How running ultra marathons mirrors the journey of a UX designer.

This weekend, I achieved a personal milestone: I ran 33 miles. As I crossed that finish line, every step reinforced a powerful lesson in resilience, a quality that profoundly connects to my professional life as a UX designer and leader.

Resilience isn’t just about enduring; it’s about adapting and thriving amid challenges. Here’s how running 33 miles mirrors the journey of a UX designer:

1. Preparation and Strategy: Just like preparing for a long run, successful UX design requires thorough research and strategy. Understanding the terrain ahead—whether it's user needs or marathon elevation changes—enables effective planning and execution.

2. Iterative Process: In ultra-running, you adjust your pace, strategy, and nutrition as conditions change. Similarly, in UX design, iterating designs based on continuous user feedback and testing is crucial. Both require staying flexible and responsive to the environment.

3. Problem-Solving: Every mile can bring a new challenge. From blisters to unexpected weather, ultra-running forces you to problem-solve on the go. This is much like UX design, where unforeseen user experience issues must be resolved efficiently and creatively.

4. Endurance and Persistence: Running ultra distances requires pushing through pain and fatigue. In UX design, endurance might mean persisting through multiple project iterations or overcoming stalled creativity to find the best solution.

5. Team Support and Collaboration: Just as a support crew provides aid during a race, a UX project thrives on collaboration. Feedback and encouragement from colleagues and stakeholders are invaluable for crossing the finish line with a successful design.

6. Celebrating Milestones: Every mile marker in a race is a small victory. Similarly, celebrating milestones in a project lifecycle keeps the team motivated. Recognizing these achievements, big or small, fuels continued effort and passion.

7. Breaking Down Complexity: Just as ultrarunning requires breaking down the race into segments to manage energy and focus, effective UX design involves deconstructing complex problems into smaller, manageable tasks. Tackling a design project in phases—starting from wireframes to final designs, or segmenting user research from usability testing—helps manage the workload and keeps the project on track. This methodical breakdown ensures that each component receives the attention it deserves, leading to a more thorough and refined outcome. It teaches us that no challenge is too big when approached one step at a time.

Running 33 miles has reinforced my capacity for resilience, a trait that I bring to every project as a UX designer. The journey is long, the road is winding, but with persistence and adaptability, the results can be incredibly rewarding.

Here's to always going the extra mile—in sports and in design! 🚀

#UXDesign #Resilience #MarathonRunning #UserExperience #DesignThinking #CareerGrowth

How to manage team burnout...

The more you work the more you get better at recognizing burnout or at least recognizing what causes it for you. When you feel a noticeable depletion in your mental resources you must take an internal look and really try to understand what the root cause is. I believe one of the most important skills for our future generations will be possessing the self-awareness to identify how to harness one’s attention and energy in a sustainable and long term way. People argue that discipline will get you to your goals, however, I believe that having the self awareness to identify how new stimuluses are effecting you will also allow you to weather the storm.

As a designer, I have worked in the e-Commerce space for almost 5 years now. With that comes a level of specialization and navigating the same problem sets over and over again.

However, working on the same design problem set repeatedly can be a grueling experience, leading to feelings of monotony and boredom; especially for creatives. It's common to feel stuck and uninspired due to the lack of novelty and challenge. This can directly lead to frustration, and decreased motivation, resulting in a feeling of being stuck.

Some common reasons for feeling stuck in this scenario include (based off my personal experience):

1. Repetition: Doing the same task over and over again can lead to monotony and a feeling of being trapped in a rut.

2. Lack of creativity: When faced with familiar problems, it's easy to fall into the trap of relying on tried-and-true solutions and not considering new, creative approaches.

3. Limited growth opportunities: Doing the same work repeatedly can feel unfulfilling and limit opportunities for personal and professional growth.

4. Burnout: Constantly working on the same problem set can lead to emotional exhaustion and loss of motivation.

To manage this situation, the following steps can be taken:

1. Encourage creativity: Encourage the individual to approach the problems from new angles and consider new solutions. Offer opportunities for professional development and learning to at least allow them to feel like they are keeping their skills and knowledge current.

2. Provide variety: Mix up the tasks and responsibilities to offer new challenges and keep things fresh. Encourage the person to take on new projects or lead their own initiatives/responsibilities to break up the monotony.

3. Foster growth: Provide opportunities for personal and professional growth, such as training and mentorship programs. Encourage the individual to set goals and work towards them and break them up into milestones so they can feel like they are working towards something.

