Alex Witkowski

I have a lot of empathy for the situation many UXRs find themselves in. They were told to collaborate, facilitate, "democratize", share, up-level, and invest emotional energy in helping teams get better. ...and then were the first to be let go during layoffs (often with public statements that took a not-so-thinly-veiled jabs at glue people, etc.) If you're currently hiring, I strongly suggest considering hiring a skilled UXR, especially given the complex nature of AI. There's a good chance they have a multi-disciplinary background and are the perfect person to help you unravel tough problems.

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A question for hiring managers in UX / Product Design and Product. Have you been in a position where you were able to successfully make a case internally for hiring the first UX Researcher for your company? What were some of the talking points that you used to sell this in and get the green light to hire? 

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Hey community, humble brag here from the UX team at Zendesk...in 2023, we increased the volume of our foundational research by 52%! How the heck did we manage that with a flat budget and headcount? Well come join @miranda and me for our UserTesting webinar next week to learn from our success. We'll be sharing how we set up automations to execute on our goals to increase research capacity across the prod dev org, while also growing our team's strategic research acumen. Sign up for free at the link below. Hope to see you there! #UXResearch #UserTesting #Automation #StrategicResearch #zendesk

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If I were to start a UX team at a small company (again)—now that I’ve worked at Fortune 50 companies—I’d do one thing very different. I’d match the job titles and role criteria I’ve seen large companies use. Calling a player/coach with 2 direct reports a “Director” or “VP” or an IC designer with 2-3 years experience capable of being the solo designer a project a “senior” is doing those people and the company a disservice. You might not need a Lead, Principal, Director, or VP yet. That’s ok. But being clear on what level person you need AND the criteria/experience that justifies someone at that level (and the corresponding pay) is crucial as companies scale and as individuals move on to other companies. An elevated title isn’t a “benefit”. It can actually be a major setback. To both companies and individuals. A “Director” at a Fortune 50 company shouldn’t have different experience criteria than a startup. If you are a startup that is hiring their first designer or design leader and doesn’t know how to hire for the appropriate role, reach out. I can help. Don’t make the same mistake. #Hiring #OrgDesign #UX

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Hello friends, colleagues, and fellow creatives! One week ago at 12:39pm PT, I was sent a message letting me know that my job was being eliminated. It was my lunch hour, while I was with my son. “You look like you just saw a ghost,” he said. Although it’s never good to lose a job, the timing was dreadful. Last week was my first week in a new home with my kids, and literally on the cusp of coming out of some really hard months and years. Just as I was starting to get through it — the universe is still not done throwing challenges me. The thing about challenges is that they are plot devices to our story’s unwritten chapters. As creative problem-solvers, we don't just endure hardships; we rewrite them into opportunities. Therefore, I could dwell on the unfairness of it all, or I could punch the clock and get to work. So. I’ve decided to turn my job search into a product itself. Why not use the same processes that enable success in my professional life? Let’s break it into features, tasks, milestones, epics, and so on. Let’s write specs of my perfect career, perfect job and see how close I can get. I've been in this industry since 1995. I've observed many ups and downs, but creatives are struggling in ways that I’ve never seen. It’s grim story after grim story. There are so many of you out there treading water, facing rejections daily. And I’m just getting started in this process. So, get ready for some weekly reports, candid data about my hunt, status updates, design samples. ‘Product specs’ for what I want to do. Part resumé, part job application, part industry commentary.  But this is about more than me – about all of us – the creative community. You are all my stakeholders! In this process I hope to: • Showcase the resilience and adaptability of creative professionals • Share insights that might help others in their job search • Highlight the incredible talent that's currently available in our industry • Spark conversations about the future of creative work, VFX, motion design, software and more. • Bring real honesty to what this process feels like So I’m going to show up here as heavily sincere as possible, and try to make the best of it. Being creative and open about a problem could turn something difficult into something useful. "Make your mess your message” is a wise statement I’ve been following lately. We are all human, with struggles, challenges, fears and hopes. It’s time to normalize being normal: scared, hopeful, angry and more. And I warmly invite you, job seeker or potential employer, enthusiast of the creative industries, to follow, interact if you can. Let's go exploring!

