Building a UX team
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Transcript of Building a UX team
Building a UX team
Jane Murison
Head of UX&DChildren’s, Knowledge & Learning
We’ll talk aboutWorking cross-location
Skills and outputs
Inheriting people
Repositioning teams
Flexibility
Keeping people and losing people
Who to hire
Bad things, like poor morale, spreaders of misery and demon greed
I’ve been at the Beeb 8 years. Next year I get
to touch the Blue Peter dog.
It’s pronounced ‘mew-riss-on’
As opposed to ‘terrorist’ or ‘in
charge’
This is one of many poor
haircuts I’ve had. I was
trying to grow it out.
My passport smile tries to convey that I
am serious but friendly. I end
up looking smug.
About my team
Dec 2009
London
Salford
Glasgow
Aug 2010 Dec 2010 Aug 2011 Now
About cross-location workingAs the line manager you need to
- go on trains
- use video conferencing and Skype
- be able to have a proper conversation on the phone or messenger
The best working relationships start face to face.
As the line managee you need to
- consider going on trains
- get used to communicating complicated things on email, messenger and phone
- trust your manager
Remember how little your manager will know about what’s going on in your office if you don’t tell them.
Quick exercise
Your job titleWhat skills you use
What skills you have but don’t use
What you want as a job titleWhat skills you’d like
to use
What skills you wish you have
Write down...
Personal development
Your job title
What you want as a job title
What skills you use
What skills you have but don’t use
What skills you’d like to use
What skills you wish you have
It would be a surprise if...
=
Applying this to teams
Your team’s scope
Team developmentWhat you want as a scope
What skills you use
What skills you have but don’t use
What skills you’d like to use
What skills you wish you have
What you make and doWhat you want to
make and do
Let’s be realistic
Miners
..don’t make wedding cakes
Another quick exerciseYour ideal team
Skillset:
Seniority:
Skillset:
Seniority:
Skillset:
Seniority:
The team now
Skillset:
Seniority:
Comments:
Skillset:
Seniority:
Comments:
Skillset:
Seniority:
Comments:
Skillset:
Seniority:
Comments:
Another quick exerciseWhat does it look like now?
Skillset: IA, content mapping, DSP
Seniority: Senior
Comments: Hates my living gutsSkillset: Visual Design, Branding
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Has potential as mentorSkillset: Flash prototyping
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Not interested in new skills
Skillset: Interaction designer
Seniority: Junior
Comments: On short term contract
Skillset: Visual Design, Branding, Typography
Seniority: Senior
Skillset: Interaction Designers
Seniority: Midweight
Skillset: User research and strategy
Seniority: Midweight
Your ideal team
What do you do?The current team
Skillset: IA, content mapping, DSP
Seniority: Senior
Comments: Hates my living gutsSkillset: Visual Design, Branding
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Has potential as mentorSkillset: Flash prototyping
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Not interested in new skills
Skillset: Interaction designer
Seniority: Junior
Comments: On short term contract
Boot him out. Dance a jig when he’s
gone.
Gently explain she needs to develop and
then reluctantly
show her the door.
Generous salary increase,
defacto team lead
Permanent midweight contract
Right?
WRONG
Skillset: Visual Design, Branding
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Has potential as mentor
Generous salary increase,
defacto team lead
The sudden increase in responsibility causes Geoff to freak out, stop working, and alienate everyone in the office.
Skillset: Interaction designer
Seniority: Junior
Comments: On short term contract
Permanent midweight contract
Yay! This goes well. Sally goes from strength to strength and is really pleased with the permie job.
Skillset: Flash prototyping
Seniority: Midweight
Comments: Not interested in new skills
Gently explain she needs to develop and then reluctantly show
her the door.
Jenny leaves the company and immediately gets a junior job at a User Research Agency, where she discovers a flair for user research. Her prototyping skills put her in a great position to develop research material
Skillset: IA, content mapping, DSP
Seniority: Senior
Comments: Hates my living guts
Boot him out. Dance a jig when he’s
gone.
Two weeks after he leaves, your boss says, “What’s Dynamic Semantic Publishing?”You have to find him on Linked In and eat humble pie
The moral is...
1. Think about what skills you need.
2. Think about what skills you really need.
3. Really?
4. Think about what your team can offer, bottom up, not just top down
5. Identify broad potential
6. Support specialists with general skills
7. Make use of contractors when you can’t be certain (but don’t be evil)
8. Reward talent with responsibility (but find ways to make it safe)
9. When you don’t like someone, ask yourself if you’re missing something
10. The team can tell you what skills they should be developing
Hiring
When hiring...Straight replacement isn’t always right.
Hire junior and then develop.
Make sure the job description is both accurate and enticing.
Use discipline tests when possible.
Make sure your interview questions actually tie to the competencies you’re looking.
Look for potential rather than software packages.
Remember to let your team learn the skill of hiring too.
Keeping people and losing people
Hiring
Sometimes, it’s okay to lose good
people
Thanks
Jane Murison@mewroh
Photo creditsFlickr - Lego Miners: mac_filko, Wedding Cake: MrB-MMX, Miner Cake: dinkydoodle.co.uk, Thai Spa: Dennis Wong, Money: CJ IsherwoodOther - League of Their Own: Columbia Pictures Corporation ©1992, The Wonder Years, Office Space, Can’t Buy Me Love: IMDB, Dick Whittington: Harrogate Theatre