Transcript: “I use my strengths and weaknesses to add value to my team : Ask Me Anything.”
Sarah Hawk
In the latest of our signature Slack “Ask me Anything” chats, we talked about forming a cohesive team, personality traits, introverts, and remote working, among other things.
We had the opportunity to pick the brains of one of our original community members, Natalie Eustace, about understanding your personal strengths and weaknesses and learning how to harness those in a way that adds value to your team.
Natalie’s pragmatism, empathy and willingness to speak openly about perceived personal weaknesses made for a great session.
If you didn’t make it because you didn’t know about it, make sure you join our community to get updates of upcoming sessions. If you have follow up questions for Natalie, you can ask them here.
If you’re interested in seeing what we discussed, or you want to revisit your own questions, here is a full transcript of the chat.
Transcript
hawk
2016-09-07 23:01
Ok <!here|@here> It’s that time!
hawk
2016-09-07 23:01
Let’s kick things off. For those of you that are first-timers…
hawk
2016-09-07 23:01
I’ll start by introducing Natalie, then I’ll ask her to introduce the topic
hawk
2016-09-07 23:01
and then i’ll throw it open for questions
hawk
2016-09-07 23:02
if things get busy, I’ll queue them behind the scenes, so ask when something occurs to you
hawk
2016-09-07 23:02
So first up, a huge thanks to you @natalie.eustace for your time today
hawk
2016-09-07 23:02
I’m really excited about this session, because it’s in line with the topic of making working meaningful, which we’ve been focussing on lately at UXM
So Natalie is close to my heart for a number of reasons
hawk
2016-09-07 23:03
she was one of our earliest community members, and remains an engaged and valuable member
hawk
2016-09-07 23:04
she’s one of the few community members that I have met IRL
hawk
2016-09-07 23:04
but most importantly, she’s a fellow kiwi
hawk
2016-09-07 23:04
Natalie is a UX Designer with Wynyard Group – a market leader in serious crime fighting software used by governments and financial institutions.
hawk
2016-09-07 23:05
She started out as a graduate and worked her way up. Natalie works in a geographically widespread team who have to work hard to find ways to work cohesively together, with ideation and communication proving to be ongoing challenges.
hawk
2016-09-07 23:05
So on that note, @natalie.eustace – can you give us a brief intro to your topic and let us know what makes it so important
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:06
Yes sure thing, welcome and thanks for this opportunity :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:06
So an intro into my topic, I’m very very interested around team orientation
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:06
in my 2 years with Wynyard, our team has changed members, evolved and grown to various locations
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:07
as part of this we’ve all had to work on things, for me being an introvert, and being aware of what I can bring to the team, and also things I need to work on and can reach out for
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:07
As part of this, your cultural fit, how you work together and communicate, personalities, and just having an overall awareness is very very important
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:08
knowing how to harness these, to make your team happier and more efficient is very important :slightly_smiling_face:
hawk
2016-09-07 23:08
Agreed! Does anyone have a question to kick things off?
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:09
How did you counteract the whole introvert thing? I am a natural introvert to, so sometimes at work do just what a UXer shouldn’t really do and get lost in my thinking.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:10
@jellybean very good question! It has been a process over time. It can get quite tiring. So I make sure I have small talk with people when I meet them. You need to appear approachable
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:10
As part of this you gradually loose the fact that things can be difficult, but I always need to work on conversations that are more intense
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:11
and I find myself getting tired, so having ways to manage these
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:11
i.e. going for walks at lunch time :slightly_smiling_face:
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:11
Small talk… now that is a challenge for an introvert.
