Learn. Iterate. Apply: An insider’s guide to a UX course

mitchellake on February 13, 2016

Having recruited for UX for some time now, I felt the itch to head back to school to commence a 12-week part time course in the field.

It was a great feeling finishing the General Assembly UX course less than a fortnight ago, not because it was over, but because I now understand must more of the practicalities of UX and I am able to join in sense of accomplishment amongst the group. We were fortunate to learn from Lawrence So (Lead UX at NBN), and at the end of the course his comments by and large were that every single one of us had progressed in leaps and bounds from our first course presentation, through to our mid-course assessment and into our final projects.

Admittedly, the final project presentation was still daunting but by that point we had all got to know one another much better and it was then a case of presenting to familiar faces. Throughout the course, Peace Chattiya (Apple, Symplicit) our Teaching Assistant had been a full of support, and I was very grateful for her tips on sketching, Mac shortcuts and learning not to fear prototyping too much.

When you look at the course objectives of the course and the outcomes, I can happily say that each was met, and I’m sure the others in the class with agree. GA provide the guidance through the class aims, and the rest is what you make of it yourself as an individual. While the full-time course covers vastly more material, I was pleased to be able to pursue the areas of UX that interest me, and I can put time and effort into that.

Highlights for me included the research phases and conducting User Testing, something that led me to change the designs quite drastically just two weeks from the final presentation date. For those following at home, my course project aimed to help individuals through the Permanent Resident application process in Australia – something that I’ve recently experienced. User testing influenced my final design as individuals enjoyed having the ‘Dropbox’-style feature whereby they could look at their uploaded documents on a mobile device, while the complexity and serious nature of the forms still needed to be done on a computer. When interviewing an Immigration Agent, I also learnt that it could actually be breaching legality by re-designing these forms. My end solution was desktop first, with auto-fill fields for the form when the user had uploaded certain documents, which were also accessible on a mobile using adaptive web design. This experience feeds back to one of the main points that this is an iterative process and that you should always be talking to potential users throughout any stage.

The area I struggled the most was deciding which design tools to use, as there are so many! I am now working through online tutorials in Sketch and InVision where I can. I am also looking forward to attending Ben Crother’s Sketching for User Experience next week to help me improve in this area. It was a great experience learning about re-designing services more holistically in Jonathan Duhig’s Design Thinking Bootcamp in the same week as finishing the UX course too. These were highly engaging workshops and I recommend anyone interested to attend the next one!

Without wanting to sound like a recruiter during the GA course, I enjoyed giving some tips to my classmates about utilising their transferable skills. If you’re considering giving UX a go I encourage you to give it a crack. I was so pleased to receive Lawrence’s final email with feedback on my project, and while I was nervous seeing what was inside, there wasn’t any reason to be as the staff and GA set everyone up for success.

If you have any experience studying UX that you’d like to share – the challenges, the wins – we’d love to hear from you on Twitter @MitchelLake.

JOB OPPORTUNITY // Australia to San Francisco. Develop your future.

mitchellake on February 11, 2016

As an Australian-owned company that now reaches across four continents, MitchelLake is proud of its roots Down Under, and excited by the talent we’ve seen come out of Australia. We’re inspired by local innovators and are continually looking for ways to boost recognition of innovation that is being created right here in Australia via our international networks and operations.

In a bid to further support growth and innovation across Australia we’re excited to be partnering with some of Silicon Valley’s foremost VC funds to offer a number of secondments to some of the world’s leading tech startups. Let us introduce to your our Tour of Duty, with the aim of bringing some of Australia’s brightest minds to the epicentre of global digital disruptors in America.

WHO
We want to hear from high-achieving Software Engineers or students graduating in Computer Science or a related engineering field. Please get in touch if you’re looking to be part of the next generation of digital disrupters.

WHAT
We are excited to offer the opportunity for you to make an impact in your own career, and on the future of the Australian tech space. The secondment will assist in fast-tracking your career, and is made possible thanks to the E3 Visa. You could gain experience working for some of the worlds most inspired ventures in IoT, fintech, big data, cloud computing, mobile applications and AI.

HOW
Facilitated by E3 Visa, MitchelLake are looking to source Australia’s best engineering talent and support their transition to some of Silicon Valley’s most innovative companies. Driven by our links to some of the most recognised and well-respected VCs in Tech, we can see the opportunity for Australians to learn and thrive from the insights and experience of working alongside our American counterparts.

