1
00:00:07,050 --> 00:00:11,331
Today, it is my pleasure to
welcome Winnie Abodo Alinga.

2
00:00:11,331 --> 00:00:14,601
I hope I didn't mess that up too badly,
to [INAUDIBLE].

3
00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:17,460
Winnie, I'm so sorry.

4
00:00:17,460 --> 00:00:18,395
>> Just a little bit.

5
00:00:18,395 --> 00:00:19,620
>> [LAUGH] Just a little bit?

6
00:00:19,620 --> 00:00:23,226
I'll try it again, Winnie Abodo?

7
00:00:23,226 --> 00:00:25,301
>> Abodo Alinga.

8
00:00:25,301 --> 00:00:26,317
>> Alinga, got it.

9
00:00:26,317 --> 00:00:28,282
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you so much.

10
00:00:28,282 --> 00:00:29,525
Well, welcome, Winnie.

11
00:00:29,525 --> 00:00:30,490
>> Thank you.

12
00:00:30,490 --> 00:00:35,442
>> Winnie is a UX design professional,
a creative problem solver,

13
00:00:35,442 --> 00:00:37,590
and an entrepreneur.

14
00:00:37,590 --> 00:00:42,808
Her approach to product design is about
[INAUDIBLE] the humanity of people

15
00:00:42,808 --> 00:00:47,857
using digital products, an approach
she embraced while working with

16
00:00:47,857 --> 00:00:52,748
prominent Montreal based startups
such as Busbud and LANDR Audio.

17
00:00:52,748 --> 00:00:57,330
As a design philosopher, an involved
member of the city's viral design

18
00:00:57,330 --> 00:01:01,008
community, Winnie is passionate
about the joy that can be

19
00:01:01,008 --> 00:01:06,040
found in solving problems through
good design and creative thinking.

20
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,461
After graduating from the University
of Montreal in the creativity and

21
00:01:10,461 --> 00:01:14,588
innovation program,
her focus started shifting towards sharing

22
00:01:14,588 --> 00:01:19,524
the knowledge behind the creative process
of design to build better products,

23
00:01:19,524 --> 00:01:22,150
better teams, and a better life.

24
00:01:22,150 --> 00:01:24,260
Please welcome, Winnie.

25
00:01:24,260 --> 00:01:25,616
>> Hello, everybody.

26
00:01:25,616 --> 00:01:29,458
As Toni introduced to you who I am,
I'm Winnie and

27
00:01:29,458 --> 00:01:33,497
I craft human experiences
through product design.

28
00:01:33,497 --> 00:01:39,728
And today, I'm going to be sharing with
you how being a product designer taught

29
00:01:39,728 --> 00:01:46,580
me key lessons for work and for life,
as I call it, a pathway to easier living.

30
00:01:46,580 --> 00:01:51,750
So, let's dive in first
as to how I got here.

31
00:01:51,750 --> 00:01:58,582
So, 10 year old me used to do
lettering on my school notebooks and

32
00:01:58,582 --> 00:02:05,610
I used to love presenting the stuff
that I was owning with fonts.

33
00:02:05,610 --> 00:02:07,633
And I thought, at the time, well,

34
00:02:07,633 --> 00:02:10,820
what could be a career that
interests me to do that?

35
00:02:10,820 --> 00:02:13,968
And, funny enough, it was advertising.

36
00:02:13,968 --> 00:02:17,660
So I wanted to become an advertiser.

37
00:02:17,660 --> 00:02:22,442
So I went to graphic design school
to pursue this career until

38
00:02:22,442 --> 00:02:26,610
I realized that ads is
not really my thing.

39
00:02:26,610 --> 00:02:30,997
And so
throughout that program across the years,

40
00:02:30,997 --> 00:02:35,904
I learned a lot about web design,
all about CSS, HTML,

41
00:02:35,904 --> 00:02:40,510
and I became more and
more interested in that field.

42
00:02:41,700 --> 00:02:46,580
As I graduated in 2015,
I got my first UI job in

43
00:02:46,580 --> 00:02:51,463
a local Montreal company
that built softwares for

44
00:02:51,463 --> 00:02:57,870
other businesses, and
I basically fell in love with it.

45
00:02:57,870 --> 00:03:05,190
And here I am now, five plus years later,
working in the field.

46
00:03:05,190 --> 00:03:10,359
And as we mentioned earlier in my intro,
working in startups like Busbud and

47
00:03:10,359 --> 00:03:13,360
LANDR from the Montreal design community.

48
00:03:14,450 --> 00:03:22,520
And as I like to call what I do, helping
someone somewhere do something but easier.

49
00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,442
So, through this whole journey,

50
00:03:25,442 --> 00:03:31,100
I learned a ton of lessons that I
wanted to share with you all today.

51
00:03:32,570 --> 00:03:35,140
So product design is problem solving.

52
00:03:35,140 --> 00:03:38,999
No matter which field you come from,
your experience is an asset.

53
00:03:38,999 --> 00:03:43,250
The soft skills acquired along
the way will serve you for life.

54
00:03:43,250 --> 00:03:44,906
The power is in the process,

55
00:03:44,906 --> 00:03:49,940
then it's a matter of finding just
the right solution to each problem.

56
00:03:49,940 --> 00:03:52,371
So throughout the presentation,

57
00:03:52,371 --> 00:03:57,850
I will be uncovering the lessons behind
what those obscure sentences mean.

58
00:03:57,850 --> 00:04:02,965
Maybe some of you may or
may not know too much about the field,

59
00:04:02,965 --> 00:04:06,677
but it can be a very
interesting refresher or

60
00:04:06,677 --> 00:04:13,140
new things that can be of use to
you in your studies or your career.

61
00:04:13,140 --> 00:04:16,600
So, let's start with the basics.

62
00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,910
So what is product design, actually?

63
00:04:19,910 --> 00:04:27,855
So, in principle, it's about facilitating
situation A into becoming situation B.

64
00:04:27,855 --> 00:04:33,336
And the whole mystery,
basically, relies on the how,

65
00:04:33,336 --> 00:04:37,190
how do we make a situation go from A to B?