seyonwind
2016-09-07 23:11
what qualities and/or traits do you look for when building your creative team?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:11
i.e. the coffee here is horrid :stuck_out_tongue:
meridithgeiger
2016-09-07 23:11
has joined #ask-natalie-eustace
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:12
@seyonwind I got to help with interviewing for an additional team member last year, and the most important thing for me, other than being user orientated, was the cultural fit
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:12
we needed someone who seemed fun, could have a good time, but also knuckle down and get work done
crystal
2016-09-07 23:12
I am very curious to learn about how you have continuous engagement and productive ideation sessions with a distributed team. Especially given that you’re an introvert and it can often be especially difficult for introverts to jump in to a conversation virtually.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:12
we’d had a previous case where there wasn’t a good team fit, and it negatively affected the whole team
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:13
@crystal Nice :slightly_smiling_face:. Yeup so we have weekly working meetings, where someone shows the work they have been doing. It is great practice, especially for me, where it is a safe environment
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:13
you present the problem, and your ideas and how you think they solve the issue
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:13
it can be hard in meetings to speak up
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:14
so you find yourself picking your battles, things you are passionate about
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:14
doesn’t make it easier (and I still sometimes shake behind the scenes!)
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:14
but it is always helpful knowing our team members are all here for a reason
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:14
to make a wonderful experience for our users, to solve their problems
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:14
we are all on the same team, and help each other grow
@natalie.eustace I work in fully distributed teams and sometimes find that communication via text chat (we collaborate on Slack) can sometimes misrepresent feelings or intentions. Have you experienced that?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:16
@frankenvision currently we have a VP of User experience in San Fran, we have 2 contractors, 1 visual designer and 1 interaction designer. 3 people in New Zealand, 1 UXer in Auckland, and 2 of us here in Christchurch
10bananas
2016-09-07 23:16
I want to know how you find your strengths and weaknesses for the UX team
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:17
@hawk Yes that actually can happen quite a lot, it is really really hard to get the correct emotion through. I have a thing of if I don’t think a point is going across, we jump on a call. One thing that came in the mentioned webinar
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:17
#10 line rule
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:17
if you can’t explain it in 10 lines of text, jump on a call
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:18
also if things seem to get mis-construed, always always check
crystal
2016-09-07 23:18
And I imagine that also goes back to hiring for the right culture fit. And as someone looking to join a UX team in the future, I should make it a top priority to seek out a team with the similar culture to the one you have there.
michellek.smith
2016-09-07 23:18
has joined #ask-natalie-eustace
hawk
2016-09-07 23:18
@michellek.smith Welcome. :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:18
Everyone has different personality types, so having ones that strengthen your team can be good @crystal . So although this works for us, other teams might differ
michellek.smith
2016-09-07 23:18
thanks :slightly_smiling_face:
michellek.smith
2016-09-07 23:18
took a while to get here! Sorry I’m late!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:19
good article @hawk posted on the forum around this :slightly_smiling_face:
so please be aware, these are to be taken with a grain of salt
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:20
figure out what works for you, sounds correct, then you have tools to work on
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:20
Which tools do you use to communicate with your team and get feedback on projects?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:20
i.e. if you take things to heart, you can find ways to learn to step back from issues and communicate this within your team
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:21
@frankenvision we currently use slack for the wider team including developers, but mainly we use Skype for communication. Then we use invision for putting designs up and commenting on to keep track, or we screenshare for meetings using go-to-meeting or zoom
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:21
then we work directly in sketch
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:21
and put in comments or make changes etc on the fly depending on what is necessary
li4n4
2016-09-07 23:21
@natalie.eustace In your work with government and financial institutions, does your team sometimes find that they aren’t allowed to use less secure tools? How does your team handle the problems (inconveniences) that arise from these limitations?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:21
we also have an internal wiki (confluence) and jira with the developers
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:22
@li4n4 hah, yes we have had that problem
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:22
so we used to work with google drive, and gmail and dropbox
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:22
we have very strenuous security measures and we also have a certification, so we have specific rules to follow
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:23
so what we tend to do is check with our security team in order to make sure that we are following their guidelines
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:23
if they say no, we then work with them to figure out an alternative
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:23
thankfully our design programs etc haven’t been an issue!
