Design Competency
There are plenty of resources describing Product Design competency and professional learning journeys. After reviewing several insightful assessment models spanning multiple design craft skills, I decided to reflect on my journey over the years.
Design for Domain
When I reflect on what is making me relatively successful in my role, the question starts with understanding what keeps me motivated and satisfied with my job. I deliberately chose my career in the area of professional enterprise software — structural analysis desktop applications, on-premise APM monitoring, Service Management workspaces. This is not an easy environment for user-centered design or fancy UI, and things are often not progressing as anticipated.
My motivation comes from genuine curiosity and dedication to grow within the domain — the universe that I am designing for.
I constantly level up my knowledge in areas helping me to understand the design constraints. In my current world of Service Management, this means learning about ServiceNow Platform or Box integration. I know what EKM and Okta are and how it affects user workflows to avoid unintentional usability degradation. I also have an overview of ITIL or KCS, and I am curious where the ITSM governance world is evolving.
Design is not that important
I am still a Product Design professional, call it IxD or UX. I apply the craft methodologically, from Unmoderated Usability Testing to Heuristics and Eye-tracking. I can create Personas, Scenarios, Pattern libraries, and I have pushed a few pixels in my life. I apply the real-world constraints by seeking the appropriate method to achieve the goal, not by compromising the outcome quality.
Cross-functional collaboration is more effective when we speak the same domain language and I rely more on my expertise than formal authority or job description. To establish trust and take a seat at the table, I see my domain knowledge playing a vital role over specific UI Design craft skill competency.
My Learning Areas
The global Design community is busy clarifying role division into User Researcher, Interaction Designer, Service Designer, UI Designer, UX Writer, and others. Generalist Product Design roles are often mimicked as “Purple Unicorns” or something that is unrealistic to achieve, thus not worth aspiring for in career development.
I see similar patterns in the Engineering domain and I hear about Engineers who “just want to code” with their headphones on. I often find out the most effective engineering professionals are also domain experts, who care about the company business goals, and their curiosity and motivation are helping them to become better engineers.
The outlined learning model works for me in my current environment. I am professionally and personally satisfied in a T-shaped Generalist role and probably won’t survive in a digital agency world. I respect all the specific specializations in Design and Engineering and use my reflections to contribute to the continuous improvement of the organizational model — from recruiting, learning journeys to compensation schemes and evaluations.
