The Race

By Dr. D.H. (Dee) Groberg

Photo by Jonathan Chng on Unsplash

This poem continues to move me to tears every time I read it. It motivates and inspires me to get up each time I fall. I hope it does the same for you.
—Brandon E.B. Ward

I

“Quit! Give Up! You’re beaten!”
They shout at me and plead.
“There’s just too much against you now.
This time you can’t succeed.”

And as I start to hang my head
In front of failure’s face,
My downward fall is broken by
The memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will
As I recall that scene;
For just the thought of that short race
Rejuvenates my being.

II

A children’s race–young boys, young men–
How I remember well.
Excitement, sure! But also fear;
It wasn’t hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope
Each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that,
At least take second place.

And fathers watched from off the side
Each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad
That he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went
Young hearts and hopes afire.
To win and be the hero there
Was each young boy’s desire.

And one boy in particular
Whose dad was in the crowd
Was running near the lead and thought:
“My dad will be so proud!”

But as they speeded down the field
Across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win
Lost his step and slipped.

Trying hard to catch himself
His hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd
He fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope
–He couldn’t win it now–
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished
To disappear somehow.

But as he fell his dad stood up
And showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said,
“Get up and win the race.”

He quickly rose, no damage done,
–Behind a bit, that’s all–
And ran with all his mind and might
To make up for his fall.

So anxious to restore himself
–To catch up and to win–
His mind went faster than his legs:
He slipped and fell again!

He wished then he had quit before
With only one disgrace.
“I’m hopeless as a runner now;
I shouldn’t try to race.”

But in the laughing crowd he searched
And found his father’s face;
That steady look which said again:
“Get up and win the race!”

So up he jumped to try again
–Ten yards behind the last–
“If I’m to gain those yards,” he thought,
“I’ve got to move real fast.”

Exerting everything he had
He regained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead
He slipped and fell again!

Defeat! He lied there silently
–A tear dropped from his eye–
“There’s no sense running anymore;
Three strikes: I’m out! Why try!”

The will to rise had disappeared;
All hope had fled away;
So far behind, so error-prone;
A loser all the way.

“I’ve lost, so what’s the use,” he thought
“I’ll live with my disgrace.”
But then he thought about his dad
Who soon he’d have to face.

“Get up,” an echo sounded low.
“Get up and take your place;
You were not meant for failure here.
Get up and win the race.”

“With borrowed will get up,” it said,
“You haven’t lost at all.
For winning is no more than this:
To rise each time you fall.”

So up he rose to run once more,
And with a new commit
He resolved that win or lose
At least he wouldn’t quit.

So far behind the others now,
–The most he’d ever been–
Still he gave it all he had
And ran as though to win.

Three times he’d fallen, stumbling;
Three times he rose again;
Too far behind to hope to win
He still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner
As he crossed the line first place.
Head high, and proud, and happy;
No falling, no disgrace.

But when the fallen youngster
Crossed the line last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer,
For finishing the race.

And even though he came in last
With head bowed low, unproud,
You would have thought he’d won the race
To listen to the crowd.

And to his dad he sadly said,
“I didn’t do too well.”
“To me, you won,” his father said.
“You rose each time you fell.”

III

And now when things seem dark and hard
And difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy
Helps me in my race.

For all of life is like that race,
With ups and downs and all.
And all you have to do to win,
Is rise each time you fall.

“Quit! Give up! You’re beaten!”
They still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says:
“GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!”

Define Success to Achieve It

Photo by Hanson Lu on Unsplash

The contract said the product required an "Audit log." That was it. The web app for a major hospital chain with 35,000 users wanted an audit log, and we were under contractual obligation to deliver one. Whatever "audit log" meant.

When I say audit log, what jumps to mind? Is it:

• A log of CRUD (create, read, update, destroy) activities for key parts of the system?

• Is it a log of every change event system-wide?

• What does this log data capture? Who? What? When? Okay, what about deltas? What about related or effectual changes?

• How often is this data written?

• Who has access to it?

• How is it accessed?

• Is it just a database, or is there a UI?

• If there's a UI, what kind of visuals are there?

• Is it searchable? Filterable?

• What is the point of the audit log? Is it for security? Audits? Paranoia? Legal compliance?

• When someone is viewing the audit log, what are their goals? Why are they there? What are they looking for?

• Is there any reporting? Are there rule sets that trigger flags or alarms? Where are those managed? Who manages them, and how?

I'm sure if I asked all of you, I could triple the length of these questions. These are just the core, fundamental questions one would ask regarding a feature like this. Well, these are the questions one SHOULD have asked regarding a feature like this before promising to deliver it.

Photo by Stephen Dawson on Unsplash

The budget was gone, time was up, and everyone was frustrated

When the day finally came to tackle these and so many more questions about the audit log, the budget was gone, time was up, and everyone was frustrated with the project. You see, this was only one of the hundreds of features that had been called out in bulleted lists in the contract without any real definitions, requirements, or criteria. Because nothing was clearly defined, every single task was a meeting requiring several hours of conversation between clients, project managers, scrum masters, designers, and developers. Everyone had their own interpretation of what each feature meant, and nothing was written down. Even when there were mockups to demonstrate how a particular feature might function, due to a lack of requirements regarding integration with other parts of the system, even fully-built "done" features were constantly tossed, re-written, broken, updated, and on and on.

The audit log would be one of the worst offenders. This project (that we inherited from another company and team) would take more than double the original budget, and 9 months longer to ship than originally "planned" (obviously, planning wasn't part of the setup process for this project). Even when it shipped, it lacked significant functionality the client had hoped for. Everyone was sad, tired, and spent.

