rethink.fm

We are discussing the evolving landscape of AI in UX research, emphasizing the importance of adapting to new tools and methodologies. John Whalen, PhD, is propelling professionals and businesses into the future through the potential of AI to streamline research processes, reducing a seven-week study to seven days. We share insights from his course, which covered prompt engineering, AI-moderated interviews, and Agents (synthetic users). He notes the skepticism among researchers but stressed the benefits of AI in scaling and cost-saving. John also addresses ethical considerations and the need for researchers to embrace AI while maintaining a real human connection. We are excited about the potential for multi-agent systems and discuss the importance of security in AI tools. John’s courses empower professionals and businesses to: Learn better prompt engineering techniques. Try AI-moderated interview tools and understand their capabilities and limitations. Explore and experiment with AI-powered synthesis and data interrogation tools to scale research efforts. Investigate the potential of synthetic users and agents to guide research and product development. Develop a research plan that incorporates a mix of human-led and AI-assisted research methods. As the podcast grows, I’m also on the lookout for sponsors who believe in thoughtful design, emerging tech, and meaningful conversations. If that sounds like you or your brand, let’s talk! Related interesting reads or resources Maven Course AI for Customer Research Join John Whalen, PhD, to explore the future of customer research, AI-powered insights, and human-centered design. Whether it’s an AI + UX Coffee Talk or a Maven Lightning Lesson, each event sparks new ideas and gives you practical strategies to apply immediately. Design for How People Think – John Whalen, PhD User experience doesn’t happen on a screen; it occurs in the mind, and the experience is multidimensional and multisensory. This practical book will help you uncover critical insights about how your customers think so you can create products or services with an exceptional experience. YouTube Interviews with Founders from AI platforms and tooling for Customer Research Brilliant An agency with bespoke research services, founded by John Whalen, PhD. Join John Whalen, PhD, to explore the future of customer research, AI-powered insights, and human-centered design, whether it’s an AI + UX Coffee Talk or a Maven Lightning Lesson. Additional book recommendations: Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick Working and thinking with AI. Concepts of Centaur and Cyborg (different approaches to partnering with AI). A Brief History of Intelligence Thinking about how brains are designed and therefore how AI should be built. Thinking Fast and Slow A great book on how we think and our two systems of processing information.

In this quick (and slightly selfish) update, I’m excited to share that I’ll be publishing episodes more frequently. I’m also announcing some amazing upcoming guests, you won’t want to miss what they have to share. As the podcast grows, I’m also on the lookout for sponsors who believe in thoughtful design, emerging tech, and meaningful conversations. If that sounds like you or your brand, let’s talk! Related interesting reads or resources Design for How People Think – John Whalen, PhD uxGPT: Mastering AI Assistants for User Experience Designers and Product Management Professionals – Patrick Neeman Supremacy: AI, ChatGPT, and the Race that Will Change the World – Parmy Olson

Jeremy Miller is a well-respected veteran Design leader many know from the popular podcast “Beyond UX Design”. He is continuously empowering UX professionals with the soft skills that make them more effective. In this episode we are discussing his book Beyond UX Design – Master Your Craft Beyond Pixels & Prototypes. Jeremy’s impact on individuals, organizations, and field of UX more broadly is increasingly impactful. He continues to inspire and educate through his podcast, consultancy work, and mentorship. This book is essential for all UX designers because, like Jeremy says, “you can’t build great software without great relationships.” In each chapter, experts also shared meaningful, real-world perspectives and valuable insights. Gift this book to every member of your team and join the conversation we recorded about the book. Related interesting reads or resources The Book – Beyond UX Design, Master Your Craft Beyond Pixels & Prototypes The Podcast – Beyond UX Design VUCA – The VUCA Concept Framework Sources: Bennett & Lemoine (2014) Expert contributors: Yaddy Arroyo Christopher Nguyen – UX Playbook Dan Winer – Design Career Guide Tim Yeo – The Quiet Achiever Tonja Barlow Thomas Wilson Mitchell Clements Dr. David Leitner, PhD

Join my conversation with web accessibility leader Natalie MacLees! Natalie has been working in web development and digital accessibility, for over 20 years. She is the co-founder and COO of a small software company NSquared focused on building accessible, user-friendly tools for small businesses.  Throughout her career, she has remained a passionate advocate for accessibility and has made it her mission to train developers and designers to incorporate accessibility practices into their work. You should know that with Natalie’s resources at AAArdvark for Accessibility, teams get a full accessibility platform that helps make auditing easier and faster while still maintaining high-quality work. AAArdvark does not offer a misleading quick-fix overlay, but rather offers tools for designers, developers, and accessibility professionals to quickly and easily identify, track, and fix accessibility issues on websites. Related interesting reads or resources Perform professional accessibility audits: Aaardvarkaccessibility.com Accessibility statement generator tool from WAI Software solutions for small businesses: NSquared.io Mule Design Ruined by Design – A design ethics and activism book by Mike Monteiro Just Enough Research – the 2024 Edition by Erika Hall Leaders of Awesomeness with Jared Spool

