Leverage the failures and wins of others

Hey folks,

Here are the top 10 things I found worth sharing and your UX tip of the week.

UX tip of the week

Leap over unnecessary test failures by learning what worked well or not for others first. 

• Explore proven examples that match the opportunity/problem space you’re working in or generate forward-looking ideas relevant to your solution:

  • GoodUI: reach higher conversions faster by repeating what worked for others

  • BHub.org: rigorously-tested behavioral research and solutions

  • DoWhatWorks: insights from split tests run by the world’s largest companies

  • UserOnboard.com: inspiring teardowns of onboarding flows from leading companies

  • Failory: learn from failed and successful startup founders

  • Marketing Examples: decades of successful companies’ marketing efforts

Top 10 things worth sharing this week

1. Ryan Ford shared advice about building a design career when the economy is against you (e.g. job elimination, pausing bonuses, etc). The salient points: see change as an opportunity, learn new in-demand skills, teach what you’ve learned, and give yourself permission to break process.
   
   

2. Hey Studio gathered a lot of data to validate that the ideal viewport doesn’t exist, but building a fluid/flex approach solves most viewports.
   
   

3. AI thought exercise I: How might AI fit into the 4 factors and 6 levels in UX maturity? How might AI change the top user frustrations on the web?
   
   

4. Guide yourself or a team through empathy prompts when making tech capabilities for others to use.
   
   

5. Create a relationship mapping if you find yourself in the midst of organizational change (e.g. layoffs, reorgs, etc). It might be worth revisiting one of my favorite books about building UX teams too: Org Design for Design Orgs by Peter Merholz and Kristin Skinner.
   
   

6. According to new research, AI outperformed humans in creativity. However, it was rated slightly worse than humans in one area: novelty of product ideas. “For user experience design, AI shines in the divergence stage, while humans can contribute more effectively to the convergence stage.”
   
   

7. Irrational Labs shared must-know behavioral science resources for product designers and managers: science of change podcast, lenny’s podcast and newsletter, habit weekly newsletter, and IL case studies and blog. Bonus: Read Dan Ariely’s capstone work Predictably Irrational.
   
   

8. David Hall shared tips about becoming a more effective listening through reflective questioning and getting over our fear of masterly inactivity.
   
   

9. Level up your product strategy with this deck sequence (quality visuals not included) and re-read the we don’t sell saddles. The punchline of this memo sent to the makers of Slack in 2013? "That’s why what we’re selling is organizational transformation.“
   
   

10. AI thought exercise II: Would you let DATA, your AI co-worker, tackle any task for you? Would you be okay with how drastically this might change our tolerance?

Thanks for reading!

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Sincerely,
Gerren