UX LeadershipUX Scotland, 2015James Chudley

Hi, thanks for dropping by. I’d like to talk about why leadership is

critical to great design and share some soft skills you’ll need to lead

successful teams.

@chudders

Hello!

Hello! I’m a User Experience Director at cxpartners. I run

large scale user centred design projects for clients all over the

world.

@chudders

My plan for the next 45 minutes

1 Why does great design need great leadership?

2 (Soft) leadership skills to pay the bills

…..expect practical advice & please ask me stuff as we go!

This is what I plan to cover in my talk. Note the soft skills bit, my goal is to give you a bunch

of useful stuff you can use immediately in your day job.

A story of theft as I transition from a ‘designer’ to ‘leader’

@chudders

Research assistant

IA

Intranet manager UX consultant

Head of UX

Principle consultant

AuthorUX Director

Head of product

20151998

This presentation pulls together lots of things I’ve learnt from

working for great leaders along the years and have then found

successful myself.

@chudders

My lens - leading UCD projects within a UX consultancy

I work ‘consultancy side’ so that probably biases how I see the world, but the principles here

are universal wherever you work.

This is for everyone, not just ‘managers’ or ‘leaders’

@chudders

The managers job is to plan, organise and co-ordinate. The leaders job is to inspire & motivate

http://guides.wsj.com/management/developing-a-leadership-style/what-is-the-difference-between-management-and-leadership/

Adapted from “The Wall Street Journal Guide to Management” by Alan Murray, published by Harper Business.

Not many people have ‘leader’ in their job title but many of us

(however senior or not) find ourselves in situations where we need to lead others during

projects.

Why does great design needs great leadership?

@chudders

So……

Design projects are chaotic

@chudders

‘Squiggle’ by Damien Newman Central Office of Design

This brilliantly represents the chaotic and unpredictable nature

of design projects. Strong leadership is crucial to guide

people through that crazy early phase and beyond.

Outcome is unknowable, journey is unknown

@chudders

It makes sense that a journey with an unknowable destination will require a strong leader ..Me

A metaphor of a journey is useful when considering

projects. Every journey requires a leader to guide your way.

@chudders

Anyone worked on a project that went wrong?

Design/ technology projects go wrong (a lot) so you need

strong leaders to get you out of the woods.

@chudders

Loads of stakeholders (who don’t agree)

Also design projects typically involve lots of stakeholders who want to be heard and influence the outcome. Without leaders

these projects can end up trying to deliver to everyone and

pleasing no one.

Products must ship despite design being…

@chudders

Politics

Hard

Constraints

Never finished

Compromise

Opinion

A hypothesis

All of these things represent the reality of design projects. Acknowledging these is really helpful as it helps to reduce stress and keep the project

moving.

You get ‘seagulled’ by ‘HiPPOS’

@chuddershttps://www.reddit.com/r/NewCerulean/comments/27qwl3/subject_initial_field_observations_of_flying/

No-one likes being seagulled, let alone by a HiPPO! (just

imagine the mess)

(Soft) leadership skills that pay the bills

@chudders

This part of the project shares loads of soft skills and

techniques you can use today on your projects.

This stuff is easy, you don’t need an MBA…

These ‘management’ books are a bit depressing compared to those nice design books you

used to read! You don’t need an MBA to do this stuff, I promise

you can do most of it today.

Why should people follow you?

@chudders

Write down 5 qualities of leaders you admire

Copy them

1

2

Consider that if you are a ‘leader’ why should someone

want to follow you? Think about the qualities of people you admire and copy them.

@chudders

Be positive and enthusiastic

Anyone can just decide to be positive if they want to. It

makes such a massive difference on projects. I would

sooner hire on attitude over experience any day.

@chudders

Don’t (ever) take the credit & admit you failures

I’ve seen managers pop up at the end of projects and steal the glory (think John Terry).

Don’t ever do it, make sure your team get the glory. Also admit when you get stuff wrong, it

can be very liberating.

Make a plan and share your vision

@chudders

A BPre mortem

Roles & responsibilities

*Write brief & share vision with team

Identify measures of success

*Regular communication

Critique & feedback

Mid project wash ups

Internal / external showcase

Critique & feedback

Wash ups

*Share stories

Measure outputs

Here are some practical things that managers and leaders

should do during design projects. Critically you need to define and share your vision for a project and remind people of

it along the way.

Accept classic project dynamics

@chudders

‘Storming’

Effe

ctiv

enes

s

Project duration

‘Performing’‘Norming’‘Forming’

*from ‘Tuckman's model of group development’

Teams take a while to bed in and start performing. This is

completely normal. Models like this are useful because they let you know what to expect and help to explain things aren’t

working as well as you imagine.

