The Main Thing: Addressing the most pressing problems

One of our links this week is about how PM's don't have the ability to shift from outputs to outcomes without C-level support.

I've seen first-hand how previously empowered teams slowly become unempowered as the organisation puts more and more demands on the team to conform to how everything else works. But equally, I've seen the frustration where management tries to empower teams but the teams do not want the opportunity.

The status quo is a powerful adversary.

When trying to improve processes beyond the status quo there are two types of problems that arise: problems within the teams control (stand-up format, documentation, etc.) and problems outside of teams control (more input into what is built, adopting discovery, etc.). In last week’s poll, 28% of people said that they tackle the most pressing problem in retrospective. So I'd love to dig deeper into how this works in practice.

This Weeks Updates

Enabling the Team

Thriving in Autonomy: Why Self-Management Doesn't Lead to Burnout by Joost Minnaar
If your Job Control doesn't match your Job Demand then you end up getting burned out. We need to empower people for effective self-management.

PM's Don't Have Autonomy To Make Changes by Ben Erez
Ben shares the challenges he's seen where PM's try to shift from outputs to outcomes with detrimental effects on their careers.

Product Direction

Strategic Thinking for Product Managers by Ravi Mehta
The best strategic thinkers understand the future outcomes. They predict the future, and then make it so.

Product Leaders: Getting Teams Started with Product Discovery by Jim Morris
“Start somewhere, anywhere.” The first Product Discovery effort for a team doesn’t have to be perfect.

Continuous Discovery

How To Run UX Research Without Access To Users by Vitaly Friedman
UX research without users isn’t research. You can find colleagues who are close to customers, use analytics, listen to customer calls and more.

It’s Time We Seriously Talk About Users and Experiences by Jared M. Spool
Can every UX team member name one of your users? Can they describe the differences between users? And can they describe a user’s actual experience?

Continuous Design

Prompts Should Be Designed - Not Engineered by Alex Klein
Sophistication, in prompting, comes from deeply understanding the user and integrating that knowledge into the prompt.

The Rise of Generative AI-driven Design Patterns by Connor Joyce
Connor takes us on an evolutionary journey from content summarising to scenario planning and where LLMs will go next.

Continuous Delivery

Microservices Design Principles You Really Need To Learn by Programming Pulse
A really deep dive into the essential principles of microservices design, focused on scalable, resilient software architectures.

Evolution of Monolithic Systems by chubernetes
An overview of the different types of monoliths, how we are evolving away from them, and the impacts that they cause.

UXDX EMEA 24!

After an unforgettable experience in the USA, UXDX is excited to host the upcoming EMEA edition in Dublin.

This event will gather leading professionals from the UX, development, product, and design industries to discuss the latest trends, insights, and advancements in the market.

Our draft agenda is up and we will be announcing new speakers every week from now until the end of June.

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New Video Released This Week

Discover how UX design revolutionizes e-commerce with Sudev from Worldpay. Learn strategies to enhance online payments and user satisfaction, ideal for startups and digital payment enthusiasts.👇👇

Job of the Week

UX/UI Designer
🏬 Oracle
📌 Redwood City, CA US

About Oracle
Is a multinational technology company renowned for its comprehensive and integrated stack of cloud applications and platform services. Oracle's primary focus is on database software and technology, cloud-engineered systems, and enterprise software products.

See role details here

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question was: How do you approach continuous improvement?

This was a close one with "Solving the easiest problem" just winning out with 29% of the vote.

28% of people tackle the most pressing problems. From my experience, the most pressing problems are outside of the team control, so I've decided to dig into this a little bit more in this weeks' poll.

24% of people choose the change that moves them closer to their way of working vision. This is actually my personal favourite approach as it provides a way to compare seemingly similar improvements. Stay tuned for digging deeper into this topic next week.