It’s easy to get lost in your journey to move forward in your career. The mind-boggling amount of content is enough to confuse anyone. Not to mention companies who have no established career progression framework or path to promote their designers internally. If that wasn’t enough, we’re bombarded with how-to UX videos, tool & software tutorials, and contending ideas regarding what UX really is and how to see progress in our field.

I navigated these waters for years and out of the depths emerged a few principles that got me to where I’m at today. I realize I’m just adding to the pile of content you’ve already combed through, so thank you for sticking with me — I promise I’ll make it worth your time. 😁

These principles are not only free of any “pixel pushing” advice… they’re timeless, no matter where your career takes you.

Collective alignment as a deliverable — the necessity for shared understanding

As a UX or product person, you know your deliverables very well. Journey maps, personas, roadmaps, creative briefs, wireframes, prototypes… each of these is a helpful component to delivering great UX. But… have you ever considered alignment as a deliverable?

This idea was first introduced to me by another Sr. UX Designer at Indeed, where I currently work. As she so eloquently expressed, we aren’t seeing shared understanding as a crucial, necessary deliverable in the product development lifecycle.

We’re so focused on craft (primarily the tools, software, and pixels that we’re moving around on the screen), that we’ve lost sight of bringing others along for the journey of our designs. This idea of collective alignment is furthered by the work of Tom Greever in his book, Articulating Design Decisions.

After reading Tom’s work and speaking with my co-worker, creating collective alignment is achieved when you can:

• Clearly explain to others in the room how your design arrived at its current state.
• At an intellectual level, articulate to your team the problem you’re trying to solve.
• Feel confident in your design approach.
• Look around the room in a meeting and know each of the people there, what they do for the company, when the last time was that they were exposed to your work, and know what’s important & valuable to them.
• Professionally present your work at the appropriate fidelity for those present in the room.

Alignment is a UX deliverable. Without it, we’re guessing, making way too many assumptions, and running the risk of veering off track to meet customer and business needs.

Partnership over pace

Our Head of Global UX Operations at Indeed shared this timeless piece of advice. I’ve often advocated for people, then pixels, or the simple formula that design is greater than one. But this idea of partnership over pace introduced to me the approach to focusing on the relationships you build over the speed at which you crank out designs. 🤯

Design happens when you stand up. When you move away from your screen, you naturally move out of the narrow, tight mindset of your own ideas. You invite the thoughts of another to challenge, uphold, or strengthen your design direction.

Partnerships are UX deliverables. The easiest way to develop these partnerships is through trust and integrity. What you’ll soon find is that the more you work you put in to focus on partnerships, the better the outcomes for everyone — you, your customers, your coworkers, and the business.

• Use the time and resources available to you to be a good communicator and do what you say you’re going to do.
• Ensure your interactions with others are timely, appropriate, honest, and contextual.
• Give kudos and shout-outs to others at your company — help your coworkers look good in front of others.
• Focus on relational value, not transactional value.
• Support them through their trials & difficulties.
• Do what a good friend would do. I’m not saying be a best friend all the time, but be a good one nonetheless.

Beautifully, when you embrace partnerships over pace, there’s a reciprocal nature to this principle. Goodness comes back to you. Opportunities emerge that might not have had you not spent the time to develop these relationships.

Don’t forget, YOU are a deliverable too!

All too often, we get caught up in the pixels and methodologies. We’re experts at obtaining a deep understanding of the problem space. We know how to unveil what frustrates and motivates our customers, but we often forget about the human-to-human interaction of the deliverable exchange.

What often happens while we’re making “things” is that we forget about the most important deliverable: Ourselves. It’s YOU that hands off the design specs to the developers. It’s YOU that shows the high-fidelity prototype in a room of stakeholders. It’s YOU that prioritizes the backlog with the product manager. It’s YOU that presents your portfolio in an interview.

While you’re doing all the “making of things”, generating UX artifacts, and exchanging all that information, let me remind you to first and foremost:

• Make a good first impression, remember someone’s name, and take note of your surroundings.
• Let someone know you recognize that what they’re doing is important.
• Work on the UX of yourself. Like it or not, others “experience” you in a certain way — Design that experience.

“Apply your UX skills to the way others experience you.” -Mariah Hay, CXO at Help Scout

1. Alignment is a deliverable.
2. Partnerships are deliverables.
3. You are a deliverable too.

Set actionable goals around these three areas and there’s no telling where your career will take you. 😁

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Uncle Mikey helps amplify people and products through human-centered design. With 21+ years of experience in design, marketing, e-commerce, and UX, his passion is helping people & businesses apply their skills to the way they’re experienced by others. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or follow his writing on Medium.