This is a story about setting yourself up for success (or failure)

Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash

This is a story about setting yourself up for success (or failure). The good news is it's not really that hard to do when you do it at the right time. The bad news is it's really hard to do if you don't and can cause innumerable problems, heartaches, cost and time overruns, angry clients, and more. The recipe for success is actually pretty straightforward:

Define success

Set clear, articulated goals

Don't underestimate level/time of effort

Under-promise, over-deliver

Do you want your projects to be great? Make every client happy? Deliver everything on time, and under budget? Fantastic. Those four points are the key, the rest is execution. I don't mean to devalue execution, because frankly, it's everything. But as the saying goes, failing to plan is planning to fail, and all the great execution in the world can't save you from poor planning. Great outcomes are achieved when goals are clearly articulated.

What is the definition of success? This is the first (and often middle, and last) question I ask when we are proposing/planning/kicking off a new project. When we, as a team, are able to clearly define what success means to each of us, we can set up a project that will drive us towards that definition. No matter what state you're in, beginning, middle, or end, you can always look back at the definition of success and see if you're on or off track. When you're done, you can categorically point to the definition and say with confidence that you expertly delivered on your promise. Everyone wins. If you don't have a “success” definition, then it's constantly up for debate and redefinition. Clearly pivoting at crucial times is important. You may find that your original definition lacked wisdom or detail, or maybe you learned something new since then. It's okay to, as a group, redefine success when significant changes occur. What you do not want to happen is that everyone has a slightly different opinion as to what success looks like. When that happens, no amount of expert execution will make everyone happy, and the project will ultimately fail.

Clear, articulated goals pave the path to success

Photo by Courtney Smith on Unsplash

Clear, articulated goals pave the path to success. Now that you've defined your destination (success) you need a map to get there. That map is a list of clear, concise, detailed goals to break down "success" into measurable pieces. These are most often found in the form of BRDs (business requirements documents) and acceptance criteria in stories. For designers, our job is usually to uncover and place these landmarks and signposts to guide the teams that follow behind on the trails we blaze. Virtually every design tool (contextual inquiry, interviews, journey mapping, user study, usability study, heuristic analysis et al) are meant to mine the minds of stakeholders, users and more so we can collectively create specific goals that, all together, combine to form the product or service we're building. You skip any of these steps, and it's like taking shortcuts in the untamed wilderness. It's like telling someone to bring you a rock. They bring you a rock. You say no, that's not the rock I'm looking for, bring me another rock. Ad infinitum. Have you ever been on a project that was lead that way? I have. It's torture. Don't do it to yourself or others.

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast

“But Brandon!” You exclaim. “All this takes time, effort, and money. We have to kick this off NOW! Aintnobodygottimeforthat!” Bless you, my sweet, summer child. The military has a nice little axiom for just this argument: Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast. This is truer in software than just about anything. Moving fast and breaking things may be fun at first, but it's costly, and we've already discussed what happens to projects that try to function that way. An old boss of mine used to say, “we need to slow down to speed up.” Sounds like The Sphinx from Mystery Men, but it's true. Stop. Think. Articulate. Define. Refine. Plan. Do these things, and your execution will be faster. But it won't just be faster, it'll be better, with fewer iterations necessary, fewer bugs wrote, fewer changes necessary. Spend as much time as you can sharpening your axe so you have to swing it less and with less effort.

Photo by C D-X on Unsplash

Sometimes along the way, you discover the target has moved, or a million other things may have changed, and all that perfect planning is completely invalidated. Did you waste your time? No. First off, one of the reasons you're likely able to recognize that the plan/target/efforts are no longer valid is because it was so clear to begin with. You are able to recognize when something isn't right because you were following a map and you now see it was upside down. Fantastic! What a great time to slow down to speed up! Pause, reassess, adjust plans/definitions/budgets/timelines/requirements et al until things are back in alignment, then execute again with abandon! Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast! Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time and money making it.

Measure before, during, and after

Photo by Fleur on Unsplash

How can you know if you're off course, or if you're holding the map upside down? You know because you are constantly measuring what matters. You measure before, during, and after. You monitor. You keep your finger on the pulse of each element of the project, looking for signs of atrophy, necrosis, and rot. You're also looking for bloat, smell, and itchiness. These are all metaphors we use to understand the negative aspects of projects. I can't tell you how many times someone has said "this smells funny." And usually, they're right. If you're paying attention, monitoring, thinking, measuring, reflecting back on the plan, against the criteria, rechecking the definition of success, you'll spot things that are leading you astray, or are causing your project (and people) pain and suffering.

If it’s so easy…

So if it's so easy, why do seemingly good projects go bad? How did the audit log issue (and that project in general) get so far gone? Well, in my team's defense, we came in mid-project when everything was already on fire, and we just tried to land the project as quickly as possible before we ran out of fuel and/or burst into flames. We saw first-hand what it was like to try to execute on a project that skipped literally every single one of these critical planning steps (and some we didn't even address here). We did our best to move forward.

Looking back though, even then, we thought since it was already on fire, we just needed to finish everything as quickly as possible, rather than, you know, putting out the fire with good planning and definition. We felt that moving fast and fixing things was a better approach. We were unequivocally wrong. I can state with no hesitation that, if we were to go back in time and take on that project again, here's how we should have done it:

1. Pause all development

2. Define the actual scope (success) of the engagement and append it to the contract

3. Write out every epic, feature, story, and task with relative acceptance criteria

4. Require interactive prototypes, not annotated PDFs

5. Updated required budgets and timelines against new scope (success)

Once we'd adequately addressed these items, we could then allow development to proceed. I guarantee we would have delivered faster, more reliably, and for less money.

Now, as you go back to your projects, or begin the next one, don’t plan to fail by failing to plan!

Define success

Set clear, articulated goals

Don't underestimate level/time of effort

Under-promise, over-deliver

Photo by LOGAN WEAVER on Unsplash

I Failed. But I’m Getting Better.