66
00:04:38,860 --> 00:04:44,453
So, in general, it can take many forms,
a physical object or

67
00:04:44,453 --> 00:04:49,954
tool, an action, a word,
all of those or anything really.

68
00:04:49,954 --> 00:04:54,090
But let's go over a couple of examples.

69
00:04:54,090 --> 00:04:59,814
So let's say you have friends that come
over to your place very last minute and

70
00:04:59,814 --> 00:05:02,490
they're very hungry.

71
00:05:02,490 --> 00:05:07,377
And the situation B would be
that they are all happy and

72
00:05:07,377 --> 00:05:11,130
fed, you can have a good time.

73
00:05:11,130 --> 00:05:15,070
So how would you go about
solving this situation?

74
00:05:15,070 --> 00:05:18,807
Can you share with me in
the chat below some of

75
00:05:18,807 --> 00:05:23,660
the ideas that you may have for
how to solve this problem.

76
00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,832
Make some food, take away.

77
00:05:36,640 --> 00:05:38,250
If you wanna go out, yeah.

78
00:05:46,680 --> 00:05:50,270
So these are very interesting suggestions.

79
00:05:50,270 --> 00:05:55,151
Looking at the issue in a tech and
product standpoint,

80
00:05:55,151 --> 00:06:00,241
one of the ways that we could solve for
this is to have an app

81
00:06:00,241 --> 00:06:06,501
that helps people order food being
delivered to you much easier than,

82
00:06:06,501 --> 00:06:10,743
for example,
if you don't have food to cook for

83
00:06:10,743 --> 00:06:14,805
your friends or
the takeout place is closed.

84
00:06:16,030 --> 00:06:21,445
So many situations that can be alleviated
by having a product to solve for

85
00:06:21,445 --> 00:06:23,270
this problem.

86
00:06:23,270 --> 00:06:29,649
So when you scale that situation
A to situation B principle,

87
00:06:29,649 --> 00:06:34,026
you're able to see that there are more and

88
00:06:34,026 --> 00:06:42,060
more problems that come with such
a solution that can be solved as well.

89
00:06:42,060 --> 00:06:46,040
So, for example, how can we make sure
that people get their food faster?

90
00:06:46,040 --> 00:06:51,054
One of the solution maybe by not
offering them restaurants that

91
00:06:51,054 --> 00:06:57,204
are too far from their homes, so that
the delivery times can be reasonable and

92
00:06:57,204 --> 00:07:01,410
everybody gets their food
in a reasonable manner.

93
00:07:01,410 --> 00:07:07,092
Another issue could be how do we make
sure that the food is appealing?

94
00:07:07,092 --> 00:07:12,770
So, one of the solutions may be sending
pro photographers to professionally

95
00:07:12,770 --> 00:07:18,095
shoot the food so that it looks as
appetizing as if you entered the place,

96
00:07:18,095 --> 00:07:23,890
and smells, and saw what other people
in the restaurant order, for example.

97
00:07:25,060 --> 00:07:30,058
So in a nutshell, product design
is definitely asking tons of

98
00:07:30,058 --> 00:07:35,730
those questions over and over and
over again to solve problems.

99
00:07:35,730 --> 00:07:43,020
And when I understood that, product design
was just no longer about UI only and

100
00:07:43,020 --> 00:07:48,020
UX, but
really uncovering problems to solve.

101
00:07:48,020 --> 00:07:52,369
So I stopped being afraid
of asking questions.

102
00:07:52,369 --> 00:07:57,680
[LAUGH] The shy me really
evolved into understanding that

103
00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:03,350
comprehension of the problem
at hand is everything.

104
00:08:03,350 --> 00:08:08,168
And I like to basically think
of myself as a detective on

105
00:08:08,168 --> 00:08:13,110
a mission to like uncover
information about a problem.

106
00:08:14,810 --> 00:08:20,160
So, on the next sentence,
no matter which field you come from,

107
00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,647
your experience is an asset.

108
00:08:22,647 --> 00:08:28,751
I see that in the way that solving
problem is something that we do daily,

109
00:08:28,751 --> 00:08:34,350
even if it's not necessarily
related to product design itself,

110
00:08:34,350 --> 00:08:38,422
but knowledge from everywhere,
every field,

111
00:08:38,422 --> 00:08:43,613
every thing that you've studied or
learned about in the past

112
00:08:43,613 --> 00:08:51,010
is increasing your ability to come up
with richer solutions to your problems.

113
00:08:51,010 --> 00:08:55,853
So, by doing that, we're also
able to take into account what we

114
00:08:55,853 --> 00:09:01,940
consider being the margins of the problem
that you have to solve at hand.

115
00:09:01,940 --> 00:09:05,557
So, for example, if you take the alpha and

116
00:09:05,557 --> 00:09:10,583
the omega of a situation,
usually we would want to build for

117
00:09:10,583 --> 00:09:16,900
the majority of cases that find
themselves to be in the middle.

118
00:09:16,900 --> 00:09:23,988
But those majority of cases don't
necessarily encompass the absolutes.

119
00:09:23,988 --> 00:09:28,386
So, whenever we only design for
the middle,

120
00:09:28,386 --> 00:09:32,335
it becomes difficult to include those.

121
00:09:32,335 --> 00:09:37,099
So, for example,
if you are building an app for

122
00:09:37,099 --> 00:09:43,920
people's self-diagnosis of
a medical issue, for example.

123
00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:50,105
And, on one hand, you have professional
doctors, medical experts, and

124
00:09:50,105 --> 00:09:55,795
on the other hand, people who are not
at all in the field of medicine,

125
00:09:55,795 --> 00:10:00,827
building for the majority of
cases may not necessarily reach

126
00:10:02,886 --> 00:10:07,391
Those polar opposites on the spectrum.

127
00:10:07,391 --> 00:10:15,928
And knowing that makes it easier to
comprehend that by going out of our way.

