the elephant and the dassie: a tale of evolution and kinship
DESCRIPTION
The evolution of our work and environment has produced new relationships between disciplines, within digital teams, across organisational verticals, in our local design and tech community, and across borders. I gave this talk as the keynote presentation at the UX Craft conference in Cape Town, South Africa on 4 October 2014.TRANSCRIPT
The Elephant and the Dassie a tale of evolution and kinship
Kerry-Anne Gilowey
@kerry_anne
UX Craft Conference Cape Town 4 October 2014
PROLOGUE:
The family photo album
www.worldwildwebb.tumblr.com
MADAGASCAR
ANTANANARIVO
SOUTHAFRICA
PRETORIA
LESOTHO
MASERU SWAZILAND
MBABANE
MAPUTO
MOZAMBIQUE
BOTSWANA
GABORONE
NAMIBIA
WINDHOEK
ANGOLA
LUANDA
DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO
KINSHASA
ZAMBIA
LUSAKA
TANZANIADAR ES SALAAM
UGANDA
KAMPALA
NAIROBI
BUJUMBURA
KENYA
BURUNDI
KIGALI
RWANDA
MALAWI
LILONGWE
ZIMBABWE
HARARE
KHARTOUM
ASMARA
SOMALIA
MOGADISHU
ETHIOPIA
ADDISABABA
DJIBOUTI
DJIBOUTI
BAMAKONIAMEY
N’DJAMENA
CENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC
BANGUI
NIGERIA
ABUJA
BENIN
PORTO-NOVO
TOGO
LOMÉACCRA
GHANA
BURKINAFASO
OUAGADOUGOU
SENEGAL
DAKARTHE GAMBIA
BANJUL
GUINEA-BISSAU
SIERRA LEONEFREETOWN
MONROVIA
LIBERIACÔTE
D'IVOIRE
YAMOUSSOUKRO CAMEROON
YAOUNDÉ
EQUATORIALGUINEA
MALABO
GABONLIBREVILLE REP.
OF THE CONGO
BRAZZAVILLE
CONAKRY
BISSAU GUINEA
SOUTHSUDAN
JUBA
Why are they related?
Image credit: www.uncyclopedia.wikia.com
That’s evolution,
baby!
Pearl Jam, Do the Evolution
CHAPTER 1:
Crossing disciplines
Hi! Hello!
I am anIndependent Content Strategy
Consultant
Studied E
nglish, L
inguistics
,
Human
-Com
puter I
ntera
ction,
Inform
ation Sys
tem
s
Copywrit
ing, mostl
y prin
t
Web w
riting, s
ome b
asic
IA
Content s
trate
gy, fir
st as
an ag
ency
owner then so
lo
Confab Lo
ndon, IA Sum
mit,
Dare
Confere
nce, M
idwest
UX
Content S
trate
gy Foru
m 20
12
CS Forum
Frankfu
rt, C
S Summ
it,
MIM
A Summ
it, Confab
HE
Our work is a strange beast
...a strange, fuzzy beast.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/splityarn/
Work used to BE SIMPLER.
It was TANGIBLE.
It had CLEAR EDGES.
There was less SCOPE CREEP.
BUTCHERBAKER
CANDLESTICK-MAKER
How about us?
Content Strategist
Information Architect
User Researcher
UX Designer
Experience Designer
Interaction Designer
UX Strategist
UI DeveloperProduct Manager
UX Analyst
Visual Designer
UI Designer
Web Designer
Web Developer
Front-End Developer
UI EngineerUX Architect
Product Designer
Usability Practitioner
Information Designer
Content Architect
Digital Strategist
Usability Analyst
Web Analyst
Content Strategist
Information Architect
User Researcher
UX Designer
Experience Designer
Interaction Designer
UX Strategist
UI DeveloperProduct Manager
UX Analyst
Visual Designer
UI Designer
Web Designer
Web Developer
Front-End Developer
UI EngineerUX Architect
Product Designer
Usability Practitioner
Information Designer
Content Architect
Digital Strategist
Usability Analyst
Web Analyst
The digital irony
dig-i-tal (adj.)/ˈdijitl/
(of signals or data) expressed as series of the digits 0 and 1
Digital characteristics
Discrete UnambiguousOn or off
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/alltheaces/
an-a-log (adj.)/ˈanlˌôg/
relating to or using signals or information represented by a continuously variable physical quantity
Analog characteristics
Continuous AmorphousSpectrum
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/angelocesare
Which sounds more like digital design and UX work?
Discrete UnambiguousOn or off
Continuous AmorphousSpectrum
The advent of digital has produced fuzziness and overlap.
Image credits: www.flickr.com/photos/nirak/ and www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/
Disciplines now overlap in surprising ways, thanks to
digital evolution.