Photo by Paul Gilmore on Unsplash

This hurts to write. It hurts to fail. A lot. I failed hard a few months ago. But I’m getting better.

One day everything is perfect. The next day I’m almost fired.

I worked for years to build a relationship with a potential client. Then one day, that relationship bloomed into contractual work. For three months I got to do organizationally-challenging, mindset-shifting, real-world-changing work with them. Everything was great! We even got another team at the client to do a second project with us. It was then that I got too comfortable. I got casual in my relationship, and as a result, offended someone, and damaged the relationship I worked so hard to build.

I never got a warning. I never had a one-on-one where they explained what happened. I’m literally still not quite sure exactly who was offended or why. One day everything was perfect. The next day I was almost fired.

I was hurt. I was confused. Exclamations echoed in my mind—“I’m a good person! What did I say? Who are my accusers? Why can’t I defend myself? What was the context? This isn’t fair!”

The Villain Unmasked

The details aren’t really important. My boss was able to share with me third-hand some of what happened. But honestly, I didn’t remember the instances, and upon review, they seemed contextually trite. But again, with half a year of perspective, I realize now that the details don’t matter. What matters is that others were offended by something I said. It doesn’t matter why I did it, or if I didn’t mean it. Someone was hurt, and they were hurt by me. Because I am not the victim in this story. I am the villain. It’s taken me a while to figure this out, but, as I said, I’m getting better.

It doesn’t matter why I did it, or if I didn’t mean it. Someone was hurt, and they were hurt by me. Because I am not the victim in this story. I am the villain.

It stings to discover you’re the bad guy in a story. Your brain doesn’t want to process it, and actively works to prevent you from accepting an idea contrary to your own, currently-held biases (in this instance, identifying as the victim). It’s like that moment when, as you watch the LEGO movie, you realize you are President Business. (Yes, that happened to me as well). In theatre and cinema, the best evil antagonists are played by actors who know a little trick: The villain thinks they’re the good guy. I can’t begin to sort through and describe the gamut of emotions I’ve gone through the past couple of months, as I’ve slowly discovered this. It still hurts. I haven’t even been physically able to issue an apology or make any kind of restitution. I’m simply cut off. But again, I have to remind myself — I am not the victim here.

I failed, but I’m not a failure.

It’s a simple truth that as a consultant, you’re less than expendable to your client. You’re whatever the client needs you to be. Sometimes that means you shoulder the failure of a project (even if it wasn’t you). Sometimes that means you’re the target of blame (even if it wasn’t you). Sometimes that means you don’t get the benefit of the doubt (even if you should). You simply go away. These are actually all selling points of why you hire a consultant in the first place. When you’ve never had a client relationship go sideways, it’s easy to forget these facts. I pride myself on my client relationships. It’s perhaps the thing I’m best at. Or was best at. But, I’m getting better.

The fact is, I failed my client by not understanding or empathizing with how they expected our relationship to function. I failed my client by blindly, and unknowingly hurting them with casual words. I failed my employer by failing my client. I failed my family by failing my employer. I failed myself by failing my family. I failed, but I’m not a failure.

A Failure to Empathize

As an Experience Designer one of the key pillars of the Triforce of UX is Empathy. It is, perhaps, the most critical emotional skill you can have as a designer. Maybe as a human being. You must channel the thoughts, feelings, habits, routines, and mental models of the people you’re solving problems for. My CEO has written two books on customer experience. He talks a lot about keeping your clients’ needs top of mind and trying to provide your clients with solutions not just to the problems they hired you to address, but also provide solutions to issues they hadn’t even anticipated yet. I lost sight of one of the critical components of the consultant/client relationship. Clients aren’t your friends. You aren’t your clients’ friend. My role as a consultant is to solve problems and provide value to my clients. To ensure that they feel they get more value out of our interactions and my deliverables than the fee they paid. That’s it. Everything starts there. In the end, I wasn’t able to empathize with my client and proactively address their professional needs, because I wasn’t looking at them through the proper lens. In effect, I’d designed my interactions with the client using the wrong persona. I couldn’t empathize with them because I didn’t truly know them as I should have.

They say the sale doesn’t start until the customer says “no.” Perhaps it’s not much of a stretch then to say growth doesn’t start until a client fires you.

I am sorry for causing any discomfort or distress to my client. I am sorry for the pressure it put on my team to adjust for my abrupt departure from the project. I am sorry for the uncomfortable conversations that were had by everyone surrounding this whole mess.

So What?

I’d like to mention how grateful I am to my employer for not firing me. They could have. Easily. But, once my boss had reviewed all the data, he didn’t believe it warranted dismissal. So instead, we had a radically candid 1:1 where we discussed how and why this all happened, and how we’d ensure the client and project were handled moving forward (under a new manager) to ensure future success. Now, damaging a relationship with a client could easily garner a pink slip, but instead, he used this as a teaching moment to help me become a better manager, consultant, and professional.

So…what am I doing about it? How will I learn from this, ensure that it never happens again, and help others avoid it altogether?

The short answer is anything and everything. Like most of us, I’m figuring this out as I go. The first thing I’ve done is radically shortened the list of topics open for discussion with clients. Work is work. There are times and places for discussions of various topics, and work should carve many of those topics out completely.

Next, I’ve tried to weave a stronger filter between my brain and my mouth. (I think this is something just about everyone can use a healthy helping of from time to time). Not every stupid little thought that blunders its way across the stage of our minds needs to be trotted out the mouth for all to hear. The first step of this is continuing to improve my active listening skills. We have two ears, and one mouth and should be using them in a similar ratio. Perhaps if I’d been a better listener, or even simply spoken less, this all could have been avoided. I’m painfully reminded of the adage “Tis far better to keep one’s mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

Next is this article. I don’t know what will come of it. I don’t know what people will make of it. It may be the only apology I get to offer my client. I’d like to make amends, and repair any damage if possible, but that remains to be seen.