128
00:10:15,928 --> 00:10:22,140
Going out of our comfort zone,
and reaching out to people or

129
00:10:22,140 --> 00:10:27,742
situations, or
examples out of our knowledge base.

130
00:10:27,742 --> 00:10:33,354
We're able to create richer
solutions that are as

131
00:10:33,354 --> 00:10:39,643
close as possible to including
those polar opposites.

132
00:10:39,643 --> 00:10:42,902
Of course, all of this is a theory.

133
00:10:42,902 --> 00:10:46,954
It's never easy to include
everybody all the time.

134
00:10:46,954 --> 00:10:52,014
But it's something that
usually is good to strive for

135
00:10:52,014 --> 00:10:54,830
whenever we build products.

136
00:10:54,830 --> 00:10:59,221
So bridging that gap as much as possible.

137
00:10:59,221 --> 00:11:04,699
So the second lesson that being
a product designer taught me through

138
00:11:04,699 --> 00:11:10,666
this situation is that, I got better
at nurturing my sense of curiosity.

139
00:11:10,666 --> 00:11:14,798
So making a very conscious
effort to consider

140
00:11:14,798 --> 00:11:19,799
different realities in our
own goes really a long way to

141
00:11:19,799 --> 00:11:24,599
understand more of the problem
that we have at hand.

142
00:11:24,599 --> 00:11:29,783
Whether or not we are coming
from a graphic design field,

143
00:11:29,783 --> 00:11:31,943
or engineering field.

144
00:11:31,943 --> 00:11:36,041
Or maybe you did some
agricultural studies, or

145
00:11:36,041 --> 00:11:42,603
anything that's not product design,
is helpful in doing product design.

146
00:11:42,603 --> 00:11:44,908
So I'm very curious.

147
00:11:44,908 --> 00:11:50,595
And yeah, I watch a lot of
science shows on [LAUGH] YouTube.

148
00:11:50,595 --> 00:11:52,520
So that's that.

149
00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:54,834
The third sentence is,

150
00:11:54,834 --> 00:12:01,040
soft skills acquired along
the way will serve you for life.

151
00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:04,030
So I already mentioned a couple of those.

152
00:12:04,030 --> 00:12:07,810
So curiosity, openness,
they're really key in product design.

153
00:12:09,020 --> 00:12:13,122
But so are empathy and
judgments suspension.

154
00:12:13,122 --> 00:12:17,936
So, for example,
if we center back to the understanding of

155
00:12:17,936 --> 00:12:21,323
the problem at hand that we need to solve.

156
00:12:21,323 --> 00:12:25,123
We are always technically
are supposed to look for

157
00:12:25,123 --> 00:12:29,203
new information to better
understand that problem.

158
00:12:29,203 --> 00:12:35,157
And whenever we don't have
necessarily the the nurtured skills,

159
00:12:35,157 --> 00:12:40,473
soft skills to facilitate our
conversations with people,

160
00:12:40,473 --> 00:12:47,401
new information has difficulty entering
our understanding of the problem.

161
00:12:47,401 --> 00:12:53,653
So whenever we are working on being open,
curious,

162
00:12:53,653 --> 00:12:59,054
empathetic, and
non judgmental of ideas and

163
00:12:59,054 --> 00:13:04,311
of new information,
they have a much easier

164
00:13:04,311 --> 00:13:09,448
access to what we think
the problem can be.

165
00:13:09,448 --> 00:13:14,680
And giving us better insight as
well as to how we can solve for it.

166
00:13:15,870 --> 00:13:19,417
So it's a very favorable posture for

167
00:13:19,417 --> 00:13:24,683
team collaboration,
receiving positive feedback,

168
00:13:24,683 --> 00:13:28,926
and improving the solutions that we build.

169
00:13:28,926 --> 00:13:35,852
So that the product in the end
is just that much better.

170
00:13:35,852 --> 00:13:42,983
So the third learning is that, I learned
to let go and be a better team player.

171
00:13:42,983 --> 00:13:49,347
So we often want to
guard our understanding

172
00:13:49,347 --> 00:13:56,432
of things that can stuck
us in a loop sometimes.

173
00:13:56,432 --> 00:14:01,260
So even though we may have part
of information that is true,

174
00:14:01,260 --> 00:14:06,573
it's not necessarily complete enough for
us to move forward with

175
00:14:06,573 --> 00:14:12,097
the understanding of the problem
that will be part of the solution.

176
00:14:12,097 --> 00:14:18,881
So being open to team feedback can
only make that product better.

177
00:14:18,881 --> 00:14:24,917
So the fourth sentence is really
the power is in the process.

178
00:14:24,917 --> 00:14:29,035
It's a very important
aspect of solving problems.

179
00:14:29,035 --> 00:14:33,620
It's is really how we go
about doing it with our team.

180
00:14:33,620 --> 00:14:38,418
So when we look at the general
flow of how people solve

181
00:14:38,418 --> 00:14:41,581
problems in general in real life,

182
00:14:41,581 --> 00:14:47,000
is clarify the problem to solve and
gather information.

183
00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:50,982
So this is a little bit what we've seen so
far in this presentation.

184
00:14:50,982 --> 00:14:56,117
So asking questions, being curious,
gathering information.

185
00:14:56,117 --> 00:15:00,234
The second part is to generate ideas and

186
00:15:00,234 --> 00:15:08,738
refine the solutions based off of our own
criteria of how that solution can work.

187
00:15:08,738 --> 00:15:13,290
And I will come back to it a little
later in the presentation.

188
00:15:13,290 --> 00:15:17,267
And the third one is plan
the implementation of the solution.

189
00:15:17,267 --> 00:15:21,090
So how do we make that happen?

190
00:15:21,090 --> 00:15:23,211
So this is fairly simple.

191
00:15:23,211 --> 00:15:29,283
Usually we do it without even
thinking about it consciously.

192
00:15:29,283 --> 00:15:33,935
But whenever we start working with people,
more people, a team,

193
00:15:33,935 --> 00:15:36,187
everything gets more complex.