4. Foster a positive work environment: Foster a positive and supportive work environment that values creativity, innovation, and personal and professional growth. Encourage open communication and regular feedback to keep everyone engaged and motivated.

5. Take breaks: Encourage the individual to take breaks and pursue outside interests to refresh and recharge. Regular time off can help to prevent burnout and maintain motivation.

6. KISS communication (KEEP IT STUPID SPECIFIC communication): Provide and outline specific aspects of how the individual can maintain and uphold the level of flexibility and adaptability that will be successful in your culture. The word flexibility can apply to so many aspects of your day. It is a generalization and when a person is too flexible they break. Don't set them up for failure. Explain in detail the brand of flexibility you are looking for from your employees.

• Schedule flexibility: The ability to adjust working hours to accommodate personal needs, such as caring for children or elderly relatives.

• Work location flexibility: The ability to work from home or from other remote locations, reducing the need for a traditional 9-to-5 office schedule.

• Job role flexibility: The ability to take on different tasks and responsibilities as needed, or to cross-train in multiple areas.

• Organizational flexibility: The ability of an organization to adapt to changes in the marketplace or in its internal operations, such as by restructuring or changing its business model.

Ultimately, as a leader and designer we can approach these situations as a unique challenge to balance the use of our previous experience and exploration of new solutions. When faced with a familiar problem, it is tempting to rely on previous solutions and past experiences. But this can limit creativity and prevent the discovery of better solutions. (which can also be hard to navigate especially when you include the production of cortisol)

On the other hand, starting from scratch each time can be a daunting task and may lead to indecision and uncertainty. That is why it is important to strike a balance between using your past experience as a guide, while also considering new perspectives and approaches. This may require a constant evaluation of the situation and the willingness to adapt and evolve one's thinking. (which can be mentally exhausting, especially when you see the wrong decisions or patterns happening all over again.)

Design is a creative process and it's important to stay open to new ideas and possibilities. Yet, it's also crucial to trust in one's own abilities and experiences, and to have the confidence to make decisions even when the outcome may not be certain.

In conclusion, navigating the tension between relying on past experiences and exploring new solutions is a challenging aspect of design work or any work for that matter (HELLO PARENTING) that you don’t really acknowledge when it is happening. Striking a balance between the two requires constant evaluation, adaptation, and a willingness to take risks.

Would love to get feedback over how this is applied across the board to parenting as well?

Training Ai's verse training dogs?

lil’ rascal

lil’ graduate

Over the past 2 months I have been taking my dog to obedience classes. Today she graduated!!!
While I have trained and fostered dogs in the past, Bailey proved to be a particularly challenging case for me. Mostly, because I was asking her to perform things/behaviors that were in complete opposition to what she was bred for. Bailey is a cattle dog and her natural instincts are to herd and to chase livestock on a farm all day long. She is a working dog and teaching her how to relax and chill was kind of hard, cause well, I dont seem to have an off button either. So naturally, asking a puppy of this energy level to stay inside and not "release the kraken" is a difficult task for them. Amidst my quest to domesticate her, I was also learning about different Ai model training methods and I couldn't help but recognize some of the similarities between my efforts teaching her.

Training AI models involves teaching them to recognize patterns and make predictions based on data, whereas training dogs involves teaching them specific behaviors and commands. While the techniques used in these two types of training may be different, the principles of reinforcement and positive reinforcement can be applied to both. Additionally, understanding how AI models learn and make predictions can inform how we approach dog training by providing insight into how animals learn and process information.

There are several similarities between training an AI model and training a dog:

1. Both require a clear understanding of the desired outcome or behavior. (what is the objective/goal)

2. Both involve providing positive reinforcement for correct behavior and negative reinforcement for incorrect behavior. (in her case, we reinforce with HIGH VALUE treats)

3. Both involve breaking down complex tasks into smaller, more manageable steps.

4. Both require patience and consistency in the training process.

5. Both require monitoring progress and making adjustments as needed.

6. Both require a good understanding of the learning process and the ability to adapt to different learning styles. (because situations change and distractions happen)

7. Both require the ability to identify and address misconceptions and errors in training.

8. Both require the ability to generalize learned behavior to new situations.

The process of training an AI and training my dog involved providing positive reinforcement for a desired outcome and negative reinforcement or punishment for an undesired behavior in order to shape and modify the subject's actions.