

UX IRL
Mary Fran Thompson and Michelle Chin
Show notes: https://medium.com/ux-in-real-life
Hello, friends! We're Michelle and Mary Fran – two friends who met through UX and love to geek out about it. UX IRL is a podcast about what UX is like at work and in the world around us. We cover our favorite methods, UX wins/struggles, career, and other UX-y things. Feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn.
Hello, friends! We're Michelle and Mary Fran – two friends who met through UX and love to geek out about it. UX IRL is a podcast about what UX is like at work and in the world around us. We cover our favorite methods, UX wins/struggles, career, and other UX-y things. Feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 2, 2024 • 30min
When consistency is BAD
As UXers, creating consistency is often a tenet for the experiences we create. But is there ever a problem with consistency? In this episode, we talk about scenarios when consistency can do more harm than good. Do you have any examples of when consistency was bad? We’d love to know!

Apr 18, 2024 • 26min
RACI, you're the worst!
In this episode, we explore the RACI matrix for project management and why we think it’s the worst. Learn about RACI, how it falls short, and what might work better for UXers and product teams. What’s your take? We’d love to know if you aren’t a fan of RACI either and if you’ve tried other alternatives. Feel free to reach out to us on LinkedIn.

Apr 4, 2024 • 32min
UX Help Desk #7
We're back with another installment of the UX Help Desk! Reddit continues to provide a plethora of great questions, so we pulled a few to break down that cover topics like how to transition from start up to eneterprise and red flags in in the interview process.

Mar 21, 2024 • 25min
The UX of Home Automation
We look at the UX of something IRL - home automation! We cover the basics of home automation, some advanced experiences you can create, and how to design them using your UX skills. We’d love to hear from you, reach out to us on LinkedIn (michelletchin, maryfran-ux).

Mar 7, 2024 • 28min
Women in UX (re-release)
Hey friends! We're extending our break a bit longer than planned. In honor of International Women's Day, we're re-releasing our episode on Women in UX, which is all about the women in UX that inspire us. We also take some time to discuss how to talk about yourself professionally, (which can be harder than you think) as part of our career goals series.

Feb 22, 2024 • 35min
Keeping Current with UX (re-release)
Hey friends! We're taking a break this week and revisiting Keeping Current with UX. See you back in 2 weeks for a new episode :)

Feb 8, 2024 • 44min
UX Research Reckoning - Part 2
This is Part 2 of addressing the UX Research Reckoning. Definitely check out Part 1 (the last episode), where we unpack Judd Antin’s thoughts and give our own hot takes on this topic. In this episode, we talk about what we can do about it. We’d love to know what you think. Feel free to comment below or contact us on LinkedIn.

Jan 25, 2024 • 30min
The UX Research Reckoning - Part 1
What’s wrong with UX research today? According to Judd Antin, there’s a lot, and he wrote an entire article on it. The heyday of research from the past 15 years is gone, and UX researchers are being let go. Presumably, because they don’t provide business value. We unpack his thoughts and give our own hot takes on this topic. In Part 2, we’ll talk about what we can do about it. We’d love to know what you think.

Jan 11, 2024 • 30min
Portfolio Case Studies (re-release)
We're taking a break this week but thought it would be a great opportunity to revisit one of our favorite episodes: Portfolio Case Studies!

Dec 28, 2023 • 44min
Working in-house or agency
Is the grass greener on the other side? Today, we talk about our experiences working at agencies and on in-house teams as designers. We cover what we liked and definitely didn’t like and the benefits of working in each setup. What’s been your experience? Talk to us on the zeroheight Slack community! (zeroheight.com/slack), comment below or reply on Twitter @uxinreallife or Instagram @ux.inreallife.