Month: June 2013

UX, “feminine leadership,” and influence

GearmarkLeave a comment

Ok, so this isn't really related to the topic at hand (maybe it is – I'm a woman and I work in UX – and in some ways that combination makes me the least powerful person in a scoping meeting)…but I wanted to start a conversation about influence and what that means.

I started reading Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg. I come from a more feminist background where I was an only child encouraged to do whatever I wanted. At 9 I wanted to be President of the United States – and my family loved this idea – until I realized at 13 that the job really sucks and I may want to consider other options. Then I was encouraged to be an engineer. I went to a predominately male school to study engineering until I realized I made a mistake. I saw that gender really does matter in the world and I need to be in an environment that recognized that I communicated differently, interacted with others differently, had different goals – and that how I did that was ok. So I dumped engineering, became and English major and went to a woman's college where I was pretty happy.

So what does this have to do with anything regarding UX or Agile? Reading the first couple of chapters of Lean In got me thinking more about women, leadership and influence. As a UX professional I often don't officially "own" anything. I don't "own" the client site, I don't own the metrics for the results – it's all the business person's stuff. So to get things done, I learned how to influence the business team and the technology team to get a better user experience in place. In Agile prioritization meetings I learned how to influence and negotiate before the meetings to advocate for users. I spent a lot of time evangelizing my cases and lobbying for user needs. People thought I was a social butterfly, but in many ways, I was getting a lot done. This is probably why I get up at 4am to work – I do my sketches first thing in the morning and spend my day talking about why my sketches are important.

Reading about leadership and watching videos on team dynamics, I wonder if having influence – even if you are in the background – is key to being a leader. You may not actively take over a meeting, but if you are able to get everyone's ear before the meeting to voice your concerns, aren't you leading in an indirect way? It's like the lobbyists in DC with our Congress – and we all know how powerful lobbyists are. 

UX can't directly lead a project, but the UX team can be more "feminine" about it's approach and influence the team to go their way. At least that's my experience. I'm curious to hear your perspective.

 

 

UX, “feminine leadership,” and influence

Make customers feel warm and fuzzy – My reaction to a survey from Apple

GearmarkLeave a comment

I'm typically critical of Apple and their limited user research. However, the other day, I got a surprise…an email asking for feedback about my experience at the Apple store. 

Just getting an email like that made me feel awesome – and not because they are now doing some user research and collecting feedback – but because I feel like they care about my opinion. I felt a little warm and fuzzy.

Apple's store experience, honestly, rocks. It's superior. You can buy something in minutes if you want, linger if you want, play if you want – they don't care. They help you find what you need quickly and supply the resources to help keep you a happy customer.

However, as a customer it feels great to get an email asking for my feedback. I felt like my thoughts matters – like they care.

This got me to reflect about how much it matters to ask for user feedback regularly to change and modify a product or experience – and at the same time, build brand loyalty. When you ask people for feedback, you are asking them to participate in designing and creating experiences. People want to contribute and feel part of the process. This is why people who are so passionate about politics vote – they feel that their voice matters and that they are contributing directly to what happens. If you feel your voice matters, you feel that the larger organization listens to you – and listening builds a relationship between users and an organization (and it's brand). It creates a stronger connection (loyalty) through conversation. 

Apple always had brand loyalty because its products appealed strongly to its audience and reflected their needs. But now that Apple wants feedback – and if they use that feedback – imagine what will happen next!

I'm glad that Apple sent out that survey – it showed me that I can provide value to their brand and store experience and contribute to that customer/organization conversation beyond buying their products. I felt like I was part of the Apple extended team, on a mission to make a better store. I can only imagine how others feel participating in a survey for any organization – most likely the same. 

Make customers feel warm and fuzzy – My reaction to a survey from Apple