194
00:15:36,187 --> 00:15:41,221
So basically,
a couple of months ago I just for

195
00:15:41,221 --> 00:15:45,996
fun decided to try and
map out the process and

196
00:15:45,996 --> 00:15:50,789
the steps that are part of my day-to-day.

197
00:15:50,789 --> 00:15:53,259
Obviously it's in French.

198
00:15:53,259 --> 00:15:55,865
[LAUGH] A little twist here.

199
00:15:55,865 --> 00:15:59,982
But most of the steps are pretty clear.

200
00:15:59,982 --> 00:16:04,173
So we go through ideation,
research, clarification,

201
00:16:04,173 --> 00:16:07,505
conception, delivery, and maintenance.

202
00:16:07,505 --> 00:16:10,961
They all go into loops of iterations.

203
00:16:10,961 --> 00:16:17,661
And we all have different
deliverables at each of these steps.

204
00:16:17,661 --> 00:16:22,390
So making sure the process is clear for
everybody makes for

205
00:16:22,390 --> 00:16:25,006
a more robust solution as well.

206
00:16:25,006 --> 00:16:29,207
Because we do share,
feel responsibility of how

207
00:16:29,207 --> 00:16:33,827
the product is built with
other people from our team.

208
00:16:33,827 --> 00:16:36,942
And not everybody is responsible for

209
00:16:36,942 --> 00:16:41,070
the same things at the same
stage of the project.

210
00:16:41,070 --> 00:16:46,830
And so
it happens that people wear many hats and

211
00:16:46,830 --> 00:16:52,148
have different notions of what is possible

212
00:16:52,148 --> 00:16:56,589
to do in terms of input on their end.

213
00:16:56,589 --> 00:17:00,195
And so this makes alignment and

214
00:17:00,195 --> 00:17:05,888
communication fundamental
in that situation.

215
00:17:05,888 --> 00:17:10,570
So the learning of this
whole process slide is

216
00:17:10,570 --> 00:17:15,501
really to learn how to
manage your expectations

217
00:17:15,501 --> 00:17:20,318
of other people and
their outputs in the team.

218
00:17:20,318 --> 00:17:25,719
And as well as what they
expect of you as well.

219
00:17:25,719 --> 00:17:30,570
So that that constant
process of clarification and

220
00:17:30,570 --> 00:17:34,969
alignment, really helps
avoiding the cost of

221
00:17:34,969 --> 00:17:40,400
mis-communicating what's
expected to be delivered.

222
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:46,240
And, yep, so
it's worth the time to basically

223
00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:51,351
spend a moment really clarifying what's

224
00:17:51,351 --> 00:17:55,887
expected of people in this process.

225
00:17:55,887 --> 00:17:59,460
So the last sentence is really about,

226
00:17:59,460 --> 00:18:03,816
that alignment means to
also be aligned on what

227
00:18:03,816 --> 00:18:10,570
are the constraints of the project
that we're talking about.

228
00:18:10,570 --> 00:18:14,030
So it's a matter of finding just
the right solution to each problem.

229
00:18:15,060 --> 00:18:18,152
Because not all solutions
that we can come up with can

230
00:18:18,152 --> 00:18:20,690
comply with the project's constraints.

231
00:18:21,830 --> 00:18:27,886
So an easy way for
me to explain this principle is that,

232
00:18:27,886 --> 00:18:32,899
let's say we have an equilateral triangle.

233
00:18:32,899 --> 00:18:38,500
And each angle is time, scope, and budget.

234
00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:41,860
And in order for the solution, or

235
00:18:41,860 --> 00:18:46,420
the idea that you come
up with to be balanced,

236
00:18:46,420 --> 00:18:51,340
they're all interdependence
with each other.

237
00:18:51,340 --> 00:18:56,048
So, for example,
if during a project you turn out to

238
00:18:56,048 --> 00:19:00,977
have less time on your hands
to complete that project.

239
00:19:00,977 --> 00:19:08,261
Innovatively, the balance of these
things need to be worked on in order for

240
00:19:08,261 --> 00:19:14,517
the scope and the budget to fit
the timeframe that you have left.

241
00:19:14,517 --> 00:19:20,041
And so you end up with having
to potentially find solutions

242
00:19:20,041 --> 00:19:24,560
that can work with less time,
with less scope.

243
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:30,138
So a reduced amount of things
within the solution and

244
00:19:30,138 --> 00:19:33,702
inevitably less budget as well.

245
00:19:33,702 --> 00:19:39,470
So learning this much
more adaptive to change,

246
00:19:39,470 --> 00:19:44,517
especially in business but also in life,

247
00:19:44,517 --> 00:19:49,850
hidden costs to decisions
that are out of our

248
00:19:49,850 --> 00:19:55,350
control can just not, we can't avoid them.

249
00:19:55,350 --> 00:19:58,420
So change happens all the time.

250
00:19:58,420 --> 00:20:03,917
And just knowing that you are doing
your best within the constraints

251
00:20:03,917 --> 00:20:08,818
of the project Brings
tremendous amount of peace.

252
00:20:08,818 --> 00:20:13,704
So now we can see a little
bit broader like what

253
00:20:13,704 --> 00:20:18,212
those sentences mean in their true form.

254
00:20:18,212 --> 00:20:22,332
Is basically saying that in
order to resolve any situation,

255
00:20:22,332 --> 00:20:27,748
asking questions with openness,
curiosity, empathy and withheld judgments

256
00:20:27,748 --> 00:20:33,350
facilitates understanding and
communication with people around you.

257
00:20:33,350 --> 00:20:38,110
So being accountable for your
contributions bring clarity in regards to

258
00:20:38,110 --> 00:20:42,990
expectations of other people,
and peace in times of change.

259
00:20:42,990 --> 00:20:50,309
So this final statement may definitely
ring true to easier living and

260
00:20:50,309 --> 00:20:56,840
be used in work, in school,
and definitely in life.

261
00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:58,680
So, that's it for me.

262
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:03,937
Thank you for your time and
attention and I'm very grateful.

