Kirsten Davidson

Diversity in design isn't just a buzzword—it's a business imperative. 🌈 As a hiring manager, I've seen firsthand how diverse teams boost creativity, product quality, and profitability. I believe in building teams that reflect our users and bring fresh perspectives to every project. How do you ensure fairness during the hiring process when you have to look at portfolios? Here is my perspective on the challenges of inclusive hiring. #DiversityInDesign #InclusiveHiring #TeamBuilding

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Layoffs have hit the UX community hard, and I'm no exception. After my role as a Design Manager ended, I found myself questioning my next steps. This experience pushed me to rethink my career and personal growth. From facing job rejections to rediscovering old skills and finding new passions, I've learned the importance of resilience, networking, and continuous self-improvement. Ultimately, we will find new opportunities. Focus on the positives, be grateful, and cherish the journey. Let's support each other through these times. Read my full story and insights here: https://lnkd.in/ecKu2fnT #UXDesign #JobSearch #Careergrowth #Layoffs #MentalHealth #Networking #Mentorship #productdesign

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Reflecting on some recent advising sessions, something I don't see talked about as much is how critical it is to have an incredibly strong, unified* Design leadership team in order to build an even stronger design team and product. Why this is so critical 👇 What I’ve seen happen when you DON’T have that unified Design leadership team: 1. Massive gaps in the user experience – Let’s start with the obvious one. When Design leaders are staying neatly in their corners and not communicating, the experience degrades pretty quickly. Especially where the "seams" of their teams/org are. We've all seen (and let's be real…probably have been guilty of at times) the navigation structure that clearly shows the org chart vs. what users actually need. This can happen way too quickly without that unified team. 2. A lack of Design’s ability to influence product direction — The best Design leadership teams work together, pushing each other, to have a unified perspective of what the big things are to tackle in the user experience that leverages the unique expertise of the Design functions, all the way from it being grounded in research, to it having a compelling narrative. When they have that unified perspective and are all consistently sharing that perspective, it is so much easier for cross-functional partners to understand and buy-in on it. 3. Design works against Design — When Design leaders don't have a shared perspective on what is important (both in the user experience and the culture), don't have the right level of visibility into each other's work, or even worse, when they don't have mutual respect for each other, it leads to the leaders (mostly) inadvertently working against the progress of the other leaders/teams vs. together toward a unified vision. 4. A limit to the flexibility and scalability of the Design team – To build great experiences at scale, having the flexibility of shifting people to focus on different parts of the product is critical. When the culture and processes are dramatically, instead of it being exciting for that person to focus on a new space, it is incredibly disorienting, slows everything down, and can quickly lead to burnout. *A note on when I say "unified". I don't mean at all that they agree on everything. In fact, the opposite. They push each other the most, early and often. However, they have shared respect, cultivated by their leader, and shared responsibility around aligning within a timely manner. THEN they support each other in any way they can with hurdles they may each face (e.g. cross-functional buy-in or team-wide communication). ——— Is this interesting? Let me know if you want me to share more on how exactly you can cultivate this strong design leadership team –OR– if you want more personalized advice around this, set up some time with me here: https://lnkd.in/g-vyymtW

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Want to learn what a Chief of Staff to a CEO is? Learn from the Best - work for Rob and learn so so much on what crisp, thoughtful, deliberate, strategic organization practice is

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Let’s talk tools. Tools you need to do your job (and do it well). ✏️ We understand why finance needs Excel. ✏️ Why marketing needs Hubspot. ✏️ Why sales needs Salesforce. ✏️ Why creative needs Adobe. ✏️ Why IT needs ServiceNow. ✏️ Why legal needs Docusign. ✏️ And why HR needs Workday. But tools for communications professionals? Those are a "nice to have." 🫠 Why? Why aren't comms tools considered a necessity for doing our jobs? I can rattle off 10 tools that would make my teams 10x more effective, but I can also count on one hand the number of times I've been able to 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 those tools to my team to use. 👉 Internal comms tools 👉 External comms tools 👉 Analyst relations tools 👉 Social media tools 👉 Creative tools 👉 Monitoring and analytics tools #Communications pros, like other job functions, also need tools to do our jobs well. And in 2024—there are 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 tools available to us! But often those are out of reach for smaller, scrappier comms teams and are only available to the big companies with big #comms and #PR budgets. It's a shame because the communications landscape is changing, and our strategies 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭𝘴 should change with it. Unfortunately, our budgets don't reflect this new reality. 🫣 So, wise network: Why are comms tools considered "nice to have" if we actually want our communications strategies to be effective? What tools do you use in your comms roles?

