Calvin Wong

For those who were following my last post on Figma training, I have great news! An additional module is now available. This new module offers 4 hours of practical challenges to help you master two cutting-edge features: - Variables for Design Systems - Variables + Conditional Statements for Advanced Prototyping Check it out here: [Link to the module](https://lnkd.in/eGfV5kXC)

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Building a Career in UX Research - Skills for Success In this episode of Pulse by Intuji, Julian Wallis, CEO of Intuji, discusses with Cory Lebson, Principal of Lebsontech LLC, about the essential skills needed for those considering a career in UX research. Reflecting on the current market, Cory offers practical advice for newcomers in the field. "Research took a hit in 2023 and into 2024, so it's a little harder to get a research job at this exact moment," Cory notes. However, he emphasises the importance of patience and resilience. "Don't get discouraged. I think we're on the upswing again, and the research will be plentiful... It might take until 2025 for a full rebound." Cory highlights that although the current market is challenging, those with the right skills and mindset should persevere, as opportunities in UX research will grow once more. 🎧 Learn more about the skills needed for a successful career in UX research in this episode of Pulse by Intuji: ➕ YouTube - https://buff.ly/4cB1E4N ➕ Spotify - https://buff.ly/3J3MQxV ➕ Apple Podcasts - https://buff.ly/4cCnRiZ ➕ Deezer - https://buff.ly/3J3MQOr Keep up with Pulse by Intuji on social media for insights from leading experts: 👉 LinkedIn - Pulse by Intuji 👉 YouTube - https://buff.ly/4cB1E4N 👉 TikTok - https://buff.ly/4aIF3S9 👉 Instagram - https://buff.ly/4bWe85F 👉 X/Twitter - https://buff.ly/3J3MQ0T 👉 Website - https://buff.ly/4aIF3l7 #UXResearch #CareerAdvice #PulseByIntuji #Leadership #Technology #B2B

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If we're not talking about design maturity, agile process, or craft, then us designers are probably talking about ✨quality.✨ I certainly see my interviewer's eyes light up when I mention this magical word. "Design is the one that has to hold the quality bar," I tell them. But what if that didn't have to be true? For a truly high-quality product, I don't think it should be design holding the line. It has to be something baked into the organization - everyone holds the quality bar. Even though "quality" is a slippery thing to define, if we can define it and hold ourselves to it, we can reduce the tension in the org and start to think less about the mere baseline quality for the product and more about raising that bar - delighting the user. I very much enjoyed Luke Anthony Firth's take on how they folded quality into their product building process. Have a read! https://lnkd.in/g4SenmYZ #designleadership #productprocess #productdesign #productquality #designquality #opentowork

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Join Jared Spool for tomorrow’s Talk UX Strategy live discussion: Justifying UX Research: The Costs of Guessing Wrong Tuesday, May 28 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT) How do you get executives to value UX research? That question is as old as the UX field itself. Your executives have seemingly infinite reasons why they don’t want UX research. They say it takes too long, or the results will come too late. They tell you it’s expensive or that talking to customers will cause political problems. Whatever their reason, it’s clear they don’t see the value that comes from UX research. Finding a rebuttal is hard. Many UX folks have tried presenting case studies, business magazine articles, or other organizations’ success stories — all without success. When they explain that understanding users is essential or that “we should be customer-centric,” their arguments are dismissed. However, one approach has a much higher success record: identifying and reporting the costs of not conducting research. When we don’t know what our users and customers need, we must guess what will make them happy. All too often, those guesses turn out to be costly mistakes. In this lively session, Jared Spool will explore several ways that UX leaders have successfully justified the value of UX research to overcome executive resistance. You’ll discover techniques that show how your organization is already spending too much and incurring delivery delays because of wrong guesses and how to show research as a beneficial alternative. Uncover how you’ll… 👉 Uncover long-term hidden costs when poor assumptions and guesses hurt sales or increase support, and nobody even realizes it. 👉 Boost the team’s confidence in what customers need, which will speed up design, development, and delivery and stop those never-ending debates. 👉 Perform your best work every day because you now have detailed information about who your users are and what they need. RSVP & Connection instructions: https://lnkd.in/eZTxb3B

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Hiring for design system roles differs from hiring for other design or engineering roles. Clarifying what makes the roles unique is essential for screening candidates. Here are some nuances that I've found to be helpful. When asking for a presentation, stop using the word "portfolio" and start using "case studies." They tell similar stories but change the expectations from traditional visual portfolios. Include clear bullet points about expected responsibilities; don't just copy and paste requirements from other similar, existing roles. Just because they have the word "designer" or "engineer" in the title doesn't mean the job is the same. If your org still insists on doing a design exercise, tailor it to reflect what you expect from a design system practitioner. The day-to-day is unique, so don't waste time on an exercise that provides no value for you and sets the candidate up for failure. If hiring a design system team manager, you're not hiring an independent contributor and vice versa. Managing and building design systems is a lot of work. One person can't do both roles well simultaneously, so pick one and focus the interview questions on the expected role. What did I miss?

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Design operations (aka DesignOps) is the engine that keeps the design process humming along so that designers can focus on what they do best (you know, designing). 👩‍💻 It ensures your team’s sanity, allowing them to focus on the work itself rather than reinventing the wheel or “how” to get the work done every time. This stuff is especially crucial as your design firepower grows—whether with new designers, devs, or product peeps. Wondering how to get started? Our blog post on Standardizing design through DesignOps has you covered: https://lnkd.in/gfwR2u-6 #DesignOps #UXdesign #designprocess

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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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Had to share this thoughtful article about the conflicting feelings we have as designers with new AI tools.... made me consider the threat of too much standardization over innovation, or letting your own creative instincts atrophy. Check it out and lmk your thoughts

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I'm thrilled to share that my latest product and design discovery article is live on Mind the Product! As a consultant, I've observed that the term 'Discovery' can have varying interpretations across different teams. It's not uncommon to encounter a team deeply immersed in a solution yet lacking a shared understanding of the customer opportunity they're addressing. At Lab Zero, we meet clients where they are and advocate for discovery while maintaining flexibility. We often employ lightweight methodologies to foster a shared understanding, even when work is already underway. Teresa Torres' book “Continuous Discovery Habits” is a guide to developing the mindset and practices that enable teams to discover and deliver value to their customers throughout the product development process. Her explanation of the 'Opportunity Solution Tree' helped me articulate a process for asking questions and bridging gaps when joining a new team. The first part of this two-part series looks at reversing the 'Opportunity Solution Tree' to establish a connection between the ongoing solution, customer opportunities, and business outcomes. The second part (coming soon!) will explore strategies for identifying gaps in your team's understanding of customer needs and the necessary measures to mitigate risks before launch. This series will help consultants, new team members, or a struggling team connect with that all-important why and launch valuable experiences for their customers and their orgs. Have you tried something like this with your team? Feedback is appreciated! If you haven't explored Mind The Product's extensive content library, I highly recommend it! In addition to articles about discovery and understanding customer needs, the community has shared insightful perspectives on product leadership, business, and teams. It's a great place to see perspectives on processes and theories informed by real-world use.  #ProductDiscovery #Design #Discovery #ContinuousDiscovery #Onboarding #Risk #CustomerOpportunity #Value #BusinessOutcomes

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