263
00:21:03,937 --> 00:21:07,530
So if you have any questions, here we go.

264
00:21:09,210 --> 00:21:11,060
So I have a question here.

265
00:21:11,060 --> 00:21:16,791
Can you give an example of a hidden
cost to one of your decisions?

266
00:21:16,791 --> 00:21:18,180
Yes, definitely.

267
00:21:18,180 --> 00:21:24,413
So in times of projects most
often in the team you work with,

268
00:21:24,413 --> 00:21:29,900
developers you work with,
product managers as well

269
00:21:29,900 --> 00:21:35,022
as people that are in
higher positions of power.

270
00:21:35,022 --> 00:21:40,182
Who basically have information and
insight on the roadmap

271
00:21:40,182 --> 00:21:44,823
of the company,
links to investments, roadmaps.

272
00:21:44,823 --> 00:21:50,852
So projects that they may or
may not present to investors

273
00:21:50,852 --> 00:21:57,021
on their boards that you may
not necessarily know about.

274
00:21:57,021 --> 00:22:00,791
But that can put a lot of pressure and

275
00:22:00,791 --> 00:22:07,590
strain on something like time to market or
time to development.

276
00:22:07,590 --> 00:22:12,673
So maybe if someone comes to you and
just asks for

277
00:22:12,673 --> 00:22:19,550
example that we need to launch
this project as soon as possible.

278
00:22:19,550 --> 00:22:24,096
We don't necessarily have
an impact on why that is but

279
00:22:24,096 --> 00:22:28,137
to make sure that we are able
to build a website or

280
00:22:28,137 --> 00:22:32,802
an app within that timeframe
with those constraints.

281
00:22:32,802 --> 00:22:38,107
Because we don't necessarily
control what is being presented or

282
00:22:38,107 --> 00:22:43,900
sold to investors or people outside
of the production team basically.

283
00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:47,324
I hope that answers your questions fully.

284
00:22:50,847 --> 00:22:53,880
So, we have a couple of questions here.

285
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,590
Do you also work with UX research or
is that different?

286
00:22:58,590 --> 00:23:01,860
So I do work with UX research.

287
00:23:02,940 --> 00:23:08,850
We just recently added a UX
researcher in our team.

288
00:23:08,850 --> 00:23:13,758
It's definitely something that we're
striving to do more often as we

289
00:23:13,758 --> 00:23:17,666
are still a small team of designers,
we're only six and

290
00:23:17,666 --> 00:23:21,460
working on about eight different products.

291
00:23:21,460 --> 00:23:27,100
And so we definitely have to make time for
UX research but

292
00:23:27,100 --> 00:23:31,540
this person is definitely
going to help us.

293
00:23:32,670 --> 00:23:38,182
We still do though make sure to
go get the information ourselves

294
00:23:38,182 --> 00:23:43,600
when they are crucial to
the development of the product.

295
00:23:43,600 --> 00:23:45,105
So if, for example,

296
00:23:45,105 --> 00:23:49,545
we need to know how many users
clicked on that specific button.

297
00:23:49,545 --> 00:23:53,831
So that in the next product
iteration that we make,

298
00:23:53,831 --> 00:23:58,814
we don't hide that feature or
we don't change it too much so

299
00:23:58,814 --> 00:24:04,910
that it would have an impact on our
metrics or on the users' experience.

300
00:24:05,970 --> 00:24:08,280
So it's definitely
something to keep in mind.

301
00:24:09,830 --> 00:24:13,150
I have another question here.

302
00:24:13,150 --> 00:24:17,880
How long does it take to learn the process
of a UX designer and landing a job?

303
00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:19,650
I'm a new UX design student.

304
00:24:20,930 --> 00:24:25,953
This is a very interesting
question because in my

305
00:24:25,953 --> 00:24:32,480
journey I did not necessarily
study UX design in school.

306
00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:37,000
So most of the things that
I learned I had to learn

307
00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,570
them on the job [LAUGH], basically.

308
00:24:40,570 --> 00:24:46,684
And because the field of UX is
really new and ever evolving,

309
00:24:46,684 --> 00:24:51,820
things that I learned five
years ago when I started

310
00:24:51,820 --> 00:24:57,250
definitely have
a foundational truth to them.

311
00:24:57,250 --> 00:25:01,571
But the technologies evolve the ways and

312
00:25:01,571 --> 00:25:04,881
patterns of UX evolve as well.

313
00:25:04,881 --> 00:25:09,350
When you have leaders in
technology like Facebook,

314
00:25:09,350 --> 00:25:14,125
Google, Amazon, Twitter,
etc, that are constantly

315
00:25:14,125 --> 00:25:18,710
trying out new products and
new ways to build things.

316
00:25:20,330 --> 00:25:24,230
It's definitely a challenge to keep it up.

317
00:25:24,230 --> 00:25:29,511
So I would say try it out for yourself by

318
00:25:29,511 --> 00:25:36,120
trying to make those in
your portfolio as well.

319
00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:41,384
Even if you're not yet
at a job for for UX,

320
00:25:41,384 --> 00:25:46,951
train your eyes to recognize the patterns,

321
00:25:46,951 --> 00:25:51,616
dive into Google material library or

322
00:25:51,616 --> 00:25:57,031
iOS development specs to learn about those

323
00:25:57,031 --> 00:26:04,370
different designing UX principles and
have fun with it.

324
00:26:04,370 --> 00:26:07,541
Really try it out and
make apps just for fun,

325
00:26:07,541 --> 00:26:11,415
even though they're just prototypes or
mock-ups.

326
00:26:11,415 --> 00:26:17,687
Because this is really just the best way
to learn and to improve your skills,

327
00:26:17,687 --> 00:26:22,210
it's to do practice even if it's not yet
at a company.

328
00:26:23,990 --> 00:26:30,875
I have another question here, is it
important to have a degree for UX design?

329
00:26:30,875 --> 00:26:37,568
I would say not necessarily around me and
as I've mentioned in the presentation,

330
00:26:37,568 --> 00:26:43,495
there are a lot of people who come
from very different backgrounds in UX.

