How can remote workers stay connected without burning out? At Wayfair, it quickly became clear that virtual happy hours and virtual team lunches were adding time to peoples’ schedules without really adding value.

Rusha Sopariwala is a Senior Manager of Product Design at Wayfair, and she helped her team pivot to important new rituals for remote teams, like dedicated “focus times” to lighten meeting loads, mindfulness over different time zone differences, and “camera off” meetings to reduce employee exhaustion.

In this episode, get a taste of what Rusha will cover during her presentation at Design at Scale 2022 this June 8-10 — from tips for helping remote employees share their passions, to creating remote connections without adding to potential burnout.

Learn more about Rusha: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/speakers/rusha-sopariwala/

Rusha recommends:

Hidden Brain Podcast by Shankar Vendentam which dives into human brains and just how we perceive and think and how our unconscious patterns drive our behaviors. It really makes science digestible in a beautiful story. It humbles me as we design human centered experiences, just how complex we are! https://www.npr.org/series/423302056/hidden-brain

Follow Rusha on Instagram and LinkedIn www.instagram.com/rrrusha www.linkedin.com/rrrusha

How can individual designers use their skills to improve the experience of people in disaster situations?

Emily Danielson, Senior Design Strategist at ExxonMobil, joins Lou to not only consider this question, but to reflect on past experiences—including the database she developed which was used by the FBI in a multi-million dollar federal corruption lawsuit—and look ahead to her talk at the upcoming Design at Scale conference this June.

Emily recommends: Learn more about the benefits offered by mutual aid and ways for UX professionals to use their skills to support our communities: mutualaiddisasterrelief.org

Learn more about Emily’s talk at Design at Scale 2022: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/sessions/i-mean-i-can-lift-a-shovel-design-skills-in-disaster-response/

What is it like to start work on a new book on the big picture of design right before a global pandemic?

Kevin Bethune, author of the new book Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation joins Lou to share his experience and insights learned from doing just that, as well as the importance of curiosity, how to understand one's own privilege, and overcoming doubt from others.

Kevin will be speaking at Design at Scale 2022 this June; learn more about his talk and register for the conference: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/speakers/kevin-bethune/

Kevin recommends: Follow Radha Mistry, who leads the foresight practice at Autodesk https://www.radhamistry.com/about

Follow Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinbethune

Check out Kevin’s website: https://www.kevinbethune-reimaginingdesign.com/

How can you use the humble question to be a better leader?

Over the past year or two, Brave UX Podcaster Brendan Jarvis has been asking great questions of over 75 of the best and brightest design leaders with the goal of surfacing the biggest questions facing the field, and using them as a springboard to becoming a better leader.

Brendan joins Lou for a wide-ranging conversation about questions—a preview for his talk at June’s Design at Scale 2022 conference. Along the way, they cover the importance of diverse perspectives, the controversies of Amazon Alexa, and how designers can get a seat at the table.

Warning: this talk may raise more questions than it provides answers for!

Learn more about Brendan’s conference presentation and register for Design at Scale 2022: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/sessions/ux-leadership-trends/

Listen to Brendan’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/brave-ux-with-brendan-jarvis/id1552607805

Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/, YouTube: View his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween

Check out his website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/

If the past two years haven’t made it clear, researchers and designers absolutely must be prepared to understand and address trauma as a factor in our work and our lives. Social worker, designer, and Advancing Research 2022 speaker Rachael Dietkus joins Lou on the Rosenfeld Review to plumb the intersection of social work, UX, and how these play out in trauma-informed research and design. She shares her approach to applying trauma-informed principles to the research process, and highlights important key factors including:

• Defining Rachael’s three main intersections between design and social work: social work values, design research methodologies, and trauma-informed (also known as trauma-responsive) principles

• The importance of asking how the above three principles meld together in design to foster a humanistically-informed lens

• The ways social work as a care field translates into user experience design, and why this is a necessary step to include in design methodology

• How the concept of “care,” which includes building relationships, establishing rapport, hearing other people’s stories, and more is central to ensuring human-centered design principles

• Addressing the preexisting disconnect between designers (from a process-based perspective) and social workers (from a humanistic perspective), and how collaboration between the two can positively impact end users

• Ensuring the preconditions that need to exist are shared and maintained at the highest level of integrity, and how a safety plan can help bring this to reality

• The importance of assessing risk when building new programs and policies, as well as addressing adjacent process methodology-related contexts

• How engaging with people from a design perspective means engaging with trauma, and why that positively challenges designers to show up in a wholesome capacity

• What it means to weave compassion and understanding into design

• How the trauma-informed approach can serve as a set of preventive measures that can help mitigate potential negative impacts for users

Learn more from Rachael’s talk, “Learnings from Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to the Research Process” at our upcoming virtual conference, Advancing Research 2022 (virtual, March 9-11). Register today! rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2022/

Although large areas of the federal government focused on design as a practice do not closely involve the citizenry in their design processes, Victor Udoewa, Chief Experience Officer and Service Design Lead, NASA, has taken a vastly different approach to end user design methodology in government.

In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Victor brings us up to speed on participatory design and its pros and cons. He also explains his radical approach to it—a meta-methodology he’s used in service and system design—and how his radical approach enables people to participate in and influence high-level government design projects.

