My First Experience with an International UX Conference
In February 2019, for the first time ever, I attended an international UX conference in Siam Square, Bangkok. I have participated in many UX conferences previously, but this is the first time I attended one outside of my home country Philippines. This is a new experience for me, so I am very excited to share my story with you.
The Kingdom of Thailand is a country of delicious food, captivating temples and arguably has one of the richest cultures in the world. So, when I first heard that there was a UX conference in Bangkok, I immediately informed Min (my boss/mentor) that I would like to attend, and she approved it!
The sessions revolved around the theme “Standing on the Shoulder of Giants” — taking participants on a journey through stories from giant design leaders across the globe who have pioneered the design and product industry like Jared Spool from the United States of America.
Here are the highlights of my favorite talks:
“Escaping the build trap” by Melissa Perri
More Feature + More Code = More Money: a common myth and a “build trap” in product development which creates extremely complex products — where you keep adding features, adding new code and beginning to lose track of the value of customer needs. Melissa escaped the built trap by looking at the product strategy canvas. She followed flexible design framework to learn the user’s problems, and then validated those issues with customers directly.
I’ve been involved in different agile projects in my current and previous positions. I can relate to the build trap that she’s referring to. Currently, our work is guided by Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) where we are closely interacting with our customers in an Agile Release Train (ART) to understand their pain points and address their needs. It is nice to hear that we are moving in the right direction. I am so proud to be in a team which has a customer-centric culture that focuses on outcomes rather than outputs.
“Everyone is a designer” by Liam Hutchinson
Liam defined designer as “Someone who can impact the rendering of intent.” It is not necessary to earn the job title of “designer” to make an impact to the customer experience. It helps in building shared sense of responsibility when designing as a team and not with individual effort.
I really enjoyed the talk and can’t agree more regarding team work. In my day to day work, we break the borders by involving everyone, including stakeholders, in solving design problems. This encourages collaboration, team work and ultimately creates a product culture that benefits both the business and the customer.
“The Evolution of a New UX Design Resolution” by Jared Spool
Jared shared how they investigated the Hawaii false missile alert, where they used Fishbone Diagram analysis in order to identify the culprit (file names) that caused the said false missile alert in each level: screen design, application and organization. To prevent it from happening again, he suggested to get rid of the file names and redesign the application where they can separate the drills from actual emergency alerts. Therefore, looking at designs through different levels of resolution helps us answer some important questions and improve user experience.
I used Fishbone Diagram analysis in my Six Sigma Yellow Belt project to improve the testing process for accessibility enhancements. It helps me to know the root cause of the problem and eliminate waste. We are also using a similar approach on testing the accessibility defects of our products but focus on the application level only. I would love to explore the organization and ecosystem level approach that Jared proposes in the future.
Takeaways
Attending an international event like UX Thailand conference is fun! This is because you’ll understand the culture of the country where the event is hosted, widen your UX design network and learn world class user-centered design best practices. Below are my takeaways:
- I learned product strategy canvas is a system of achievable goals and visions to align the team with desirable outcomes for both the business and customers
- Build a sense of responsibility in designing with the whole team and not with individual effort
- Use Fishbone analysis and look at design problems through different levels of resolution; that can help us answer some important questions and improve user experience
Overall, I had great time learning and meeting participants from the Philippines, local Thailand professionals, expats, international attendees from different countries. I highly recommend every designer to attend a similar event to keep your knowledge up to date.
Thank you to all the speakers for sharing their expertise, volunteers and organizers for making the event possible.
Bonus
To try the Thailand’s most popular dish — “Pad Thai”: a sweet and spicy combination of rice noodles, prawns, tofu and prawn-oil sauce, I queued for more than half an hour in Thipsamai’s Restaurant. Is it worth the wait? Definitely! I ordered the “Pad Thai Haw Kai Sot” which came wrapped with eggs. It really tastes good. They have nice service and the great atmosphere made it an even better experience. It should be in your bucket list when you go to Thailand.
