midwest ux 2014 - pay it forward: how to mentor your ux co-workers without them realizing it

Mentor Your UX Co-Workers Without Them Realizing It

Midwest UX 2014 !Naa Marteki Reed @marteki

I was an unconscious mentor.

“I needed help, you realized that I needed help, and you coached me.”

Part 1: What can I mentor and

teach others?

Strengths, to a UX recruiter

Strengths, to a UX recruiter

ethnographic research

visual design

information architecture

interaction design prototyping

the latest, hottest LinkedIn keyword

usability testing

Agile

HTML/CSS/JS

Strengths, in core UX skills

Strengths, in core UX skills

active listening

kicking it into overdrive and getting s*** done

holistic view

empathyfacilitation

collaboration

strategy

asking the right questions

Marteki

Marteki

know-it-all

holistic

more thanthe visual

emotional

righteous

creative

Marteki

know-it-all

holistic

more thanthe visual

emotional

righteousself-

creative

X

What have people complimented you about at work?


What have people said when critiquing you at work?


What have people said when critiquing you at work?

Grab the positives, and spin the negatives into positives!

Part 2: Who can I mentor?

Write what you know.

Write what you know.

Teach who you work with.

Folks who are junior to you, of course.


Peers.


Peers.

Higher-ups!

Don’t forget the non-UX folks!

What can non-UX folks learn from us?

“how hard it is to do good research”

What can non-UX folks learn from us?

“how to get feedback from sample groups about our user interfaces”

“types of user testing” and what “tools and methods we like to use”

“UX means actually talking to users”

Is there anyone at your workplace who you think you could teach something to?

Write down 3 names.

Is there anyone at your workplace who you think you could teach something to?

Write down 3 names.

Commit to mentoring one of them through the end of the year.

Part 3: Ways to mentor

without appearing to mentor

Why would you want to not appear to mentor co-workers?


They’re “too busy”.



They “don’t need to know anything about UX”.




Company culture doesn’t have a mentoring setup in place.




Company culture doesn’t have a mentoring setup in place.

Can be easier if a teacher-student hierarchy isn’t in place.

Life is a design project, yo. That includes your career.

Life is a design project, yo. That includes your career.

Use your skills (the same ones that pay da bills).

What skills?

What skills?

Listen.

Ask ques-ons.

What skills?

Listen.

Turn up your empathy.

Ask ques-ons.

What skills?

Listen.

Got more hints?

Got more hints?

Avoid being direc-ve.(I know, that was direc-ve.)

Got more hints?


View non-‐crea-ve things through a crea-ve lens.

Got more hints?


Always be looking to learn more, and change your approach.

View non-‐crea-ve things through a crea-ve lens.

To sum up:

To sum up:

Everyone can mentor on something. You just have to determine your natural-‐born strengths and UX superpowers.

To sum up:


There are people to teach and people to learn from all around us.

To sum up:


Use your UX design skills, always be looking to learn more, and be willing to adapt your methods.

There are people to teach and people to learn from all around us.

Take this knowledge on your journey. Thanks for coming!

:-D

Midwest UX 2014 !Naa Marteki Reed @marteki

midwest ux 2014 - pay it forward: how to mentor your ux co-workers without them realizing it

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