Victor shares his insights around key areas of participatory design, including:

• A redefined approach to “radical” participatory design, and how this difference meaningfully distinguishes his work from a socio-human perspective

• A focus on his department’s efforts to help develop the economy in support of small businesses

• Weighing the impact of “power” in design organizations as they shape methodology from a higher-level perspective

• How incorporating end user insights can holistically influence design outcomes despite existing power dynamics that may have previously stunted those opportunities

• How methods such as the collaborative design studio can derive a wider range of insights from end users

• Demystifying participatory design by bridging the gap between old and new perspectives

• Rethinking how information is shared from a socio-economic perspective

• The benefits in shifting research from an investigation-based methodology to a more humanistic approach, such as navigating a socio-human system

• Rethinking poverty as the lack of relationships from which money flows, and how this parallel can be drawn with information/research initiatives

Learn more from Victor’s talk, “Radical Participatory Research: Decolonizing Participatory Processes” at our upcoming virtual conference, Advancing Research 2022 (virtual, March 9-11). Register today! https://rosenfeldmedia.com/advancing-research-2022/

Covid has fragmented our teams, workplaces, work rituals, and in some circumstances, our self-confidence. It has also forced us to learn, adapt, and improve our work at a stunningly rapid pace.

It’s a great time to take stock of what we learned these past two years, and get ready to apply those lessons in the years to come. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou speaks with long-time Design at Scale conference curators Kit Unger and Lada Gorlenko to discuss how the conference presents the perfect opportunity to make that pivot—and make the case for you to be a part of the conference program.

Topics discussed include:

• How closely-aligned teams can forge ahead despite the challenges Covid has presented

• The importance of reconsidering how teams currently support objectives

• Learning to work together in new ways that help shift the existing work dynamic into a positive and more powerful frame

• Uncovering drivers that allow teams to surpass pre-established boundaries around collaboration

• Shifting how we perceive ownership—across all levels—in organizations

Operationalizing teams to scale quality

Design at Scale 2022 takes place June 8-10, and we’re looking for speakers. Have an idea for a presentation that fits this theme? Please apply by 11:59pm ET, Monday, February 21, 2022. If you're selected, we'll pay you an honorarium, help you prepare as part of a speaker cohort, and provide subject matter and professional speaker coaching—so if you're new to speaking, you'll have ample support. Apply here: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/2022/01/30/design-at-scale-2022-call-for-presentations/

What connects product designers and UXers? And does that connection help in the transition from UX to product management?

In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, you’ll meet Christian Crumlish, Founder of Design in Product and author of the soon-to-be released Product Management for UX People. Christian and Lou deep dive into the world of product management and its relationship with UX, as well as the advantages design practitioners share when moving into product management roles.

Highlights from this discussion include:

• Understanding the current state of product management relative to UX;

• The superpower designers can tap into when communicating effectively, and how that skill is inherently utilized by product management folks (the “language of the bosses”);

• How designers/strategists/researchers share an advantage by shifting to product management through intuitively asking questions such as “how will we grow?” and “how can we keep this going?” with consideration to cost-effective solutions;

• The need to be decisive in the face of fairly complex issues across the time-horizon; and

• Why honing in on the value of listening closely to those who work adjacent to product managers will help define the cross-functional roadmap.

Product Management for UX People is now available for purchase from Rosenfeld Media on February 1! https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/product-management-for-ux-people/

Creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that makes anyone feel welcome requires conscious and consistent effort. Whether it’s presentation, operation, or curation—incorporating your team’s voices in a healthy and organic manner as a business practice requires thinking outside the box.

In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, you’ll hear from Danielle Barnes, CEO of Women Talk Design, as she and Lou discuss the fundamentals of designing meetings and conference presentations that are more inclusive.

Key points Danielle and Lou address include:

• Remolding non-inclusive systems to which women and non-binary folks are forced to adapt;

• Assigning rotating facilitator roles, and how those roles can promote inclusivity;

• How truly “listening” to those who are speaking can give facilitators the insights they need to curate a fantastic meeting;

• Raising awareness for the consequences of being talked over, and how to drive safety and accessibility in meetings for team members; and

• Tips to improve your natural stage presence when giving a talk.

You’ll also hear insights in how to create more inclusive environments by empowering those whose voices are not heard—and how safe spaces, when done right, help make this happen.

What can designers learn from astronauts and race car drivers?

In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou speaks with Katie Swindler to answer this and similar questions in her upcoming Rosenfeld Media book, Life and Death Design. Katie’s new book will help us redefine how we might view a core human function – specifically, the stress response – and how stress can be an informative tool for designers.

As an experienced presenter who has spoken on UX topics internationally at industry events, Katie believes that brands who wish to truly connect with consumers must expand utility through emotion. She illustrates how leveraging stress-informed design enables users to perform optimally during high-stress or traumatic experiences.

Important questions Katie tackles are:

How does understanding the stress response help designers deal with high-stress situations?

How can designers leverage redundancy and biomimicry to enhance a final product?

How stress-informed design can support experts in a way that preserves an organic workflow?

How did conscientious attention to detail in design help save the lives of heroic users?

What is “abusive design,” and how do we avoid it?

Life and Death Design contains these and many more fascinating examples that serve as beautifully counter-intuitive resources for designers. Sign up to be notified when Life and Death Design is available to order! rosenfeldmedia.com/books/life-and-death-design/

Learn more about Katie: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/people/katie-swindler/