Adam Darowski

Over the years I've tried many approaches to design critiques with the teams I've managed. Without fail these 4 simple principles impact the effectiveness of design critiques greater than anything else when established as ground rules. For presenters: ✦ Describe the problem you're solving ✦ State the target audience* ✦ Specify the feedback you're seeking All of the above can be done in less than a minute, either verbally or in written format. For participants: ✦ Ask questions before comments "I think you should go with blue instead of red" is less effective than first asking "Why did you choose red for this?" The additional context that comes from asking questions will lead to more effective feedback. Design critiques are the easiest and most important thing design teams can do to improve design quality. Alone they are not a silver bullet. But they are the foundation for all other improvements to design quality. If you're not holding regular design critiques (usually weekly), this is step 1 for improving design quality. If you're already holding regular design critiques but not doing the 4 principles above well, this is step 1 for improving your design critiques. Better critiques. Better quality. * "Everyone" is rarely acceptable as the target audience. Even if the feature being presented is intended for everyone, 99% of the time there's a specific segment or archetype you're aiming for. #design #critiques #quality

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I’m going through an iterative design process with a XFN team right now. We know we’re solving the right problem because we get repeadted validation that the value prop aligns to user needs, but the experience doesn’t provide that outcome in an easy/intuitive way. So we iterate and iterate some more, each time finding ways to better achieve the outcomes we’re targeting. This process is messy. You learn that your initial assumption were off so you lean on failure to improve incrementally. It means as a designer you need to be vulnerable…that it’s not about you providing all “the answers” to your team in a beautifully packaged deck/speck. You need to show what’s “behind the curtain” and bring them along during your process. Show your thinking and learn to interpret feedback. Approach everything as a hypothesis, remain curious, explore and share.

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Research is a function of strategy.  "According to CB Insights, over 90% of all products fail, most commonly due to no market need." Leave yourself time to ask big questions about whether any actually needs your product or service before you decide to launch it. #UXstrategy #UXresearch #Marketresearch

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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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Poorly designed experiments are rampant in A/B testing and CRO. 😭 If you share one publicly, you might get thrown under the bus. 🚌 Though I can't stop public pile-ons, I can step-up to improve our collective experimentation efforts. To learn how to design GOOD EXPERIMENTS in a SAFE and FUN environment, sign up for my workshop at Experimentation Elite on June 11, 2024. I don't have a degree in math or statistics. But I have learned from some of the best such as Lukas Vermeer and Lucas Bernardi over the last 10+ years. They have been kind and patient with me. And I, in turn, promise to be kind and patient with you. Not only that—we can have fun, too! To explain brain-melting experimentation concepts I... ✏ Draw pictures, 🖼 Use memes, and 📖 Tell silly stories. Because there's SO MUCH JOY in experimentation as we discover new things together. If you join, here's what we'll cover: 👉 The difference between designing a test to learn vs. reducing risk 👉 How to structure your approach and write good hypotheses 👉 Terms like significance (α), power (β), p-values, and confidence intervals 👉 How to calculate sample size to get trustworthy results 👉 All kinds of stuff about sample ratio mismatches (SRMs) 👉 How to analyze your data and the caveats to consider 👉 The history about how all of this stuff to solidify your learning To sign up, go to Experimentation Elite's website and check out the workshops! And don't for get to sign up for Test & Learn Community (TLC)'s Mentorship Summit. TLC is a supportive, non-profit community led by the amazing Kelly Wortham. It's filled with positive vibes. 💕 Kelly's community is a great way to level-up your skills and learn from some of the best practitioners in the world. As a final thought, I'll leave you with my personal motto as a reminder to us all: BE KIND & MAKE THINGS BETTER. Have a great day! 🎉

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The #1 lesson I've learned from a decade of user research in various flavors of enterprise UX is that we should all make a point of telling our coworkers when they did something well. Please tell someone that you appreciate them today.

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Great advice for both sides of the equation.

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#Accessibility question. I'm aware using heading tags in a global navigation dropdown/flyout structure is bad for SEO. Anyone aware of a11y issues in not using heading tags to break up sections in a global nav dropdown/flyout – and what you could do instead?

⏱ “Just in time accessibility docs” I think I’ve been doing it all wrong. As we build out our design system, we’ve been continuing to add lengthy accessibility documentation to each of our components, check. But is it actually helpful? → W3C Guidelines are verbose and many of the guidelines become redundant once the component has been built. → Text based documentation can be hard to visualize without examples or access to assistive technology. → While components may test accessible in isolation, new issues come up when components are used in context. 👏 Some folks who are doing it right that we're trying to learn from at Exygy → Carbon design system from IBM provides context specific tips for both designers and developers. The guidelines they provide act as quick implementation checklists. https://lnkd.in/gbmeJe5F → GOLD Design System by Design System AU is really unique in the way that it provides accessibility previews of components. I really dig how they simulate keyboard navigation and color blindness! https://lnkd.in/gDBgUiyN → USWDS from GSA goes above and beyond any system that I have seen by providing accessibility testing documentation that can be used when doing QA of components in the wild. ...whoa https://lnkd.in/gYP2ptrR 💎 A couple of things our team has taken away from these amazing resources that might be helpful to others: → Focus component documentation on the most "actionable" implementation details for both designers and engineers. → Reserve verbose technical setup requirements for the initial component acceptance criteria. → Experiment with ways to easily preview accessibility options and outputs. → If possible, document how someone could test issues that could come up during ongoing product feature development and QA. 🧙‍♂️ This post was in part inspired by a talk from Dan Mall at the last Figma Config when he referenced "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" to describe the "notes in the margins that help Harry improve his potion skills" as a way to describe better "just in time" design system documentation. If you do actually need the verbose stuff for component acceptance criteria you can always get it here: → W3C Authoring practices guide https://lnkd.in/g_MUENbn #accessibility #designsystems #documentation #ui #uidesign