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Sometimes I get asked why as someone in the design and product areas I end up referring so much about remote work (in terms of policies) and async work (in terms of operations). It's often a matter of leverage, and this of course has more impact the larger the company is. For example, shifting design critique from calls (doesn't scale, creates silos, verbal feedback is not precise, conversations can tail easily) to async posts means automatically documenting decisions, have a clear log of feedback that can be analyzed, have space for tail discussions that can happen, opens up to the whole company. One operational change becomes the conduit for a massive gain in terms of quality of the work, time saved, documentation, and transparency. So if I have to choose... sometimes I end up focusing more on these changes in processes that are universal across the company more than a smaller change that is design specific. It's just more efficient and reaps major advantages.

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How do design system teams prove their value? Finding hard metrics around the impact of design system teams has historically been a challenge. A year ago, I met the design system team at Eventbrite who could confidently say that they saved 534 days of engineering effort with their design system. Here's their calculation: Time spent to develop a component pre-design system - time spent to install the design system component = Time saved In order to extrapolate this number, though, you need to know how many times a component has been used. And, that used to require a savvy dev on the team to build something custom. That's no longer the case. We built something at zeroheight that will allow you to track component use in a single repo or across all of your repos. This should help teams show how valuable they are, plus do things like: see which components to prioritize based on use see which product teams are adopting As an added bonus, anyone using the new feature set can also monitor design system packages, allowing them to quickly see which teams are using outdated packages. On a personal note, I'm hoping with data like this, more teams can confidently quantify their impact. And along the way, we'll get better as design system practitioners at identifying the right things to work on. This new feature set is in beta and totally free. Even if you aren't using zeroheight to document your design system, you can use it. Takes like 15 minutes and you've got rich data. Here's the sign up:

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Hiring managers and recruiters for UX & design: How much time do you expect a qualified candidate to spend applying to one of your roles? I'm legitimately curious, would love to hear your thoughts. I'm talking about all of the steps in between finding the role and submitting their formal application. For example: • Reading the job description thoroughly • Reviewing company's industry, products, employees, and culture • Connecting with peers for their thoughts, and potentially a referral • Optimizing their resume • Writing a relevant cover letter • Optimizing their portfolio (e.g. selecting 3 case studies that are most relevant) • Filling out and submitting the application Understand that some of you may not be comfortable answering this in public. If that's the case, please reach out to me privately, and I promise to keep your thoughts completely confidential. I'd also love to hear from any of your peer hiring managers and recruiters. Thank you! #GreeneThoughts

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On this week's episode of What is Wrong with Hiring, I chat with Senior Product Design Manager and generous UX community contributor Mitchell Clements! Mitch shares how he created an attentive, fair, and effective hiring process to scale his 26-person (and counting!) design team at nCino, Inc. UX hiring managers and job seekers will appreciate Mitch's reflections on: - Lessons learned on screening and interviewing candidates in a crowded market, from entry level to advanced practitioners - The necessity of implementing a career architecture framework and standardized assessment rubrics to streamline the process and set expectations - The importance of empathy, communication, transparency, and respect in creating a high quality candidate experience - What Mitch looks for when hiring senior designers/IC’s and design managers - Why portfolios should NOT be a requirement for applications! - How posting on LinkedIn can help hiring managers attract design candidates - Optimistic predictions for a resurgence of UX hiring… sometime down the road Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts.

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I love teaching. So when Maven reached out about a new course series they were putting together, I was immediately intrigued. There was just one problem — it's a design series. And I am not a designer (by title). I have worked with some of the best designers (at Square) and led "full-stack" design teams (at Mutiny). Those experiences showed me how different the roles can be, how difficult interview processes are to navigate, and what it takes to be successful in both environments. There is shockingly little (concrete) guidance on how to navigate design leadership at startups. So we're going to try and change that. Some of the most common issues I hear from design friends on this topic include: 1. Should I join a startup as the first designer? 2. How should I evaluate which startup to join? 3. How do startup interview processes differ from bigger cos? 4. How do I show impact quickly? If you're a designer considering an early stage startup role and this resonates, I'd love your feedback on what you would find most valuable in a live course. 👉 Drop me a note here: https://lnkd.in/g56-K6RJ