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I often think about pivotal moments that shaped my career as a user researcher and entrepreneur. A particularly memorable experience occurred during my time at Zillow. It was a conversation that radically changed my understanding of my role in research reporting. I discovered that my practice of including recommendations in reports—something I never, ever thought twice about—was not as common as I had assumed. This realization was a complete wake-up call! Coming into research from design, going beyond beyond basic data collection was second nature to me. In this conversation, I learned that this was not the standard approach for all researchers. I can honestly say I was floored. Fast forward about seven years, it's clear that applied research has reached new highs and lows. On the high side, it's morphed from basic data collection to a crucial innovation and improvement driver. The field has substantially grown, not just in the number of researchers, variety of tools, and educational resources available, but in the expectations placed upon us. I’ve been conducting research consistently for 12 years through ups and downs in the economy, layoffs, Covid, and more. IMO today’s stakeholders are not just looking for data; they seek recommendations that can drive decisions and expedite action. This evolution underscores the need for our field to level up. Here’s why leveling up is crucial: > Moving Beyond Observation: By including thoughtful recommendations, we transition from passive observers to active influencers, capable of shaping strategy and vision. > Driving Decision-Making: Stakeholders rely on us for more than data, but for strategic guidance and clear directions that inform pivotal decisions. > Fostering Collaboration: When recommendations are part of our deliverables, we promote dialogue and teamwork, which are essential for nurturing a culture of innovation. > Elevating Impact: Our work does more than inform; it has the power to transform by influencing actions and outcomes significantly. I urge all researchers to integrate recommendations in their reporting. I organize them into two buckets: short-term recommendations and long-term considerations. This approach inspires dialog and action to drive meaningful change. By elevating our contributions, we can not only meet but exceed the growing expectations of our field and our stakeholders. #ux #uxr #userresearch #uxresearch #curiositytank image from freepik

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If you or someone you know in UX has been impacted by #Layoffs, or you are considering entering the #UX Job market and are feeling the weight of the #UXindustry right now - I highly recommend this particular podcast episode. ✨ There is so much value in sharing our professional experiences. So much value in hearing from folks who have #coaching backgrounds, so we can learn how to continue to move forward, and get unstuck. Shout out to Amy Santee and Jeremy Miller for this honest discussion that I know many of us can not only relate to or perhaps commiserate with, but to also take actionable steps from. 🌟 https://lnkd.in/g8b8NUFt #coaching #leadership #layoffs #jobmarket #UXResearch #thestateofUX

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Had to share this thoughtful article about the conflicting feelings we have as designers with new AI tools.... made me consider the threat of too much standardization over innovation, or letting your own creative instincts atrophy. Check it out and lmk your thoughts

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there is a lot of discussion currently about how broken the hiring process is in the UX and UX-adjacent fields. I don't disagree, but as someone who is responsible for hiring, I'm curious what a realistic, respectful, and effective hiring process look like to you? It feels to me that people want hiring processes optimized to their individual strengths (for good reason, of course that will set them up for success), but realistically, a hiring process has to be consistent and repeatable. I would love to design a truly equitable and effective hiring process, but the advice I read and hear is all over the place and often contradictory. Thoughts?

