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There are some things you should never do at the same time: Move.
Have a baby. Adopt a puppy. Change jobs. Leah did all of this
while also writing this book.
And while anyone who knows Leah shouldn’t be surprised by her ability
to pull all of this off, this speaks to a tenacity shared by those who find
themselves in a “UX Team of One.” There’s a certain amount of grit, or
perhaps it’s foolhardiness, that allows us to plunge into the unknown,
the untried, the undiscovered.
My own entry into the user experience world was a solitary one: dot-com
boom. Lone visual designer. Surrounded by a team of engineers. Like
many others, I had to look around and figure out on my own how to do
things. Fifteen years later, I’m delighted to report that’s still the case.
Even as a consultant, hired for my expertise, I’m still learning and making
stuff up as I go along. We all are! What’s more, this learning is not all
solitary—we have the shared experiences of a maturing community to
draw upon. What Leah has shared in this book will no doubt add new
tips and processes to your own bank of knowledge, as it has mine.
But, beneath all the artifacts and processes, there’s something more that
keeps us going, something timeless, something fundamental: grit and
curiosity. These traits are what keep us in the game. I suspect most of us
aren’t happy to leave well enough alone. And it is this dissatisfaction, this
searching for something better, combined with a deep empathy, which
defines the UX community. Everything else flows from this core.
I was fortunate to see Leah debut her “UX Team of One” talk at the 2008
Information Architecture Summit. (I still have my button!) Aside from
a stellar presentation to a standing-room-only crowd, I recall Leah’s nononsense
approach to design. From the hand-sketched slides to the quick
exploration of different ways to refresh an aging online service, it all just
made sense. Cut the crap, do what needs to be done. No more, no less.
Her presentation was at once obvious and inspiring. That was one of the
few slide decks I looked for after the conference. |
