Design Systems folks — when was the last time you shipped something that really felt impactful? Design Systems is in a quandary right now: somehow both a necessary part of building UI, and recognized as "not delivering value." DS teams were heavily impacted by layoffs, and as Noelle Lansford said in her great article recently (link in thread): > The teams I spoke with emphasized that there was a significant deficit between what the design system team advertised and what was delivered. However, perhaps the more concerning point they made was: Even if all of the success criteria was met, when it came to downsizing, the design system appeared redundant at best. Yikes. How can we know design systems are a powerful tool for delivering consistency, velocity, and efficiency, and also know that we’re not delivering on that promise? And forget "impact as business value" for a second — doesn’t it just feel good when someone uses your work and turns to you and says, wow, that made my work so much easier, thank you. The reality for a lot of DS practitioners is more like grinding for weeks on a component that maybe one team half-heartedly used – incorrectly? Or writing thousands of words of documentation that nobody looks at. I don't think we're "not shipping impactful work" because we're collectively bad at our jobs, or because design systems don't actually help teams move faster. I think we're focused on the wrong things.

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Craft is work done with intuitive expertise - learned deeply by conscious practice through mentorship. Craft is expensive. The mimicry and pattern replication of AI will upend digital craft much like the Industrial Revolution did for physical craftspeople (only faster). It will likely be CFOs who crush craft like origami as they optimize balance sheets. If you love your craft, find a complex niche whose business model is based on value creation not eyeball acquisition. Government especially needs you.

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tl;dr - I have free time for good conversations; please reach out and connect. I miss you. Friends After much contemplation and soul-searching, I'm thrilled (and terrified) to share that I've decided to take a sabbatical from my role as a Principal User Experience Researcher. This decision wasn't made lightly, but it's the right step for my personal and professional growth. During this time off, I'll be immersing myself in various avenues of personal development. One area I'm passionate about is expanding our definition of inclusive design by researching how dyslexia impacts the UX design profession. Personal experience has shown me that we do little to truly support some of the best thinkers who are also neuro-divergent. It's a topic close to my heart, and I'm eager to delve deep into it. Additionally, I'll be venturing into new territories that nourish my soul. From exploring life coaching, diving into alternative dispute resolution through negotiation and mediation, and a recent discovery of the death doula practice. Exploring these areas will undoubtedly be a profound experience. Moreover, I'm dedicating part of my sabbatical to finding meaningful ways to give back to my community and loved ones. I'm committed to using my design skills and mindset to support the area I grew up in. Among many ways I hope to contribute, here are a few that seem exciting and fun: Giving local UX talks, pro-bono consulting for local businesses, and running improv workshops are all near to my heart. I'll take a three-month hiatus to fully immerse myself in these spaces and see where the journey takes me. While I'll miss the dynamic world of UX design and research, I'm excited for this period of self-discovery and growth. I extend my deepest gratitude to my community, colleagues, and mentors for your support and understanding. Your encouragement has been and will be invaluable. If anyone within my network shares similar interests or would like to connect on these topics, please don't hesitate to contact me. I welcome the opportunity to engage in insightful discussions and share experiences that will help nourish you and me.

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I couldn’t agree more with this post via John Cutler. My thoughts: 💖 Finding the sweet spot on value also often requires qualitative insights and the data isn’t always available. That’s why it’s important to hire research experts to support innovation, marketing, design, product, engineering and strategy activities, building capability in the org’s systems so these disciplines can do their jobs effectively. 🚸 Key issue for orgs is that data can have gaps, be unreliable, be skewed or biased, and not all strategies, innovation or sustainable growth can be generated via crowdsourcing or via existing data. It is essential to create space and a wide lens on exploratory research as well as insight generation. Expert researchers know how to plan and execute research effectively, as well as strategising research for insight generation. 🧭 Great research generates sticky insights to guide business and product strategy as well as the collection of meaningful data downstream - effectively it is a loop. 👩🏽Tacit data, ethnographic information, customer jobs to be done, contextual data, co-design, participatory and observational research/testing to name a few approaches useful and always better when moderated by skilled researchers who know how to ask great questions, probe, observe and extract/identify bias in findings. As well as convert to insights. 👵🏾👨🏼👧🏿👬🧑‍🤝‍🧑🦽👩‍🦯🦮🤰 💙 Research integrity is key as is identifying gaps. Businesses cannot do this in two hours of research training or by taking advice from people who have completed a day long certification. Skilled experts are needed. 📊 Analytics and 3rd party services can help a great deal however these tools are only useful if a) the data is reliable b) the data is meaningful to key moments c) people know how to interpret this data and d) businesses pay attention to it and provide the correct data stewardship. cc Holly Cole

