Recap: Tools n Techniques Kick Off with Lightning Talks
Tools n Techniques Series
In late June, we kicked off our Tools n Techniques meetup series with an evening of lightning talks. Lightning talks are 5-minute long presentations, where each presenter gets 20 slides and they advance automatically every 15 seconds. This format ensures all presentations are focused and concise, so the audience is learning a lot by the end of the evening. It’s also a fun challenge for presenters!
We started the Tools n Techniques series after we noticed there was a strong interest in toolsets. During our A Day in the Life series, where a UX practitioner would talk about their role (e.g., UX designer, user researcher, etc.), the audience would ask specifically what presenters used to get their job done. Additionally, many attended to see what methods and processes were used at the presenters’ companies.
We also wanted a series that would not only be great for those new to the field, but also current practitioners. The Triangle (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina) area has a rich UX community and it’s a excellent opportunity to learn and share from each other.
The Talks
To celebrate the start of the series, we had six presentations from seven fantastic speakers, that ran through the entire design process from start to finish. Here’s a recap of the talks including slide decks (if they could provide them) and additional resources.
Basia Coulter (Caktus Group) — From User Story Mapping to High-Level Release Plan
Basia provided a great overview of how she’s used user story mapping to determine priorities and share common goals with stakeholders. This is based off of Jeff Patton’s book User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product.
To learn more about Basia’s approach to product discovery in her blog posts:
T.J. Chmielewski (Siteworx) — Running Sketch Sessions
T.J. provided insight on his sketch session method, which involved a series of activities with stakeholders and makers. While fun, these exercises help communicated and create consensus among participants. T.J. also provided a wealth of resources at the end of his slide deck, so definitely check those out.
Follow T.J. on Twitter: @tj34dotcom
Erik Johnson (Purpose UX) — How to Run a Remote Design Workshop
Erik caveated his presentation with the best design workshops are done in person. While that might be the case, sometimes working remotely is a team’s only option. He uses Slack and Trello for this exercise and they are both available for free!
Follow Erik and Purpose UX on Twitter: @ejexpress and @PurposeUX
Leah Kaufman (Lenovo) Locked Room Usability Testing
Leah spoke about her “locked room” test, which is a repeatable process she uses to iterate on a design. Her method serves as a “yardstick” guide that you can measure your product against without fail.
Leah is happy to talk more about this process. (Her email addresses are in the presentation).
Emory Ball (PointSource) — Lightweight UX Testing
Emory gave us a glimpse into PointSource’s Lightweight UX testing, which veered from your traditional usability testing in a lab setting. He shared how they tested early and often and with whatever they had. To learn more, check out these blog posts:
Follow Emory and PointSource on Twitter: @emoryball and @PointSource
John Romano and Dwight McKnight (PointSource) — Aligning Teams with Axure, Sketch, and Foundation
John and Dwight co-presented a talk on their collaborative process that leverages a toolkit containing a common language of consistent styles and elements. This toolkit, which includes resources for Axure, Sketch, and Foundation, is available everyone’s use at BlueOak.io.
By using this toolkit, they’ve been able to streamline their process, extend communication, and focus more innovation. Read about the open source toolkit they created on this blog post: BlueOak Design Libraries: Where Design Patterns Meet Deb Frameworks
Follow John (@johnwromano) and Dwight (@dwightmcknight3) on Twitter.
Common Thread: Communication
While the talks were about different aspects of the UX process, they all had a common theme — communication. Communication is probably the most vital component of the UX process because it can make or break your designs or project. For example, if you’re not on the same page with your stakeholders or clients, your design work might not meet their goals, be well received, and so on. Or if design and development aren’t in close communication, then designs might be impossible to implement for the time given or designers/developers have to redo work under tighter deadlines.
As demonstrated in these presentations, using a these tools and techniques is a great way to facilitate communication and common understanding among your stakeholders, clients, designers, and cross-functional team members.
Join Us in the Conversation
If you’re in the Triangle area and interested in learning more about other UX tools and techniques, join exploreUX and come to one of our events! We’ll be hosting our Tools n Techniques series monthly based on different themes. Additionally, we’re always looking for others in the community to talk about their favorite tool or technique that makes their job easier, so we’d love to hear from you!
If you’re not in the area, keep an eye on the exploreUX publication as we’ll be posting recaps and additional articles on different tools or techniques. If you’d like to write an article about your tool or technique, we’d love to help you share!
We hope this series, whether in person or online, helps expose you to some useful tools and techniques that you can try and include in your UX toolkit.
Comment below or reach out to us on Twitter @exploreUX
Special thanks to Triangle UXPA and Citrix for co-sponsoring the event! Below are the intro slides, which includes more information about exploreUX and Triangle UXPA.