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🚨What’s the best way to understand a designer’s intent? ✔️If you’re not sitting next to the designer in question, then design documentation tools are the next best thing. ✔️They provide highly valuable information to your whole team, but context is key. That’s why we believe these critical snippets of information should be included alongside the designs in Figma, where the designs are taking form and the intent is clear. ✔️With FigMayo you do the work once in Figma and then we automatically pull it through to your documentation. #Figma #UI #UX #Designer #Designtips

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Wow, spot on… Also consider the complexity of a “design system factory” product intended to offer design system stability to the diverse clientele of a consultancy with vastly unique clients, all with critically important needs. I often describe(d) the design tokens and design system as the CENTER of the tech ecosystem, or at minimum on par with the most critical data APIs. Few were ready for what that would cost. Financially, technically and emotionally. #outofwork

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I've treated my entire career as a journey to get as many snaps as possible to make what was once unknown for me (making, doing, thinking, directing, delegating, etc.) into a highly developed muscle that situationally flexes as necessary. AND I continue to adapt to my surroundings, and sacrifice what I may have once considered to be core to my integrity as a design professional in order to meet the moment fully. It hasn't felt like a clear progression into the commodification wall that Ryan describes; more like bits and pieces, here and there, more or less in various domains. Operating today in an early stage startup within a speculative industry (tech) for a conservative problem space (pharma & healthcare) yet with intelligent leadership who are true SMEs creates a stew of interesting trade-offs and opportunities as a function leader. Generally speaking, I've experienced what Ryan describes, but as with analytics in basketball, there's a big difference between a generalized approach to manifest offensive efficiencies and the individual choices one must make in a game seven. Matchups dictate adaptive strategies.

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It's clear from the amount of designers seeking career advice that we're still in a tough job market. But things are improving, I'm seeing great talent quickly being snapped up, especially by smaller, more dynamic teams looking for hands-on generalist designers and IC’s. I get a lot of designers reach out to me for guidance, and I always try to offer some time to help, I know I was in their position once upon a time. So, inspired by the progress I've seen in these talents, I'm opening up a few more slots on my Calendly over the next week or so. A little help can go a long way, so if you're a designer looking for advice on; — How to power up your portfolio — How to get to the next level — How to ace that interview — Or if you just wanna chat about anything design, I’m here for you Grab a 1-to-1 slot with me here: https://lnkd.in/dn4ap-2H 👊🏼 Ps these slots are for mentorship and discussions only — no sales pitches please :)

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Our Strategic Approaches to UX Research Intensive led by Jared Spool is this June 3 – 7, 2024! No more guessing. No more betting. Eliminate risk with the magic of Strategic UX Research. Read all about the intensive: https://cstu.io/7cdfbe

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Why do you need to learn business as a product designer? In my design career, one of the most important shifts of my mindset was evolving from a designer obsessed with details, typography, and aesthetics to one focused on solving business problems. Nowadays, in my work, I take more time to think about how to use design to transform user experiences, solve problems, create new interactions, and drive customer satisfaction to create business value. You could say I evolved from an “aesthetics enthusiast” to a “business problem solver.” Read more on my thoughts as a product designer about why I pay attention to business strategy.

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Just attended a UXR session where we discussed the state of UX Research. While it's been around for a few years, it's still in its infancy. Early adopters of the practice are already seeing a significant competitive advantage. In fact, in the next 10 years, it's likely that every company will have a UX Research team. Don't be left behind - invest in UX Research now to stay ahead of the game! #UXResearch #UserExperience #CompetitiveAdvantage

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10 basic lessons of a design system. Being someone who has worked within and created many design systems, brand guidelines, and UI libraries, I've encountered many bumps along the way. What would you add or remove from this list? #designsystem #UX #lessonslearned #basics https://lnkd.in/evFxwP79

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It has been my continuous struggle to showcase the contributions of the design team to business. Slapping the rules at product level seems unjust. Finiding out a comparative for a specific feature becomes difficult to assess. I am on my journey towards putting a right measuring metrics for the same. Let's connect if you are also looking out or something that might have worked well for you. #uxdaily #productmetrices #designmetrices #productstrategy #designstrategy

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