5 lessons from Local Rock Stars
This piece is a flashback of the experience and learnings I got at the Local Rock Stars Aarhus — Tech & UX meetup event in October 2017.
Local Rock Stars Aarhus is a yearly conference that gathers professionals from the Danish tech world. Local keynote speakers give expert advice and insights to an audience of colleagues, students and other supporters. And, it gets better — there is free food! They got it right — no one can think straight on an empty stomach.
Anyway…
Let’s cut to the chase. What did these UX professionals have under their sleeve, that they wanted to share with us, the beginners?
User research has a dark side
Anders Christiansen from Envision “knows” people, and that is why they specialise in customer research. Anders always makes sure he has a strategy about who to make research on — even if this means interviewing his mother. The golden advice is to always talk to real people:
“We need to stay away from the average and look for the “dark side” of user research — the real insights. We have to look for the moments where conflict arises. It is there you find interesting truths that you didn’t know before.”
For example, he found out that it was the social moments: the parties, the hangouts and the heartbreaks, that had the biggest influence on how students retrieved new knowledge. Researching the “dark” side of University life, brought light to new insights.
Always ask why
Jens Hoffman from Vertica wanted to get to the core of why him and his colleagues at Vertica do what they do. So, why?
“As UX designers we are proud of what we build — also in the long run! We want to help people to become successful. But how do we do that in our workplace? How do we change the way we work? Can we prototype a new way of working? Yes!”
Jens knows how to UX the hell out of the work culture: think about the problem, action, how to test and with who, and have a deadline. After the sprint, you’ll have an improved workplace.
Give feedback
Brian Eno Credo once said that we depend on each-other more and we understand each-other less. Feedback is therefore necessary, especially in our workplaces.
Ouafa Rian taught us that from psychology, our brains view criticism as a threat to survival, that’s why we remember it very negatively. Feedback is therefore only possible, when the other person needs it, and when it stems from a kind place. It is not a discussion about the best arguments, it is a dialogue where learning is a hopeful outcome.
So after each project, give feedback to each-other, and remember: it has to come from a kind place, listen actively and provide the other with a motivation to improve.
No business value — no cake!
Helle Jensen from Creuna is the ultimate business UX lady. The first advice she gave us was:
“Send the design hippies on a field trip!”
Design sprints are about making directional product decisions quickly, not doing design quickly. You should get down to business! Use the models, combine them, but think about the business! Design is a tool, not a goal. If you cannot prove that your idea is going to solve the problem and if there is no business value, there is no cake!
Creative survival guide
Jonathan Lyngby from Duckwise chose to share his failure story in a very personal and fun presentation. Working at a small digital agency and getting a task from a big client, he was drowning in the pool of creative questions:
“Is this challenge interesting because of the project, or because of my own curiosity? It was a curiosity overdrive.”
Jonathan learned that hard work and communication at projects always pays off, and that the needs of the business always need to be kept in mind when going crazy on ideas.
All in all, Local Rock Stars stars was an experience of learning, meeting cool people and entertainment combined in one conference. If you’re into tech and ever stop by Aarhus around November, let me know. I know a place to experience the tech community in the real Danish way.
