About the Book
Whether you're new to UX or a seasoned practitioner, The User Experience Team of One gives you everything you need to succeed, emphasizing down-to-earth approaches that deliver big impact over time-consuming, needlessly complex techniques. This updated classic remains a comprehensive and essential guide for UX and product designers everywhere--you'll accomplish a lot more with a lot less.
Who Should Read This Book?
The techniques and advice in this book are applicable to anyone who is just starting out in user experience, as well as seasoned practitioners who have been in the field for years. In addition, anyone who read the first edition will appreciate this updated edition that features loads of new material that has changed over the past 10 years. There are tips, tools, and techniques throughout the book to improve your performance. The various methods detail exactly how to handle a variety of situations--from the timing involved, the materials, when to use that information, and how to try it out. Look for real-life sidebars from the authors, as well as experts in the field. This book applies to a team of one or a team of many.
Takeaways
The first section covers the philosophy of the UX team of one--why you do it, how you build support, how to identify common challenges, and how to keep growing.
The second section of the book, "Practice," gives you tools and techniques for managing this balancing act with detailed methods.
The 25 up-to-date methods in Part II prompt a question about a specific topic, answer the question, give the average time it will take to deal with the issue, tell you when to use this material, and give you instructions for "Trying It Out".
You can learn about working conditions that a team of one often experiences.
The book addresses difficult situations that UX practitioners often encounter (for example, the need for speed in corporate environments.
Be sure to review the UX Value Loop[TM] that Joe created to define UX.
Check out sidebars that highlight some of Joe and Leah's personal real-life experiences.
The end of each chapter tells you what to do if you can "only do one thing"
Finally, notes and tips give you handy techniques and tools to use in your own practice.
About the Author :
Leah Buley is a well-known researcher, designer, and author, recognized for her contributions to the field of UX through her writings, presentations, and workshops. Her research has been published in HBR, Forbes, Communication Arts, Information Age, and elsewhere. Her talks and workshops at venues like SXSW, UX Week, and UX London have a reputation for being high-energy, hands on, and just a little bit quirky. Leah's professional experience spans agencies, startups, and Fortune 100 companies. In her 20+ years in the user experience field, she has held roles at Lovevery, InVision, Forrester, Intuit, and Adaptive Path. At InVision she created a proprietary design maturity model based on data from over 2,000 companies globally to identify the design practices that tie to business impact. At Forrester, Leah was a principal analyst and a prominent voice for the evolving importance of design in business. In recent years, Leah's work focuses on consumer insights and UX research. She enjoys working in-house with ambitious teams to make great products that address real human needs. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband Chris and their children, Theo and Frances.
Joe Natoli is a UX consultant, career coach, author, and speaker. For three decades, he's advised, trained, and empowered the UX, product design, and development teams of some of the world's largest organizations--from Fortune 100 companies to U.S. government agencies and startups. He has published 10 books and is a regular keynote speaker and lecturer at industry conferences and corporate events across the globe. Joe has also taught more than 300,000 students through his online courses and the UX 365 Academy (www.ux365academy.com), which he founded in order to serve those traditionally excluded from the high cost of UX education. He also maintains a private coaching practice, working every week with practitioners at all stages of their career. Joe's approach to improving UX and product design focuses on addressing systemic, personal dynamics issues across individuals, teams, and organizations: combating impostor syndrome and increasing self-confidence, improving communication and collaboration, addressing fear and dysfunction driving poor management practices, and redesigning inappropriate, counterproductive processes. His experience has been that when these root causes are uncovered, improved, and solved for, the output of the work--and the experience people have with it--improves dramatically. Joe lives in Washington DC with his wife Eli and three kids, and he strives to be the person his dog Rosie thinks he is. You can find Joe (as well as a voluminous collection of free UX + product design resources) online at givegoodux.com.
Review :
"A practical, honest, and incredibly approachable handbook for UX designers to build support, get off the ground, and make a noticeable impact as a UX team of one. Highly recommended!" --Vitaly Friedman, founder, Smashing Magazine
"Essential... This book explains how to approach a problem, what tool you should use, and why you're doing what you're doing." --Isaac Gertman, Chair, Graphic Design, Maryland Institute College of Art
"It's always been one of the best books on UX, and this excellent new edition brings it up-to-date with the dramatically changed UX landscape." --Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
"Leah and Joe successfully deliver a rich compendium that balances the concrete with the intuition necessary for making a real impact." --Kevin Bethune, founder of dreams - design + life and author of Reimagining Design
"Sets you up for success with great advice on everything from choosing the right battles to exercising influence remotely." --Cyd Harrell, author of A Civic Technologist's Practice Guide
