What I have learned at a UX Whiteboard Party

Lily, the organizer, giving us an example of a UX Whiteboard Challenge

Thank you Lily, volunteers from SF Product Designers Meetup group, and Yeti LLC for hosting the Whiteboarding Party this weekend. As a professional transitioning career to product design, I learned so much as to what constitutes a UX Whiteboard Challenge. The main takeaway is showing how we can solve a problem and not so much on finding the “perfect” solution.

1. Don’t assume. It’s better to clarify with a question than introduce bias with an assumption.
2. Explain everything that you write because we haven’t figured out a way yet to read minds.
3. Design not only from the user’s perspective but also the business’s. What’s the point of solving the user’s problem if we cannot execute it because of business’s constraints?
4. Write every answer to every question and label it so interviewers can easily follow along with your thought process.
5. On the same vein, do not write/draw then erase it. It’s harder to remember what we can’t see.
6. Do not ask what to do next. You are there to demonstrate your problem solving skills, not to show the lack thereof.
7. If you have ever seen a whiteboard layout, remember it at the back of your mind but don’t draw every element out on the whiteboard at the start of the challenge. Every design exercise has a little nuance difference to it that can only be addressed by being curious and asking questions.

Ricardo showing us what a whiteboard layout might look like

Recommended book: The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam

Recommended podcast: 99% invisible