Clarify roles and responsibilities

@chudders

Responsible Accountable Consulted Informed

Design the project

Manage scope

Negotiate deal

Responsible for quality

Run kick off

Own deliverables

Present design solution

Director PMUXDirector

Director Director PM UX

Director UX Director PM

Director Director UX PM

PM PM Director UX

UX UX PM Director

UX UX Director PM

Design projects can have lots of roles that overlap and people

have different skill sets. At the beginning of projects map out who’s expected to do what get

agreement within the team.

Make decisions

@chudders

Leisa is spot on. As a leader you need to take decisions. You’ll get some right

and some wrong but you must be assertive and make a call to maintain people’s confidence in you. Remind

people that design is never finished so whatever you choose to do you’ll learn

and move on!

Discover people’s passions

@chudders

Take the time to find out what your team love doing (hobbies, techniques etc.) then try and

find them opportunities to bring their passions into their work.

You will find yourself with a very motivated team as a result.

Say thank you & reward great work

@chudders

It sounds like such a cliche but amazing what a difference it

makes when someone genuinely thanks you for doing something.

People don't do this because they think the fact they are

being paid to do stuff makes this unnecessary. Wrong!

Credibility

@chudders

You don’t have to have been a UX’er to be a great UX leader but it certainly helps

for people to be able to trust your judgement. Either way you’ll need people to respect you to be successful, and being credible is an essential aspect of building trust. Fundamentally you’ll struggle as a

leader if you people don’t trust you!

Be accountable & protect your team

@chudders

I’ve worked out what you do, you’re basically a shit shield..A. Colleague, UX Consultant

Sounds rubbish doesn’t it but it’s an important part of the job. You have to do what you said you would do, when you said you would do it as

well as protect your team from flying objects.

Keep your distance, let it go & delegate

@chudders

This can be really difficult if you used to be a practitioner. You have to keep out of the detail so that you

can work across multiple projects and keep a high level view. You can still give people space to develop

and grow while keeping them under your wing.

@chudders

Solve problems and make things happen!

As a leader it’s often down to you to just make things happen. You have to share your vision for something and bring it to life, solving all the

problems along the way. Designers are great problem solvers so I guess it makes sense that they can also be

great leaders!

@chudders

Don’t stop talking

From regular & scheduled methods such as daily stand-ups to more ad-hoc catch ups around the kettle it’s

critical you keep talking to your team. It’s amazing what you learn

from unplanned conversations that prove critical to the success of your

projects.

Lead by example

@chudders

1. Work hard

2. Share what I know

3. Make stuff better

4. Keep it fresh

5. Make it fun

6. Keep some perspective

Like design principles but for you…

Here’s an idea for you. Why not create career principles for yourself. Think design principles but for you. Remind yourself of them often and try and live by them. This helps to remind you of what’s important to

you and helps you to not compromise your principles on projects.

Be brave and ask for feedback

‘You dealt with that situation brilliantly..’

People don’t do this because they are worried about getting bad

feedback and culturally it can be just a bit awkward. Give it a try, perhaps at the end of a project and use it as a way to continually grow in your role.

@chudders

Share your stories

Sharing stories is a great way to remind yourself of the things that have worked well on your projects. People will reciprocate with their

own stories which gives you insights into other things to try. We’re hard wired to respond to stories so use

them to your advantage.

Be honest with people

@chudders

People respect you for being honest no matter what the outcome is. I’ve found that it just makes life so much

easier, particularly when you are juggling loads of projects.

People are different

@chudders

Cultural differences

https://hbr.org/2014/09/predict-cultural-conflicts-on-your-team

I’ve been leading teams that have been spread all over Europe for the

last few years and this stuff is handy. Cultural differences (in management literature) can feel a bit stereotyped but it’s better to be aware of them

than to be taken by surprise.

This is a good book - from the 1930’s!

@chudders

‘How to win friends and influence people’

1. Smile! 2. Always remember names and peoples interests &

issues 3. Be enthusiastic and keep your problems to yourself 4. Be genuinely interested in people 5. Be a good listener, encourage others to talk about

themselves 6. Don’t criticise, condemn or complain  7. Be a good conversationalist 8. Give honest and sincere appreciation 9. Put yourselves in the shoes of other people

I was recommended this book and I must admit was sceptical about

what it could offer me 85 years after being published. I was wrong. It’s a little gem packed full of simple and practical advice about dealing with

people. Buy it!

Make it fun, fun shouldn’t be a reward

@chudders

In every job that must be doneThere is an element of fun you find the fun and snapThe job’s a gameMary Poppins from ‘A spoonful of sugar’ Please, oh please make it fun. The fun

bit shouldn’t be at the end of the project, make it during the project too! You can still do super serious, ground breaking work and have a laugh along the way. The people I’ve admired the most during my career have been the

ones who can do this, what a skill!

So if you just remember three things

@chudders

Set and share your vision

Lead by example

Look after people

1

2

3

So I appreciate there is a lot to remember in here but if you just remember three things then these would be a good place to start.

Thanks!@chudders

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I really hope you’ve found it useful and please drop me a line if you have questions,

comments or if you want me to present to your organisation.