331
00:26:43,495 --> 00:26:48,580
So some people were developers before,
other people were

332
00:26:48,580 --> 00:26:54,240
in product management,
I was coming from graphic design.

333
00:26:54,240 --> 00:27:00,861
So it's not necessary for the field or
especially working in product,

334
00:27:00,861 --> 00:27:05,828
but it's definitely an asset
because there are still

335
00:27:05,828 --> 00:27:11,364
foundational information that
you can get out of a degree.

336
00:27:11,364 --> 00:27:17,331
But there probably are a couple
of training sessions or

337
00:27:17,331 --> 00:27:24,219
things exactly like Treehouse
provides to train in that area.

338
00:27:26,558 --> 00:27:30,730
So another question here is how
do you choose who participates in

339
00:27:30,730 --> 00:27:34,758
the research and how do we get
a wide range of people involved?

340
00:27:34,758 --> 00:27:36,960
That's a very interesting question.

341
00:27:36,960 --> 00:27:45,740
I would say it really depends on the
company's capacity to acquire test users.

342
00:27:45,740 --> 00:27:50,820
Usually, whenever you
can identify a problem

343
00:27:50,820 --> 00:27:56,029
that you want to solve,
you have also to know for

344
00:27:56,029 --> 00:28:00,730
sure what constitutes a problem for this.

345
00:28:00,730 --> 00:28:06,578
So let's say for
example a couple of users messaged

346
00:28:06,578 --> 00:28:11,474
you to say, hey, this feature is great but

347
00:28:11,474 --> 00:28:16,280
I can't upload this on my computer.

348
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:19,589
It's a very random example but [LAUGH].

349
00:28:19,589 --> 00:28:24,472
And that you're able to first
of all identify how many people

350
00:28:24,472 --> 00:28:27,220
encountered these problems.

351
00:28:27,220 --> 00:28:33,130
So it narrows down your pool of
potential people to do user tests with.

352
00:28:34,720 --> 00:28:39,568
Also, if they are qualified
to answer your question, so

353
00:28:39,568 --> 00:28:44,619
for example, they have to have
a specific type of account.

354
00:28:44,619 --> 00:28:50,106
So maybe they are paying customers,
or maybe they are in

355
00:28:50,106 --> 00:28:56,075
a specific geolocation, so
they're in the US or in Canada.

356
00:28:56,075 --> 00:28:59,123
You also want to know if
they are a power user,

357
00:28:59,123 --> 00:29:02,184
how long have you been
using the product for?

358
00:29:02,184 --> 00:29:07,396
Maybe you just want to target
only new users that have

359
00:29:07,396 --> 00:29:13,207
very fresh eyes on the product and
you want their insight.

360
00:29:13,207 --> 00:29:17,727
So basically,
it's really fitting to the issue that

361
00:29:17,727 --> 00:29:21,650
you're trying to gather information about.

362
00:29:23,980 --> 00:29:28,640
So there's very interesting
questions in this chat.

363
00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,415
I've seen many people that also
have psychology degrees and

364
00:29:32,415 --> 00:29:36,116
art degrees working in UX,
do you think this is necessary or

365
00:29:36,116 --> 00:29:40,370
can these skills be picked up and
utilized by everyone?

366
00:29:40,370 --> 00:29:43,079
I truly believe that they can be utilized

367
00:29:43,079 --> 00:29:47,470
by everyone that's basically
interested in solving problems.

368
00:29:48,560 --> 00:29:53,898
Because whenever you have the passion and

369
00:29:53,898 --> 00:29:58,169
the skill for solving problems,

370
00:29:58,169 --> 00:30:02,744
[LAUGH] you definitely can get around

371
00:30:02,744 --> 00:30:08,110
to learning new ways to practice it.

372
00:30:08,110 --> 00:30:12,309
So, my way is by doing product design,

373
00:30:12,309 --> 00:30:17,540
because my background
was from Graphic Design.

374
00:30:17,540 --> 00:30:23,891
So it's very close, but I also had
to learn a lot about psychology,

375
00:30:23,891 --> 00:30:31,247
all the UX Principles, that guide the way
of thinking how people interpret and

376
00:30:31,247 --> 00:30:38,240
use an interface that are very
intricate and pregnant to psychology.

377
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:42,701
So, really anybody
coming from a variety of

378
00:30:42,701 --> 00:30:48,377
backgrounds can definitely
find their pathway there.

379
00:30:48,377 --> 00:30:50,357
So,

380
00:30:58,170 --> 00:31:02,454
How do you keep up with the constantly
changing standards products?

381
00:31:02,454 --> 00:31:07,391
The best that I can [LAUGH] so
basically one thing

382
00:31:07,391 --> 00:31:12,581
that's very easy to do,
is kind of piggybacking

383
00:31:12,581 --> 00:31:17,771
on the development team
because they have to work

384
00:31:17,771 --> 00:31:23,849
on updates constantly of their
libraries that they use,

385
00:31:23,849 --> 00:31:27,925
whether it's react Angular, or GS.

386
00:31:27,925 --> 00:31:32,590
Anything in any of this stack
that people are working on.

387
00:31:32,590 --> 00:31:34,403
So it's true that if for

388
00:31:34,403 --> 00:31:39,760
a while you don't work necessarily
on a specific device or platform.

389
00:31:39,760 --> 00:31:45,210
For example,
I haven't done mobile UXUI in a while.

390
00:31:45,210 --> 00:31:51,879
I may have some catch up to do
whenever I get to this to this stage.

391
00:31:51,879 --> 00:31:56,367
But it's definitely
synching constantly with

392
00:31:56,367 --> 00:32:00,861
the development team and
reading newspapers.

393
00:32:00,861 --> 00:32:06,593
Every single year, I think a couple
of sources UX collective for

394
00:32:06,593 --> 00:32:12,233
example, on medium,
they publish the new trends in UX and UI.