@natalie.eustace Do you think that the generally more empathetic nature of UXers makes for more cohesive teamwork, or do you think people tend to let things go because they’re ‘too nice’ or ‘too introverted’
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:26
What is your teams process for user research? Where do you start?
seyonwind
2016-09-07 23:26
Do you find that remote work is lonely at times?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:27
@hawk that can be an issue, but I think that can be where our user orientated fighting spirit can help. If you are passionate enough, that can override the introversion, and if you really don’t agree with something it is hard to let it slide
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:27
or you find a different forum
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:27
speak to your manager about it, lay out your argument, and why you think something should be different
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:27
Do you run usability tests in person or is everything done remotely?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:27
you don’t have to do everything in an open forum if you aren’t comfortable with that :slightly_smiling_face:
hawk
2016-09-07 23:27
@seyonwind I can speak to that. I work 100% remotely for organisations at opposite ends of the world. It can be lonely, and everyone has different coping mechanisms. It works for some (me) and not for others (my partner had to quit and find an office job)
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:28
@frankenvision this is something we have struggled with for a wee while. Working with government it can be very difficult to get the permission necessary to talk to our end users.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:28
We started out with interviews, we wanted to build up some personas
hawk
2016-09-07 23:28
@seyonwind sometimes finding a coworking space to work from a couple of days a week, or organising lunches or workout sessions helps. I personally love remote work – I’m much more productive
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:29
after that we have worked closely with requirements gathering, asking the what and whys as those don’t necessarily come through well or resonate
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:29
this is an area we are really actively trying to improve, and are getting a lot more buy in now and hoping to have a research panel
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:29
where we can rotate people to talk to about future ideas and also while in sprint with designs
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:30
we tend to run research in person as we have been lucky atm, our wider market means we are going to have to look at alternatives
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:30
Thank you
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:31
I agree with @hawk you need to include fun
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:31
i.e. if teams win, make sure that everyone can cellebrate
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:31
i.e. get on video and open some wine :stuck_out_tongue:
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:31
Are you on constant call with a remote team?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:32
@frankenvision every day we have remote meetings now
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:32
we tend to use video as well to try and get rid of some of the distance barriers
hawk
2016-09-07 23:32
@frankenvision You have to learn to manage that carefully. I turn notification badges off on my phone, and turn Slack off when I’m not working
hawk
2016-09-07 23:32
otherwise it’s hard to disconnect
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:32
Agreed!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:32
I turn my notifications off at home, unless I know I need to be available
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:33
you also need to make sure there is a good work/life balance
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:33
just because in someone else’s timezone, it is their work time, shouldn’t mean that you are always available outside of hours
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:33
here and there it is okay, and as long as you have some overlap and work with your team on what works best, you can manage this
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:34
How does everyone track their time? Is there an app that you use?
hawk
2016-09-07 23:35
I use Paymo
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:36
@frankenvision we have been looking at various applications – for project management. Due to us being an internal product team, we have a time recording program (gah netsuite) that we use. We use trello to record what we have worked on to keep a history, and also have daily standups to let people know what we did yesterday and what we are doing today
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:36
but these things break down if you stop updating them :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:36
and then confusion and disconnect can occur
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:37
Our team (me and some graphic designers) has has just started using Teamweek for planning who is doing what.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:37
@jellybean does that work well?
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:38
It’s good for the planning of who is doing what when, and what is coming up, but less so for the detail. We still use Trello for the detail, which is great for me as treat it like a to do list for a project.
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:39
Do you and your team ever attend ux conferences together or go on an annual retreat?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:39
@frankenvision I think we would all love to do that!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:39
we haven’t had the opportunity to do that yet, but our VP flies over when she can and we all go up to Auckland to re-group
crystal
2016-09-07 23:40
Would you describe a bit of the process involved or your experiences with on boarding a new distributed team member?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:41
@crystal good question. We are currently working on making this better, as in all honesty we haven’t done the best at this. When our Auckland team member came onboard, we had some sessions working on a team goal, and we created our version of the honeycomb
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:41
and how we wanted UX to be within the company
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:42
she also had a lot of reading and demos to learn about our internal products.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:42
In terms of process, making sure that when the person comes on board, they know who is part of our team, our wider team, our team goals etc is very important
10bananas
2016-09-07 23:42
@hawk, do you ever feel weird when you run a design by a colleague asking for their opinion of 2 designs when working remotely?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:42
also being there in person to work with them for the first wee while is a good idea
hawk
2016-09-07 23:43
@10bananas When you’re used to working remotely, nothing feels weird. The processes are second nature. We tend to work via collaboration tools like Slack and Google Docs for getting input/opinions from colleagues
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:43
we are now also working on a style guide so introduction into that and our process would be a good first steps
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:44
but previously it has been a bit, here you go, learn to swim :disappointed:
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:44
How many projects do you work on at a time? Do you ever refuse work?
