Rosenfeld Media

When stakeholders have access to real-time data about millions of user interactions, how can qualitative researchers articulate the value of small-sample studies for product and business strategy? Katy Mogal, UX Research Lead at Google Assistant, joins Lou to offer a preview of the case study she’ll share at Advancing Research 2021 (https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/sessions/but-do-your-insights-scale/), including learnings about how human-centered researchers can effectively collaborate with functions like data science and business strategy, and how to persuade analytically-minded stakeholders to embrace rich qualitative data about people’s needs and motivations as an input to business strategy. Katy recommends: • Ideo University’s course “ Insights for Innovation” https://www.ideou.com/products/insights-for-innovation • Jump Associates’ workshop on how to move from data to insights through a synthesis process: https://www.jumpassociates.com/learning-posts/insight-action-making-connection

Lou and Jeff Sussna, author of Designing Delivery: Rethinking IT in the Digital Service Economy, examine the relationships between Design and Operations, DevOps and DesignOps, and DevOps and Agile before wending their way to promise theory, which looks at the “promise” made between a product and its user. Color Lou convinced on the promise of product promises! • Watch Jeff’s presentation at the 2017 DesignOps Summit: https://youtu.be/uWZxsul8Rek • Read Jeff’s book, Designing Delivery: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/designing-delivery/9781491903742/ • Listen to Jeff on a previous episode of the Rosenfeld Review, DesignOps in a Post-Industrial World: Crash-Coursing Complex Systems: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-community/archive/designops-jeff-sussna/ • Jeff recommends: Mark Burgess’ Thinking In Promises: http://markburgess.org/TIpromises.html Jeff is Founder and CEO of Sussna Associates, a Minneapolis consulting firm. Sussna Associates helps software teams and executives meet the demand for co

Want to help make better product decisions? You’ve got to combine qualitative human insights from user research with data analytics and experimentation. Questions about how many users do something goes to analytics, questions about which design might work better goes to user research. But what if you partnered with those other teams to answer the questions together? In her session at Advancing Research 2021, Marieke McCloskey, UX Research Lead at Humu, will share how, as a qualitative UX researcher, she’s partnered with analysts to identify high-growth opportunities and gain a deeper understanding of users. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Marieke offers a glimpse into her presentation, and what led her to the insights she will share at the conference. • Marieke recommends: No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work by Liz Fosslien and Mollie West Duffy • Follow the authors: https://twitter.com/lizandmollie • Attend Advancing Research 2021 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing

We’re bringing Creativity Evangelist Denise Jacobs to our virtual workshop lineup this year! Here, she chats with Lou about how the current era of “doom-scrolling” means it’s more important than ever to unlock our creative minds and make meaningful connections. One challenge of working remotely is the loss of a sense of personal connection. Having tools that allow you to collaborate in a virtual environment and overcome isolation is a way to expand the collective creativity of the whole team. Her workshop (https://rosenfeldmedia.com/public-ux-workshops/master-creative-collaboration-and-communication/) is an opportunity to expand your knowledge base, skill set, and be inspired by creativity and collaboration using new and different tools to figure out how to add extra life to the work-from-home environment. Denise’s three day workshop this February (10 hours over 3 segments: February 2-4, 2021) will focus on leveraging collective brilliance, becoming confident in sharing your ideas, and learning to be an

After abandoning the world of academia, Natalie Hanson found an innovative way to connect with other ethnographers: she founded a new community (Anthrodesign)!. This year, she brings her community-organizing talents to the second Advancing Research conference as Lead Curator. She joins Lou to share her own story and the story of the conference, offering a sneak peek into what we’ll cover — and what the conference might look like five years in the future. Join anthrodesign: https://anthrodesign.com/ Follow Natalie on Twitter (@ndhanthro) and Instagram (@faeriewigs) Learn more about the Advancing Research conference this March 10-12 and get your tickets: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2021/program/#tab=day-1&type=conference-session About Natalie Natalie Hanson has been working and researching at the intersection of business strategy, technology, social science, and design for fifteen years.She is currently a Principal at ZS, where she leads the User Experience practice. The UX team at ZS enga

