Categories
Books Community UX

Back to the books

UX Belfast March 2022 - product management for UX people

Always good to get a new UX Belfast lineup secured.

It’s getting close to 10 years since I took over the bookclub that Design By Front established as a regular fixture in the Belfast design calendar.

I remember well the great evenings with a small bunch of design friends, all needing out over the book selection that month. It was a smaller affair then.

Since that time, I’ve been fortunate enough to welcome many of my professional heroes to Belfast (virtually, of course). The pinnacle had to be hosting Susan Weinschenk last year, with over 100 attendees. It has never been about the numbers, always about the content.

I try to be timely with the theme of each meetup. It’s a particular thrill to have Christian along right when his book is being published – and much-needed it is, too.

Emma is such a great leader in the local tech community, I’m really delighted to finally have the topic for her to appear at UXB.

Hopefully the last online-only event. We’ll see.

Categories
Teaching

Lecture: Ulster University

Four sample slides from a presentation to the MA in Service Design and UX at Ulster University.

Back to in-real-life speaking this week, addressing students from the MA in User Experience and Service Design at Ulster University.

Two hours back on my feet, after many months of sitting and talking to gallery view on Zoom, was a real thrill. The topic was behaviour change, examining factors in the adoption of new products and innovations. My thanks to Course Director, Dr Brian Dixon for the invitation.

And how great to see a course of this nature being offered in Belfast. Only in its first year, applications are open for 2022 entry.

Categories
Management Self-development

Managing Oneself

Cover of 'Managing Oneself' by Peter Drucker

Self-awareness is increasingly identified as a critical leadership quality and a worthwhile pursuit for any professional. This little book is a great place to start.

Peter Drucker’s classic ‘Managing Oneself’ has been an indispensable reference over the years. The book (more of an essay really) promotes self-awareness and offers a simple framework for self-reflection:

• What are your strengths? Your weaknesses?
• How do you communicate?
• How do you learn?
• How do you work with others?
• What are your values?
• Where can you make the greatest contribution?

It may not hit the heights of Covey’s ‘7 Habits…’, but I see it as a perfect, compact companion.

Categories
Community Management Teams

A model for self-reflection

Model showing skills, support, and resistance applied to a situation, resulting in growth.

I was fortunate to speak this week at the latest event from Ladies that UX Belfast, ‘The Winding Road to Design’.

My theme was growth through self-awareness, which featured a model for self-reflection adapted from the ‘Making-of’ model by Mikael Krogerus & Roman Tschappeler To reflect on any given situation (a project, an objective), think about:

  • What strengths did you bring? What qualities or experience did you draw on?
  • What support did you have? Was a particular person(s) involved? Particular resources?
  • What resistance did you meet? What challenges or obstacles were put in front of you?
  • How did you grow or develop? Was it incremental, or substantial?
  • For successful situations: what can you reproduce to achieve a similar result next time? What patterns do you see in successes you have had?
  • For unsuccessful situations: what factors need to change in order to achieve a different outcome? What have you been lacking, and how can you introduce what is needed?

Thank you to Ladies That UX Belfast for inviting me to speak, to all who attended and listened, and to co-speakers Anna Murray and Conaill Hyndman. 

Categories
Books Community Teaching UX

UX Belfast, October 2021

Organising meet-ups has become a tricky business of late. After being all online for over 18 months, some are starting to get back to ‘in real life’ (IRL) events.

Not so UX Belfast! Still online-only, and hybrid events still feel a couple of months away. The generosity and knowledge of guests continue to be a joy, however.

‘How to design for everyone‘ saw New York-based designer, educator, and author Reginé Gilbert join us to talk and take questions on her accessibility work. As ever, our book club past meant that a book set the evening’s theme This time round it was Regine’´s ‘Inclusive Design for a Digital World‘.

My former Fathom_ colleague, and friend Marie-therese McCann then gave us an outline of work to bring focus to accessibility as an element of her role at ESO.

Reginé nominated America On Tech as our charity for this meetup. A donation was made to thank Reginé and MT for their time.

I had hoped this might be the last remote-only meetup before looking to a hybrid model going forward. Time will tell. Planning for 2022 events begins now. I’ll stay flexible on format and see how things stand early in the New Year.