Experience & Product Design:
Focus on Design within Agile Product Development
Grow Your Career by Designing Like a Startup
Jonathan’s session’s will support mid-level designers who want to land roles as senior product designers in a balanced team setting. These roles require competency in Design Research, UX Design, Interaction Design, and Visual Design, while working closely with product managers and software engineers. The small, semi-autonomous team structure (aka “the squad model” or “Spotify model” or “balanced team”) is widely used in startups, common at large tech companies and increasingly embraced by enterprises like Allstate, Boeing and Ford. This model encourages tight feedback loops between design, development and end users; human-centered design can thrive here.
However, the squad model is tough on designers, who are asked to switch skillsets frequently. Hiring for these roles is hard, because designers frequently work independently and need senior-level competency across several disciplines.
This cohort will give you a chance to level up and meet this need for versatile senior designers. You will work through a series of realistic challenges, shaped by requests from participants. Expect to polish your roughest product design skills among supportive, inclusive and collaborative peers.
Intermediate Level:
Should have 1+ years of full-time experience with one of the following: Design Research, UX Design, Interaction Design or Visual Design
Should have an interest in refining skills in Design Research, UX Design, Interaction Design and Visual Design
Session Topics:
Discovery & research
Ideation, feasibility and concept evaluation
Interaction design and prototyping
Working with engineers on modern web and mobile tech stacks
User testing, road-mapping, and finding business value
Takeaways:
Confidence in the ability to design for an agile software team
Ability to demonstrate skillset to hiring managers
Jonathan is a Product Designer at Pivotal Labs, where he has helped Boeing, Discover and United Healthcare adopt lean product design practices. He has worked as a designer, product manager and software engineer for 20 years. He co-founded four companies and lead the design practice at five others, resulting in four acquisitions and one IPO.
