The hard skills and soft skills that are needed to build an effective UX team.

1. Patrick Neeman, Director of Product Design, Apptio
@usabilitycounts | www.usabilitycounts.com
Hunting
Unicorns
What makes
an effective
UX Professional{

2. @usabilitycounts
Who’s Patrick Neeman?
Almost 20 years of UX and Web Experience
Runs UsabilityCounts.com and UXDrinkingGame.com
Built several UX teams
Drinks Whiskey

3. @usabilitycounts
What makes an effective
UX Professional?

4. @usabilitycounts
Be A Unicorn
Thank You!

5. @usabilitycounts
Why am I even thinking about this?

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I have to build teams

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Patron Saint of Lost Designers

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Some Articles I Found…
!
Nine Essential Characteristics of Good UX Designers
http://userexperience.evantageconsulting.com/2009/07/
characteristics-good-ux-designers/
!
And about nine other articles linking to Fred Beecher’s article…
!
Essential and Desirable Skills for a UX Designer
http://uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2010/12/essential-and-
desirable-skills-for-a-ux-designer.php
!
Which a laundry list of skills that is unachievable…
!
And a bunch of short articles.
Fred Beecher

9. @usabilitycounts
Why is it hard to define what an
effective UX Professional is?

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There is no front door to UX…
That’s part of the problem

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…and there is no blueprint
That makes it worse

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For example…
Dave Hogue
Ph.D.
Psychology Background
Good looking
Great public speaker
Drinks gin (Boo)
Patrick Neeman
Three Time Dropout
Print Design Background
Has a great goatee
Presentation has funny photos
Sophisticated Whiskey Drinker

13. @usabilitycounts
“When I grow up, I want to be a UX Designer.”
Lion Tamer,
Print Designer, Web Designer, Creative Director,
Program Manager, Product Manager, and
Director of Development

14. @usabilitycounts
T-Shaped Skill Set
They have a principal skill
that describes the vertical
leg of the T — they’re
mechanical engineers or
industrial designers. But
they are so empathetic that
they can branch out into
other skills, such as
anthropology, and do them as
well.”
Tim Brown, IDEO CEO
“

15. @usabilitycounts
A compartmentalist
isolates themselves
from the other
disciplines around
them, not really
learning what they do
or how they do it.”
Jared Spool
Ideal UX Team
http://www.uie.com/articles/Ideal_UX_team/
“

16. @usabilitycounts
They want us to be unicorns…
…dammit.

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What are the hard skills?

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The Competencies of User Experience
User Research
and Analytics
Understanding the
users through
observations and
data
Content
Strategy
Planning for the
creation, delivery
and governance of
usable content
Information
Architecture
Organizing
information in a
product or website
in a usable way
Interaction
Design
Designing interactive
behaviors with a
specific focus on
their use
Visual
Design
Designing the visual
qualities in an
aesthetically
pleasing way
Front End
Development
Building the
interactive behaviors
to be used by the
end user
http://www.nickfinck.com/blog/entry/ux_career_progression_finding_a_niche_building_a_personal_brand/

19. @usabilitycounts
Interaction Designer
User Research
and Analytics
Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Interaction
Design
Visual
Design
Front End
Development

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Visual Designer
User Research
and Analytics
Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Interaction
Design
Visual
Design
Front End
Development

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Content Strategist
User Research
and Analytics
Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Interaction
Design
Visual
Design
Front End
Development

22. @usabilitycounts
Design Technologist
User Research
and Analytics
Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Interaction
Design
Visual
Design
Front End
Development

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The Core Apptio Team of Five
User Research
and Analytics
Content
Strategy
Information
Architecture
Interaction
Design
Visual
Design
Front End
Development

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Every Project Is
Like A Different
Lego Set
Teams need multifaceted
players — their skills fit each
other and fit project needs

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But…
Is it really about the hard skills?

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What are the soft skills?

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So what are those soft skills?
Empathy Curiosity Methodical
Fearlessness Self Aware Articulate
Pragmatic
Passionate

28. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

29. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

30. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

31. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

32. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

33. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

34. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

35. @usabilitycounts
Empathy
Curiosity
Systematic
Pragmatic
Fearless
Self-Aware
Articulate
Passionate

36. @usabilitycounts
I have to convince my developer to
build a feature…
Empathy Curiosity Methodical
Fearless Self Aware Articulate
Pragmatic
Passionate

37. @usabilitycounts
I want to understand user needs…
Empathy Curiosity Methodical
Fearless Self Aware Articulate
Pragmatic
Passionate

38. @usabilitycounts
I want to analyze user data…
Empathy Curiosity Methodical
Fearless Self Aware Articulate
Pragmatic
Passionate

39. @usabilitycounts
I want to sell design thinking
within an organization…
Empathy Curiosity Methodical
Fearless Self Aware Articulate
Pragmatic
Passionate

40. @usabilitycounts
Context Matters
Every situation demands different soft skills

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What’s the point of this
presentation?

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We need to
better define
who we are

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Hard skills are table stakes
http://www.uxisnotui.com/

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Soft skills turn us into superheroes

45. @usabilitycounts
Further Reading
!
The Unicorn Designer Dilemma, and How to Avoid It
http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2013/07/24/the-unicorn-designer-dilemma-and-how-
to-avoid-it/
!
Eight Organizational Challenges for UX Professionals
http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2012/05/02/eight-organizational-challenges-for-ux-
professionals/
!
Six Things Misunderstood About User Experience Designers
http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2011/03/14/six-things-misunderstood-about-user-
experience-designers/
!
How to Get Started in User Experience for People I Want to Hire
http://www.usabilitycounts.com/2011/10/18/how-to-get-started-in-user-experience-
seven-tips/

46. Patrick Neeman, Director of Product Design, Apptio
@usabilitycounts | www.usabilitycounts.com
Thank you!