What strategies do you use to build a successful UX team?
To build a successful UX team, you must develop a strategy combining planning, effective management and talent acquisition. In addition, when building a great team, you must create an environment where everyone can open up, show their strengths, develop and find common ground with their colleagues.
When building my own team for the first time as a UX leader, I faced several challenges and developed a few strategies. You might find them helpful.
01. Define roles and responsibilities
Clearly define roles and responsibilities within the team. You need to understand what each specialist is responsible for and what is included in the scope of their tasks. Without this step, the team won’t be able to collaborate effectively and won’t use the full range of professional skills to the maximum.
Here is a short list of the leading roles:
1) UX Designer: The main task is to create interfaces that provide users a great experience interacting with the product (app, website). They are responsible for designing user interfaces, conducting research, developing user prototypes, and testing design iterations.
2) UX Researcher: The main task of a UX researcher is to understand users’ needs and behaviour to create products that exceed their expectations. The specialist conducts user research, interviews and surveys, analyses data and creates reports that help the team understand the target audience and their needs.
3) Information Architect (IA): responsible for organizing and structuring information in a product, app or website so that users can easily find the needed content. He designs navigation trees, database schemas and other elements of information architecture.
4) UI Designer: The main task is to create visual elements of the user interface, such as buttons, forms, graphics and layouts. He is responsible for creating an attractive and intuitive design consistent with the product brand and fulfilling the users’ needs.
5) Content Strategist/ UX Copywriter: The content strategist/UX copywriter is responsible for creating content that provides comprehensibility, clarity, and effective communication with the user. They create tone-of-voice text for interfaces, instructions, tooltips, and other product elements.
02. Diversity of talent
I often hear that it’s better to take on a team of generalists who can take charge of the entire process, from prototyping to high-precision specifications.
However, assembling a team with diverse skills, backgrounds, and perspectives is better. This allows for creativity, quality brainstorming sessions, and innovation. As a result, you can create a product or app with functionality that has no analogues in the market, outperform competitors and give users a new experience.
03. Continuous learning
Develop yourself and invest in continuous learning for your team. Conferences, courses, masterclasses, trainings, participation in beta-testing of excellent products and applications — all this helps to keep abreast of the latest trends, UX methodologies and tools.
04. Trust and open communication
Create an environment where team members can openly share ideas, give feedback, and collaborate on projects.
The best way to build trust is through communication. It’s important to make not only professional familiarity but also more personal familiarity. This creates more robust bonds with the team and between team members. Project coordination is much easier in such an environment, especially between different departments.
05. Importance of a design system
The development of a design system not only benefits the company or clients but is also necessary for the productive work of the team. With a design system, team communication is simplified and more transparent.
The assigned tasks are easily solved. It is easy to involve any level of expertise in the UX team because there is less chance of errors during development.
Some Cool Figma Design Systems & UI Kits:
06. Tools and technology
Provide the UX team with the resources, tools, and technologies to support their work effectively. This may include prototyping tools, user testing platforms, and access to relevant data and analytics.
Remember tools that promote productivity — taxi managers, calendars for organizing appointments, and instant messaging tools.
07. Clear goals and expectations
Ensure everyone shares the same goals and understands where the team is headed. This will help everyone prioritize, stick to deadlines, and improve the product.
Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the team’s performance and the impact of their work on business goals. This can include user satisfaction, task success, and time to market for new features.
Organise meetings with each team member to explain their role in teamwork, what depends on them, and their contribution to the development of the team and the company.
08. Prioritize motivation
Recognize and celebrate achievements and encourage work-life balance among team members. Make sure employees stay energized and feel energized.
Create an environment where mistakes don’t need to be feared. After all, it’s okay to make mistakes; they are lessons from which you can learn valuable lessons.
I hope my experience will be useful to you. Share strategies that help you build a successful UX team.