What’s it like to build out a design organization that spans many countries, languages, and culture? Wizeline co-founder Wendy Johansson discusses the insights she gleaned when opening a second Wizeline office in Guadalajara, then a third and fourth in Vietnam and Thailand. From different societal norms to language barriers, her story can inform your own ways of collaboration with new people and cultures, whether abroad or just within your own team. Wendy recommends: • The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Map-Breaking-Invisible-Boundaries/dp/1610392507 • David Hoang’s Career Hype Doc https://davidhoang.substack.com/p/your-career-hype-doc Follow Wendy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/uxwendy Wendy is our next DesignOps Community videoconference guest, January 21, 4pm-5pm EST: “Designing a Design Team Culture When You're Decentralized at a Consultancy.” Join the community for an invitation: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/desig

Though trained as a computer scientist, Jamika Burge admits she does not have the heart of a programmer; rather, she’s interested in surfacing and connecting with the humanity of the technology we create. Jamika has taken that approach in her past work, including a stint at DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), where she studied the impact of games on learning. Jamika now leads AI Design Insights at CapitalOne, and is also one of the Advancing Research 2021 Conference curators. Here she shares the story of her career path, and the work she is doing with blackcomputeHER.org (pronounced ‘black computer’), an organization she co-founded that is dedicated to supporting computation and design workforce development for black women and girls. Jamika Recommends: Gendershades.org, a project by Joy Buolamwini, Lead Author and Timnit Gebru, PhD, Co-Author Keep up with Jamika: JamikaBurge.com Twitter: https://twitter.com/JDBurge Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j.jurious/ LinkedIn: https://www.lin

Allan Chochinov, Founding Chair of the MFA in Products of Design graduate program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, joins Lou to discuss how his program approaches the education of new designers—from the belief that grades can hamper creativity and risk taking, to the need for his students to learn the art of careful listening. After eight graduating classes, Allan offers surprises and insights about different career trajectories for design students, and clear evidence that career paths are often non-traditional. Allan Chochinov is a partner of Core77, the design network serving a global community of designers and design enthusiasts since 1995. More about Allan: https://www.allanchochinov.com/ Allan Recommends: •Girls Garage by Emily Pilloton https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44601186-girls-garage?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ghIzeV0mbb&rank=1 •Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn https://www.goodreads.com/book/s

Lou and Bria Alexander, Brand Experience Program Manager at Adobe, range widely in a conversation on diversity, equity, and inclusion—and how they pertain to how a conference program might challenge your beliefs, the ways in which capitalism influences design, co-creation, and more. Bria will be the emcee at our upcoming conference, the DesignOps Summit, October 21-23. Check out the program and get your ticket: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2020/program/#tab=day-1 Bria’s recommendations: • The Curb Cut Effect https://racialequitybuffalo.org/files/winter_17_the_curb_cut_effect.pdf • How To Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1 • The 1619 Project podcast thttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/23/podcasts/1619-podcast.html • Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson: https://www.amazon.com/Caste-Origins-Discontents-Isabel-Wilkerson/dp/0593230256 • August 2 John Oliver episode discussing U.S. history: https://slate.com/culture/2020/08

Kat Vellos, author of Connected From Afar: A Guide for Staying Close When You're Far Away and We Should Get Together: The Secret to Cultivating Better Friendships, is our opening speaker on day one of the DesignOps Summit this October 21-23, 2020. Here, she discusses the issues of loneliness in the workplace, and how managers can support their teams—especially in the time of remote work and added stresses from a global pandemic. In addition to supporting employees’ humanity, a manager who keeps their staff happy enough to stay can have a major impact on a company’s bottom line—at the average national voluntary turnover rate of 25%, a company of 100 people with an average salary of $50,000 will spend between $625,000 and $2.5 million dollars on staff replacement costs in one year. Kat Recommends: Building Brand Communities https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/617261/building-brand-communities-by-carrie-melissa-jones-and-charles-h-vogl/ Learn more about Kat’s session at the DesignOps Summit and get you