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According to Forrester's recent CX Index rankings, "US Health Insurer CX Quality Plummets To A Five-Year Low Customers" and "Even perennial high scorers such as Humana and Kaiser Permanente had statistically significant declines." The numbers get this low from stories like the one below involving Kaiser. Everyone these days has 1, 2 or 9 stories of customer experiences are getting worse and paying outsized time, money, and stress trying to get simple transactions done or issues resolved (aka "Unpaid Customer Labor"). Check out my new book "Today is the Perfect Day to Improve Customer Experiences!" to understand how customer experiences are going wrong in healthcare, banking, retail, public utilities, and government (available 7/18). Preorder now: todayistheperfectday.com #customerexperience #userexperience #healthcare #customerfirst #unpaidcustomerlabor

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To my LinkedIn Community, Please share this post far and wide. I'm reaching out to my followers and connections of only UX, UXR, Service Designers, Product Designers and Design Leaders. Most of you are in Retail, Tech, Fintech and Healthcare. Amid the 4th round of layoffs from United Healthcare, United HealthGroup and Optum in less than 10 months, I would like to tell you about three individuals more than capable and deserving of your consideration. These gentlemen are of high character, acumen and leadership. And they are loving and respectable family men. Brandon Hagstrom. — Product UX Design + Leader Brandon is a high energy UX/Product Designer and Director. Capable of all manner of design output and leadership. He has 15 years of experience. Anything to do with Healthcare, Fin-tech or payments and Design systems and large Web/Mobile design work would be work he'd thrive and create a tremendous amount of value in. Ask him how to roll out an enterprise level D-System at an organization the size of UHC — A Fortune 5. Steve Burdette — UX Researcher + Leader Steve has more than 2 decades of high output generative and evaluative research in healthcare environments. His track record and leadership speaks for itself. He's more than apt at people management, lab management and doing just the right amount of research for every budget and innovation or steady iterative digital transformation. No stranger to big payer or health startups and one of the smartest and kindest individuals I know. Dan McCreary — Distinguished Engineer, Chat, AI/ML/NLP/LLM GenAI + Graph Leader or VP Dan is the most knowledgeable Chat, AI/ML/NLP, Generative AI and Graph expert I know and one of the best in this business. With more than 3 decades of experience, he's not just a thought leader and systems thinking wiz, he's also a people leader and knows more about AI and solving large complex enterprise level problems than anyone I know in this space. He regularly offers up his personal time to mentor young people with STEM outreach and training. If that isn't cool enough, ask him to tell you stories about working at NEXT computers with Steve Jobs. I'm willing to make personal introductions to all three. Ask me anything about their attitude, output or work demeanor. They will not stay on the market long. If you know anything about talent, you'd jump on the opportunity to engage them and their deep experience for your organization. I'm looking at you CVS Health, Cigna Healthcare, Elevance Health, HCSC Insurance Services Company, Aetna, a CVS Health Company, Kaiser Permanente, Centene Corporation Humana, Mayo Clinic, HCA Healthcare, Tenet Healthcare Hang 🤙 Xu, Tom Scott #healthcaredesign #healthcare #healthcarecareers #insurance #chat #AI #ML, #productdesign #innovation #userresearch #userexperiencedesign

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I have a lot of empathy for the situation many UXRs find themselves in. They were told to collaborate, facilitate, "democratize", share, up-level, and invest emotional energy in helping teams get better. ...and then were the first to be let go during layoffs (often with public statements that took a not-so-thinly-veiled jabs at glue people, etc.) If you're currently hiring, I strongly suggest considering hiring a skilled UXR, especially given the complex nature of AI. There's a good chance they have a multi-disciplinary background and are the perfect person to help you unravel tough problems.

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Wow, spot on… Also consider the complexity of a “design system factory” product intended to offer design system stability to the diverse clientele of a consultancy with vastly unique clients, all with critically important needs. I often describe(d) the design tokens and design system as the CENTER of the tech ecosystem, or at minimum on par with the most critical data APIs. Few were ready for what that would cost. Financially, technically and emotionally. #outofwork

