Carmen Lefevre-Lewis

More UX and Product leaders need to hear Diana DeMarco Brown (she/her)'s wisdom. Diana is a pioneer in the UX field who takes a thoughtful and nuanced approach to assessing the current state of the tech industry. In our recent conversation, Diana shared many insights, including: - How to evaluate a company's culture during the hiring process - Why private equity ownership can result in design divestment - How Product and UX leaders can effectively influence business decisions - Why we don't need to panic with the rise of AI, but we need to think critically and prioritize regulation during this early stage Link to our full conversation: https://lnkd.in/eemDimVb

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The Jobs to Be Done framework is crucial for product designers, especially as the line between product managers and designers continues to blur. This article can revolutionize how we approach problem discovery and opportunity identification, offering deeper insights during the design phase. It's a must-read for anyone looking to elevate their design process and deliver exceptional results.

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I’ve expanded on my earlier post with examples and deeper insights in a new Medium article. 🚀 In this extended version, I dive deeper into balancing autonomy with strategic alignment, guiding teams like a fleet of ships, and setting the stage for cross-functional success. If these leadership themes resonate with you, I’d love for you to explore the full article here : https://lnkd.in/g_q2Yxfk Let me know your thoughts!

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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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There’s a subtle difference between “educating” stakeholders and making the impact of your work visible. One of these can help you win promotions, autonomy, and co-conspirators. The other can distract you from your craft at best… or devalue your work at worst. Thought-provoking article from Sara Wachter-Boettcher on how designers can reframe “advocating for design” in a way that avoids burnout and sidesteps the gaslighting.

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I really enjoyed this conversation with Alex Smith from Fuego UX on value of designers learning to code, team collaboration, culture, and thoughts for new designers entering the market in the age of AI. Plus, it's short and sweet - just under 12 mins! If anything peeks your interest that you'd like to hear more on, let me know as I may be able to go deeper in future talks or blog posts :)

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Why not all voices should be equal in the design process. If we are serious about social change and equity, we need to start centring the knowledge and decisions of those deeply impacted. #UX #productDesign #designProcess

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Patterns for implementing human-centric design thinking and UX to GenAI #GenAI #UX #AI

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This article captures much about my experience in UXR at Google over the last 7 years and what it means to be a successful part of product development. As one of the greats, Asif Baki has said it, our work is to develop a gut instinct, but it has to be not just for ourselves, but through and with the entire team if we are going to empower product impact. "The answer does not lie in adding more researchers who focus on learning on behalf of the many. It’s in expanding the role of researchers to focus on empowering everyone to learn."

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🎙️ New Episode Alert: The Future of UX Research: AI, Advanced Methods & Jobs 🚀 Today, I’m chatting with Lawton Pybus and Thomas Stokes, UX Research veterans and founders of Drill Bit Labs, a research strategy consultancy. They have also researched and authored several UX industry meta-reports and educational articles that can help UX researchers, designers, and UCD leaders stand out from the crowd. In this riveting episode, we explore: 💼 The evolving UX industry job market: insights into the skills, roles, and opportunities defining the next generation of UX researchers. 🤖 AI's growing role in UX Research: how artificial intelligence is reshaping our methodologies and deliverables. 🔬 Essential and more advanced research methods: tried and tested, and innovative techniques that are pushing the boundaries of marrying user needs with tech advancements. And much more. You can find this conversation on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, any other major podcasting platform (search “experience designed”) and of course via this link on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gbcxwTKh If you’ve enjoyed this conversation, don't forget to share this episode with your friends and colleagues—it's a conversation worth spreading! #ux #uxresearch #userresearch #podcast #uxstrategy #designresearch #productdesign

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"More respondents reporting being “comfortable” or “very comfortable” reaching out to an individual they were directly referred to or to listed code, document, or bug owners than they did using an internal question forum called YAQS or reaching out to a mailing list. When asked to elaborate on reasons for discomfort, the most frequently cited reasons were fear of asking what others would perceive as an obvious or unnecessary question, doubts that the answers would be timely enough or sufficient to solve their problem, reticence to engage due to the tone in which previous questions were responded to within the forum, and concerns about spamming too wide of a group or disrupting others in their work. For example, one developer explained in an open response: "I have major imposter syndrome and I’m afraid of asking dumb questions. Questions on YAQS and mailing lists will be visible forever, and it’s open to a huge audience." The level of comfort seeking off-team technical support was one of the two areas of the survey where differences did exist across demographic groups... Prior research has also found evidence that experiences in public technical forums vary by gender. Scaling the exchange of information and expertise often requires diverting questions to common support channels. Further research aimed at enhancing the psychological safety of these online knowledge-sharing spaces could potentially reduce barriers to obtaining technical support that may be disproportionately experienced by underrepresented groups within those spaces."

