Rosenfeld Media

Lou sits down with Alex Schmidt, author of our new title Deliberate Intervention: Using Policy and Design to Navigate the Harms of New Technology. Together, they give us a rundown of the many harms modern technology has brought to society and how designers are attempting to work with policymakers to tackle these issues. Lou and Alex also discuss proactive approaches teams can take to counteract those harms and biases that often arise as technology companies grow and how bringing design and policy closer together in this field could benefit everyone long term.

Ahead of the 2022 DesignOps Summit, Lou speaks with guest Jon Fukuda, a co-founder of Limina where for 18 years he has been delivering UX and technical design to his clients. His focus is on facilitating the implementation of scalable research and design operations. Lou and John discuss the concept of digital transformation and explore what it looks like to walk a client through the difficult terrain of operationalizing their design processes, how to have those difficult conversations surrounding company culture, taking the lead as a change agent, and more. Jon is co-founder of Limina.co with 20+ years as a User Experience Specialist with a focus on UX Strategy, Design Thinking, and UI Design with experience leading human-centered requirements, strategy, interaction design, testing, and evaluation. Most recently, Jon has dedicated his efforts to Research & Design Operations facilitation for scalable/sustainable human-centered systems.

Lou sits down with Atlassian’s Design Enablement Coordinator, Jess Norris, to discuss her talk on ADHD that she’ll be presenting at this year’s Design Ops Summit. After being diagnosed with ADHD a little over a year ago, Jessica went on a journey to discover the secret superpowers that lie within everyone with a neurodivergent brain. She now urges managers to use these perspectives that team members may bring to the table to enhance their design ops work.

When it comes to design operations, it can be challenging to find the best method to provide the creative team with the tools they need that will eliminate some of their more mundane tasks to allow them more time to focus on their ideas and innovative work. Lou talks with Candace Myers, design operations leader with Netflix StudiosXD, about how she integrates technology and practices to optimize her efficiency in the creative and design fields. Candace will be speaking at the DesignOps Summit 2022 virtual conference, September 8-9. Candace recommends: I am obsessed with the Pivot Podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. It has EVERYTHING that ops professionals needs to consider- human intent & emotion, business conditions, what good and poor leadership looks like, and brand strategy. It's a must listen for anyone in tech, but especially generalists.

Lou sits down with the Head of Design for the Data Team at Amplitude, Courtney George, to discuss her talk “Scale Your Organization and Grow Your Designers” that she is giving at this year’s DesignOps Summit. What is a Design Leader’s role in providing stability for their team? How has that role changed over the course of the pandemic? Over the past few years, the security levels employees feel at their jobs have fluctuated drastically. Are there tools we are already using that can help our teams feel more confident in these uncertain times? Listen as Courtney and Lou touch on these topics, and more. Courtney Recommends: The Coaching Habit by Michael Bungay Stanier Courtney Maya George is a design leader, mentor, mom of two, and a sketchnote hobbyist. She is currently the Head of Design for the Data team at Amplitude, where she’s building up a new product offering and growing the design organization. Prior to Amplitude, she spent nearly eight years at Adobe, where she built a design team from the ground up

With the surge in popularity and need for hybrid and virtual events, Lou sits down with Intel’s Director of Accessibility, Darryl Adams, to discuss how technology can make in-person and virtual conferences more accessible and inclusive to speakers and audience members with disabilities. He also speaks to how accessible conference design can be improved and fine-tuned for speakers with disabilities, and help those without disabilities feel more comfortable presenting. What kind of accessibility principles and design factors should conference hosts consider for audience members with disabilities and those without disabilities when setting up for in-person and virtual events? How does this technology increase engagement and diversity in attendance? Listen as Darryl and Lou touch on all these topics, and more. Darryl Adams recommends: Demystifying Disability by Emily Ladau Darryl Adams is the Director of Accessibility at Intel. Darryl leads a team that works at the intersection of technology and human experienc

Natalie Marie Dunbar joins Lou to discuss the lonely pursuit that is content strategy. She also digs into what it means to build a content strategy practice—whether you’re just starting out as a solo practitioner, scaling up in a large organization, or trying to make a case for your CS practice’s value. Her new Rosenfeld Media book, From Solo to Scaled: Building a Sustainable Content Strategy Practice, serves as a “companion” to address this loneliness as much as it is a guide to the resources needed to create a sustainable content practice. This episode offers a preview of what Natalie calls the Content Strategy Practice Blueprint. There are five components to that blueprint, including making the business case, building strong relationships, creating frameworks and tools, and establishing meaningful measures of success. For more, check out Natalie’s new book, From Solo to Scaled,—now available from Rosenfeld Media. https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/from-solo-to-scaled-building-a-sustainable-content-strateg

