Optimising processes, driving product strategies and mentoring.
CHALLENGES
What I do
The best part of my job? Connecting with people.
As a product designer at Cargill, I often feel lonely in my mission and somehow isolated professionally. I realized that often people I interact with have a very tiny little knowledge of what I do (this includes my mum...according to whom I spend my time at work “drawing graphic stuff”).
I understood early that UX thrives when we connect, collaborate, and advocate for great design. The more we support each other, the bigger impact we can make.
So, how can we be better UX allies?
🤝 Build strong cross-functional relationships
📚 Make design accessible for everyone
🔍 Champion research & inclusivity
🚀 Connect and share experiences with others
One of the first research exercises I carried out when I joined the company was the Persona analysis. I booked people’s time just to get to know them: what they do, who they are. Some of these people ended up being my customers - while others ended up being allies in the design thinking and in the design process.
Others, who initially where alien to what I do, understood that design is more than crafting beutiful screens. And fe of them even sent their teenage kids for internship sessions with me! There’s no bigger reward than being an inspiration to others.
In my role as a UX Advocate, I have consistently promoted the importance of user experience within the organization.I focused intensively on shaping new processes, streamlining workflows, saving costs, and aligning stakeholder expectations through the development of an Ideation Playbook.
Challenges
Lack of integration of UX principles in the development stages.
Inefficient processes leading to increased costs and misaligned stakeholder expectations.
Need for a structured approach to ideation and design.
Objectives
Integrate UX discipline into all stages of development.
Streamline processes to enhance efficiency and reduce costs.
Align stakeholder expectations through a structured ideation process and set expectations.
At Cargill, I created the Ideation Playbook, a manifesto based on the Double Diamond process, to streamline design activities from research to definition, design, and delivery. I facilitated early ideation sessions to test and validate ideas, ensuring user-centric solutions.
Improved Integration: Successfully integrated UX principles into all stages of development.
Reduced costs through streamlined processes: the ideation playbook’s mission was to de-risk delivieries
Aligned Stakeholder Expectations: Achieved better alignment of stakeholder expectations through a structured ideation process.
User-Centric Solutions: Delivered user-centric solutions by validating ideas early in the ideation phase.
Conclusion
Through my role as a UX Advocate, I have significantly contributed to the organization's success by shaping new processes, streamlining workflows, saving costs, and aligning stakeholder expectations. The ideation playbook I developed has become a cornerstone of our design and development approach, ensuring that user experience, research and innovation remain at the forefront of our efforts.
I’ve attended conferences, and spoke at several events about processes, team structure and, product design. Being a design advocate means being in the process of continuous learning - but also sharing those learnings.
Learning Sessions - I’ve conducted sessions to integrate design discipline into existing development processes, fostering a collaborative environment. As design at Cargill came into the picture a bit too late, it was a big effort integrating it into the existing processing and proving its value.
Pilots of new products (Chatgpt, Replit, v0, HeyGen, Screenstudio to name few recent ones)
I’ve enrolled into courses (from mastering presentations skills and workshop facilitation skills on Udemy), to attending workshops and meetings with the design community.
I have mentored various team members, including external contractors, interns, and those involved in PoC developments and ideation phases. I planned the onboarding process, assigned tasks, and conducted regular follow-up sessions. Additionally, I mentored designers at the start of their careers, helping them choose their career paths. I shared best practices, provided regular feedback, and offered assistance when needed. I also observed young designers as they thrived in their careers.
