A decade in UX
I’ve seen a lot of ‘10 year challenge’ type posts on social media over the last few weeks. What’s interesting about a lot of them, is that this is the first decade many of us have documented so much of our lives on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and so on. It feels like we know so much more about each other.
I have been reflecting on the passing of a decade over the past few days and looking back through photos and posts. I wasn’t going to write about it though. Do people need more noise in their Twitter timeline or Facebook feed? I know there have been ups and downs both personally and professionally, challenges and successes but who wants to read about them? How useful is it to read a list of things something else has done?
But as I thought more, I realised the act of writing down and summarising my thoughts is actually very helpful to me. So, I sat down and wrote this for me and for anyone else who might find it useful to read.
Writing reflections on a decade in UX — thanks to Faculty Co for the accessories
I can’t really remember what I did on New Year’s Eve in 2009. Probably not much. Back then I had a one year old and was still breastfeeding her so I wasn’t drinking much. I suspect we sat up for a bit and then went to bed before Big Ben chimed the start of the new decade.
New South Wales, Australia, October 2009 with my eldest daughter.
I suspect this New Year’s Eve will go the same way. Mark has a bad chest infection and spent much of the Christmas break in bed. Our (no longer a baby) eldest has come down with ‘the lurgy’ and I spent the morning in A&E with a suspected broken toe (thankfully it’s not). No parties for us.
So as we prepare for the new decade, what can I learn from the previous? What will I put behind me and what will I take forward?
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Making the leap was worth it.
In 2009, I left the BBC’s Audience Research team and joined Mark Boulton Design (MBD) the design studio I had co-founded with Mark a few years before. I spent the first decade of my career in online advertising and media research so this was my first role in UX. Up until then, the online research I did had been mainly operational and quant focused — analytics, surveys and reporting. It was a side step for me and in some ways a step back as I had to learn about a whole new field.
I initially helped Mark run the studio but as I learnt more about user centred design, I was able to take on more work — on the research side but also on the operational side of the business. I found my foundations in qualitative research, creative facilitation and project management were particularly helpful transferable skills. I also took on the day to day management of our side publishing business Five Simple Steps (FSS) and this was one of the most fulfilling things I have done to date.
I have no desire to ‘go back’ to Audience or Advertising Research but I have found it incredibly useful to have worked in different sectors. Now as User or Design Researchers we are being asked to think more strategically and join the dots with other research/insight disciplines such as data science or Market Research. My broad experience is finally a help rather than a hindrance.
Combining motherhood with work can be challenging but fulfilling.
At the start of 2010, we had an almost two year old and in 2011, I gave birth to our second daughter. Becoming a mum rocked my world and for a good few years my life revolved around their needs. I took a year off with both pregnancies, I breastfed both girls for two years each and dropped down to working part time. Work was still important but my career was in second place for a number of years. When I was pregnant or breastfeeding I didn’t travel for work and took the lions share of the domestic duties.
Once they both went to nursery and then full-time school, I built my hours back up. Now, with one in comprehensive school and the second in junior school, I’m pretty much full time. Finding the right balance continues to be a challenge but I’m a happier and healthier mum (and wife) for finding fulfilment at work.
I’ve been using Instagram since 2010 and it’s become the place I share my photos most frequently so I took a look back at what I have been posting over the past 10 years. I also downloaded a ‘best nine’ app and was quite surprised how my changing priorities was reflected in the most popular photos from the past decade. Lots of my early photos are of my children, our house renovations, our home life and some work stuff — mostly Five Simple Steps and team photos. These were simpler times and despite it being a lot of hard work, we were really happy. I think of those years as our best and most successful years of the decade.
2011–2014 best nine — the early years of our children’s lives and the Five Simple Steps/Mark Boulton Design days
Success brings change.
Our studio was tiny but our work made waves. During the five years we ran FSS we published 25 books and amplified the voices of web professionals across the world. We worked hard to reward our authors fairly and provide quality books to our customers. The design part of the business was the part that paid the bills though. MBD punched above its weight and worked for a range of national and international clients — CERN, Al Jazeera, ESPN, Shelter and Global Witness to name a few. We also built a design tool — Gridset. Much of our success was down to Mark’s reputation and credentials — he wrote a successful blog for years and spoke at conferences. I often felt like he was charging out ahead of me but I was definitely riding the wave with him.
2014 was a very significant year for us. Mark Boulton Design was acquired by Monotype and we had to step back from running Five Simple Steps. Of course this also meant I had a change of job. Letting FSS go was one of the hardest things I’ve been through and it took me years to get over the loss. We’ve definitely moved on now but writing and publishing remains a side passion for me.
Working in-house again for a large global company brought with it new challenges and a lot more travel for both of us. Alongside this, our youngest started full-time school and we did extensive house renovations and built an extension. Just before I turned 40, things started to fall apart a bit. Mark had a period of significant ill health and then our ageing parents got ill. It was all rather exhausting and relentless. The final straw was our office closing and some of the team we worked with very closely being laid off. Mark moved on. I stayed on for another year to give us financial stability but it was very hard.