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I love data; it gives us the confidence to go forward with a plan. In this case, a plan for better in-office work experiences. An eight-hour work day is 480 minutes. Data (linked) finds that when people work in-office, they are only spending around 80 minutes, or ~16% of their time, actually interfacing with other people. There's a lot that can be said about the merits and drawbacks of being in office, but for me the more important question is, if you have to be there, how can we make our time in offices more valuable? There's also something to be said about the value of that face-time. Are people discussing productive ideas? Grousing? Discussing off topic gossip? Is the office space even designed for such face-to-face interactions? (Sadly, most are not.) Seventeen percent is low - an increase to even ~40% (3 hours) would yield significant benefits to us personally, but to increase our face time, we need to design for it. The sad fact is that people and organizations have generally done a poor job of it so far. There are solutions, including consolidating and formalizing face-time activities to when you will be able to see people in person vs virtually, offices that promote 'public' and 'focus' spaces, and even organizational scheduling to free employees to be social. There are also lots of constraints: the need to be productive and actually do work, you can only physically see so many people at once, the geography limitations, etc. The underlying question is, if you have to be there anyway, have you designed your in-office time to maximize face-time opportunities? Could you? Could you make that face-time more valuable to you? PS - I said it before, but I love data; it shows us so many opportunities to ask further questions, to discover more, and to research, solve, and design for new problems. #ux #wfh #commuting #officedesign #ixda Check out the article: https://lnkd.in/eM4XM6zK And the actual report (know your source and its bias): https://lnkd.in/etmByNKD

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Just the other day I had one of those great lunch conversations with my old friend Sam, and I was driving home when I stumbled upon a podcast featuring Charles Duhigg, author of Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection. Sometimes it just feels like perfect timing, right? Duhigg talks about the magic of conversations being dialogues, not monologues. That hit home for me. Sam and I always dive into discussions that leave me thinking for days. It’s those two-way streets of dialogue that really make a difference. Duhigg suggests this same principle applies to marketing. It’s not just about pushing a product; it’s about finding a way of creating something customers genuinely care about or consider. This is where user research and feedback come into play. Most of us have been in situations where someone in the company thinks they’ve got all the answers, ignoring the customer’s perspective. The real trick? Aligning the incentives of the customer with those of the business. When you nail that, products really take off. UX research has been quite the journey for me, but I’ve become a real convert. The turning point was when I started to see detailed reports on why customers value or don’t value a product or service. It was clear then that company opinions alone weren’t enough and that there was a significant risk in ignoring the customer perspective. Initially, every UX research question seemed to hit a wall with “but it didn’t improve conversion, so now what?” This mindset needed to change, which wasn’t easy. Tools like Dovetail help in this space. They allow you to “pile it and not file it”, helping manage the vast amount of unstructured information UX research generates. It’s easy to latch onto one comment that aligns with your perspective, but Dovetail helps ensure you’re considering a broader range of customer feedback. For anyone starting out with UX research, my advice would be to think strategically about introducing it in phases. Find immediate successes that you can share, making it easier to build support for more ambitious projects. Landing a huge UX research plan all at once requires significant change management, but demonstrating quick wins can pave the way for deeper changes. For a deeper dive into the UX research maturity curve, you can check out this article by Dovetail: The UX Research Maturity Curve. https://lnkd.in/dgB5sfSG Meaningful connections, whether in conversations or marketing, truly make all the difference.

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So DocuSign has a new logo... What are your thoughts? I personally liked the old mark since it worked as a one color, and was very appropriate for the business. It was clear "sign here"! I also prefer it when brands use Capital Letters to break up words. It helps it read Docu Sign instead of docusign (some long word you don't know how to pronounce lol) https://lnkd.in/eia2HTt8

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My secret dream in writing workingagreement.com is to become an advice columnist. This week I got my first question: what's different about onboarding new teammates when this is their first job out of undergrad? Read on to find out more, including my list of common new grad mistakes, and some good advice from Julia McClellan: https://lnkd.in/gHGudsfZ

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I just picked up "Leadership Toolkit for Asians," written by Jane Hyun and it's a game-changer! If you're looking to break through the bamboo ceiling and lead with authenticity, this book is a must-read. Jane offers practical tools and inspiring stories that help us leverage our cultural strengths in the workplace.

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