How can remote workers stay connected without burning out? At Wayfair, it quickly became clear that virtual happy hours and virtual team lunches were adding time to peoples’ schedules without really adding value. Rusha Sopariwala is a Senior Manager of Product Design at Wayfair, and she helped her team pivot to important new rituals for remote teams, like dedicated “focus times” to lighten meeting loads, mindfulness over different time zone differences, and “camera off” meetings to reduce employee exhaustion. In this episode, get a taste of what Rusha will cover during her presentation at Design at Scale 2022 this June 8-10 — from tips for helping remote employees share their passions, to creating remote connections without adding to potential burnout. Learn more about Rusha: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/speakers/rusha-sopariwala/ Rusha recommends: Hidden Brain Podcast by Shankar Vendentam which dives into human brains and just how we perceive and think and how our unconscious patt

How can individual designers use their skills to improve the experience of people in disaster situations? Emily Danielson, Senior Design Strategist at ExxonMobil, joins Lou to not only consider this question, but to reflect on past experiences—including the database she developed which was used by the FBI in a multi-million dollar federal corruption lawsuit—and look ahead to her talk at the upcoming Design at Scale conference this June. Emily recommends: Learn more about the benefits offered by mutual aid and ways for UX professionals to use their skills to support our communities: mutualaiddisasterrelief.org Learn more about Emily’s talk at Design at Scale 2022: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/sessions/i-mean-i-can-lift-a-shovel-design-skills-in-disaster-response/

What is it like to start work on a new book on the big picture of design right before a global pandemic? Kevin Bethune, author of the new book Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation joins Lou to share his experience and insights learned from doing just that, as well as the importance of curiosity, how to understand one's own privilege, and overcoming doubt from others. Kevin will be speaking at Design at Scale 2022 this June; learn more about his talk and register for the conference: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/speakers/kevin-bethune/ Kevin recommends: Follow Radha Mistry, who leads the foresight practice at Autodesk https://www.radhamistry.com/about Follow Kevin on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevinbethune Check out Kevin’s website: https://www.kevinbethune-reimaginingdesign.com/

How can you use the humble question to be a better leader? Over the past year or two, Brave UX Podcaster Brendan Jarvis has been asking great questions of over 75 of the best and brightest design leaders with the goal of surfacing the biggest questions facing the field, and using them as a springboard to becoming a better leader. Brendan joins Lou for a wide-ranging conversation about questions—a preview for his talk at June’s Design at Scale 2022 conference. Along the way, they cover the importance of diverse perspectives, the controversies of Amazon Alexa, and how designers can get a seat at the table. Warning: this talk may raise more questions than it provides answers for! Learn more about Brendan’s conference presentation and register for Design at Scale 2022: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/design-at-scale-2022/sessions/ux-leadership-trends/ Listen to Brendan’s podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/brave-ux-with-brendan-jarvis/id1552607805 Follow him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/br

If the past two years haven’t made it clear, researchers and designers absolutely must be prepared to understand and address trauma as a factor in our work and our lives. Social worker, designer, and Advancing Research 2022 speaker Rachael Dietkus joins Lou on the Rosenfeld Review to plumb the intersection of social work, UX, and how these play out in trauma-informed research and design. She shares her approach to applying trauma-informed principles to the research process, and highlights important key factors including: • Defining Rachael’s three main intersections between design and social work: social work values, design research methodologies, and trauma-informed (also known as trauma-responsive) principles • The importance of asking how the above three principles meld together in design to foster a humanistically-informed lens • The ways social work as a care field translates into user experience design, and why this is a necessary step to include in design methodology • How the concept of “care,” which

Although large areas of the federal government focused on design as a practice do not closely involve the citizenry in their design processes, Victor Udoewa, Chief Experience Officer and Service Design Lead, NASA, has taken a vastly different approach to end user design methodology in government. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Victor brings us up to speed on participatory design and its pros and cons. He also explains his radical approach to it—a meta-methodology he’s used in service and system design—and how his radical approach enables people to participate in and influence high-level government design projects. Victor shares his insights around key areas of participatory design, including: • A redefined approach to “radical” participatory design, and how this difference meaningfully distinguishes his work from a socio-human perspective • A focus on his department’s efforts to help develop the economy in support of small businesses • Weighing the impact of “power” in design organizations as the

Covid has fragmented our teams, workplaces, work rituals, and in some circumstances, our self-confidence. It has also forced us to learn, adapt, and improve our work at a stunningly rapid pace. It’s a great time to take stock of what we learned these past two years, and get ready to apply those lessons in the years to come. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou speaks with long-time Design at Scale conference curators Kit Unger and Lada Gorlenko to discuss how the conference presents the perfect opportunity to make that pivot—and make the case for you to be a part of the conference program. Topics discussed include: • How closely-aligned teams can forge ahead despite the challenges Covid has presented • The importance of reconsidering how teams currently support objectives • Learning to work together in new ways that help shift the existing work dynamic into a positive and more powerful frame • Uncovering drivers that allow teams to surpass pre-established boundaries around collaboration • Shifting