Lastly, it may simply be that the purpose of my experience has been to serve as a warning to others. Let my mistakes help you avoid making any of your own.

It hurts to grow. A lot. I’m growing now. I’m learning from my failures.‬ I’m thankful for more chances. I will do better.‬

When we’re successful, we worry we got there by accident. When we fail, we feel justified in our self-doubt. But we can’t allow failure to color, hinder, or prevent future efforts. We must double-down on investing in ourselves, knowing we’re worth it.

I failed. But I’m getting better. You may fail. But you’ll get better too.

Here’s to future opportunities, major personal improvements, growth, and most of all, to second chances.

The Triforce of UX : Part III — Humility

3 Qualities To Seek In Your Next UX Designer

Read Part I here. Read Part II here.

Having conquered the big bosses Apathy and Indifference to obtain the Triforces of Empathy and Curiosity, at last, our hero faces the greatest force of destruction the world has ever known: Pride. If our hero can overcome Pride to at last take hold of the Triforce of Humility, The Triforce of UX will be whole once more...

The Triforce of UX

The Triforce of UX consists of Empathy, Curiosity, and Humility.

In each part of this three-part series, I discuss why I believe each of these are the three most important aspects of a good UX Designer and three questions to ask to discover if the candidate matches these qualities. I’m sure many of you will disagree with me on some or all of these. That’s okay. I understand how you might feel. I’m curious to better understand why you feel that way, and would be humbled by your responses ;-)

PART III: The Triforce of Humility

The Triforce of Humility

In The Legend of Zelda, the evil Ganon seeks the Triforce in order to conquer, rule, and destroy. The underdog hero Link must fight incredible odds to defeat Ganon’s minions, find the pieces of the Triforce, and combine them in order to defeat the much-more-powerful foe. One of the things I love most about the Triforce is the fact that it can be wielded by both good and evil. It is a tool. Like most tools in our world, the things wrought thereby are reflections of the tool-holder, not the tool itself. Additionally, if the Triforce is wielded by one out of balance (i.e. prizing one of the pieces over the others) it will grant them some short-term power, then break itself apart and scatter once more.

If the heart of the one who holds the sacred triangle has all three forces in balance, that one will gain the True Force to govern all. But, if that one’s heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts...

 — Zelda, Ocarina of Time

Over time in the Zelda universe, many people good and evil have searched for the Triforce. But inevitably, most were tainted by the lust for the power promised by its possession.

…yearning for the Triforce soon turned to lust for power, which in turn led to the spilling of blood. Soon the only motive left among those searching for the Triforce was pure greed.

 — Gates to the Golden Land

For this reason, in many of the Zelda storylines, Link decides to give up the Triforce once the enemy is defeated, lest he too becomes corrupted by the power he possesses, and become the very thing he fights against. This is why I posit the pinnacle piece of The Triforce of UX is Humility. The same is true in UX.

When considering a UX candidate, ask yourself some questions:

Does the candidate want to build up others, or themselves? Are they seeking to impose their will, or to establish balance in the team? Do they use their position as a weapon, or a binding agent?

Or, is this another hot shot MY Experience designer? (A UX Designer without the U is a MyX Designer). Is this person always right? Is it their way or the highway? How do they deal with criticism or critique? What happens when a junior developer tells them their design sucks and she found a better way? Humility in design isn’t new. Google it.

3 Humble Questions For Candidates

1. Tell me about a time when you were wrong. or — Tell me about a time when you failed.

I’ve been here. We all have. Sometimes we get it wrong. It sucks. What you’re looking for here is the introspection — the comprehension to know they’ve made a mistake and the courage to discuss it openly. Are they humble enough to admit they’ve made a mistake then take action to rectify it? As leaders we don’t want to be alpha-buffalo, our herds following blindly. You need to be able to trust each other and know that when things go awry you’ve built a team that will put out the fire then tell you about it, rather than call you in a panic asking what they should do. The ability to recognize one’s own mistakes is key in design. Only then are we able to subordinate our wills and desires for the greater good of the product.

Is this candidate humble enough to accept they’ve made a mistake? That they’re wrong? How will they react when you tell them they’ve messed up and need to redo all of their work? Are they able to see the wisdom in others’ opinions and self-introspect? Can they take criticism, learn from it, and use it as a tool for growth into something better than they were before?

Prototype like you know you’re right, test like you know you’re wrong.

There’s a saying based on a line by Robert I. Sutton to “Fight like you know you’re right, listen like you know you’re wrong.” I love it. I’ve heard it extended to UX Design thusly: “Prototype like you know you’re right, test like you know you’re wrong.” Surely there’s a healthy hubris in every designer. There has to be really. How else does someone look at something and say “I can do better than that!” or “Look at this thing I made! Isn’t it lovely!?” There is a lot of one’s self that gets imbued in the things we design — because we think or know we’re doing it right. But when it comes to testing a design with users, stakeholders, and ourselves, without humility the designer will be incapable of discerning what they did right from wrong. What is really working and what is really broken?

How it feels to watch a user test your product for the first time.#UX pic.twitter.com/IwcqECciFN

— Jonathan Shariat (@DesignUXUI) March 13, 2015

The struggle is real. Does this UX candidate have the humility to figure out how to help that user?

Every person you meet knows something you don’t.

 — Bill Nye

Confidence is also incredibly important in a designer. They have to stand up in meetings, present, defend, and often fight for what they know is right. All of this requires a bit of pride in one’s work. However, like Zelda said if “…one’s heart is not in balance, the Triforce will separate into three parts…”. Without the balance of humility, a designer eventually stands alone and apart from the team. Empathy is supplanted by Apathy, and Curiosity by Indifference. Every person a designer interacts with has something to teach them. Humility is the key to helping a designer continue learning, and growing, even when they’ve done great things in the past. It’s also the key to binding their teammates together into an elite team capable of designing and building great things. It also takes great confidence to admit when you’re wrong.

