Jason Giles, VP of Product Design at UserTesting, shares his vast experience leading design teams and fostering empathy in product development. He brilliantly likens team dynamics to a jazz band, emphasizing improvisation and collaborative learning. The conversation dives into integrating research to create a customer-centric culture while balancing AI tools with human insights. Jason also highlights the importance of democratizing design processes, encouraging all team members to contribute creatively, enhancing productive relationships across teams.
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Scaling Insights & the Jazz Band Model
Scale insights by enabling direct customer feedback for decision-makers.
Empower them through the "jazz band" model, fostering learning by doing and flexibility.
insights INSIGHT
Cultural Implications of the Jazz Band Approach
The "jazz band" approach to research and design fosters generosity and collaboration.
This inclusive approach changes team culture by bringing more people into the design conversation.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Balancing Flexibility and Rigor in Research
At UserTesting, early attempts at democratizing research led to biased questions and faulty analysis.
They implemented guardrails and oversight to ensure quality while maintaining flexibility.
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Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business
Erin Meyer
In 'The Culture Map,' Erin Meyer presents a comprehensive framework for understanding and managing cultural differences in the global workplace. The book introduces an eight-scale model to analyze how cultures vary along different dimensions, such as communication styles (high or low context), leadership approaches (hierarchical or egalitarian), and feedback methods (direct or indirect). Meyer uses engaging real-life stories and anecdotes to illustrate common misunderstandings and provides actionable advice for improving international collaboration. The book is essential for anyone working in multicultural teams or managing global projects, offering practical tools to enhance communication, leadership, and decision-making across diverse cultural contexts.
Jason Giles is tuned into the habits of successful product design teams, not only because he’s been leading them for 15 years, but also because his team at UserTesting makes essential tools used by top design teams around the world. Jason thinks of the collaboration process in his team as similar to a jazz band where improvisation and exploration go hand-in-hand. We’re anxious to learn more.
We’re excited to share this sponsored bonus episode, recorded live in Austin at The Human Insight Summit (THiS)—as UserTesting helps designers and product teams gain shared insight—seeing and hearing how another person engages with the world around them and taking in their perspective.
As VP of Product Design at UserTesting, Jason leads a team of designers, writers, and researchers across the US, Canada, and UK with the mission to enable real human insight and lead a movement for empathy.
Jason Giles began his professional career as a designer at Microsoft, where he effectively “grew up” alongside the UX discipline itself. Having actively participated in that evolution, Jason transitioned to design management where he has focused on building teams with great cultures that deliver awesome product experiences.
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