This is a new golden age for design. In business, where technology has dominated for decades, the balance of power is shifting. Lessons learned have thrown up new imperatives. The most exciting of these conversations explore new frontiers for business - empathy, design insight, disruptive innovation, big data, lean practice - and all point to the prize: human-centred business transformation. The vision is of a future that will be brilliantly designed rather than just cleverly engineered. Technology alone cannot deliver the experience. Who are the design leaders who will breathe life into this vision? Where will we find them? How will we recognize them? Which skills and qualities will define them? How will we motivate them? How will we partner with other professions? And how do we support them to find, foster and equip a global design elite that will rise up and play their role in changing the world?

1. Designersa s s e m b l e

2. 14 !Clients who buy / hire UX!
!Financial Services, Healthcare, Transport,
!Education, !Technnology, Media!
!
60 !UX Professionals (30% “leadership”)!
!
6 ! !UX Recruiters!
!
18 !Professionals (age 30-50) from fields outside
! !UX Design!
!Consulting, Technology, Law, Medicine, Advertising,
!Education, Marketing, Recruitment!
!

3. “too much of the UX industry is
populated with junior and mid–
level practitioners and
‘conference gypsies’, and seems
capable only of recreating the
same wheels we had 20 years
ago.”!

6. “So enjoy your results and be very
proud of these but remember there
are many ways of being smart.”!

7. “Hybrid Intelligence”!

9. Leadership happens on the field.!

10. Writing!

11. Yet the nightmare cast its shroud
in the guise of a contagion of a
deer-in-the-headlights paralysis.!

12. People who think well, write well.
Woolly minded people write
woolly memos, woolly letters and
woolly speeches.
Good writing is not a natural gift.
You have to learn to write well.!

13. Never
use
a
metaphor,
simile,
or
other
figure
of
speech
which
you
are
used
to
seeing
in
print.

14. Investors rushed into the market
like lemmings and got their
fingers burned.!

15. Never
use
a
long
word
where
a
short
one
will
do.

16. utilize!

17. myself!

18. If
it
is
possible
to
cut
a
word
out,
always
cut
it
out.

19. Never
use
the
passive
where
you
can
use
the
ac<ve.

20. Just a quick note to say thank you for time given to
meet with Richard and myself today.
We feel that we understand your ambition to scale UX
across your firm and some of the challenges around
finding the right partner and talent.
I am confident that we are well positioned to support
your team. Our team has significant expertise working
with mobile solutions, internal enterprise services and
business systems.
As per our discussion, we look forward to starting the
procurement process and hearing about the specific
short-term start projects where we can assist your team.
Looking forward to progressing our conversation.!

21. Thank you for an interesting and enjoyable conversation
this morning.
With our teams, our values and our ambition so clearly
aligned, this will be a strong partnership. I will see you
next week to discuss a first project.
Please let me know if there is anything further we can
provide to support the procurement process.
On a personal note, I look forward to working with you
and building a relationship with your team.
Thanks again and kind regards,!

22. Never
use
a
foreign
phrase,
a
scien<fic
word,
or
a
jargon
word
if
you
can
think
of
an
everyday
English
equivalent.

23. Break
any
of
these
rules
sooner
than
say
anything
outright
barbarous.

24. Write the way you talk. Naturally.
Use short words, short sentences and
short paragraphs.
Never use jargon words. They are
hallmarks of a pretentious ass.
Never write more than two pages on any
subject.
Check your quotations.!

25. Never send a memo on the day you write
it. Read it aloud the next day - and edit it.
If it is something important, get a
colleague to improve it.
Before you send your memo, make sure it
is crystal clear what you want the
recipient to do.
If you want ACTION, don’t write. Go and
tell the guy what you want.

26. The nostrum of "regulation" drags with it a
raft of unexamined impediments
concerning the nature of markets and
governmentality, and a muddle over
intentionality, voluntarism, and
spontaneity that promulgates the
neoliberal creed at the subconscious
level.!
Philip
Mirowski’s
"Never
Let
a
Serious
Crisis
Go
to
Waste"

27. Deliciously paradoxically, the Nobel could
end up diminishing, not fortifying, the
qualifications-blindness and self-
enslavement to equations-led dictums
that, fifth-columnist style, pave the path
for our sacrifice at the altar of misplaced
concreteness.!
Pablo
Triana's
"Lecturing
Birds
on
Flying"

29. Speaking!

30. Compelling ways to present research and design.
How do I persuade clients to choose a particular route?
How do I deal with difficult Q’n’A? Rude people?
How do I answer questions on subjects I know nothing
about?
What if I freeze and forget what I’m talking about?
What if I’m super nervous and my voice trembles?
How do I avoid being driven off course?!

32. It’s a “public” Performance!
© 2012 Tobias & Tobias Ltd! 32!
It’s
a
performance.

33. Who are you? What’s your point?
Be clear on what defines you as
an expert.
Master the first 3 minutes.
What do you want people to say
about your presentation?!

34. What do you want from this?!

35. Design Matters!

36. Emotional Intelligence!

37. “…the abilities to accurately
perceive emotions, to access and
generate emotions so as to assist
thought, to understand emotions
and emotional knowledge, and to
reflectively regulate emotions so
as to promote emotional and
intellectual growth.”!

38. “…the abilities to accurately
perceive emotions, to access and
generate emotions so as to assist
thought, to understand emotions
and emotional knowledge, and to
reflectively regulate emotions so
as to promote emotional and
intellectual growth.”!

39. Professional Intelligence!

42. Understand how your employer makes
money.
Learn to take a telling off.
Unless you are expressly told ‘no’,
assume ‘yes’.
In chaos lies opportunity.
Expectation management is the secret of
life.!