The Pandora Music Genome Project
CHAPTER 2:
Team dynamics
Product Manager
Content Strategist
SEO Specialist
UI Designer
Project Manager
Community Manager
Technical Architect
Usability Specialist
Interaction Designer
Web Developer
Information Architect
Design Director
Business Analyst
User Researcher
Front-end Developer
Web Editor
CopywriterOUR
TEAM
Technical Writer
SEO Specialist
UI Designer
Community Manager
Interaction Designer
Web Developer
OUR TEAM
Product Manager
UI Designer
Interaction Designer
User Researcher
Front-end Developer
OUR TEAM
UI Designer
Project Manager
Technical Architect
Usability Specialist Information
Architect
Business Analyst
OUR TEAM
Technical Writer
Product Manager
Content Strategist
Technical Architect
Interaction Designer
Design Director
Business Analyst
User Researcher
Front-end Developer
CopywriterOUR
TEAM
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
YOU ARE
HERE
You might also needto fill more roles.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/h4ck/
BROADER knowledge=
GREATER team understanding
Lenses > Roles
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/box-brownie-brian/
Your lens affects
what you notice,
and how you see
the world.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/box-brownie-brian/
Processed with Kazunori Asada’s simulator
Processed with Kazunori Asada’s simulator
“... a content strategist’s heart...”
We can use each other’s tools
Customer journey maps for discovering content gaps
User interview techniques for creating better content
Care more about one another’s work.
CHAPTER 3:
Disintegrating silos
Vertical edges are dissolving
Diagram byRichard Ingram@richardjingram
Diagram byRichard Ingram@richardjingram
Content used to belong exclusively to the Marketing
department.
(Copywriting, like movies, used to be even worse.)
CONTENT
Marketing copy Forms Interface copy
Intranet content
Terms of
serviceCall centre
scripts
But let’s move out a few paces.
This is not your grandfather’s website.
Point of saleOutdoor club
Legal contract
Customer care platform
Financial management
portal
Advice column
Travel agency
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/
It’s no longer about the structure of your organisation.
It’s about your customer’s cross-channel journey.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/padday/
Silos are becoming permeable
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/astrid/
Design team Stakeholders
!
Collaborators
☺
Say NO to the Big Reveal.
Sara Wachter-BoettcherContent Strategy Consultant
Editor in Chief at A List Apart
CHAPTER 4:
The local community
Sharing our toys
We need more of that, right here.
community of practice (noun)
a group of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly
–Etienne Wenger
ATTENDSHARESPEAK
But there’s more!
Grab coffee with another [insert your job role here]
Grab coffee with a [insert different job role here]
Chat with other UX people on SkypeStart a Slack group to discuss workGet a small dinner group together to chat about a niche topicOrganise a weekend away to talk shop
CHAPTER 5:
UXers without borders
Yes, we live in a faraway land.
One bajillion miles
Cuh-razy far
Uncountable distances
But... you know...
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/jmt/
Let’s not isolate ourselves.
There’s no reason for usto lag behind anymore.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/qcom/
Culture is not bound by geography.
Responsive design
Accessibility
Mobile UX
Agile methodologyBusiness constraints
User research
Web form designTask analysis
Prototyping
Books, magazine sites, blogs, slide decks,
Twitter feeds
Read widely!
Reading listReading list
UX Boothwww.uxbooth.com
Smashing Magazinewww.smashingmagazine.com
New Thinkingwww.gerrymcgovern.com/new-thinking
Rosenfeld Blogswww.rosenfeldmedia.com/blogs
The Pastry Boxwww.the-pastry-box-project.net
A List Apartwww.alistapart.com
Responsive Web Designwww.responsivewebdesign.com/podcast
User Interface Engineeringwww.uie.com/brainsparks
Web Standards Sherpawww.webstandardssherpa.com
Luke Wroblewski’s Writingswww.lukew.com/ff
@cennydd
@jmspool
@monteiro
@karenmcgrane
@Abby_the_IA
@cwodtke
@beep
@halvorson
@jcolman
@lukew
@seriouspony
@zeldman
Travel!
December 2009
April 2010
A few conference ideasIA Summitwww.iasummit.org
Webstockwww.webstock.org.nz
User Interface 19www.ui19.uie.com
Web Directionswww.webdirections.org
An Event Apartwww.aneventapart.com
Midwest UXwww.midwestux.com
Smashing Conferencewww.smashingconf.com
Confabwww.confabevents.com
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/
Find your people.
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/bagogames/
EPILOGUE:
We’re all elephants and dassies
The evolution of our work and environment has produced new
relationships.
ACROSS VERTICALS
BETWEEN DISCIPLINES
ACROSS BORDERS
WITHIN TEAMS
IN OUR LOCAL
COMMUNITY
Relationships
Embrace them
Image credit: www.flickr.com/photos/vidyo/
This thing only goes if we collaborate.
Erika HallCo-founder of Mule Design
Author of “Just Enough Research”
The end product isn’t great content; it’s a great THING.
Erika HallCo-founder of Mule Design
Author of “Just Enough Research”
Thanks for listening!
Kerry-Anne [email protected]
http://augustsun.co.zahttp://about.me/kerryanne
@kerry_anne