395
00:32:12,233 --> 00:32:16,219
So, it's easier to follow,
like once a year and

396
00:32:16,219 --> 00:32:20,402
what are the new biggest
changes rather than like,

397
00:32:20,402 --> 00:32:24,210
on the day to day cuz this
is more with the devs.

398
00:32:30,942 --> 00:32:34,830
There's a question here
after working in product/UX,

399
00:32:34,830 --> 00:32:37,535
is it hard to just browse the Internet?

400
00:32:37,535 --> 00:32:38,114
[LAUGH].
Or

401
00:32:38,114 --> 00:32:42,320
do you feel you always have an eye
on how to make things better?

402
00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:47,225
Definitely, I can't
unsee what I've seen or

403
00:32:47,225 --> 00:32:52,902
[LAUGH] what I learned,
because it's just constant.

404
00:32:52,902 --> 00:32:56,843
Often like there's this urge to be like,

405
00:32:56,843 --> 00:33:00,900
maybe I can call that company and
help them out.

406
00:33:00,900 --> 00:33:02,014
I don't know.

407
00:33:02,014 --> 00:33:04,398
I just want to do it for
free all the time, but

408
00:33:04,398 --> 00:33:07,290
that's not the type of
world that we live in.

409
00:33:07,290 --> 00:33:10,260
But it's definitely hard.

410
00:33:10,260 --> 00:33:15,424
And I would say in
the opposite wave when I see,

411
00:33:15,424 --> 00:33:19,796
amazing UX design online, I'm like,

412
00:33:19,796 --> 00:33:24,570
wow, how can I make
this happen in my work?

413
00:33:24,570 --> 00:33:31,110
And this is really challenging
because it's not just me.

414
00:33:31,110 --> 00:33:35,570
So UX,
I like to consider it as a team effort.

415
00:33:35,570 --> 00:33:40,626
So yes, I may design the experience,
the flows in the screens,

416
00:33:40,626 --> 00:33:44,843
but there's also the developers
that implemented,

417
00:33:44,843 --> 00:33:48,791
the people in marketing that sell it,
etc, etc.

418
00:33:48,791 --> 00:33:56,230
So it's a very team effort load to carry,
basically.

419
00:33:57,990 --> 00:34:05,320
I see here, what's the difference between
product management and project management?

420
00:34:06,790 --> 00:34:09,000
This is a very interesting question.

421
00:34:10,110 --> 00:34:15,739
And I think a lot of people wonder,
myself included,

422
00:34:15,739 --> 00:34:20,867
because project management
seems to be very much

423
00:34:20,867 --> 00:34:27,122
about managing the timelines,
managing the organization

424
00:34:27,122 --> 00:34:32,900
of when are projects supposed to start and
end?

425
00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:36,561
What's the relation with the client
who ordered the project and

426
00:34:36,561 --> 00:34:39,860
make sure that it's delivered on time.

427
00:34:39,860 --> 00:34:45,992
So I think it's a more
delivery-based role.

428
00:34:45,992 --> 00:34:51,046
Whereas product management is
really thinking of roadmaps and

429
00:34:51,046 --> 00:34:56,210
of development avenues for
the product that you're managing.

430
00:34:56,210 --> 00:35:01,502
So basically, if you have to
roll out a couple of features

431
00:35:01,502 --> 00:35:08,000
within the next couple of months,
which one do you start with?

432
00:35:08,000 --> 00:35:16,351
Why, how does it make sure that you
hit your goals, you hit your metrics?

433
00:35:16,351 --> 00:35:24,915
For example, if you want to acquire
10,000 new subscriptions to your product.

434
00:35:24,915 --> 00:35:29,506
This is the goal that,
by doing product management,

435
00:35:29,506 --> 00:35:34,199
you're trying to find ideas and
solutions to get there

436
00:35:34,199 --> 00:35:39,440
rather than just managing
the timeline of the project.

437
00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:43,641
It's very much more focused on the bigger

438
00:35:43,641 --> 00:35:48,443
picture of what the product
is going to become,

439
00:35:48,443 --> 00:35:55,565
rather than the day to day of how
it's going, I hope that makes sense.

440
00:35:55,565 --> 00:35:56,654
[LAUGH].

441
00:35:56,654 --> 00:36:04,753
So yeah, we still have some time for
questions.

442
00:36:06,473 --> 00:36:10,907
Do you think product designers need
to be emotionally intelligent,

443
00:36:10,907 --> 00:36:15,580
since it requires empathy and
placing yourself in the shoes of the user?

444
00:36:17,590 --> 00:36:23,580
Definitely, I think it's
something that you can nurture and

445
00:36:23,580 --> 00:36:27,391
acquire though, rather than just be.

446
00:36:27,391 --> 00:36:36,290
Because every single way of
approaching things have its own value.

447
00:36:36,290 --> 00:36:43,601
So for example, if you are able to
see things in a very objective way,

448
00:36:43,601 --> 00:36:48,150
maybe, okay, I'm gonna rephrase this.

449
00:36:49,210 --> 00:36:54,777
We still have to remember that being
a product designer within the company

450
00:36:54,777 --> 00:37:02,040
is also about incorporating business needs
into the product that you're building.

451
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:06,786
So there's a huge, huge,
huge portion that's definitely about

452
00:37:06,786 --> 00:37:12,440
making the experience good for
the people on the other end of the screen.

453
00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:17,948
But it's also to incorporate
business decisions.

454
00:37:17,948 --> 00:37:20,691
And as someone asked earlier,

455
00:37:20,691 --> 00:37:26,070
the things that are out of your
control and the decisions that

456
00:37:26,070 --> 00:37:32,290
you may not be aware of that still
have to be done within the work.

457
00:37:32,290 --> 00:37:36,921
So being empathetic is definitely
of use to a product designer

458
00:37:36,921 --> 00:37:39,910
when is constraining the users.

459
00:37:39,910 --> 00:37:46,900
But also we have to be objective
when it comes to doing business.

460
00:37:47,900 --> 00:37:51,330
So it's a balance to be found, definitely.

461
00:37:51,330 --> 00:37:55,300
It's a soft skill that will serve you for
life.

