Making More UX Designers: Practical UX Apprenticeship

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The demand for user experience designers has skyrocketed. Interest in UX as a career has soared along with that demand. Every UX designer gets asked how to get into the career, but the sad fact is that there’s no real answer to that question. Although demand is high, that demand is only for designers with 2-3 years of experience or more. There are simply not enough experienced designers to fill these positions, and this experience gap is a barrier to offering potential designers a consistent path from interest to employment. Many have observed that design is a craft... How do you learn a craft? Education and practice. Apprenticeship is a model that fits that bill well, and during the summer of 2013 The Nerdery's UX team put it into practice. I want to share our program's successes and failures, our challenges and solutions, and some of the nitty-gritty details that made it go. The goal of this presentation is to make it easier for UX teams in other organizations to implement their own apprenticeship programs, which will ultimately make it easier for interested, talented, and passionate people to become UX designers.

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MAKING MORE UX DESIGNERS:Practical UX Apprenticeship Presented by: Fred Beecher

©2010 Dimension Films

DEMAND FOR UX IS VORACIOUS

SUPPLY OF UX TALENT IS… WEE

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

UX

10% - Design School

90% - Dumb Luck

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

UX

10% - Design School

60% - Dumb Luck

30% - Specialty School

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

UX

10% - Design School

30% - Specialty School

50% - APPRENTICESHIP

10% - Dumb Luck

INTEREST DEMANDAPPRENTICESHIP

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

INTEREST DEMANDAPPRENTICESHIP

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

13BOOKS READ

13MENTORS PER APPRENTICE

THIRTEENWORKSHOPSPAGES OF REFLECTION PER APPRENTICE

20

GIFs EMAILED

1,701 1,138NERDY CULTURAL REFERENCES MADE

TWENTY-FIVE

DESIGN METHODS

TWELVE

APPRENTICESHIP WEEKS

THIRTEENPROJECTS PER APPRENTICE

252MENTORSHIP HOURS

ONEEXTREMELY CREEPY FAKE DOG

2ADORABLE LITTLE DOGS

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

BUSINESS VALUE

TRACKING

PEDAGOGY MENTORSHIP

HIRE FOR TRAITS

APPRENTICESHIP ARCHITECTURE

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship flickr: johnny vulkan

• Reduce hiring cost

• Reduce lost opportunity cost

• Achieve growth goals

• Solidify client relationships

• Apprenticeship can help offset its own costs!

BUSINESS VALUE

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

HIRE FOR TRAITS, NOT SKILLSGood UXDs are…

• Passionate

• Curious about people

• Curious about technology

• Quick learners

• Detail oriented and “Big Picture”

• Thick-skinned

Good Apprentices are…

• Capable of accepting feedback

• Self educators

• Aware that UX is about people

• A cultural fit for your organization

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

PEDAGOGYLEARN OBSERVE

PLAYPRACTICE

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

DESIGN METHODSBUSINESS STRATEGY - Stakeholder Interviews

- Business Discovery Workshops

- Feature Analysis

- Communicating Business Discovery Findings

USER RESEARCH - Planning & Recruiting

- In-Person Interviews

- Remote Interviews

- Contextual Inquiry

- Survey Design & Analysis

- Web Traffic Analysis

- Research Analysis & Synthesis

- Communicating User Research Findings

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE - Card Sorting & Analysis

- Search Log Analysis

- Content Strategy

- Content Auditing

- Site Mapping

INTERACTION DESIGN - Ideation & Design

Workshops

- Scenarios, Storyboarding, & Process Flows

- Screen Layout & Design

- Interactive Prototyping

- Prototype testing

USABILITY EVALUATION - Heuristic Review

- In-Person Usability Testing

- Remote Usability Testing

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

LEARNING

READINGWORKSHOPS

PLAY

Apprentices found it extremely valuable to work through design problems together… even as a team of novices!

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

MENTORSHIP IS THE ENGINE OF APPRENTICESHIP

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Principal Mentor

Apprentices Large Design Team

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Design Manager

Apprentices

Medium Design Team

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Apprentice

Small Design Team

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Acco

untab

ility

Observation

Assistance

Mentorship

Oversight

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

Acco

untab

ility

Observation

Assistance

Mentorship

Oversight

APPRENTICE • Watches • Asks questions

MENTOR • Shows what

they’re doing • Explains why

GATES • None

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

Acco

untab

ility

APPRENTICE • Assists with

menial, related tasks

• Bills time

MENTOR • Shows what

they’re doing • Explains why

GATES • None

ObservationAssistance

Mentorship

Oversight

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

Acco

untab

ility

APPRENTICE • Executes the

method • Bills time

MENTOR • Talks apprentice

through the method

GATES • Workshop

complete • Apprentice

feels ready

ObservationAssistance

Mentorship

Oversight

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

Acco

untab

ility

APPRENTICE • Executes the

method • Bills time

MENTOR • Checks

apprentice’s work

GATES • Apprentice

feels ready • Mentor agrees

ObservationAssistance

MentorshipOversight

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

DEFINE APPRENTICE CAPABILITIES

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

TRACK APPRENTICE PROGRESS

TRACK OPPORTUNITIES TO PRACTICE©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

TRACK REFLECTIONS, THOUGHTS, & FEELINGS©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

TRACK PROGRAM FEEDBACK©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

YOUR NEXT STEPS - LAY THE FOUNDATIONBUSINESS VALUE

• Meet growth goals?

• Offset recruiting costs?

• Profitable employees?

• Client goodwill?

• Determine the length

Define how apprenticeship will benefit your organization

HIRE FOR TRAITS

• Standard UXD traits

• Additional traits?

• Undergrads?

• Grad students?

• Career switchers?

Define apprentice traits & identify key sources

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

• Choose design methods

• Write/choose workshops

• Develop reading list

• Create “play” projects

Define how apprentices will be exposed to the basics

PEDAGOGY

• How will you spread the burden?

• What different levels of mentorship are required?

• What should apprentices be capable of?

Define the mentorship structure of your program

MENTORSHIP

YOUR NEXT STEPS - INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN

©2014 :: @fred_beecher :: #uxapprenticeship

YOUR NEXT STEPS - SET UP TRACKING

TRACKING

• Forms, spreadsheets, databases, processes, etc.

• Progress & feedback

• Practice opportunities

• Feelings & reflections

• Program feedback

Set up the infrastructure you need for tracking

Fred Beecher UX Apprenticeship Lead !

fbeecher@nerdery.com nerdery.com/fb @fred_beecher !

slideshare.net/fred_beecher/

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