In this episode, we continue a critical conversation about the challenges we face together on computer science, ethics, and unintentional consequences with emerging technologies that lack defined purpose and regulations. Morten Rand-Hendriksen has published countless valuable courses on LinkedIn Learning reaching hundreds of thousands of viewers from all over the world. He also contributes to the web community as a public speaker, author, educator, developer, and design philosopher. Related interesting reads or resources Invite Morten to speak: Thinking out loud about the internet Code of Ethics for Bloggers, Social Media and Content Creators Recent Talk: Y OSLO – TO­WARDS VAL­UES AND ETHICS IN DE­SIGN AND TECH­NOL­O­GY Towards a Technoethics (Abstract) – Mario Bunge Your Face Belongs to Us: A Secretive Startup’s Quest to End Privacy as We Know It – by Kashmir Hill

I am talking with Jessica Ivins about strengthening stakeholder relationships via UX research operations in this episode. Jessica is the Lead UX Researcher at The Predictive Index, overseeing research and research operations. She plans, conducts, and synthesizes strategic UX research projects that provide critical insights for organizational stakeholders. We’ve got some actionable professional strategies and resources to share too. Related interesting reads or resources An Essential Tool for Capturing Your Career Accomplishments by Jessica Ivins Leaders of Awesomeness – Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman, Jared Spool, and the team at Center Centre – UIE launched Leaders of Awesomeness, an online community of more than 46,000 UX design, research, and content leaders – Free to join Thanks to Vitaly Friedman for the following useful links: How To Manage Challenging Stakeholders and Influence Without Authority (free eBook, 95 pages) (https://lnkd.in/e6RY6dQB), a practical guide on how to deal with difficult stakeholders, manage difficult situations and stay true to your product strategy. From HiPPOs (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion) to ZEbRAs (Zero Evidence But Really Arrogant). By Dean Peters. The Delicate Art of Interviewing Stakeholders, by Dan Brown https://lnkd.in/dW5Wb8CK Good Questions For Meetings With Stakeholders, by Lisa Nguyen, Cori Widen https://lnkd.in/eNtM5bUU UX Research Studies to Win Over Stubborn Stakeholders, by Lizzy Burnam 🐞 https://lnkd.in/eW3Yyg5k

Jared Spool, an expert in UX research and founder of Center Centre, dives into transformational UX strategies. He emphasizes the importance of assessing urgency with a 'Why now?' approach and contrasts competing on cost versus exceptional experiences. Discussing leadership, Jared highlights the vision of leaders over managers and warns about designers losing touch with users as companies grow. He shares practical tactics for making research visible and reveals the concept of the 'UX tipping point' for product quality.

Hey, everybody, it’s Cathi Bosco from rethink.fm the forward-thinking podcast about experience design. Join me and special guests to discuss effective design, technology, and the intersection of helping people and entrepreneurship. From user experience research to product roadmaps. We’ve got you covered. The big news today is that I will officially be taking over the rethink.fm podcast, founded by Jackie D’Elia and then co-hosted by Jackie, Monique Dubbelman, and myself. Moving forward, I will be conducting one-on-one interviews with experienced professionals to gain insights into their practices, their projects, and their teams. Let’s face it, design is a team sport, technology and user needs are continuously evolving and we can learn a lot from each other’s experiences along the way. Since this episode is a transition episode each of us will answer a few questions and at the end of the podcast, I’ll give some definitive insights into where we’re headed moving forward. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode. Thank you for joining. What does UX mean to you today, compared to early in your career?

It’s been a while, but in this episode, we have a guest! And what a guest: Rian Rietveld, accessibility specialist at Level Level is joining us to talk about accessibility. We talk about the problem with accessibility overlays, educating people, and how we can help more people develop, design, and create content in a way it’s accessible for everyone. Big take away: make it about themselves. Related interesting reads or resources Selfish accessibility – talk by Adrian Rosselli 6 tips for accessible web design – (UXATT blog) Accessibility isn’t magic that comes from tools (UXATT blog) WP Engine partners with AudioEye Overlay Fact Sheet A11y-collective (accessibility courses by Rian Rietveld) Gravity Forms accessibility guide for developers Axe Dev tools Chrome extension

Sometimes, product teams or clients can be too focused on output or features. This is a problem, because you can end up becoming a feature factory, without knowing if the user really benefits from these new features. If you want to avoid endless iterations of a design with clients or developers, it’s time to start focusing on outcome instead of output. In this episode, we discuss our experience with clients or teams focusing too much on output. Related interesting reads or resources Design for outcome instead of output – UXATT Design Outputs and Design Outcomes – Love.com Outcomes vs outputs – uxdesign.cc Minimize Design Risk by Focusing on Outcomes not Features – NNgroup.com Chosing the right color Common color palette mistakes – Career foundry Colour blindness – Colour blind awareness Color psychology – verywellmind.com