Getting to Senior in UX
Cyd Harrell, UI23
Senior ≠ Management
In a senior role you’re expected to
All of these add up to more impact.
Seniority comes with
All of these add up to more freedom.
Getting there takes more than experience
early career
mid career
senior career
Getting there takes more than experience
early career
mid career
senior career
How do you become visibly the kind of practitioner people want to promote, hire, and work with for a senior role?
Becoming Opinionated
A senior UXer is their own authority on good practice.
They can confidently share a considered position on how things are best done, in writing or in conversation.
They can cite others they do and don’t align with.*
They are self aware about which of their opinions are most grounded.
*There’s never only one right way, but they take a position.
What is your approach to ____________
personas?
design systems?
accessibility?
sprints?
research recruiting?
working with engineering?
experience mapping?
Strength of opinions across UX elements
User
Research
Visual Design
Content
Strategy
Interaction Design
Service Design
Information Architecture
Front End
Industrial
Design
Strength of opinions across meta-skills
Strategy
Domain Specific
Team Interaction
Mgmt
People Development
Role of Design
Tools
Dev Process
Start getting opinionated with
Critique your heros & your counterparts
Becoming A Coach
A senior UXer gets great outcomes for their organization by shaping practice.
They spend less time on core design tasks and more time on harder parts around the edges.
They understand how to create the specific design conditions needed to succeed at their specific goals.
They give useful feedback in every interaction.
They have great tips on how to do things, but they focus on why.
The research version
Conducting sessions
Selecting methods
Synthesis
Setting up recruiting & observing
Systems of documentation & communication
The content version
Writing copy
Developing the voice
Integration with brand
Content audits
Systems of governance & communication
The design version
Designing individual elements
Design system
Fitting with dev process
Project design values
Systems of critique & communication
Start coaching with
Underpin coaching with
Becoming A Mentor
A senior UXer helps the field by helping others.
They set aside time to share what they’ve learned with people who need it.
They are intentional about how they do it.
In return, they get to sharpen their opinions and communication.
Mentoring is the ultimate gift of time
Start mentoring with
Becoming Part of
(a leadership team)
A senior UXer is a strong teammate to other leaders.
They can bring a design (or sub-discipline) perspective to any team conversation.
They help the entire team align with user needs.
They identify ways for design to support larger goals.
They contextualize business & technical decisions for designers.
Types of leadership teams
SMT
Discipline leads for a project
Product leads w/in a suite
Group leads in Design
2-way leadership
SMT
Discipline leads for a project
Product leads w/in a suite
Group leads in Design
Designers
Learning & Help
Start being a leadership teammate with
Make the most of teammate-hood with
Becoming Transparent
A senior UXer opens up their practice so others can understand.
They don’t mystify about their work - anyone who cares to listen can understand why they make the choices they make.
They put as much effort into communicating as they do into practicing.
They create opportunities for people to ask questions and learn, whether they’re part of the design team or not.
Communities of design practice
Team
Discipline mates
Other professional designers
Other people who make design decisions
People affected by design decisions
Start opening your practice with
workshops
office hours
open Slack channel
newsletter
enticing wall work
Start opening your practice with
Becoming Public
A senior UXer is known and respected within a well-developed network.
They may be known internally or worldwide or somewhere inbetween.
That their opinion is sought by others is a signal to non-designers. (Which others is a signal to other designers.)
They contribute their knowledge back to the field.
*There’s never only one right way, but they take a position.
It’s a résumé section (among other things)
You also need your own posse
You can be public in many ways
internal talk
company blog
medium
conference talk
meetup
podcast
Start putting yourself out there with
Finding The Time
Getting started: minimum viable seniority
Next steps:
Opinions
Coaching
Mentoring
Leadership Team
Transparency
Going public
You’ll show up as a leader with a well-honed perspective, who shares their knowledge generously and helps others get the most from design.
Questions?
Thank you for coming!
@cydharrell any time you want to talk about this