Hopping aboard a moving product as a UX designer
How to survive your first weeks of joining a new team
You’ve landed a new gig! Congratulations. Your first week on the job is coming up and since the product has been in development for a year already, you can’t help but feel some anxiety creeping up. How will you jump on this moving train and get acquainted?
First of all, have peace with the idea of not producing anything relevant for a week or two. These weeks aren’t wasted time though: know that they can be very valuable as they will allow you to have an unbiased view of the product.
Use the product you’ll be designing for
The best way to get to know the product quickly is by setting up your own account and start testing. Write down what you find works well and more importantly, what doesn’t. Realize that during these first weeks you have an unbiased view of the product. None of it has been designed by you, which means your ego or presumptions won’t get in the way of your initial view. Loopback your first product views with your fellow designers and/or product managers, as maybe you’ve spotted some low-hanging fruit.
Get assigned to an onboarding buddy
This can be your manager, another designer, or a PO: anyone who’s more knowledgeable on the product and can help you out in your first days. If you work remotely, check in every (other) day to ask questions.
Battling the impostor syndrome
During meetings, you could find yourself blown away by the corporate lingo and abbreviations used. Hell, the team might as well speak in a foreign language. You might even question your decision to switch jobs at this point, and it could lead to suffering from the infamous impostor syndrome.
Don’t worry about this. You’ll get familiar with the internal talks and product soon enough which will build confidence. Don’t be afraid to ask questions during these meetings, but if you feel uncomfortable interrupting a 20-person crowd, make notes and follow up with your onboarding buddy.
Getting comfy with the design system
Recreate some existing screens so you familiarise yourself with the design system. Check out the most common elements and learn their names so that when the time comes to start designing your first hi-fi screens, you know how to quickly get to those components.
Read up on research
Ask if any user research has been conducted and if so, ask for reports to dig into. And ideally, watch some recordings of research sessions if they are available. If any new research is being done, even if it’s not entirely within your scope, join a couple of sessions as a spectator. Chances are you’ll learn a thing or two about the end-user.
Speak with people from different disciplines
Make sure they know who you are, and who they are. Don’t limit yourself to other designers, but speak to product management, developers, QA’s, and learn about their experiences and how you could help them out. Ask them what aspects of design are currently working well, and where they see areas of improvement.
It’ll all work out.
In the end, just give it some time. Nobody will expect you to deliver a mind-blowing feature or user journey 5 days in. Before you know the tables will have turned and people will be coming to you for answers!