crystal
2016-09-07 23:44
Oh ok. Thanks. Visiting to work with the new team member in person for a bit of time sounds great.
hawk
2016-09-07 23:45
@10bananas I should also clarify that the majority of my work is as a professional community manager, so the UX stuff that I do relates very specifically to community platforms. I don’t work with a team of UXers.
judi-p
2016-09-07 23:45
I would think we have a bit of an advantage onboarding people, if we actually apply the principles of UX design to the process. The new hire is in essence the ‘end user’ of our onboarding process, no?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:45
@frankenvision we need to be available to the whole company, so because we work on internal projects, we now have a better awareness of what is coming up and how much work might be involved. Unfortunately everything is prioritised as you don’t necessarily have the time or resources
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:46
we have never re-fused work as of yet, but we have had cases where we have had to delay it
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:46
@judi-p yes indeedy it could be! You could actually treat the whole thing as a design problem too
hawk
2016-09-07 23:47
Much of an issue for onboarding is documenting more general internal processes, and I don’t think many companies are great at that, distributed or not!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:48
correct
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:48
One other thing I would say with the distributes teams, but more towards strengths and weaknesses. You need to give everyone opportunities to grow and learn. Peer up an expert with someone who isn’t as strong, give people who have never had a chance to research the position of second chair in an interview and when they are ready swap the positions. This depends a lot on being a generalist group vs specialist. But constant growth can keep things exciting and people happy :slightly_smiling_face:.
hawk
2016-09-07 23:49
@natalie.eustace Getting back to the personality trait thing, you mentioned in the forums that you’re working on resilience and separating out emotion from work a bit
hawk
2016-09-07 23:49
can you talk more about that?
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:49
@hawk yes sure :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:49
So with my personality, I unfortunately have a tendency to worry too much, which also goes in hand I think with the empathy side of things
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:50
I’m having to learn to be passionate, but not get overly worked up about things
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:50
If I have no control over something, I shouldn’t worry about it
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:50
so be passionate, and stay object, but always be willing to walk away
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:50
when you start going home unhappy you know something is up and you need to get to the root of that
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:51
I’ve found that not getting so… passionate about things is very difficult
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:51
and that it also comes with time and a lot of practice!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:51
but it is important to not let it make you loose your passion for what you do
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:52
This is all great advice! Thanks @hawk and @natalie.eustace
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:52
you are most welcome, thanks for all your really good questions @frankenvision !
tommedhurst
2016-09-07 23:52
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hawk
2016-09-07 23:52
It’s interesting. I think one of the keys to working in a healthy team is being able to apply that empathy to those aspects of others in your team that you don’t understand. for e.g. i’m about as extraverted as it’s possible to get, and my passion is often misconstrued as anger or frustration
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:53
@natalie.eustace Are you by any chance a perfectionist? Sometimes passionate people also want things to be right, so worry when they think they aren’t? I sometimes find that’s where the team is useful… step back, get someone else’s input.
@jellybean also a very good question. I used to be, and then I found it was too exhausting. I find that everyone wants to do the best they can, and being worried that they might not be delivering that can also have an impact
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:54
i.e. when you work on things that don’t get used due to scheduling or it not being the right time etc
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:54
Do you experience imposter syndrome on a remote team?
