Professional Spotlight: Nick Babich of UX Planet
Our UX “fan-girl” dreams have been realized.
Why? We got the chance to chat it up with Nick Babich, Automation Lead at RingCentral and founder/content curator at UX Planet. Here at Appsee, we are avid readers of the top medium publication UX Planet. At least once a week, you will always find at least one link from this publication in our ‘Interesting Reads’ Slack channel. Nick’s writing along with carefully selected authors’ is fresh, insightful, and rich with real-world examples. In particular, we love how Nick deep dives into relevant UX topics ranging from in-app permissions to progress indicators.
What was our goal of speaking with Nick? We wanted to hear his candid take on challenges in UX design, where the mobile industry is headed, mobile UX mistakes, and simply what makes him tick.
It was a blast chatting with him. Here’s what he had to say…
In short, describe your role/responsibilities as Automation Lead at RingCentral. From there, what inspired you to create one of Medium’s top UX publications, UX Planet?
My team works on test automation tool that is used in our organization. My role is in organizing a process that will make the procedure of testing as easy as possible. Same as when creating any other digital product, when working on the testing tool you need to follow a specific design process — build empathy, ideate, prototype, and test (test a final product).
The idea to create a Medium publication, which became UX Planet, came from the idea of sharing knowledge. I wanted to create one place where people can follow to learn how to create great products.
What is your background as an Automation Lead/Software Developer? How did you get into the field?
I have a background in software development (I have a Master degree in Computer Science). That’s why it was quite natural for me to get to this role. But in this role I’m no longer a software developer, I’m more like a mentor. My goal is to educate and direct my team members, so they will be able to create great products. I firmly believe that the role of Lead is mostly about coaching and mentoring instead of writing code. It’s really great to see how the people you work with grow and become more experienced in what they do.
What’s your favorite part about being an Automation Lead? How does knowledge of UX play a role in that position?
My favorite part is collaboration — a collaboration with different departments when working on a particular problem. I think it’s really hard to solve the problem when you’re working alone. Since I have an opportunity to create a cross-functional team when solving a problem, I use this opportunity each time we need to solve something significant.
Why does a divide exist between development and UX? How do you believe it can be “resolved”?
Honestly, I don’t think that we have a divide between UX and development. What we have is a different point of views regarding the problem we are trying to solve. It often happens when designers and developers work in their silos and connect via email or Skype, not regular face-to-face meetings. I believe that one of the first things to do on a project is establishing a shared understanding of the problem being solved. When both designers and developers are on the same page regarding the problem, it’ll increase the chance that we have an active collaboration.
I don’t think that we have a divide between UX and development. What we have is a different point…
What is your favorite topic(s) within the realm of user experience design? Which topic do you feel is most misunderstood/taken for granted?
I have two favorite topics — user research and ideation. I believe that by investing in user research, we create a strong foundation for our projects. The better we know our users, their wants and needs, the better products we can create for them. [Check out Nick’s article on human-centered design on UX Planet].
Ideation is my favorite part of the design process because it allows designers and developers to work together on the problem. It’s a time when we are brainstorming different ideas and come up with solutions. I’m a big fan of Lean UX and Design Sprints — the idea of learning without building a complete product.
From my experience, people have a lot of misunderstanding regarding the design process. A lot of designers believe that their work is completed after the product goes live. But in reality, releasing a product is just a start for the process of continuous improvement. In other words, we can’t have something we call ‘final product,’ there’s always something we can improve in it.
“We can’t have something we call ‘final product,’ there’s always something we can improve…
What are some of your biggest pain points/challenges in the realm of UX design?
Two of the most significant problems are — an ego problem and lack of support from management. The problem of ego often leads to what we know as confirmation bias — when a designer or a developer thinks that her solution is excellent and searches for information to prove their point of view while rejecting any information that doesn’t support it. It can be a significant showstopper for projects.
The second problem can affect the way we implement new techniques (such as Lean UX). Without strong support from top management, it can be tough to implement new approaches.
What will be the next big thing in UX design?
I believe that we’ll have a new role in our teams — DesignOps. DesignOps will focus on the operations that maintain the best interests of design. Key tasks for DevOps are design program management and team coordination.
What do you see as some of the biggest hurdles in the mobile app industry?
I think that the most significant problem in the mobile app industry is creating apps that don’t bring any value to users. All too often companies invest money in building apps because they think users will use them. But most of the time, users don’t want to install another one app. Companies should invest in user research to find out what exactly their users want and only after that build the app that will bring value to their users.
I think that the most significant problem in the mobile app industry is creating apps that don’t…
Do you conduct user tests? If yes, what are your preferred tools/methods?
Of course. The methods I use are selected based on the stage of the design process. If I’m at the beginning of the design process and have only sketches and lo-fi wireframes of my design, I can use a technique called Guerrilla Testing. But during the prototyping stage, when I have a hi-fi prototype, I prefer to use moderated usability testing — ask a test participant to go through a set of tasks and see what problems they face. [Read Nick’s user testing tips over on UX Planet].
Name your top five apps that you would never delete from your phone.
I have only 3 apps that I use on a regular basis. Those are:
- Gmail
- Evernote
Can you share with me some of your favorite communities and influencers to follow (other than UX Planet)?
Jared Spool, Luke Wroblewski, Alan Cooper, Steve Krug, Jesse James Garrett — all of them are great industry influencers.
If someone is looking to hone their skills in UX design and/or network with leaders in the field, which conferences/workshops would you recommend that they attend?
I would recommend Smashing Conferences. Smashing Magazine holds those conferences and they continuously strive to bring the most exciting knowledge to their attendees.
Top item on your bucket list, 3,2, 1….go!
1. Learn to create videos
2. Enhance my drawing skills
3. Climb a volcano