Jonathon Colman, Senior Design Manager at Intercom and DesignOps Summit 2020 speaker joins Lou to discuss the challenges of developing content operations (and, sure, let’s go there: ContentOps). Should ContentOps stand alone, or be situated as part of a larger DesignOps team? Jonathon also shares how his team sets consistent expectations and defines success metrics across for designers of all stripes, whether they focus on content, product, research, or design roles. Check out Jonathon’s upcoming DesignOps Summit 2020 presentation and get your ticket to the conference: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2020/sessions/maximize-the-impact-of-content-design/ • Learn more about Intercom’s hiring practices and more: www.Intercom.design • Follow Jonathon on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jcolman Jonathon recommends: •Blogs by companies doing good work -https://polaris.shopify.com/ -https://spotify.design/ -https://medium.com/facebook-design •Current favorite podcast: https://www.ouropinionsarecorrect.com/

Vincent Brathwaite, one of the featured speakers at this year’s DesignOps Summit, and Lou go meta: they have a conversation about having a conversation about differences. Their discussion ranges from working through our ever-changing vocabulary of identity to establishing a protocol for genuine, authentic conversations. Vincent also offers suggestions for how to reflect on and own one’s ignorance and accept uncertainty—issues that design leaders continue to wrestle with as they create design teams that are more representative of the world they serve. • Vincent recommends: Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson: https://www.amazon.com/Caste-Origins-Discontents-Isabel-Wilkerson/dp/0593230256 • Learn more about Vincent’s upcoming DesignOps Summit talk: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2020/sessions/opener-day-2/ • Register for the DesignOps Summit: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2020/register/ Vincent Brathwaite is a Caribbean American multi-disciplinary design leader,

Cheryl Platz—Rosenfeld Media author, emcee of our Advancing Research and Enterprise Experience conferences, puppeteer, and Principal UX Designer at Gates Foundation—shares the inspiration that drove her new book Design Beyond Devices: Creating Multimodal, Cross-Device Experiences (published December 2020). If you’re an interaction designer, you’ll want to listen as Cheryl dramatically expands our understanding of one of interaction design’s final frontiers. Cheryl recommends: Wired for Speech by Clifford Nass and Scott Brave:https://www.amazon.com/Wired-Speech-Activates-Human-Computer-Relationship/dp/0262640651 Follow Cheryl: https://twitter.com/funnygodmother Get updates on her new book:https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/design-beyond-devices/

Alana Washington and Lou embark on a really wide-ranging conversation, touching on: • The changing nature of work in the time of pandemic, • How we can handle the intersection of our personal and private lives when working remotely, • The restorative power of something as simple as putting down the phone and holding a physical book, and • How DesignOps can help businesses enact more human-based processes. Alana serves as a Senior Design Program Manager at Uber Freight. She’s also part of the DesignOps Summit 2020 curation team. The team is looking to frame the program against the difficult backdrop of these challenging times, when designers need more support than ever before. That’s why resilience is our theme for DesignOps 2020; we’ll explore design operations’ role in helping individual designers, design teams, and entire organizations adapt, survive, and thrive. Learn more: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designopssummit2020/ Alana’s recommended resources: • 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by

Kit Unger started her UX career as a “team of one,” and now manages a team of over 30 people as Senior Director of Experience Design at Smartsheet. We’re excited to have her as the leader of a group of presentations on “Keeping Up with Rapid Growth – From Startup to Enterprise” at Enterprise Experience 2020 (September 1; details here: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/enterprise-experience-program/#day-2) In this episode, she shares the role she wishes she’d hired for 20 employees ago, the elements of scaling a team quickly, and offers a preview of her EX2020 speakers’ presentations: •Building for Scale: Creating the Zendesk UX Research Practice with Veevi Rosenstein https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/sessions/building-for-scale-creating-the-zendesk-ux-research-practice/ •A Top-Down and Bottom-Up Approach to User-Centric Maturity at Scale with Vasileios Xanthopoulos https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/sessions/a-top-down-and-bottom-up-approach-to-user-centric-maturity-at-scale/ •Lead Eff