2. A developer calls you over to their desk to show you how they implemented your design, but they’ve made some significant changes. What do you do?

If you’ve never been here, too bad. I’ve had the opportunity to work with some great developers. On more than one occasion I’ve had this exact experience. The first time it happened I thought “Oh great, the lazy dev didn’t want to take the time to execute my designs properly, now they’re going to ask me to sign off on their poor excuse for a UI.” In all honesty, sometimes that happens. But when you work with really great people often they’re about to blow your mind. I remember one such case where Jeff “Sharpie” Sharp called me over to his desk. “Now, I didn’t build this the way you designed it. Well actually I did and well, it sucked, so I did it this way instead and I want to show you why it’s better.” (I may be paraphrasing, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said verbatim :-P) “Okaaaaayyyy…” I said. Then Sharpie proceeded to show me how, when actually implemented, what I’d designed, while valid in the prototype, didn’t function that way in the real world. After playing with it for a bit, he’d figured out a way to fix my design, and came up with a better approach. We walked through the InVision prototype I’d made, then through his approach. Sharpie’s was better. “Wow!” I said, “That’s way better. I like what you did. Let’s stick with that. I think the users will really appreciate that flow.” And we went on with our day.

Other times it went the other way, of course with fewer senior developers. (Sharpie has the good fortune of never being wrong). I might’ve responded with, “Well, I see why you’d think that. Honestly, that was one of the ways I’d originally solved the problem, but when we tested with users we found these problems with that approach. So I really need you to do it the way it was originally designed. It tested well and solves these other problems you hadn’t considered in these ways. But I really appreciate that you’re fighting for the user! It’s really important to me that you care about the UX of our product too.”

What you’re seeking in this question is how they react when people move their cheese. Do they freak out? Do they get defensive? Are they inextricably intertwined with their designs, unable to let go? Are they pushovers, bending at the whim of every critique? The latter is not humility, it’s subservience. You absolutely do not want a “Yes-Man” for a designer. There’s a big difference between admitting you’re wrong and cowing to everyone for fear of offense or antagonism.

True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.

 — C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

3. You know you’re right. You have the data and evidence to support your position, but the primary stakeholder just doesn’t like it and wants something else you know is wrong. What do you do?

I have yet to be on a project where everyone agrees about everything. How will this candidate take it when the lack of humility (or sometimes intelligence) in another will adversely affect the project? Is every hill worth dying for to them? Do they pick their battles? How do they decide what’s worth fighting for, and what’s not? Do they have the necessary skills to teach without being condescending? Can they lead from the shadows? How well do they function when the conversation goes crucial?

This is something I really struggle with. I’ve been on a project where the stakeholder insisted on a feature I was convinced was not just frivolous and ultimately not useful, but damaging to the project timeline. But I was so new at the time, I just rolled with it, and put up no resistance (can you say “yes-man?”). Team morale suffered because nobody wanted the feature. It took months to properly implement. I had developers I led who refused to touch it, outright unassigning themselves from related tasks, bugs, and stories. When we finally launched, it was a huge sales talking point. It helped sell the product like nothing else. That big increase in sales led to our acquisition. People made bank in part because of that silly feature nobody wanted. The stakeholder was right, I was wrong.

More painful though, is when ultimately, you were right, they were wrong, and the project suffered or failed because of it. How will they avoid this situation? How will they handle it when they’ve planted a flag on a hill to die for, fought the good fight, and ultimately lost? What happens next?

One of my previous clients and I had a large disagreement on the tone of the language in the application. After researching, studying, and testing competing and related products I felt we needed a light-hearted, warm/fuzzy approach to the language to contrast the cold, hard numbers of the accounting platform. Other products did it to great success. It matched what I know of HCI and could’ve been a great competitive advantage. We designed it. We demoed it. The CEO/Owner hated it. We educated. We held meetings. We preached. He listened. In the end, he still hated it, and wanted the language to be “professional.” We plead. We argued. The gavel fell, and the language was sanitized. I felt defeated. I felt like a failure. I took a step back and looked at the big picture. Interestingly, this was largely the only time in two years I’d failed to convince the client to do it my way. One hill in the mountain range of UX-wins we’d been able to get implemented. The product wouldn’t fail because its language was bland. The client would be okay. I would be okay. In retrospect, I should’ve acquiesced earlier, but my ego got in the way. I was used to the client just following my lead, and the one time our opinions differed, I got defensive. Humility is really, really hard. But this is how we learn, and ultimately grow from good designers to great.

Link Looks Back

The Triforce of UX

Looking back at our journey, I’m confident that if we can find designers who can effectively Empathize, are Curious to a fault, and Humble enough to know it we’ll be able to build amazing teams capable of innovative, and user-friendly products. Your UX designer is the hub of your product team. They must be willing and able to coexist and flourish among diverse personalities and contrasting, sometimes conflicting goals.

I hope you find value in applying The Triforce of UX when hiring your next UX designer. Might I also suggest we designers and leaders all seek to be a bit more empathetic, curious, and humble? I’d like to end this series with a quote from one of the great creative leaders of our time. I’ve substituted “designer” for “manager/leader”, as I believe his message is applicable to all:

I believe the best [designers] acknowledge and make room for what they do not know — not just because humility is a virtue but because until one adopts that mindset, the most striking breakthroughs cannot occur. I believe that [designers] must loosen the controls, not tighten them. They must accept risk; they must trust the people they work with and strive to clear the path for them; and always, they must pay attention to and engage with anything that creates fear. Moreover, successful [designers] embrace the reality that their models may be wrong or incomplete. Only when we admit what we don’t know can we ever hope to learn it.” 