What connects product designers and UXers? And does that connection help in the transition from UX to product management? In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, you’ll meet Christian Crumlish, Founder of Design in Product and author of the soon-to-be released Product Management for UX People. Christian and Lou deep dive into the world of product management and its relationship with UX, as well as the advantages design practitioners share when moving into product management roles. Highlights from this discussion include: • Understanding the current state of product management relative to UX; • The superpower designers can tap into when communicating effectively, and how that skill is inherently utilized by product management folks (the “language of the bosses”); • How designers/strategists/researchers share an advantage by shifting to product management through intuitively asking questions such as “how will we grow?” and “how can we keep this going?” with consideration to cost-effective solutions; • The n

Creating and maintaining an inclusive environment that makes anyone feel welcome requires conscious and consistent effort. Whether it’s presentation, operation, or curation—incorporating your team’s voices in a healthy and organic manner as a business practice requires thinking outside the box. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, you’ll hear from Danielle Barnes, CEO of Women Talk Design, as she and Lou discuss the fundamentals of designing meetings and conference presentations that are more inclusive. Key points Danielle and Lou address include: • Remolding non-inclusive systems to which women and non-binary folks are forced to adapt; • Assigning rotating facilitator roles, and how those roles can promote inclusivity; • How truly “listening” to those who are speaking can give facilitators the insights they need to curate a fantastic meeting; • Raising awareness for the consequences of being talked over, and how to drive safety and accessibility in meetings for team members; and • Tips to improve your

What can designers learn from astronauts and race car drivers? In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou speaks with Katie Swindler to answer this and similar questions in her upcoming Rosenfeld Media book, Life and Death Design. Katie’s new book will help us redefine how we might view a core human function – specifically, the stress response – and how stress can be an informative tool for designers. As an experienced presenter who has spoken on UX topics internationally at industry events, Katie believes that brands who wish to truly connect with consumers must expand utility through emotion. She illustrates how leveraging stress-informed design enables users to perform optimally during high-stress or traumatic experiences. Important questions Katie tackles are: How does understanding the stress response help designers deal with high-stress situations? How can designers leverage redundancy and biomimicry to enhance a final product? How stress-informed design can support experts in a way that preserve

Angelos Arnis is a strategic designer focusing on delivering experiences with humane principles. For the past 10 years, he has been working with product/service companies and startups, both in early and high growth stages. Angelos is currently changing the ways of working at Posti Group, Finland’s postal service. He is a co-founder at Joint Frontiers, and a co-host of ‘Human, the designer’. Additionally, he is a community organizer at IxDA Helsinki, as well as an alumnus organizer of Joint Futures, DSCONF, & Junction Hackathon. In his free time, he enjoys making music, and playing computer games. In this talk, Angelos discusses the State of DesignOps 2021 Global Report, and will be sharing this information during this year’s DesignOps Summit 2021 on September 29 - October 1. Angleos began his journey to better understand how one can position their career in design, which then led to exploring more questions that can present a wider range of answers on the subject. The quantitative data collected for the re

Sarah Brooks is a design leader and intrapreneur who uses strategic design and mixed-methods research to help teams and organizations reach better outcomes. She has worked in enterprise, federal, non-profit, start-up, and hybrid organizations. If you’re one of millions of US military veterans, her work at the Veterans Administration has touched your life. We are pleased to welcome Sarah as a member of the Civic Design conference (https://rosenfeldmedia.com/civic-design-2021/) and community curation team! In this Rosenfeld Review episode, she shares her experience at the VA, digging into specific challenges when working within a large org, learning what ‘patriotism’ means from people who are in the service, and how soft-skills (people skills, really) are needed at the systems level. Sarah recommends: Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown https://www.amazon.com/Emergent-Strategy-Shaping-Change-Changing/dp/1849352607 Tickets to Civic Design 2021 are now available; register now! https://rosenfeldmedia.com

Martha Dorris, Founder and CEO, Dorris Consulting International, has almost 34 years of government experience in acquisition, technical and program management to customer experience. Martha has run many government organizations that build and deliver agency and citizen facing programs to deliver government services anytime, anywhere on any device. Most recently, Martha led and managed GSA’s Office of Strategic Programs where she brought a customer-centric lens to the services and acquisitions they award. In this Rosenfeld Review episode, she takes a dive into her projects at the GSA improving Customer Experience (as opposed to the previous focus on Customer Service), as well as work across the government and her advice for anyone just starting out. We are pleased that Martha is supporting the curation team for our new Civic Design conference and community, which will be launching soon with our first monthly videoconference. Sign up here to be notified: https://rosenfeldmedia.com/civic-design-2021/ Tickets