After a start in digital software, Kate Rutter realized that qualitative definitions of success could, and needed to be, made more quantitative. Years later, she’s Principal at Intelleto, Adjunct Professor in the IXD program at California College of the Arts, and the instructor of our upcoming UX workshop “Crafting Metrics for UX Success." https://rosenfeldmedia.com/public-ux-workshops/crafting-metrics-for-ux-success/ In this episode, she reflects on the extraordinary success with qualitative metrics she has observed in the UX field, and the room for growth around numerical metrics, as well as the many challenges companies are faced with when trying to determine which metrics really matter. Kate’s four part workshop (August 6-7 and August 13-14) is intended to help designers gain a numerical understanding of success—and determine what metrics they need to measure in the first place (not just the easy ones!) Kate’s recommended reading: • Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz https://www.am

Best Buy’s Jamie Kaspszak and USAA’s Frank Duran join Lou and Bob Baxley to discuss how UX plays a critical role in bridging their organizations’ silos and disciplines. It’s a preview of what they’ll cover at this year’s Enterprise Experience conference, where they’ll be joined by four other speakers, all who are wrestling with the team sport of organizational transformation. Learn more about these sessions, which take place virtually on September 3. https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/ About our podcast guests and their sessions: Bob Baxley, SVP, Design & Experience at ThoughtSpot, leads the group of speakers who are wrangling silos https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/speakers/bob-baxley/ Jamie Kaspzak’s talk: “Not Your Ordinary Re-Brand: Design’s Path to Driving Customer Obsession at Best Buy” https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/sessions/not-your-ordinary-re-brand-designs-path-to-the-c-suite-at-best-buy/ Frank Duran’s talk: “Put Me In, Coach: The team effort that goes into hiring and deve

Dan Willis is Director of Customer Experience at the General Services Administration’s Centers of Excellence, and the mastermind behind past Enterprise Experience conferences’ wildly-popular “Storytelling Sessions.” At this year’s Enterprise Experience conference, Dan will be leading Theme 3: “Through the Looking Glass – The Outsider’s Perspective on the Enterprise” on Wednesday, September 3. (Full program here: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/enterprise-experience-program/#day-3). Considering Dan’s extensive government experience means he’s all too familiar with large, slow moving and bureaucratic enterprises. In this wide-ranging episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Dan shares anecdotes from his career and offers some sneak peeks into the six sessions he’ll be leading on day three of Enterprise Experience 2020. More about Dan: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/enterprise2020/speakers/dan-willis/ Listen to our 2018 interview with Dan: https://soundcloud.com/rosenfeld-media/dan-willis-podcast; and another co

Top designers are often thrust into leadership roles, and it’s easy to forget that these two roles do not require the same skillset. In this episode, design managers and Liftoff! co-authors Chris Avore and Russ Unger discuss the mistakes and lessons they—and MANY others—have made in their new book, four years in the works. Liftoff! is a guide for new leaders looking for guidance about managing design teams effectively, and established managers who want to level up their expertise. Order Liftoff! before July 7 and save 15%; for free shipping in the U.S., enter code FREESHIPLIFTOFF at checkout. https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/ux-leadership/ Influencers mentioned: Meet the diverse variety of contributors to the book: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/ux-leadership/liftoff-opening-credits-contributors-guests-and-reviewers/ Jacqui Frey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquifrey/ Kara DeFrias: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2013/03/01/meet-pif-kara-defrias Emileigh Barnes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emileighb

Authors Stephen P. Anderson and Karl Fast discuss the complex world of information (think incomprehensible tax policies to confusing medical explanations) we are faced with, and the ways in which information can be transformed into better presentations, better meetings, better software, and better decisions. Stephen also shares a personal anecdote about part of the inspiration for the book. Get your copy: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/figure-it-out/ Mentioned in the episode… Stephen’s latest project: The Mighty Minds Club. Learn more and subscribe: https://www.producthunt.com/upcoming/the-mighty-minds-club Karl’s recommended reads: Smarter Than You Think by Clive Thompson https://www.amazon.com/Smarter-Than-You-Think-Technology/dp/1594204454 and Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives by Tim Hartford https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Power-Disorder-Transform-Lives-ebook/dp/B01BD1SU2E/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1587498076&sr=1-1 Stephen’s interesting people to check out: Nicky Case and