Change was tough but we got through it. We gained a lot and had a lot to be grateful for but we also lost a great deal. Branching out on our own again at the end of this period was a huge wrench but I am so thankful that our relationship remained strong. Mark is still my best friend, my absolute rock and the best designer I have ever worked with 😊
2015–2017 best nine — the Monotype years
I am finally ready to call myself a leader.
This might not seem like much but it’s taken 20 years in research and 10 years in UX to get here! Looking back, I’ve been leading teams for the 10 years I’ve spent in UX — why has it taken me so long to call myself a leader? Confidence.
I first managed someone, when I was 27. I didn’t have much confidence in myself then though and turned down the chance to lead the Audience Research team at the BBC whilst my boss went on a secondment. I only agreed to manage someone much more junior than myself because I felt like I had to know more than them. I realise how stupid that sounds now.
I was thrown into managing people again when I left the BBC and joined Mark Boulton Design, initially as the Studio Manager. I didn’t have much more confidence that time either but it felt much more manageable sharing the responsibility with Mark. Then when we were acquired, I stopped managing people directly and started leading a community of practice.
When I left Monotype, I started freelancing. I ended up doing a lot of hands on research again, acting as a senior individual contributor. Whilst I enjoyed it, I realised that I missed leading. I started looking for opportunities to mentor other researchers. I also became heavily involved in the Research Ops Community and realised how much of my time in UX had actually been focused on operations as well as the craft.
A year ago, I wrote about how I wanted to continue to help researchers do their best work and support other Research Leaders who wanted to do this too. I still wasn’t feeling like a leader myself though. Why?
Imposter Syndrome.
Last year I had a series of confidence crushing interviews but then just before Christmas, I was offered a really high profile job as a Head of User Research. I had made it! Someone else thought I was good enough! Perhaps this was the turning point I needed?
I had to turn it down.
The working pattern just wasn’t sustainable and I would have had to have spent a significant portion of my week commuting to London from my home near Cardiff. I have two children and a dog and my husband travels for work so this wasn’t feasible. I was glad to have been successful but for a while I thought that I would have to settle for less. I had already peaked. My best days were gone and I hadn’t even realised it at the time.
But of course they weren’t.
I picked myself up and thought about how I could earn a living but do more of the work I enjoyed — mentoring other researchers, leading teams and communities and helping establish a research community of practice. Alongside my bread and butter work, I picked up a few pieces of consultancy, started talking about it and made my intentions clear to the world that I wanted more.
It sounds simple but it worked. Anja saw a blog post at the time Babylon Health needed an Interim Director of Research. Jane got in touch. In the short time since then, something has clicked in my head. I wouldn’t say they’ve gone but finally the imposter feelings are lessening.
2018 and 2019 best nine — the freelance years
Being intentional
This brings me to the close of the decade with a huge amount of self improvement and learning under my belt. What do I want to take into the next ten?
Leadership and Ops are my focus: As well as finally calling myself a leader, I’ve realised that I’m an Ops kind of person and for me, the two things are linked. At Mark Boulton Design, I was of course involved in the research parts of the design work but also in the operational side of the studio — nowadays this has become known as Design Ops. At Monotype I led the Research Community of Practice and democratised research — my first experience of Research Ops. Now as an Interim Research Leader, I’m setting up Research Operations as well as leading the Research Community of Practice. Helping Designers and Researchers do their best work has been my focus for the last ten years. I want to continue focusing on that.
Put on my own oxygen mask first: So much of the last ten years has been about putting everyone else first. My children, my husband, our families, our businesses, our team. Being a lone freelancer brought me up sharp. I’ve had to become more self reliant than ever before and be entirely responsible for my success (or failure). I’ve learnt that I need to prioritise my own needs in order to be able to bring my best self to my relationships and work.
Prioritise my health and happiness: Related to the previous point, starting something new takes a lot of energy and time. I’ve not prioritised fitness in the last couple of years and at (almost) 43, I’m starting to feel it. That’s not to say that I am a complete couch potato, I climb and do yoga regularly but I need to up my cardio again and get back into running. When my physical health suffers, my mental health does too. As I’ll be hitting 50 before the next decade starts (yikes!), I need to find a working pattern that supports this goal.
Surrounding myself with the right people: If I take anything away from this decade it’s that it’s all about the team. I learnt some really important lessons last year but the key one was not being afraid to be vulnerable and ask for help. Even though I’m getting better at listening to my inner champion, I still sometimes need reassurance from others. Mark continues to be my partner in crime but I have so many other amazing people I can lean on in my network now. I’m really grateful to those people in my life who regularly prop me up and talk through ideas and problems with me. I wouldn’t have had the confidence to get up on stage and speak at many conferences had it not been for encouragement from too many people to mention.
So, as the chimes from Big Ben approach, I’ll be raising a glass to the next decade in UX. I’ve learnt so much and I can’t wait to see what the next ten years bring. Cheers!
