True North

Laura Summers and Milly Schmidt have been active contributors in the Australian tech scene for a while now. Both have strong backgrounds in design, development, user experience, copy writing and product management. They’ve also mentored dozens of young women and have both spoke at numerous events. In this two part episode we have a wide ranging discussion including, defining your skillset and handling imposter syndrome, how to navigate interviews, diversity at all levels, handling toxic cultures and how to build positive ones, salaries and more. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Laura Summers and Milly Schmidt have been active contributors in the Australian tech scene for a while now. Both have strong backgrounds in design, development, user experience, copy writing and product management. They’ve also mentored dozens of young women and have both spoke at numerous events. In this two part episode we have a wide ranging discussion including, defining your skillset and handling imposter syndrome, how to navigate interviews, diversity at all levels, handling toxic cultures and how to build positive ones, salaries and more. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

In the second of a two part episode we take a look at culture and diversity and learn how successful companies are thinking about this and what we can try in our own companies. We speak with Farai Madzima, A UX Lead from Shopify, Remya Ramesh, Senior Design Manager at REA Group, and Atlassian’s Global Head of Diversity and Belonging, Aubrey Blanche. We learn that both of these important topics are much more nuanced than you might think. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

In the first of a two part episode we take a look at culture and diversity and explore what they are and how they can be viewed differently. We speak with Farai Madzima, A UX Lead from Shopify, and Atlassian’s Global Head of Diversity and Belonging, Aubrey Blanche. We learn that both of these important topics are much more nuanced than you might think. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Carmel was sure she was going to be fired. It was clear to her that she was out of her depth & only a matter of time until someone found out. She should just quit... That's what she though, but not what she did. Carmel changed her thinking & put herself on the path to helping hundreds of other suffering from self doubt. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

How do you lead if you've never been well lead? We speak to design leaders at some of the world's most interesting companies to learn how they think about leadership, and what their major challenges were and continue to be. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

When tragedy strikes & everything you've worked for is taken away from you, how do you respond? In this episode we hear the story of how someone took a devastating event & turned it into a company which changes the lives of thousands. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Motivated by the preventable death of a young girl, a group of students set out to design a better solution to anaphylactic allergies and in the process create an award winning idea. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

In this episode we learn about a revolutionary dance program which has been liberating Parkinson's sufferers from their symptoms through movement and music. Where does UX come into this? Well, they received a grant from Google to create an augmented reality application to bring their dance classes out of the studio and into the world of their students. How does you design an AR product which needs to cater for the many and varying symptoms which impose upon a person with Parkinson's Disease? We find out. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

This is the first episode in a mini series which revolves around the UX Awards, the premier independent awards, which this year will be held in Palo Alto, California on November 8 and 9. To learn more about the awards, as well as how to enter, go to uxawards.org. In this first episode we speak to the awards founder, Beverly May. We learn why they were created, and how this year the awards are focusing on the future of UX. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

In 2016 a design partner from Google Ventures (GV), Jake Knapp, released a book called Sprint. The book introduced the idea of Design Sprints, a concept that had existed within Google for several years and was a mainstay in the toolset employed by GV with their portfolio of companies. The beauty of Jake’s book is that it is very specific, there is even a 15-page checklist for when you are running your own Design Sprints. This however did not stop a swathe of folks from appropriating the name, but not the core ideas. What this in turn meant is that acts were being committed under the name of Design Sprint but were not even remotely close to what Jake describes in Sprint. In this episode we dive into what Design Sprints really are, address their detractors and we visit the enterprise giant, Aus Post, where they ran 4 sprints in 5 weeks. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Imagine for a moment that we are back in the early 2000’s – 2005 to be specific. You are in San Francisco & own fledgling design agency. You saw first hand the highs achieved by those at the crest of the dotcom bubble & what happened to them once it burst. The design agency you started only a few years early has begun to attract some amazing clients. Celebrities, technology companies like Google & industry giants like NASA. So, what would you say if a new, unproven start-up came to you & offered equity in return for designing their brand & logo? This is the question posed to the Cuban Council when Mark Zuckerberg & Sean Parker met with them in 2005. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

