UI/UX Articles and Interesting Tidbits of the Week
October//27//2023
Here are some interesting finds on UI/UX of the week!
1.
Attracting Talent and Breaking Down Silos. Very interesting article from The Next Web and author Krista Krumina focused on the Valencia Digital Summit which took place October 26th and 27th. The article reflects a conversation with Vala Afshar, Chief Digital Evangelist at Salesforce. Mr. Afshar discusses the expansion of the Salesforce ecosystem, and how that will generate a substantial need for new positions and talent. Spain in particular is seen as great hub for all this Tech Talent, with Madrid and Barcelona already highly positioned in that regard, with Valencia and Malaga also on the rise. He highlights issues with the creation of silos within organizations as a result of hiring this highly specialized technical talent, and also for digital footprints, i.e., making sure that Organizations and talent are aware of what they post and its significance to the brand they’re establishing. Well worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“However, while accumulating tech talent helps promising startups transform into fast-growing scaleups, a natural side-effect is the growth of internal knowledge silos. In the digital age, as new technologies and tools are helping us become more autonomous, this problem is being exacerbated through a loss of connection. No matter how many talented individuals you recruit within your organisation, if your business environment isn’t set to facilitate the balance between the need for connection and at the same time decentralisation, the need for autonomy and integration, you’ll start to see the cracks.”
2.
Understanding Human Behavior. Another interesting article from the Qualtrics blog, this time authored by Isabelle Zdatny (Head of Thought Leadership at Qualtrics). The article focuses on Experience Management (XM) and how Human Behavior is an essential component to realizing that to its best possible outcome. The author details both the five elements of the Human Experience Cycle, namely Experiences, Expectations, Perceptions, Attitudes and Behaviors as well as the six key traits of Human beings (intuitive, self-centered, emotional, motivated, social and hopeful), to better contextualize how Human Behavior drives the relationship and experience with brands and products. These studies were conducted by the Temkin Group, who was purchased by Qualtrics in 2018. Worth noting that some additional aspects of the article touch upon Laws of UX (Hicks Law for instance), as well as Gestalt Psychology and its principles. Worth reading through. Highlight of the article includes:
“While recognizing and managing the relationship between experiences, emotions, and actions is critical, to forge lasting emotional bonds, organizations also need to understand why people feel and behave the way they do. This can be tricky, however, as human beings are incredibly complicated. We’re not completely rational decision-makers who act solely on cold, hard logic. There’s a lot of other hidden factors that influence our behavior. If organizations don’t understand and address these underlying — often unconscious — determinants, they’ll struggle to create consistently engaging experiences. Fortunately, all people share some fundamental characteristics. Recognizing and embracing the Six Key Traits of Human Beings will allow organizations to make deep and lasting connections.”
3.
Challenges a User Researcher Faces. Interesting article from the Dovetail Blog and author/researcher Jess Nichols. As the title indicates, the author details challenges that a User Researcher can face within an Organization when tackling research assignments. That includes: timeline and cost, resources/recruiting for research endeavors, execution, output of research that goes unused, institutional knowledge that possibly inhibits research, to name but a few. It’s a succinct article that reinforces two important aspects when it comes to this domain: 1, it’s not necessarily something that companies understand the value of, depending of course where they are in terms of their Design maturity, 2, the logistics of carving a study, running it, synthesizing it, leveraging it for insightful recommendations is time consuming and at times a costly endeavor, which may not be understood or valued by many in an Organization (again, same comment as point 1 in terms of Design Maturity). Worth reflecting on. Highlight of the article includes:
“Additionally, because some research methodologies take time to execute or require external vendor support to get the best insight, there are perceptions that research is slow or expensive and will be a barrier or blocker in building or shipping products. These can lead to research not being included in product conversations early, or at all, limiting the ability for analysis to provide strategic or directional support. In other cases it may lead to research not getting the right budget to effectively perform their work, leading to researchers having to be scrappy, hacky and de-prioritize research that may take up a significant percentage of their budget.”