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This is a great post for designers moving into management/leadership roles. The nature of your job changes dramatically and it's important to figure out the most effective ways to help your team and the company. As noted in the article, it's very easy to have your time consumed by managerial tasks (operational work). Being deliberate about how you want to spend your time, focusing on the change you want to bring about and working consistently towards that end are critical skills to learn. #UX #Design #DesignLeadership https://lnkd.in/e_g4TRJx

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How different is Research Ops in for-profit vs non-profit? What are the unique challenges of enabling UX research in government, especially where representation is critical? Stig Parfrey has answers to those questions! We discuss all things Research Ops, including: 🫶🏾 How working in the nonprofit space allows for a direct impact and the opportunity to do good. 🏢 The overlap between ReOps in government and other sectors. 📧 How recruitment in government makes a significant impact on people's lives. 🤖 The potential of AI to enhance qualitative research. Listen now on Spotify or on your favourite podcast app. 👇🏾 🎧 https://lnkd.in/gAMs94RK 🎧

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Exciting to learn a new European Accessibility Act (EAA) is enforced. It is crucial for those designing products for EU market! US has Americans with Disability Act (ADA) UK has Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) Australia has Disability Services and Inclusion (DSI).Act EU now has European Accessibiliy Act (EAA) #accessibility #disabilityact

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More UX and Product leaders need to hear Diana DeMarco Brown (she/her)'s wisdom. Diana is a pioneer in the UX field who takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach to assessing the current state of the tech industry. In our recent conversation, Diana shared many insights, including: - How to evaluate a company's culture during the hiring process - Why private equity ownership can result in design divestment - How Product and UX leaders can effectively influence business decisions - Why we don't need to panic with the rise of AI, but we need to think critically and prioritize regulation during this early stage Link to our full conversation: https://lnkd.in/eemDimVb

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Pause, Clarify, and Strategize! In UX and project management, time pressure often dictates our pace, sometimes at the cost of deeper discovery. Yet, I’ve found that taking even a single extra day to review challenges with stakeholders can yield game-changing insights. This deliberate pause can illuminate nuances in stakeholder expectations and uncover potential roadblocks before they impact the project. While we’re often encouraged to ‘move fast and break things,’ I’ve seen how the mindful application of ‘pause, clarify, and strategize’ can create room for more effective, sustainable solutions. Taking this approach has led to a smoother process with fewer mid-project surprises and stronger buy-in from stakeholders, who appreciate the opportunity to voice their perspectives early.” #UXDesign #ProjectManagement

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The recording from last week's panel "AccessibilityOps: Beyond Nice to Have" with Kate Kalcevich, Nicole Bergstrom, CPACC, and Anna Cook, M.S. is posted! Thank you Louis Rosenfeld for inviting me to moderate this panel! And a huge thank you to the DesignOps community for submitting so many great questions. We were not able to get to all the questions, but we did answer these ones live during the panel: 1. How has the concept of designing for accessibility evolved over the past decade? And, how might it evolve over the next decade? 2. How do we move beyond “nice to have”? What is one example of how you have moved beyond “nice to have”? 3. How do we make accessibility a fundamental part of every product? How do we move beyond the checklist? 4. What's the recommendation for getting our customers to think beyond-the-checklist? 5. Do companies prefer an integrated cross-functional approach or a separate accessibility ops approach. What kind of approaches have you seen different companies take? 6. What are the questions you the vendors when assessing if they take accessibility seriously? 7. How to best to train developers and designers on accessibility? 8. Who owns the accessibility roadmap and how its governance is managed? Why does the roadmap and governance live where it does? 9. How do you balance the tension between basics and innovation in your accessibility programs, especially when guiding designers and engineers who might be more energized by the innovation opportunities vs the basics? 🔥 Last but not least: What's your hot take when it comes to implementing a11y practices? Give us your best (spicy) one or two liner that people should remember above all else. 🔥 Now I have 3 questions for the audience: 1. Do you want to hear more from from Kate, Nicole, and Anna? Who else would you nominate to talk about AccessibilityOps with the DesignOps community? 2. What questions would you want to ask an AccessibilityOps panel in the future? 3. What topics did you hear in this panel that you want to do a deep dive on? 🔑 I know I want to do a deep dive on a new three letter acronym I learned: KSP's (Key Strategic Priorities) and compare them with KPI's (Key Performance Indicators) and KEI's (Key Experience Indicators). Spread the goodness and share this recording with your teams! https://lnkd.in/gcJtpuy2 #DesignOps #Accessibility