Essence of the Venture
Our vision is tied intrinsically to the development of the Australian digital ecosystem and the concept of Australia being a global hub of innovation and world-leading tech start-ups. We want Australian tech talent to experience firsthand what it takes to build incredible companies, take risks, fail fast, pivot and succeed!

For more information about this opportunity click here or contact Rocco Joyce on +61 423 405 633 | rocco@mitchellake.com

“What an entrepreneur does is to build for the long run. If the market is great, you get all of the resources you can. You build to it. But a good entrepreneur is always prepared to throttle back, put on the brakes, and if the world changes, adapt to the world.”
– Vinod Khosla

MitchelLake is the world’s leading executive search and recruitment firm for start-ups, scale-ups and digital transformation.

 

6 Lessons To Learn From Silicon Valley

mitchellake on December 16, 2015

After reading that headline, you’re probably thinking, “I’m tired of hearing all of the noise about Silicon Valley and what they’ve done with the tech industry.” I’m sure if you hear about the next thing they’re innovating, you’re going to lose it… But, before you do that, let’s take a minute to ask what everyone is already thinking: “What’s the big deal about Silicon Valley anyway?”

They say that it all started with Sputnik. That’s right a satellite. When Russia launched the world’s first artificial satellite into Earth’s orbit on October 4, 1957, the United States was determined to not let the Soviets (I know, I know, they’re ‘Russians’ now) get too far ahead of them. Thus, America responded by launching Explorer 1 and the formation of the NASA was not far behind.

How is this relevant to Silicon Valley? You see, when NASA was formed, they needed someone to develop the high-powered components necessary to send the first person to the moon. That’s where San Jose’s own, Fairchild Semiconductor, came in. Without Fairchild, and “Fairchildren” companies such as Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, we would have never witnessed the massive technological innovations or the big boom in the software and internet industries that would come to inspire the innovative, risk-taking culture that Silicon Valley is known for.

The founder of Khosla Ventures, Vinod Khosla, told us in a Q&A on Quora.com, that the Silicon Valley is more of a state of mind than a place. Vinod states that “It’s a culture in which people are willing to bypass convention in any area, not be overly biased by why things can’t be done, but rather take the approach, how one might take a shot at it?”. Khosla believes that this culture can be replicated anywhere in the world. So why isn’t it being done? Failure is usually discouraged, and entrepreneurs are less likely to put the same risk behind their pursuits. That’s why we are still hearing about Silicon Valley above all other tech communities.

So, what is it about this “failure culture” that draws millennials, upstarts and foreign founders to the valley? Let’s look at those 6 lessons I mentioned earlier:

Lesson #1: Learn to be a “Need Seeker”

There are three types of companies in this world, according to ITIF.org. The ‘Technology Drivers’, the ‘Market Readers’ and the ‘Need Seekers’. Half of all Silicon Valley companies actively engage with their current and potential customers. This is 2x the national average. These need seekers dissect the most important and meaningful challenges in their clients lives and shape their products and services around those needs. These are Apple’s of the world, who want to envision products that will change the lives of their customers and strive to be the first to market with their solutions, while the others proceed cautiously within their markets and follow the direction suggested to them.

Lesson #2: If you’re going to be anything, be disruptive

A different culture of innovation exists within Silicon Valley. These innovators solve problems by questioning the status quo, set ridiculously ambitious goals, and do things that have never been done before. They create disruptive business models, which in turn, provides them with a disruptive product. Innovations, such as the ride-sharing app Uber, create new markets by discovering new types of customers. They do this partly by harnessing new technologies but also by developing new business models and exploiting old technologies in new ways, according to an article by Economist.com.

Lesson #3: Reach out to local and foreign networks to make connections

The best way to learn is to find local advisors. “Companies looking for partners to expand into foreign markets, will be better able to find “like-minded potential partners” in Silicon Valley,” says SiliconVikings.com. You would be amazed by the knowledge you can gain through the valley’s collaborative culture; so take advantage of it! Keep in mind that you’ve already created and broadened connections within your own network, be sure to give something back to those who are aiding you in your journey. Lending your own advice to help others is critical, and will pay you back in the future if the connections you make now appreciate you enough to refer others to you in the future. Foreign-born entrepreneurs are unique in this because they can offer a diverse perspective to other starting companies just by sharing their own experiences.