 — Ed Catmull, Creativity, Inc.

Read Part I here. Read Part II here.

Great Power

Jesus Christ said it. Theodore Roosevelt said it. Stan Lee said it:

With great power comes great responsibility.

When you empower people to do great things and hold them accountable for the great things they do, including successes and failures, everyone wins.

As designers, when we’re given the power (authority) we need (from our clients, bosses, teams, etc.) to affect real change and make UX and other design choices based on available data and our expertise, we’re able to create more usable interfaces and better user experiences. The user wins. The client wins. The company wins. We win.

The catch here though is to wield that power responsibly. When you’re given keys to borrow a car, it’s implied you’ll drive it safely and return it in the same condition. You could, however, drive it like you stole it, wreck it, abuse it, defile it, return it w/ the tank empty, etc. The expectation is though that the owner gets the car back like it was before. However in business, and life really, when given power, trust, authority, freedom, the expectation is that you’ll not just provide a 1:1 ROI, but that you’ll take what you’ve been given and give back something more because, well, that’s your laison d’etre. That’s why you exist—to improve things. Imagine how generous people would become if, whenever something was borrowed, it was returned in better shape? Maybe you washed the car. Maybe you repaired that rattling muffler. Maybe you vacuumed the rugs, or put new tires on it as a thank-you.

Whatever your job, but for me, especially as a designer, it’s paramount that we never add up to the sum of our parts, but that we constantly improve upon that which we’ve been trusted, and make things a little better, nicer, more usable, more friendly, more trusted, more efficient, more profitable wherever we go, whatever we touch.

The Sphinx

But how?

Language is a funny thing. Sometimes interesting insights are gleaned from inverting and transposing words. For example — Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country…When you doubt your powers, you give power to your doubts.…etc. Therefore let’s try:

With great responsibility comes great power.

As we are empowered to do great things, to overcome obstacles, and accomplish new feats, we become imbued with the power necessary to do those very things.

Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right.

 — Henry Ford

Call it the placebo effect. Call it karma. Call it empowerment. The point is, when you have been given stewardship over a thing, regardless of what lead up to this point, you’ve now been qualified to accomplish the proper handling of that thing. Notice that I didn’t say you ARE qualified because that’s something else. You have simply BEEN qualified, by some powers-that-be, to accomplish a task. And whether you think you can do it or can’t, you’re probably right.

As the new year looms on the horizon, I challenge you to take stock in the powers afforded you. Have you wielded them responsibly this year? Did the entity that entrusted you with these gifts see a fruitful ROI? How will you improve upon your performance next year?

“The power is YOURS!”
—Captain Planet

When I’m the CEO

Photo by Ethan Weil on Unsplash

At some point in my career, I’ll start my own company based on an idea I or a group of like-minded friends come up with. Here’s how I’d like to think I’d run that company as it grew.

• Our name will be cool.

• Our logo will be simple and elegant. Something you’ll want to stick to your car window or MacBook.

• Our website will be clean, dynamic, and fun.

• We’ll use agile methodologies, but adapt them as we grow to best suit our underlying principles.

• We won’t post specific job openings—just that we’re hiring smart, cool people who may apply when interested. We’ll always hire candidates we love, even if we don’t know exactly what they’ll do or how they’ll fit in. They’ll be awesome and will help us figure it out.

• We’ll be located in a locale where others go on vacation.

• No one person will ever be able to make/break/grease/block a co-worker’s career.

• There will be family-oriented company events in addition to adult-only outings.

• Everyone gets every other Friday off.

• Biking/running/walking/skating etc. to work will be rewarded somehow…chocolate maybe…

• Every quarter will have 1 week where individuals or teams can work on new ideas, projects, campaigns, etc. that they feel could add value to the company. All the projects will be presented at a company BBQ the following Monday.

• 401K matching up to the legal maximum.

• Everyone gets unlimited vacation—up to 4 weeks of which can be taken all at once if desired.

• Everyone will get an office if they want one.

• We won’t pay any bonuses—we’ll pay people what they think they’re worth then hold them accountable for their ROI.

• Everyone gets equity.

• We’ll pay 100% of all employees’ health insurance.

• Everyone gets $3000 to spend on additional training/education/gear each year however they see fit to use it.

• Everyone gets to go to 1 conference of their choice each year, regardless of job applicability.

• If you are selected to speak at a conference we’ll fly you there 1st Class.

• We’ll have an on-site massage therapist.

• There will be an on-site martial arts studio with daily classes available for free. (maybe Yoga/Pilates stuff too, we’ll see…)

• There will never be fixed shipping dates. It will ship when it’s finished.

• ‘Finished’ will never have a fixed definition; it will be defined by team-wide confidence in the product.

• Nobody will be confined to a silo. Everyone will have the freedom to work outside their primary role as needed/wanted.

• Everyone will have a voice.

• Everyone will be trusted to make good choices.

• If you suck or you screwed up, you’ll be told, and privately. We’ll work with you to get it right next time.

• If you consistently suck or screw up, we’ll hook you up with a recruiter.

• If you’re mean, uncouth, lazy, inconsiderate, false, deceitful, conniving, back-stabbing, contentious, or cruel, you will have no place with us.

• If you don’t have an opinion and the strength to voice and fight for it, you will have no place with us.

• We’ll focus on one idea to start and be freaking awesome at it.

• Over time we might add to our portfolio, but we’ll never scale so much or so fast that any of the above are held in jeopardy.

• We’ll make so much money at the acquisition that everyone will get at least 1 million dollars or we won’t sell.

• We’ll not only change the lives of our employees, but we’ll change the lives of our customers because we’ll be THAT AWESOME.

• Perhaps we’ll change the world.