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Design in Complex Systems: Doing Community Engagement Right How often do you communicate your design research findings to the end users? I’ve heard many experienced researchers talk about the importance of circling back, especially in communities with a higher likelihood of respondent fatigue. This hadn’t quite hit home for me. One of my current tasks is understanding the social, psychological, and environmental influences of how health data is reported and used for decision-making. There are multiple systemic influences, one of the biggest being the health financing structure and its ripple effects on reporting. Finding ways to package and disseminate learnings from our immersive research and prototyping activities in a way that enables strategic design but also minimizes the natural concerns of the potential negative impact on funding, training, and recognition has been a constant question.   This week, I participated in an experience-sharing workshop. Hearing end users explicitly ask for more in-depth findings to help them improve their day-to-day data quality and use activities has been such a strong signal that circling back, no matter the complexities, is always an effort in the right direction.

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Diversity in design isn't just a buzzword—it's a business imperative. 🌈 As a hiring manager, I've seen firsthand how diverse teams boost creativity, product quality, and profitability. I believe in building teams that reflect our users and bring fresh perspectives to every project. How do you ensure fairness during the hiring process when you have to look at portfolios? Here is my perspective on the challenges of inclusive hiring. #DiversityInDesign #InclusiveHiring #TeamBuilding

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Knowledge management is hard! I’ve spent the better part of my career dealing with these sorts challenges — at first I merely bumped into them, but now I actively seek them out and try to solve them 😅 These problems are usually way bigger than any single tool can address: I’ve been in my current role for just shy of two years and I’ve had “research repository” at the top of my priority list the entire time, but only recently have I started evaluating tools and moving toward implementing one. The timeline isn’t always so long (there were some strategic adjustments and stakeholder shakeups along the way), but the nuance of how an organization learns always takes at least a little time, and a lot of deliberate effort, to unpack — and without that understanding a research repository (or a data lake, or a wiki, or any other KM tool) is going to be like a shoe that’s the wrong size, or the wrong type of footwear entirely!

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🏔 "Accessibility gets complicated." As we work more with people with lived experience and assistive technologies, our team asks more questions and wants to dig deeper. As that curiosity grows, we’ve made investments in training so we don’t miss out on the opportunity to add to our team’s culture. → Working with our accessibility partners, we’re consistently reminded that there's a range of lived experiences that demand empathy and research. → Screen readers and assistive technologies are complex technologies with nuance that require time and exposure. → WCAG guidelines while robust, can be very technical, very deep and require someone to map multiple needs across a massive amount of information. 🔍 With some research and help from our partners we’ve collected a set of resources for onboarding and training for our team: → Google Web Accessibility Course on Udacity provides an easy on ramp for folks to get some shared language and background into the basic concepts of accessibility. https://lnkd.in/gdCFJ2-C → Digital Accessibility Foundations W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) and edX is a rare course on accessibility that provides considerations for designers and product managers to engage alongside more technical team members. https://lnkd.in/gASpZWdY → Deque University Certification Preparation from Deque Systems, Inc provides the go to certification training for engineering folks who are ready to get an official CPACC certification. https://lnkd.in/gp5rPu6J 💎 For other folks looking to setup your own resources for your team here are our big takeaways: → Make accessibility part of your team culture with simple onboarding material to get everyone on the same page. → Provide a range of resources to serve design, product and engineering team members to meet people where they are, including partnerships with organizations that can provide access to people with lived experience. → Advocate for the internal funding and work with your leadership team to consider the organizational value of getting folks on the team trained and certified. 👏 Thanks to Mike Gifford, CPWA from CivicActions for providing examples and guidance of what we rolled out for Exygy onboarding and training. 🙏 Thanks to Sean Dougherty from LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired for his invaluable input and continued partnership. #accessibility #accessibilitytraining #accessibilityonboarding

