The Situation
As a UX designer, it's essential to understand that failure is often a part of our tasks. Recognizing and acknowledging these failures is not a sign of weakness but a requirement for growth. When we stumble, we do so intending to move forward. Identifying potential shortcomings in the planning stages is not a setback but an opportunity for efficient and cost-effective improvement. After recognizing our mistakes, we regroup, evaluate the situation, adjust our strategies and processes, and make the necessary enhancements to steer us in the right direction.
Presently, I've been enjoying Season 3 of The Bear on FX, and not only does it pull at the nostalgic heartstrings of my years in restaurant kitchens, but what they've done so well is highlight the importance of teamwork and alignment. I spent my formative years working in restaurants, honing a unique skill set I have yet to find in any other industry. When my professional design career started to take off, I employed many of these restaurant skills, including thinking critically and quickly and asking the customer if everything was to their liking.
A failure in the kitchen is not unlike a failure in design. Sure, I have never had to tend to a burned or cut finger designing wireframes, but the same task of identifying what went wrong and knowing how to fix the mistake is critical to success. Before joining The Company's design team, I interviewed with senior leadership. Throughout the interview process, leadership explained that this project differed from others due to the absence of a traditional (agile delivery) environment and release schedule, thus making this team dynamic unique and presenting a significant challenge. Being someone who loves a challenge, I accepted the invitation to lead the team's UX and UI initiatives and prepared myself for the journey ahead.
Task
Surprisingly, I was thrilled to learn that a few key senior leadership team members were well-versed in UX research and had already scheduled research workshops with a Beta Client. If I didn't have to advocate for research out of the gate, this should be a reasonably straightforward process, and some of the initial warnings may just be how the team was structured.
The team's time zone differences made synchronous communication difficult, and cultural nuances added another layer of complexity. Navigating the org chart presented leadership bottlenecks posing a significant challenge to efficient collaboration. Think of a chef working independently behind closed doors while the kitchen staff watched him/her serve the patrons a dish they didn't ask for, assuring them that they'll love it. Our team was building a novelty item similar to a vending machine that makes pizzas to order.
Action
Upon joining the product team, I introduced myself and took proactive steps to establish a bond with the development team. I identified several communication gaps and established weekly touchpoints with the various developers and architects, demonstrating my commitment to effective communication.
I provided viewing access to my delivery backlog, Figma design files, and user journeys. This access provided:
Design clarity
Established a cohesive delivery roadmap
Prioritized the backlog
Added the customer's voice
Design system integration and accessibility standards
Subsequently, I built similar relationships with the product managers, added a series of weekly product/design touchpoints, and invited select development team members to meetings.
The results of these meetings were then prepared and presented to stakeholders and partners to confirm the design objectives and priorities were aligned with business objectives, ensuring transparency and accountability. Months after joining the team, design (finally!) had a seat at the table because I removed the design task from the developers and product managers, resulting in higher stakeholder involvement.
As a team, we conducted customer interviews with our Beta Clients and, based on their feedback, refined our designs, prioritized our backlog and delivery schedules, incorporated customer feedback, implemented our design system components, and ensured product accessibility, resulting in significant achievements and positive outcomes!
Everything sounds great. Right? So, what went wrong?
Results
Stakeholder alignment continued to be challenging, delaying our iterative process. Additionally, an ambitious launch date only added to the mounting pressure. Work was divided among team members, making preparing the product for the market complex. The strained relationships caused the core development team to miss our regular touchpoints. Consequently, the teams worked in isolation, causing delays, bottlenecks, and low morale. In restaurant terms, we were in the weeds.
Our response was aggressively partnering with the developers and product owners to push critical low-hanging fruit UX items for the release. We held off on other key enhancements while we worked through a revised release and QA process. We served the desserts before the menus arrived, serving our customers the sweet stuff before inviting them to dinner.
Like restaurants, some digital products fail, not because the food could be better or the team could be more competent. Many factors are at play, and often, success depends on the vision. Sure, mistakes can and will happen, but it is critical to recognize when they occur and quickly adapt to prevent them from happening again.
Moving forward, team alignment from the top down is mission-critical to a product's success. It's normal for a kitchen to have an off night, but it's nearly impossible to have a successful evening if a dishwasher doesn't show up for their shift. The same goes for a product team. If my team has an off night, we learn from those mistakes, realign our objectives, tighten our aprons, and sharpen our knives. Yes, Chef!
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