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This is a great post for designers moving into management/leadership roles. The nature of your job changes dramatically and it's important to figure out the most effective ways to help your team and the company. As noted in the article, it's very easy to have your time consumed by managerial tasks (operational work). Being deliberate about how you want to spend your time, focusing on the change you want to bring about and working consistently towards that end are critical skills to learn. #UX #Design #DesignLeadership https://lnkd.in/e_g4TRJx

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Research is a function of strategy.  "According to CB Insights, over 90% of all products fail, most commonly due to no market need." Leave yourself time to ask big questions about whether any actually needs your product or service before you decide to launch it. #UXstrategy #UXresearch #Marketresearch

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Only an analyst would think about software creation forecasts when my kids experience excitement playing with technology, but I can’t turn it off. I’ve spent my career looking for macro and objective data about technology, but having kids changed the meaning of that data. The coming explosion of software creation (twice as much by 2028) is going to change so much that the best way to respond is to reject objective feature checklists and create feelings instead of features. With more apps than ever, features will only get you so far. It’s time to put emotional resonance on the roadmap. I know many have tried to do this and struggled because emotion is hard to quantify and hard to build a feature list around. However, I’ve realized there’s another emotion you can use to your advantage: fear of intense feature competition eroding your company's competitive advantage. I explore this shift in my contribution to Figma's Six Memos, alongside five other perspectives on where digital creation is headed. Let me know what you think :) https://figma.bot/40sakGn

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❓ I have a question for product designers ❓ How do you understand that you’ve reached a certain grade or level in your career, such as transitioning to a senior role? Do you rely solely on performance reviews, or are there other ways you evaluate your growth? And what if there’s no formal performance review process? I’m asking because I often get questions about assessing one’s grade or level. So, I’m curious — do you have a similar need or interest in this topic? Let me know your thoughts!

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🎅 New Article: 2024 in Review — Highlights and 2025 Predictions Obligatory year-in-review post? Yep, it’s tradition at this point. Reflecting on another year of writing weekly articles for my UX Research in the Wild blog. I also made my (now traditional) 2025 predictions. Some offer a glimpse of exciting possibilities, while others take a hard look at the challenges ahead for UX research. Thank you for following along this year! Link in the comments. 👇 #UXResearch #UXDesign #UserExperience #ProductDesign #HumanCenteredDesign

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I’m swapping my Nobody Wants This binge session with the #ProductCon by Product School talks tonight, and here are some tips Spenser Skates, Co-Founder and CEO of Amplitude, shared on driving innovation and customer success. - Team structure drives innovation: Smaller, cross-functional teams that own the entire product experience are more nimble and innovative. Larger teams or specialised departments often get bogged down in complexity and slower decision-making. If you want innovation, give teams full ownership. Embedding innovation into the company culture is crucial, and it can be done in small bites, starting from a public innovation Slack channel to all-hands weekly demos. - Customer input as the North Star: Real innovation comes from direct customer feedback. It’s not enough to take input from other departments. To truly build the right features, companies need to focus on the specific needs of their customers. Spenser suggested product managers should spend 50% of their time talking to customers (that's 20 hours on a 40-hour week - quick maths!). This ensures that product decisions are based on a deep understanding of user pain points, a much higher bar than most teams set - as far as I know. - Data-driven retention insights: One insightful example was DoorDash’s discovery that on-time delivery was more important for customer retention than having the fastest delivery. Understanding this type of data-driven insight can shape key improvements that directly impact customer loyalty. #productManagement

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Which font is best for reading online? What's your take? This is a controversial subject, any subject which involves multiple designers making a collective decision is. I've been through this debate more than a handful of times on redesign projects especially. The data is inconclusive and opposing studies exist. The answer is often "it depends", something you might often here from designers. Here's an interesting study, yet only 1 study, there have been many others. What is your take on this debate? https://lnkd.in/g7DPmd9V

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