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🚀 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗣𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝗔𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲! In the latest episode of the "UX Consultants Lounge," I chat with Elizabeth Creighton, owner of Brazen, about scaling your UX consultancy through newsletters, online courses, and investing in your deliverables. Plus, we discuss the emotional journey of having to pause your consulting practice in order to take a leave of absence and how to bounce back. Tune in for practical advice and inspiring stories that every UX consultant can relate to and learn from! 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗖𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱: 🔹 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀𝗹𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀: Elizabeth discusses how starting a newsletter helped her connect with clients, maintain visibility, and generate new business. She shares practical tips on managing the workload and gaining subscribers. 🔹 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝘀: Elizabeth explains her experience developing a user interview skills course on Maven. She provides insights on choosing a platform, balancing course creation with client work, and the impact of teaching live cohort-based courses. 🔹 𝗘𝗻𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝘀: Elizabeth shares her experience in hiring a presentation designer to elevate the quality of her client and course presentations. She shares the value of investing in high-quality templates to improve professionalism and efficiency. 🔹 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Elizabeth and Kyle also touch on the challenges consultants face when needing to taking breaks for personal reasons, like maternity leave, and how to bounce back afterward. 💬 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: "𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘴𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦.” “𝘐𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥; 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵.” 🎧 𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗡𝗼𝘄: You can find The UX Consultants Lounge on your preferred podcast platform, or visit the podcast website to listen to all the episodes (𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀). 💡𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲:  You can easily jump around to different parts of the interview using the chapter links in the embedded player on the podcast website, YouTube, or your favorite podcast player. - - - - - #UX #Consulting #UXConsulting #Freelancing #UXFreelancing #UXPodcast #UserExperience #BusinessStrategy #WomenInTech #UXResearch #ConsultingLife #Newsletter #OnlineCourses #PresentationDesign

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When Dropbox shifted to #VirtualFirst, my Design team helped lead the efforts to create the new model in a way that actually reimagined modern work. By applying a human centered design approach to build Virtual First—understand what users need, develop hypotheses, design and pilot solutions, observe results and iterate— what we saw as a result was true cultural transformation. This way of working is intentionally designed to make space for creativity, tinkering and deep work, while also reserving time for synchronous collaboration and IRL time when we need it. Through this process, we quickly realized there was a need for more conversation around the unique challenges of working in distributed ways. That’s how we came up with the idea for Remotely Curious—a podcast where we dive deep into the world of remote work and the struggles that come with it. One of my favorite episodes is on the topic of setting boundaries, an art that can take practice while working remotely. It’s something we’re laser focused on here at Dropbox—83% of employees feel successful in designing their own work schedules, but we know our employees want continued support around boundary setting between their work and personal lives as we continue in our Virtual First journey. Psychologist, professor, and best-selling author Andrea Bonior joined Remotely Curious to guide us through the specifics of setting boundaries in the workplace. One lesson that really stuck with me from the conversation was the idea that "clarity is kindness." It’s easy to fall into the trap of people-pleasing, where we start equating saying “yes” as being nice and saying “no” as being “difficult” or creating an uncomfortable environment. But clarity—being clear about your limits and expectations—is actually one of the kindest things you can do for yourself and your team. As leaders in a distributed environment, this is incredibly important to maintaining balance and remaining in control of our work. Creating healthy boundaries in my life enables me to be both a better leader for my team, and a better father and equal contributor at home. By being intentional in supporting myself as well as having a support system, or a “Team Alastair” around me, I can maintain better balance so that I can be the best version of myself, maintain peak-level performance and continue to scale both professionally and personally. I highly recommend giving this one a listen, and would love to hear your thoughts. https://lnkd.in/dn8As9zG #productivity #innovation #futureofwork

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“Be who and where you are.” I’m still processing all of the amazing insights that came out of Clarity: A design systems community conference last week but several themes have been bouncing around in my head since then. → Get smaller and connect - Dan Mall and others talked about a trend towards smaller core design systems with surrounding layers of shared patterns like recipes, all being consumed by teams managing their own local libraries. This results in teams being able to move faster and eliminates the need for design systems folks to feel that have to be a bottleneck. → Be who and where you are - John Voss and others talked about building the system that your users and team need rather than conforming to what larger companies are putting out there or the oversimplified “stereotype” you yourself have unintentionally created for your product. → Listen - Ben Callahan and others talked about the need to reset our current mental models for how design systems teams see our roles and responsibilities. How do we move away from our perceived tactical responsibilities towards more listening and validating of the needs of our consumers and users? 💎 My personal takeaways from all of this have me reframing my own journey with my team from "a series of mistakes" towards "the necessary growth to become the team we are today." → When we implemented that now outdated framework, tried to centralize everything into a single bloated design system, or wrote all of that verbose documentation, we were doing what we needed to do to mature and are a better team as a result. → What my team is going through, we're all going through. The role of design in general is changing across the industry, not just in my organization. How lucky are we, that we have the opportunity to learn from each other as designers? → As team roles change, I’m curious to pivot my default stance away from “defend the designer's role”, and would be curious to see how I can facilitate “design” activities regardless of whether they are done by a designer, product manager, or engineer. I feel so very fortunate to be a part of such an amazing community and love the reminder that when you get a bunch of systems thinkers together in the same room, you're going to see patterns. Thanks again 🖤 Jina A. and all the speakers last week. #clarity2024 #designsystems #design

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