remote design

DESIGNING REMOTELY

Effective Techniques for Remote Design

#remotedesign

@JimKalbach

1. Background on Remote Work

2. Factors of Remote Design

3. Tips, Techniques, Tools

4. Q&A

AGENDA

REMOTE WORK

Why is it every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached?

HENRY FORD

PETER DRUCKER

The most valuable asset of a 21st-century institution… will be its knowledge workers and their productivity.

ROBERT KAPLAN

& DAVID NORTON

“Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy” 1996

REMOTE WORK

Benefits

Flexibility

Less costly

Productivity

Reduced absences

Talent for employers

Isolation

Lack of routine

Communication

Social aspect missing

Dependence on technology

Image by Britt Selvitelle https://www.flickr.com/photos/bs/2245640803/

Disadvantages

Misconceptions

1. Remote work is new

Misconceptions


2. Remote work means being far away

Allen Curve

Sqwiggle

Presence Matters

Double Robotics

Presence Matters

Misconceptions



3. Remote work is permanent

Misconceptions



3. Remote work is permanent

4. Remote work is for all companies

Companies without Offices

Basecamp (formerly 37 Signals)

WordPress.com/Automattic

Genutec

GitHub (100 employees)

Kalypso LP

MCF Technology Solutions

ProofHQ

Treehouse

Copyblogger (source)

YouNeedABudget

StackExchange (50/50)

MySQL (70/30)

GrantStreet

SoftwareMill

Mozilla

10up

Art & Logic (70 employees)

AsmallOrange

LullaBot (35 employees)

AppendTo (23 employees)

UniversalMind (65 employees)

Basho (115 employees, 50% remote)

ScrapingHub (60 employees)

UpWorthy (37 employees)

http://scottberkun.com/2013/how-many-companies-are-100-distributed/

ROBERT KAPLAN

& DAVID NORTON

“Linking the Balanced Scorecard to Strategy” 1996

1. Remote work is new (no, it isn’t)

2. Remote work means being far away (not really)

3. Remote work is permanent (actually, it’s fluid)

4. Remote work is for all companies (maybe not)

Misconceptions

REMOTE DESIGN

Unique Challenges

• Visual thinking

• Divergent thinking

• Iterative work

Survey on Remote Design

• 275 designers from around the world

• Mostly digital product designers

• Companies from one to over 10,000

Frequency of remote design

Challenges of Remote Design

Quality of design work

Factors of Remote Design

1. INTERACTION

2. WORKSPACE4. RESULTS

3. PROCESS

Factors of Remote Design

1. INTERACTION

2. WORKSPACE4. RESULTS

3. PROCESS

DIGITAL FIRST

1. INTERACTION

SPLIT TEAM

1. INTERACTION

SPLIT TEAM MIXED TEAM

1. INTERACTION

SPLIT TEAM MIXED TEAM ALL REMOTE

1. INTERACTION

45% 23%6%Combination 25%

SPLIT TEAM MIXED TEAM ALL REMOTE

Recommendations

• Meet in person

• Post designs daily

• Schedule standups & reviews

• Go “all remote” for meetings

• Ensure everyone joins individually

2. WORKPLACE

Digitally Defined Workplace

Hangouts 43% Skype 43% Internal Drives 34%

GoToMeeting 32% Google 31% Evernote 16%

WebEx 24%

…

What’s App 18%

…

Box 14%

…

Basic Collaboration

CONFERENCING CHAT FILE SHARING

66% 43% 54%

Online Prototyping44% of don’t use an online prototyping tool.

Marvel 13%

UX Pin 10%

Proto.IO 9%

Internal Tool 8%

…

48%

Online Testing

59% of don’t use online testing tools

UserZoom 21%

Other 14%

OptimalWorkshop 11%

Internal Tool 9%

…

37%

Virtual Whiteboard

• Agree on communication stack

• Get good audio

• Use multiple devices

• Get to digital quickly

• Prototype & test online

• Use a virtual whiteboard

Recommendations

QUESTIONS

3. PROCESS

3. PROCESS

DISCOVER DEFINE DELIVER

3. PROCESS

DISCOVER DEFINE DELIVER

UNCERTAINTY CERTAINTY

IDEO.org – Design Kit: The Course for Human-Centered Design

Remote Brainstorming

Jeff Gothelf“Remote collaborative brainstorming and sketching”

http://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/remote-collaborative-brainstorming-and-sketching-part-i/

Remote Design Thinking

Hanno.co“Getting into remote design thinking with Murally”

https://logbook.hanno.co/remote-design-thinking-with-murally/

Sketching

Nathan Curtis, “Sharing Sketches Remotely”

http://www.eightshapes.com/blog/2011/08/19/sharing-sketches-remotely/

Pattern Library

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/09/create-pattern-library-with-evernote-fireworks/

Kris Niles, “Creating a Pattern Library with Evernote and Fireworks”

Work asynchronously

• Plan independent tasks

• Create videos, screencasts

• Maintain momentum

Plan real-time meetings

• Timebox activities

• Leverage multitasking

• Digitize on-the-fly

Recommendations

4. RESULTS

Revelation®

Dot Voting

Flexible

Portable

Shareable

Extensible

Copy-able

Archive-able

Digital First Opportunity

Recommendations

• Leverage advantages of digital

• Find new patterns

• Reduce documentation

• Make work transparent

• Foster conversations online

Pilot an all-digital effort

Future Trends

Final Thoughts

Work is not a place, it’s what you accomplished with others

“In the human economy, the most valuable workers will be hired hearts.”

@JimKalbach

LinkedIn Group: Effective Remote Design

Workshop: “Mapping Experience”

UX STRAT Conference, Tuesday Sept 8, Athens GA

Danke schön

Skype

Google hangouts

GoToMeeting

WebEx

Lync

Slack

Skype

Google

What’s App

Lync

Tools

InVision

Marvel

UX Pin

Proto.io

UserTesting

UserZoom

Other

OptimalWorkshop

Mural

LinoIt

BoardThing

StormBoard

RealtimeBoards

DropBox

Google Drive

Internal Drives

Evernote

Box

CONFERENCING CHAT FILE SHARING

ONLINE PROTOTYPING ONLINE TESTING ONLINE WHITEBOARDS

• Jeff Gothelf, “Remote collaborative brainstorming and sketching”

• Sqwiggle (always-on remote collaboration tool)

• Nathan Curtis (EightShapes) “Sharing Sketches Remotely” using the IPEVO

• Kris Niles, “Creating a Pattern Library with Evernote and Fireworks”

• Revelation by FocusVision

Use Cases

Partial remote work

WFH

Misconceptions

Doug Engelbart, 1968