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👋 Hey everyone! I'm Phil Pham, and here's my career story. I‘m sharing this to inspire those feeling lost in their career, help people find their passion at work and beyond, and show that you can overcome tough times and thrive. 💔 The challenges I've faced: - Growing up broke in a Vietnamese immigrant family. - Struggled immensely in the traditional school system. - Felt depressed from my career choice in finance. - Juggling a demanding career and caring for my dad with brain cancer. - Burnout and hospitalization from high stress in tech. 🙏 But that’s not the end of my story. Here are the ways in which I overcame them: - Developed a growth mindset and became obsessed with personal development. - Left NYC finance and uncovered my passion for art and design.  - Persisted through rejections until I got into art school. - Learned how to be a care taker for a sick parent while navigating my career ✨ Which has all helped me: - Become a professional creative designing apps, brands, and software for Fortune 500 companies and tech startups. - Build a fulfilling career in personal development. - Create a work-life balance that lets me work hard without sacrificing my family life. - Live and work from the location of my dreams here in Maui, Hawaii. - Develop strategies to design a career and life I love. - Share my strategies so I can help others do the same. ❌ So if you're: - Stuck in a job that doesn’t fulfill you. - Struggling to find your passion. - Overwhelmed by balancing career and personal life. ✅ And you want to: - Live with more passion and intention. - Create a balanced and fulfilling life. - Overcome limiting beliefs and achieve your dreams. Then follow along! Aloha and thanks for listening. 🌞✨ #CareerAdvice #CareerChange #TechIndustry #Inspiration #Motivation #ProfessionalGrowth #Burnout #SelfImprovement #TechCareers #WorkLifeBalance #DreamJob

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Figma announced some powerful new AI tools for streamlining content and design work yesterday. As usual, my gut reaction was akin to clutching my computer mouse like a pearl to my chest and saying "OMG, my job!" Similarly, we've heard this repeated one way or another—and it's cold comfort: "AI won't take your job, but someone who knows how to use it will." After taking a beat, what I really want to say is: Let's all be that person for ourselves. Use the tools. Adapt, learn fast... or to reuse another quote: "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." Although I completely agree with the sentiment that AI is far from doing all the truly value-added work of content design (see repost below for more on that). Final thought: Remember the amazing film Hidden Figures? The women working in the NASA office thought they'd be out of a job due to the adoption of mainframe computing. Nielson Norman Group recently noted that gen AI is the first major leap forward in UI paradigms in the 60 years since that era in the film. So what they were dealing with in Hidden Figures was no less revolutionary. Their boss helped them learn how to use the machines, and they stayed employed. In fact, they were more valuable and valued than before. Let's learn from those ladies and do our best work yet with the new tools we have. And let's not pretend that a tool is as useful in the hands of a novice as it is in the hands of a pro. As subject-matter experts, they were the best suited to take on the expanded role with the machine rather than be generically replaced by it :-) Figma release: https://lnkd.in/g-Hx7_HC NNG article link: https://lnkd.in/gDCJainf

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For all y'all looking for work, here's 5 of the best (and less obvious) suggestions I got during my most recent job search: 1. Get VERY clear on what you know about yourself now and what will be the best fit -- this makes the search journey MUCH easier, more joyful, and more likely to be successful 2. Divide your time/energy so you are tending to each of these: applying for appropriate work, learning relevant skills, and creating things (portfolio, website, articles, social media posts) 3. Be wary of pursuing perfection, time box your activities, and pace yourself for sustainability 4. Do regular reflections on what feels good and what you're learning along the way 5. If you are experiencing hesitation for any reason, take time to process whatever’s coming up for you (which may also allow time for what you're looking for to become available) 6. Bonus! (my suggestion to myself) During a (stressful) job search, the number one job is taking good care of yourself! And if you are purpose or values driven/led, please don’t give that up, instead get creative and get support! Also here are some people I follow who share content about this specific journey (some are focused on specific jobs/industries): Erika Klics 🌻 Anna Miller Liz Ryan Lauren McGoodwin Claire Wasserman Joa Ahern-Seronde Stephanie Ciccone-Nascimento Tom McCormack Marco Morawec Daniel Hill