hawk
2016-09-07 23:54
YES
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:55
@frankenvision I joked to my workmate before this that I was feeling that! haah
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:55
but yes, I think it happens for everyone
hawk
2016-09-07 23:55
I find it worse than not remote. when you work with people closely every day, you get a feel for your relationship
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:55
especially when others might be producing more obvious assets etc and you might be doing more behind the scenes
hawk
2016-09-07 23:56
when you’re remote, you feel less connected so you don’t always know whether they ‘get you’ as much as they might if you were in the office together
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:56
@frankenvision I get that. I’m the only UX designer at my work sometime wonder if a real one to appear and prove I am faking it. :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:56
ah but @jellybean you are the expert then :stuck_out_tongue:
hawk
2016-09-07 23:56
So we only have a couple of mins left. Does anyone have any final questions before we let Nat get back to work?
jellybean
2016-09-07 23:56
Eeeekkk…
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:57
there is noone there who has the authority really to say otherwise :wink:
johnmcclumpha
2016-09-07 23:57
has joined #ask-natalie-eustace
hawk
2016-09-07 23:58
A huge thanks (again) to Natalie. It’s been a fantastic session.
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:58
This has been fun, thanks all!
hawk
2016-09-07 23:58
And to all of you for your support and your fantastic questions
michellek.smith
2016-09-07 23:58
thank you
li4n4
2016-09-07 23:58
Thank you!
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:58
(and the hail has stopped and the sun is back wohoo)
frankenvision
2016-09-07 23:58
How do you stay current @natalie.eustace? Do you listen to podcasts and/or have a mentor?
seyonwind
2016-09-07 23:59
Thanks @natalie.eustace, and @hawk for hosting!
hawk
2016-09-07 23:59
As always, I’ll publish a transcript of the session up later today (or more likely tomorrow)
crystal
2016-09-07 23:59
Thank you @natalie.eustace and @hawk!
hawk
2016-09-07 23:59
And you can join us at http://community.uxmastery.com if you want to carry on this convo, or be part of the millions of others that go on
natalie.eustace
2016-09-07 23:59
@frankenvision I try to stay active by reading boards, I have a feed where I have groups like smashingmagazine, UXPain, etc on them. I also can ask my work mate here if I need help or feedback on things. It is still a challenge, and I’m always looking for more connections to help with this. Especially around mentoring, either to be a mentor or to be a mentoree? :slightly_smiling_face:
natalie.eustace
2016-09-08 00:00
@frankenvision how do you like to stay up to date with UX?
frankenvision
2016-09-08 00:01
Podcasts, online courses, twitter and I read a lot of ux books…
natalie.eustace
2016-09-08 00:02
I love books, I wish I had more money to have a whole library
natalie.eustace
2016-09-08 00:02
– especially UX books, they tend to be quite fun
frankenvision
2016-09-08 00:02
Oreilly has an online subscription service to most of their library… It’s awesome
natalie.eustace
2016-09-08 00:03
Nice, thanks for that, I didn’t know that!
frankenvision
2016-09-08 00:04
You’re welcome
crystal
2016-09-08 00:04
I subscribed to O’Reilly’s program too and I completely agree with @frankenvision. There’s barely a UX book I’ve heard about that I couldn’t find therem
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:05
I know we’re supposed to be ending, but what design podcasts do you guys recommend?
hawk
2016-09-08 00:06
You’re welcome to keep chatting in here :slightly_smiling_face:
crystal
2016-09-08 00:06
UX Podcast is the best in my opinion
hawk
2016-09-08 00:06
I have to head off, but go for it
frankenvision
2016-09-08 00:06
UIE podcast with Jared Spool is one of my favs
natalie.eustace
2016-09-08 00:07
I have to get back to work, but you guys are wonderful! Have a great rest of your day :slightly_smiling_face:
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:08
np, thanks again!
frankenvision
2016-09-08 00:08
This was great. Thanks!
crystal
2016-09-08 00:09
The Web Ahead is also quite good and so is Design Details.
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:11
Cool, thanks @frankenvision @crystal I’ll check them out
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:11
I listen to Let’s Make Mistakes sometimes, though they’re kind of off beat, and have been meaning to check out Design Matters
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:12
Also the Big Web Show
seyonwind
2016-09-08 00:12
Oh, and a few episodes of What is Wrong with UX
crystal
2016-09-08 00:14
Np. I didn’t know about Design Matters. I’ll have to give that one a listen. Thanks!