In recent years Atlassian has grown from 4 designers to over 120. In this period they've undergone rapid change & widespread scaling challenges. In this episode we go inside their design, growth & UX teams to learn their tips & secrets for continuing to perform at an elite level in order to deliver a world class product. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey speaks with Elizabeth Churchill, a Head of UX at Google. Elizabeth has also been the Director of Human Computer Interaction at the eBay Research Lab, as well as having held senior research positions at Yahoo and Parc and she is currently a distinguished visiting scholar at Stanford university. They discuss Elizabeth’s background in psychology and path into UX via AI (1:33) then how she moved into he roles at eBay and Google (2:40). Shifting between enterprise and consumer research (5:25) and dealing with data at scale (7:55). Elizabeth explains what she does in her role of Head of UX at Google (8:53). The importance of recruiting passionate, interdisciplinary people to your team (11:55), then exploring the relationship between curiosity and passion (14:45). They then look into what is the appropriate balance between moving quickly, failing fast and ensuring you are moving in the correct direction (19:00) and how it relates to the experience level of the team. Defining the different types of research and how it should be defined (26:15). What designing for emotion means to her (39:00). The recent designing for machine learning systems symposium that she ran and what she found most interesting (47:44). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey speaks with Janaki Kumar, the VP Head of Design and Co-Innovation Center at SAP and the author of ‘Gamification At Work: Designing Engaging Business Software”. They also discuss her Woman of Influence Award and what it meant (2:20), what she feels her strength and decision that led to her position in the industry (3:37) and how innovation lies at the seams of multiple disciplines (5:52) and how this aided her. Janaki’s key area of focus at SAP (8:40) and how she has ended up working in the enterprise (13:20) and why she loves the challenges it presents. The degree and rate of change within the enterprise as it relates to embracing design (16:41). How the creation process requires skillset and mindset and how a good understanding of design principles relate to this (18:21). The increasingly complex nature of the challenges that are being tackled by designers (19:38). The co-creation exercise Janaki ran with the Vilore warehouse staff emphasizing empathy and inclusion (21:06). How to tackle the problem of scaling empathy (27:10) and creating an empathy map to engage stakeholders (30:15). How are enterprise companies managing the balance between convergent and divergent thinking (33:27). Creating a culture of design led innovation and how organization should try to implement this (37:30). SAP’s framework for an innovation culture riding on the three pillars of people, process and place (43:50). Janaki’s history with the UX Awards as a board member, advisor and past winner (50:52) plus how she defines great UX and references the “Hero’s Journey”. Whether the design industry understands how to implement and leverage gamification (55:00) within product design. Areas of work processes which a primed for the inclusion of gamification elements (58:17). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey speaks with Sarah Doody. Sarah is one of those people who can make you feel exhausted purely because she seems to be doing so much. In recent times she’s been a director of product development and user experience, a curriculum developer and instructor at General Assembly , an entrepreneur, a popular speaker at conferences around the world and the creator of a popular newsletter, The UX Notebook. Shefik and Sarah discuss how her UX career got to where she currently is today (2:29). The positives and negatives that come with working externally versus internally as a part of a team (4:52). The changing role of the UX consultant (8:09). How Sarah created the first UX course at General Assembly which is now offered all around the world (11:20) and how she found her way into teaching and thought leadership (12:00). They then move into the different ways UX can be taught and communicated to beginners and those more experienced (13:58). Ensuring UXers focus on their soft skills rather than software or other tools (16:41) and thinking like a designer (20:14). Sarah also addresses the misconceptions surrounding research having to be costly and slow (25:57), arming yourself with evidence so stakeholders take your findings seriously (35:33). Finally, they discuss defining anticipatory design and the things that need to be considered when designing for it (37:36). The best way for UXers to learn and forward their career (53:21). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey and Kathy Baxter dive into UX research, geeking out in a way that only years of experience can lead to. Kathy covers a lot, including the difference between enterprise and consumer user research based on her time at Google, eBay, Oracle and Salesforce. They also discuss how she got into UX and where her passion came from (2:43), the challenge of realizing you and your peers may not be representative of your product’s users (7:08), the importance of students working on real-world problems (10:23). The importance and challenges surrounding empathy (13:48), UX consideration for customer support (16:32), the difference between consumer and enterprise research (20:08), the story and motivations behind the writing of her book (26:18) and how UX research has changed over the last ten years (30:59). How to tackle problems associated with recruiting valid participants (33:30), research snobbery (42:02), why UX infrastructure is important (43:38), how generative research can fit into agile environments (48:40) and the importance of pro-bono work and Salesforce’s philanthropy model 1-1-1 (52:51). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey talks to Aarron Walter, who is currently the VP of Design Education at InVision and before that he was employee number four at MailChimp where he founded their UX practice. Shefik and Aarron dive into topics including common problems design teams face and the internal conflict designers often face when trust into positions of leadership. They also discuss what a VP of UX Education is and is it an internal or external facing role (1:29). The common themes surrounding problems design teams face and possible solutions (4:46). How UX research fits into designing for emotion (8:30) and whether organizations are doing enough research upfront to guide their direction (13:01). The discovery process behind MailChimp Snap and how the ethnographic research process lead to new feature development (15:00). Strategies for ensuring research happens in parallel and doesn’t hold up other areas of a team and is in turn shared with the team (20:21). How designers are often thrust into positions of leadership which often causes them internal conflict (24:40). What attributes are either required or often seen in a great design leader (28:26). How to create a successful UX team and how the process changes depending on a company’s level of maturity (31:11). Helping designers finding the balance between being thoughtful and considered versus productive and frequently shipping (35:20). How convergent and divergent thinking can work together to achieve an optimal result (37:54). How organizations should measure success (39:17). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey talks to Jeff Veen. Jeff is a Design Partner at True Ventures, where he spends his time helping companies create better products. He also does as an advisor for companies like about.me, Medium, and WordPress. Previously, he was VP of Design at Adobe after they acquired Typekit, the companyhe co-founded and ran as CEO. Jeff was also one of the founding partners of the user experience consulting group Adaptive Path. While there, he led Measure Map, which was acquired by Google. And during his time at Google, Jeff designed Google Analytics and lead the UX team for Google's apps. Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.

This is the first episode in a mini-series, between season 1 and 2 of True North, called the ‘Master Series’. Loop11’s co-founder Shefik Bey talks to Jeff Gothelf. Jeff is the author of the best selling book Lean UX and the soon to be released Sense & Respond. In this fascinating chat they talk about the new book Sense & Respond and why he and Josh Seiden wrote it (4:42). The pros and cons of siloed teams (8:00), creating a culture of continual learning (9:21), the dichotomy of rewarding teams based on shipping versus encouraging learning and thoughtfulness (13:16), moving a workplace from a deliberate culture to an emergent mindset and why you’d want to do this (18:37). Involving key stakeholders in the discovery phase (23:17) and how to quickly identify and understand an organization’s level of sophistication in relation to design and testing (28:25). They then dive into the anatomy of self-guided teams (31:35), when and why to pursue generative research (35:54). Finally Jeff talks about why he decided to move out of his consulting business Neo and the challenge many agencies now face (37:43). Follow True North on Twitter or subscribe to be notified of new episodes.