06. Delivering Better Products Through Better Relationships

What makes building really great software so difficult?

Here’s the thing about software. It’s generally pretty straightforward. You type the right string of characters in your IDE. Out comes the software. Assuming you typed it all out correctly and you referenced all the right functions, no typos, not much should go wrong. 

So what makes software hard? It’s the people. 

Unfortunately for us UX designers, we need all those people. Those people take our fancy well thought out, well-researched, well-tested designs, and they help us get those pretty pictures turned into working software.

The fact is that if you aren’t the only person on the team, then you need everyone on the team. And your relationship with those people will directly impact your ability to get the end users the software they need to solve their problems and improve their day. 

So how do we deliver great products? Stick around and we’ll break it down! 

Topics:
• 01:18 – People make software hard
• 02:48 – A UX allegory
• 04:49 – A good UXer fosters empathy
• 05:07 – A good UXer fosters collaboration
• 05:23 – A good UXer fosters communication
• 05:46 – A good UXer fosters agility
• 06:05 – A good UXer fosters trust
• 06:24 – A good UXer fosters UX literacy
• 07:26 – We are trying to build trust
• 08:28 – What do we do when we work with a team of Freds?
• 08:55 – Get to know everyone on the team early
• 09:41 – Set expectations now
• 10:21 – Lots of conflicts are due to misaligned expectations
• 10:43 – Learn the language
• 11:43 – Keep the relationships going
• 12:23 – Don’t skip the small talk
• 13:41 – This should be genuine, not fake
• 14:01 – We want to avoid the “othering” of the rest of the team
• 14:35 – Have an open-door policy

Helpful Links:
• Building Meaningful Relationships Can Improve UX

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