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The news about the layoffs at Indeed yesterday was difficult to hear. Just over a year after the last one. My heart goes out to my fellow UX Indeedians ... The UX org is truly exceptional, and that's a testament to Indeed's commitment to hiring top talent. Knowing firsthand how difficult this can be, I want to offer my support in any way I can. Here are a few ways I might be able to help: ▪ Listening Ear: I entered into the world of DesignOps because it is my mission to help. I'm happy to hop on a call if you need someone to listen and talk through the emotions and challenges of this situation. I'm no stranger to grief and will advocate for your mental health. ▪ Networking: I can connect you with people in my network, regardless of their current hiring status. Once you're ready to explore options, let me know what kind of roles you're interested in. ▪ Resume & Interviewing: I'm happy to review your resume and offer feedback. I also recommend checking out Teal (https://www.tealhq.com/). If you'd like to practice your interviewing skills, I'm available for mock interviews and constructive feedback. This is a tough time, but remember you're not alone. 📣 Calling All Hiring Managers: This is your chance to recruit some of the best UX talent in the industry. Strongly recommend interviewing anyone with Indeed experience on their resume. xo #indeed #indeedlayoffs #indeedians #exindeedians #heretohelp #formerindeedian

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"Mo Headcount, Mo Problems" - Are layoffs just part of scaling-up? 🏁 Start a business. 🚀 Sell the product. 📈 Sell more. 🧑‍💼 Hire in people. 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Hire some more. Then... crickets... 📉 Layoffs. Repeat! Notorious, right? It's a common story - we sell more, we need to hire more to make it - a classic case of linear growth and short-term problem solving. How have you overcome the hurdles of hiring too fast? What metrics and measures do you observe, to know if you can support a new hire? #Design #DesignManagement #HR #Hiring #WASSAA

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I've noticed an interesting intersection over the years between being a great UX person and being a great salesperson. I'll explain why: I feel like the best salespeople excel at three things (if not others): 1)Finding customers who are truly a good fit for their product and knowing when to not engage or back off from customers who are not a fit 2)Both explaining the product and its features well (education) and asking great questions of the customer to see if they can truly find a user need their product can address and at a price point the user can pay 3)Making the customer feel valued and respected authentically So it reminds me of user research and UX in that it involves the skills of 1)understanding and finding the right sample, 2)explaining complexity, 3)asking great questions and diving deep to uncover needs that may not be apparent. Here's an example, a person at my gym tried to sell me personal training. He said it was so, "I'd know what I was doing". First off, that annoyed me, I've had trainers before, I do know what I'm doing, so I felt disrespected. Second, he didn't ask what types of training I might be interested in. I didn't want weight training advice bc I know that, but I might have been interested in stretching training for a few sessions because I am working on flexibility. He didn't work hard enough to ask the right questions to find this out. In a way, he was a poor user researcher here. He also didn't explain the product offering(s) well enough for me to know that was an option. He didn't score low in making me feel valued or wasn't inauthentic in his interaction so that did help, but it wasn't enough to make a sale. I personally like space in sales interactions. Aggressive sales tactics annoy me and make me feel disrespected. I'm more likely to engage in a sales person that gives me space and can accept me not wanting the product, ironically. I think many customers are this way. And fake sales tactics (i.e. artificial deadlines that aren't based in some real need to have a decision by a certain date) make me even more annoyed and I wonder why any sales person would think most consumers don't see through them? Again, authenticity and empathy are foundational for building that customer relationship. Even if I don't want something today, if you make me feel heard and respected, and give me the space I want, I'll keep you in mind for the future and tell my friends. But you lose that if I feel disrespected or aggressively sold to when I say I don't want something. I'd love to know YOUR thoughts. I sometimes think UX people, like myself, should do a training course on UX based principles of effective sales. I have interacted with sales teams and I have seen these principles work, even enacted some of them myself. It's exciting actually, the intersectionality.

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Back to another day of the #OpenToWork grind. I'm trying not to keep count of how many it's been. There's interview prep to get started, and an extensive application to complete, alongside the relentless job board searching. I'm also freshening up on heuristic evaluation. The #UXRunningPunk also has interval sessions for half marathon training. Make it more difficult for me to train. Put me to work. C'mon, it'll be fun. If you support my efforts, please repost. It puts my journey in front of more people. #UXResearcher #UserResearcher #UXResearch #UserResearch

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