My notes from the lightning talks at DPM:UK 2014.
Surviving Project Fatigue
Suze Haworth, Project Manager, Numico.
Worked on several long-term projects that have lasted over a year. A bit like running a marathon.
Stage 1 – kick off, happy
Stage 2 – settling in
Stage 3 – the wall / a bit like the project wall
Knowledge – keep everyone informed, including you
– At Numico we do a daily standup, despite not actually running agile projects. Keeps everyone in team informed.
Communication
– Keep talking with client and team, even in slow periods
– In a slow period with Water Aid project I sent daily standups to the client via Basecamp messages
Smaller goals
– Mangeable chunks of work
– For example on recent ptoject had three main releases (holding site, 2 main releases of site)
Show stuff
– show work in progress – to client & team
– At Numico we do this on Fridays.
Reward
– Celebrate launches and milestones
– internal and external PR
Motivation
– work out what motivates team members
– set a project goal
Take a break
– Encourages fresh perspective
– A break away from project work
– For example, give staff a couple of days off to research and write a blog post
Don’t forget about yourself.
Taming the UX unicorn polar bear
Ian Fenn, Independent UX consultant
UX is not UI
UX people are often brought in too late, when problems and solutions/deliverables have already been thought about / decided.
UX = problem solvers, not just desiging pretty UI.
Facilitation
– Sometimes we have to tell the client their baby is ugly
Accessibility
– Also serves usability
Tools
– Use OmniGraffle and Axure
– Trying to encourage more sketching, it’s quicker.
– Stick to tools you’re comfortable with, Use what works
Challenges of working to budget / without stifling creativity
– Be honest, no bullshit
– Difficult to scope UX work (how long does it take to solve a problem?)
– Come up with best solution you can in the time