Megan Schwarz

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

My perspective

BA in education and MSI in HCI

Ann Arbor, Michigan

UXA at advertising agency

@megan_schwarz

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

I am a novice.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Hire me.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

It’s hard being a novice

Perception of Expertise Experience

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

It seems like there’s a lot to learn

HTML

Advanced Degree

Interaction Design

User Research

Visual DesignPresenting

Analytics

Prototyping

Omnigraffle PhotoshopJQuery

Graphic Design

User Centered Design

5 + years

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

How can I get the experience I need to be successful?

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

It’s hard finding the right person

Timelines are tight

Budgets are tighter

Need someone now who needs little training

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

They’ll never find me.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

How can I find someone to jump right in?

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Love me.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Value of a novice

Excitement

Fresh perspective

Idealistic of how process “should be”

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

What should a novice know?

Three types of UX knowledge:

1. What

2. How

3. Why

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

1. What

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

2. How

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

3. Why

Deeper understanding of the what and the how

Knowledge of what applies and when

Able to apply knowledge in new contexts

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

What does a novice need to learn?

Novice Knowledge Structure

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

What does a novice need to learn?

Expert Knowledge Structure

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

New information

What does a novice need to learn?

Expert Knowledge Structure

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Aw yeah.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

“Learning is a process that leads to change, occurs as a result of experience and increases the potential for improved performances and future learning.”

Ambrose, et al., How Learning Works

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

And just when you think you’ve got it…

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

The UX learning curve never plateaus.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Supporting learning for a novice supports learning for the entire team.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Some places to start

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor: Benefit to the novice

Go-to person

Increases learning

Supports scaffolding

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Vygotsky

Zone of proximal development

What I can do already

What I can do with guidance

What I can’t do yet

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor: Benefit to the team

Supports relationship building within team

Creates opportunity for mentor to reflect on projects

Effective mentor must break down component skills

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Stages in development

Unconscious Incompetence

Conscious Incompetence

Conscious Competence

Unconscious Competence

Ambrose, et al., How Learning Works

Novice Expert

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor: My experience

Assigned one highly experienced mentor

Built close relationship

Consistently met to get feedback

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor: Taking it further

Assign mentors with varied perspective

Voice known strengths of mentors to novice

Ask mentors to create a concept map

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Concept map sample

Novak and Cañas, The Theory Underlying Concept Maps and How to Construct and Use Them

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Observe: Benefit to the novice

Exposure to varied projects

View team dynamics

Learn from others

Transfer

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Past Experiences

Near

Far

Transfer in new contexts

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Observe: Benefit to the team

Creates opportunity for entire team to self-reflect

Insight into how all team members work

Enhance team member’s confidence

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Observe: My experience

Was invited to meetings as non-participator

Met beforehand to brief on project details

Debriefed after meetings to ask questions

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Observe: Taking it further

Observe different activities and phases

Share insights with the entire team

Allow novice to observe before assigning a mentor

Observe individuals in related departments

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Feedback: Benefit to the novice

Essential for improvement

Regular and informal

Measurable goals

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

UX Measurable Goals

UX Directional Goals

Organizational Goal Be industry leaders in UX

Evangelize UX in organization

Teach one UX workshop in organization

Prioritize thought

leadership

Give one talk outside

organization

Setting measurable goals

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Feedback: Benefit to the team

Enhances learning opportunities for entire team

Measurable goals set expectations

Improvement efforts visible to organization

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Feedback: My experience

Encouraged to ask for feedback on deliverables

No formal process for formative feedback

Process in place for annual reviews

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Feedback: Taking it further

Give regular feedback to all team members

Ask team members to conduct self-reflections

Involve team in making measurable goals a priority

Encourage team members to share failures

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Collaborate: Benefit to the novice

Guidance

Expert intervention

Cognitive load reduced

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Task ComplexityE

xper

tise

High

High

Low Cognitive

Load

High Cognitive

Load

Low

Low

Cognitive Load

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Collaborate: Benefit to the team

Lessen workload for individual team members

Two heads are better than one

Creates a united UX front on project teams

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Collaborate: My experience

Partnered with mentor on a large complex project

Were both equally invested in the project

Sat together to sketch and wireframe

Made decisions together with equal input

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Collaborate: Taking it further

Identify roles to project team

Focus tasks on growth opportunities

Pair all team members with varying perspectives

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Mentor

Observe

Feedback

Collaborate

Share

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Share: Benefit to the novice

Integrated into team

Learn about projects

Common ground

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Share: Benefit to the team

Open channel for accessing group knowledge

Create unified team and establish best practices

Best time to positively influence team culture

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Share: My experience

Weekly team meetings to share work

Discussed industry and organizational trends

Planned UX related team activities

Occasional team outings

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Share: Taking it further

Invite other groups to join meetings

Visit other group’s team meetings

Plan activities around setting up best practices

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Bring food!

Next time bring cookies.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Bonus Benefits

More hiring options opened up

Build reputation as a great place to work

Attract passionate and talented people

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Steps taken to support novice learning will positively impact the entire team.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Just don’t forget…

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

“I think there's just one kind of folks. Folks.”

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Your turn.

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Take a few minutes to discuss.

Think about when you were a novice.

How well did you feel supported?

What could have been done differently?

From where you stand now, how do you think a novice could best be supported?

After Orientation: Making Room for a Novice UX Designer @megan_schwarz

Thank you!

Please share what you’ve discussed

OR

Are there any questions?