462
00:37:56,690 --> 00:38:01,390
We just have to be balanced about it,
definitely.

463
00:38:01,390 --> 00:38:08,309
So what's a good salary range for
junior UX designers?

464
00:38:08,309 --> 00:38:12,930
Wondering what I should ask you for
in future interviews.

465
00:38:12,930 --> 00:38:18,532
So, I unfortunately cannot
necessarily give you an idea of

466
00:38:18,532 --> 00:38:24,590
a range because it varies wildly,
depending on your location.

467
00:38:24,590 --> 00:38:30,090
So whether you're in Canada, the US,
UK, or anywhere in the world

468
00:38:30,090 --> 00:38:36,190
where the salaries really depend on
the cost of living in your area.

469
00:38:36,190 --> 00:38:40,070
Also the city,
from city to city it depends.

470
00:38:40,070 --> 00:38:45,242
So, my advice would be really
to do some preparation work

471
00:38:45,242 --> 00:38:52,138
with websites like Glassdoor or a PayScale
to see in your area in your city for

472
00:38:52,138 --> 00:38:56,989
that position and
those couple of years of experience

473
00:38:56,989 --> 00:39:01,729
that you may have or
the school degree that you have,

474
00:39:01,729 --> 00:39:06,734
what that could be offered in your area,
definitely.

475
00:39:10,243 --> 00:39:13,784
To piggyback off of browsing
the Internet question,

476
00:39:13,784 --> 00:39:18,645
which large social media company do
you think has the best interface?

477
00:39:18,645 --> 00:39:22,495
I'm curious of your
professional opinion on it.

478
00:39:22,495 --> 00:39:27,265
This is a very, very good question.

479
00:39:27,265 --> 00:39:29,535
Cuz there are a couple.

480
00:39:29,535 --> 00:39:36,052
Yeah, the one that I used to
reference to a lot is Airbnb.

481
00:39:36,052 --> 00:39:41,270
Because voila, I was a host on Airbnb and
I thought the experience was amazing.

482
00:39:41,270 --> 00:39:46,540
I haven't used them in while now because
we're in the global pandemic and

483
00:39:46,540 --> 00:39:49,515
I haven't traveled or host anybody, but

484
00:39:49,515 --> 00:39:54,360
I know that they have changed
up some things in the past.

485
00:39:54,360 --> 00:39:59,790
And yeah, they are the best.

486
00:39:59,790 --> 00:40:04,679
They're not necessarily social media,
but yeah,

487
00:40:04,679 --> 00:40:08,910
they are the reference
that I often mention.

488
00:40:10,490 --> 00:40:16,224
Yeah, I think it's also linked to,
they're very good UX for

489
00:40:16,224 --> 00:40:21,627
the support,
because it's very easy to book something,

490
00:40:21,627 --> 00:40:27,140
to book a trip, or
do anything really on the platform.

491
00:40:27,140 --> 00:40:31,066
But if something goes bad or unexpectedly,

492
00:40:31,066 --> 00:40:35,096
that they have a very solid support team,
and

493
00:40:35,096 --> 00:40:39,570
support functions, and
tools in their product.

494
00:40:42,370 --> 00:40:47,679
So are there any principles/resources of
ethical product design that you know of or

495
00:40:47,679 --> 00:40:49,035
that you recommend?

496
00:40:55,003 --> 00:41:01,890
I would be curious to know what do you
consider to be ethical product design?

497
00:41:01,890 --> 00:41:07,436
Because personally,
I think it's really about making

498
00:41:07,436 --> 00:41:12,628
sure that every single one
of us product designers,

499
00:41:12,628 --> 00:41:17,820
or any type of role within UX
that we make sure to still

500
00:41:17,820 --> 00:41:22,910
remember that we're doing this for
other humans.

501
00:41:24,910 --> 00:41:29,193
So I don't know if there's
an entity per se to

502
00:41:29,193 --> 00:41:33,154
moderate the effects of product design.

503
00:41:33,154 --> 00:41:39,437
We definitely could use some when we
see dark patterns on the Internet and

504
00:41:39,437 --> 00:41:43,461
UX traps [LAUGH] on some
social media websites.

505
00:41:43,461 --> 00:41:48,304
It's definitely something that
could be could be useful.

506
00:41:48,304 --> 00:41:51,715
I personally don't know of any yet.

507
00:41:51,715 --> 00:41:57,660
But it's something that
we can still practice

508
00:41:57,660 --> 00:42:02,546
within our own products and designs.

509
00:42:02,546 --> 00:42:08,755
So any UX designer books do you recommend?

510
00:42:08,755 --> 00:42:11,550
Books, I'm not sure.

511
00:42:11,550 --> 00:42:17,050
I have read something once,
it's near here.

512
00:42:18,170 --> 00:42:23,080
It's not necessarily a UX book,
but it's called Draw To Win.

513
00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:31,608
It's basically a book that helps
you use visual communications and

514
00:42:31,608 --> 00:42:36,994
drawing with slides and presentations and

515
00:42:36,994 --> 00:42:41,920
stuff to convey your ideas better.

516
00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:47,097
So, yeah, even though it may
not be directly related to UX,

517
00:42:47,097 --> 00:42:50,854
this definitely helped
me understand how to

518
00:42:50,854 --> 00:42:55,980
communicate the ideas that
I have while doing UX work.

519
00:42:55,980 --> 00:43:02,319
So it's called Draw To Win by Dan Roam,
really highly recommend it.

520
00:43:02,319 --> 00:43:05,265
Yeah, it's always here
somewhere on my desk.

521
00:43:05,265 --> 00:43:13,200
[LAUGH] So, yeah, so
these were all the questions in the Q&A.

522
00:43:13,200 --> 00:43:17,004
Are there any in the chat left?

523
00:43:22,589 --> 00:43:28,000
Awesome, yeah, very active chatting here.

524
00:43:36,326 --> 00:43:39,780
Awesome, thank you everybody for
your time and attention.

525
00:43:39,780 --> 00:43:40,580
It was really fun [LAUGH].