So you say “but all of that will cost a TON of money!” Sure it will, but can you see a team that works under those conditions succumbing to failure at anything? I bet we could start a company without any idea what we’re going to build for what or whom — staff it with people driven to work for a company like this, and in a month we’ll have so many amazing ideas we’ll have trouble narrowing it down to just the one to start with. All we need is the capital to start hiring. Any angels out there wanna join me?

How To Succeed Towards Failure

or The Three Laws of Corporations

These tweets invigorated me, and I’d like to share why.

"Startups focus on high value activities. As a company matures, 80-90% of time [goes to] operational factors, not innovation."—@lycaonmarcus

— UX Magazine (@uxmag) April 12, 2013

"What makes you successful will also ultimately be your doom."—Simon Marcus (@lycaonmarcus) - #leanuxny #UX

— UX Magazine (@uxmag) April 12, 2013

Firstly the first:

Startups focus on high-value activities. As a company matures, 80–90% of time [goes to] operational factors, not innovation.

I love this quote because it makes me sad. I’ve seen it happen first-hand, and I can see it happening around me in companies I both loathe and love. Or, as I like to say, companies I loave. (pronounced “LOHv”)

The company begins with an idea. The idea germinates and spreads and inspires like-minded individuals to risk it all on something they believe in. BAM — it’s a success! This success leads to growth and expansion and diversification and scaling-up and, inevitably, the machine is driving itself. It’s no longer the idea, or the passion, or the creators, or the innovators — it’s the machine that has grown up and around them and their success — and now it’s become self-aware and only wants to go on breathing. It takes a look at all the things that it comprises and tries to minimize the risks and maximize the rewards. It breaks apart successful teams so their talent can be distributed more evenly. It pinches every penny while announcing its overflowing coffers from the rooftops, draining morale. It rewards the status-quo and mediocre while it punishes and marginalizes all the things that once powered it to the very success it’s seeking to protect. At some point, invariably the world takes notice that the thing they once adored and lauded is now old-hat, stagnant, and uninteresting. The world moves on, looking elsewhere for the breath of life it once found in its old, sad friend.

Secondly the second:

What makes you successful will also ultimately be your doom.

Initially, my take on this was that it seemed to contradict the first statement, which implies if you continue to innovate, create, challenge, and provoke that you’ll keep succeeding. But this isn’t guaranteed. In fact, it’s proven to eventually fail. You won’t hit home runs every time at-bat. This is why the mature corporate entity seeks to protect itself in the first place. But what I love about this quote is that it frames your success in humility. It’s much like the famous quote for the King to keep him humble when successful and buoy him up when he’s a failure:

This too, shall pass.

That thing that brought you so far, for so long, with such great thrill, will, as Icarus’ wings, melt away and leave you plummeting to your demise. So why do I like this quote? Because knowing it ahead of time, Icarus can pack a parachute. Or his dad Dædalus could build his wings out of something a little more heat-resistant than wax. It frames your success in humbling ways such that you don’t keep sailing merrily off the edge of the world, but pause for a moment, get your bearings, adjust your course, and keep moving ahead; but objectively.

As you move forward with your career, be ever mindful of what is making you successful, so you don’t let it blind you to what’s right.

As we build our organizations, let us adapt and teach them the Three Laws of Robotics, perhaps we can call them The Three Laws of Corporations.

The Three Laws of Corporations

1. A company may not injure an idea or, through inaction, allow an idea to come to harm.

2. A company must obey the orders given to it by ideas, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A company must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.

And I’m not even sure we need the 3rd one.

Who Are You?

10 years ago, when asked about what I did for a living by members of the software community I had to, at length, explain, justify and defend not just UX, but WHY UX, and then why ME. Today, for the most part, I don’t have to do this. In my experience, UX is fairly standard, generally recognized, and for the most part, people get it.

There are exceptions:

Last year, I interviewed for a lead UX position where the CEO of a digital agency called me and began the conversation with “My developers tell me I need to hire a UX person. What is a UX Designer and why should I care?” He literally didn’t know what UX was.

The Pitch

Earlier today, a recruiter contacted me pitching his latest and greatest UX candidate. Here is his pitch, word for word:

JOHANNES — UX DESIGNER

Johannes is a Sr. Interactive Designer with strong interactive agency experience. He is adept at branding, marketing, and brand strategy. He is a leader with solid communication skills to help his design team successfully launch initiatives. He uses his passion for visual design and communication to effectively create brand experiences that add value to his projects. His skill sets include: Adobe Creative Suite, HTML, CSS3, + more. Johannes has done work for large financial and travel companies. He would be an incredible asset to any team.

Who Is Johannes?

I have no idea. I know he’s a UX designer. That’s it. I know nothing about his process, his goals, his personality, his passions (his true passions), his interests…nothing. He can use Adobe CS? Wow! That’s…everybody.

When I read this my first thought was — wow I have a lot in common with Johannes…and every other single person who calls themselves a UX designer since the beginning of time. Virtually every word in that paragraph is 100% unnecessary. The recruiter could’ve simply said JOHANNES—UX DESIGNER and conveyed the exact same amount of information.

I looked around the room at the 3 other UX designers sitting near me. I read this paragraph out loud, substituting each of our names. It worked for each one of us. It was actually kind of fun.

The reason this bothers me so much, I think, is that I’m 100% guilty of having written this paragraph before. I (unfortunately) wouldn’t be surprised to find this paragraph attached to my name somewhere online. We need to start telling people who we are, not the things we’ve done. We are not merely the sum of our experiences and expertise. We are individuals with parts and passions, energy and force, power and strength, successes and failures. That’s who I want to read about. That’s who I want to hire. There are a million UX designers out there. Tell me about YOU.

We are not merely the sum of our experiences and expertise.

Who Am I?

