a field guide of failure

With the abundance of tools and processes being created, remixed and utilized there has never been a greater time to be a UX designer. However it often seems that all of us on this journey seldom have a roadmap when projects go horribly wrong. It is only through learning from the trials and tribulations of other designers that we can learn to avoid pitfalls of the perilous journey of UX design. By teaching experiences, adopting a mutable process and learning the benefits of iterative design we all contribute to the field guide of failure.

FIELD GUIDE OF FAILUREPaul Lumsdaine

SoCal UX Camp 2016“

FIELD GUIDE OF FAILUREPaul Lumsdaine

SoCal UX Camp 2016

What is failure?

fail·ure/ˈfālyər/

1. lack of success2. the omission of expected or required action3. the action or state of not functioning

FOUR LEVELS OF FAILUREFor a designer, developer, product manager, etc

SELF TEAM COMPANY CUSTOMER

You know you made a mistake.

SELF

Well, this is kind of embarrassing.

SELF TEAM

You could get fired for this.

COMPANYSELF TEAM

You really screwed up.

SELF CUSTOMERTEAM COMPANY

Do you feel like a failure?

Do you feel successful?

Do you feel like a part of your process is broken?

Do you enjoy failing?

“Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and

start again.”

-Richard Branson

All designers fail their way to success.

All developers fail their way to success.

All managers fail their way to success.

All people fail their way to success.

How I failed my way to success.

FAIL

I flunked out of college.Don’t worry I got back in on an appeal.

“C’s get degrees”Narrowly graduated with a 2.8 GPA

Good job graduating.Now get to work!

Job 1 - Forced to resignEven I would have fired me.

Job 2 - Retainers going nowhereSo much for building a portfolio.

Job 3 - Forcefully ejectedFirst and last time escorted out of a building.

Job 4 - Completely miserableIT isn’t for the light hearted or creative minded.

PROFESSIONAL REBOOTTrying to reconnect with my artistic side.

Job 5 - Found my passionNot knowing what I was getting into but loving every moment.

Job 6, 7, 8 - Fulfilling prophecyHow did I end up here?

Failure is not an option, it’s an outcome.

Recognizing failure means focusing on outcomes.

Recognizing the failure is the first step to recovering from it.

Here’s my plan for recovery from failure.

S.M.A.R.T. GOALS FOR RECOVERY

SPECIFIC - MEASURABLE - ACTIONABLE - RELATIVE - TRACKABLE

SPECIFICWhat exactly went wrong?How do we define success?

MEASURABLEHow badly did things go wrong?

How much did this cost us?

ACTIONABLEWhat can or will I do to correct it?

How do we achieve success?

RELATIVEHow bad is this compared to

past failure or success?

TRACKABLEHow am I capturing all of this and

holding myself accountable?

Mitigate future risk by analyzing past failures.

Jared Spool cracks me up.

Failure is not necessary for learning but learning from

failures is necessary for success.

Share your failures as much as you share your success.

Empathize with other’s failures. Analyze the outcomes.

Actualize success.

Encourage and embrace constructive criticism.

Failure gives us a sounding board both internally and externally.

Fallor ergo sum.I err, therefore I am.

-Saint Augustine

"Our capacity to screw up is not some kind of embarrassing defect in the human system, not something we should eradicate or overcome.

It's totally fundamental to who we are."

-Kathryn Schulz

But how can we fail without feeling like failures?

Develop a mutable process.

Take an iterative approach.

IDEATEDESIGN

VALIDATETEST

EXPERIMENTPROTOTYPE

Abandon the fear of failure.

So, where are we failing as designers?

Content Strategy

User Research

User Testing

Forms

Error Handling

Understanding andUtilizing Metrics

Fail your way to success.

@madebypaul