I’m Brandon—Experience Designer. I love media: movies, books, music, theatre, art, games, architecture, design…pretty much all of it (except country music — hate that stuff, well, except the old-school stuff that told compelling stories like Coward of the County). I’m a huge sci-fi nerd. I’m a 16 yr veteran of marriage and father of 4 (Girl, boy, boy, boy). Kristy proposed to me (on our 3rd date). We’ve never had a fight. I fight for the user. I love projects that improve customers’ happiness and success by discovering and addressing their needs and pain points across all areas they interact with a brand. I’ve been improving my skills for 14 years. I’m bald (but would rather have long, flowing locks). I practice Kung Fu. I’m a cat person. If you work with me, you will discover that everything reminds me of a movie, a TV show or a song. Or a meme. Those songs will be sung, those theme songs played, those shows quoted, those memes posted.

?

That’s me. That’s what I’ll be sending to clients. That’s what I’ll be looking for in applicants. So the question is, who are you?

Don’t die with your music still in you.

Don’t die with your music still in you.

— Dr. Wayne Dyer

I heard this quoted in a religious context the other day and it has been ringing in my ears ever since.

As a singer and composer who doesn’t get to use those skills very often, and even then, very rarely to their full extent, it’s got me thinking about ways and means I can get all of the literal music welling up inside of me out. Maybe I should audition for more groups or shows. Maybe I should set aside some time to just write or record my music. Lots of potential there.

As a designer and developer, there are always little solutions, ideas, affordances, improvements, etc. milling about in my head. Everywhere I go I see ways to improve and enhance, to increase performance, usability, perception, and efficiency. That’s largely why I’m keeping this blog — It gives me a voice — a way for me to take action on the random bits in my head and not just grumble about crappy UX in the POS PoS machines. It gets them out of me so that they may live (or die) and benefit others.

So let’s abstract this quote a little bit.

Don’t die with your X still in you.

What are some other things we should get OUT before we’re reaped grimly? Here are the first things that came to my mind:

Don’t die with your …

family

potential

ideas

best

worst

failures

successes

anger

love

life

passions

fears

designs

solutions

observations

skills

knowledge

emotions

jokes

faith

history

story

stories

… still inside you.

I’m sure there are a ton more that would work really well and speak volumes to us. What do you think you should ensure gets out of you before you die — either to be rooted out and expunged or to be released for the world to enjoy (or mock, or critique or…)?

A Credo

I believe in truth.
I believe in absolutes.
I believe in work.
I believe in reward.
I believe in leisure.
I believe in family.
I believe everyone can teach.
I believe everyone must learn.
I believe I am very often right.
I believe I am very often wrong.
I believe in changing my mind.
I believe contention breeds ignorance and disgrace.
I believe in disagreements.
I believe in fighting.
I believe in forgiveness.
I believe in winning.
I believe losing sucks.
I believe in ownership and responsibility.
I believe in power.
I believe in credit.
I believe in honor.
I believe in integrity.
I believe in unity.
I believe in teams.
I believe in speaking.
I believe in listening.
I believe in self.
I believe in ego.
I believe in humility.
I believe in love.
I believe in service.
I believe in science.
I believe in ideas.
I believe I can.
I believe I sometimes won’t.
I believe I am strong.
I believe I am weak.
I believe in beauty.

And because I believe,

I do.

Flight of the Buffalo

Appa — the flying bison. This is an awesome still from one of the worst movies of all time. Unfortunate, because it’s one of the best animated series of all time.

There is a fantastic book called The Flight of The Buffalo. It’s one of those “managing people” books, and the title is actually very apt once you learn the metaphor. Buy it and read it. You’ll be glad you did.

Anyway…One of the major premises of the book that I loved was this: When something isn’t going the way you want, always begin your inquiry into the problem with:

“What is it that I am doing wrong?”

The idea is this: If you’re the leader and your minions aren’t performing up to snuff, or business isn’t going the way you want/expect — you need to introspect your query into the cause because it’s probably you. If Johnson didn’t land that account that was in the bag, it’s probably because either a) YOU didn’t train/inspire/counsel/trust, etc. her/him well enough or b) YOU shouldn’t have hired her/him in the first place. Nearly every problem a leader sees in their team is due to a lack or failure in themselves. Good leaders know this. Great leaders do something about it.

So what has this got to do with design?

“Who me!?” — Han Solo

Most, if not all, of us, have sat across the table/monitor while we’ve watched users click the wrong link, choose the wrong option, go down the wrong path, stare blindly at the screen, lost, confused, bored, angry or apathetic. I myself have felt the desire to perform a remote Jedi choke when the user I was watching said something so obtuse and moronic I could’ve died. Then, when my pride had stopped choking me, I was able to sit back and ask myself “What is it that I am doing wrong?” And that’s the key. As UX/UI designers we are Tron — we “…fight for the users.” Notice the ‘for’ — it’s really important. We aren’t CLU or the MCP who fight against the user. So when the user isn’t successful, it is often us that have failed them and we need to ask ourselves what we’re doing wrong.

Introspection Brings Insight

I find that this kind of introspection to be incredibly insightful. It sheds light on end-user issues, biases, misinterpretations, misunderstandings, incorrect assumptions, process holes, bad data, poor design, bad choices, bad marketing, poor user experience, bad business practices, flawed methodologies, skewed perceptions, prejudices, pride, stupidity, apathy, and simple mistakes. <breathes> But what I find most amazing about approaching an issue from this tack is this: When I am the problem, I am also the solution. I can change me. I can change my processes. I can improve this or that. I can modify this, that, or the other thing. When you can follow the problem all the way back to yourself you’re equipped and able to begin setting things in motion to affect (and effect!) change for the greater good — and not just in your designs, but in your entire organization.

So the next time something goes awry with that thing/person that upsets you all the time, take some time and ask yourself: “What is it that I am doing wrong?” and you may find some new epiphanies that lead you down a more enlightened path — where buffaloes take wing.

Seriously, read the book. Then you’ll totally get it.