Lesson #4: It’s okay to fail, as long as you learned something from it

Silicon Valley has a strong acceptance and tolerance of failure, in comparison to European and Asian countries who have a stricter view on the matter. Accepting this “failure culture” and learning that it’s okay to take risks that might not always pay off is a way of life in the valley. According to an article in Entrepreneur.com, failure is readily viewed as a necessary “pit stop” that helps refuel entrepreneurs in their journey towards defying the status quo. It’s a red badge of courage, so to speak. So, if you’re going to fail, at least be sure to leverage that failure into future success.

Lesson #5: Don’t be afraid to work with the little guy (or the bigger guy)!

Silicon Valley has a unique culture and ecosystem of business savvy individuals that have a wealth of experience and knowledge behind them, and aren’t afraid to share it. This is one of the key aspects that brings in foreign business, and one of the biggest things to take advantage of when given the chance. Elizabeth Weil, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz (better known as a16z), discusses in a podcast that she regularly has large companies speak with her about making connections with Silicon Valley founders and small teams. Weil states that large companies and startups can equally benefit from partnerships. Large companies seek to do better business through innovation, while smaller companies are able to learn how to navigate the larger world and begin building a track record for success.

Lesson #6: Valuable intel can best be gathered from the inside

Many successful companies are creating small offices, or “outposts,” within the valley so they can effectively spot new trends, get closer to potential business and technology partners, and make connections with world-class universities and research facilities such as San Jose State, Stanford University, and Ames Research Center. With the creation of these outposts, they are able to go beyond monitoring, acquiring and developing technology. According to SiliconVikings.com, “Japanese companies have had listening posts in the SF Bay Area for a long time – the 70’s on. There was a pull back in the 80’s through the early 90’s when the Japanese economy weakened and, following that, when Japanese firms started to focus heavily on the domestic market. Around the time of the first dot com boom (mid-late 90’s), they began to re-invest in what could now be called “innovation posts” in that they were looking to make investments in as well as learn from Internet tech companies (mostly through corporate venturing groups which invested in venture funds and worked with start ups in incubation labs).”

What important lessons have you learned from Silicon Valley? Continue the conversation with us on Twitter @MitchelLake.

Image via Startup Stock Photo

The disparities between UK and Australian retailers and their adoption to digital transformation: How much further has Australia got to go to catch up?

mitchellake on December 4, 2015

After making the decision to pack my life into a suitcase, endure an epic 22-hour movie marathon 35,000 feet in the air, and tolerate an airbed that needed pumping up in the middle of the night for two weeks, I’ve finally settled into my new Australian life.

Having never been to Australia before, I knew I would be in for a bit of a culture shock; jargon I’ve never heard, four seasons in a day (Melbourne specifically), public transport that doesn’t involve an armpit in your face, people not understanding my ‘Will from The Inbetweeners’ accent, but the one thing I wasn’t expecting is how far behind Australia’s retailers are in digitally transforming their businesses.

UK retailers have gone through drastic changes in the last 5 years with eCommerce sales making up 14.5% of overall retail sales compared to Australia’s 4.5% predicted for 2015. Amazon UK has been the most used eCommerce site in the UK for the last four years, with the likes of Argos, Apple, Asos and John Lewis trailing behind; yet Amazon barely has a presence in Australia.

Even away from pure play retail businesses like Amazon, Australia still has a lot of improvement to make. Argos (a British catalogue retailer and part of Home Retail Group) is a prime example of how digital transformation should be implemented for an omni-channel retailer (subjectively speaking); the iconic catalogue that was the cornerstone of the business was submerged into the digital era. No more are British homes plagued with the 5kg catalogue that has been used for things from a doorstop, to a drinks coaster, even to a weapon to hit a younger sibling with (maybe that was just my older brother…). All of those memories will now become folktale that we will tell the next generation of children who won’t even be able to comprehend the pain of having one thrown at their midsection.

All joking aside, Argos have managed to condense all of the content into an app which is able to tell you everything from stock availability, store location, opening hours, similar products, the ability to reserve items for two days before you arrive and order some products directly to your door. Argos isn’t the only one either, John Lewis and Marks & Spencer, two of the main retailers in the UK, have also launched apps for their consumers, increasing engagement and insight to their customers.

The likes of Myer and David Jones have a long journey ahead of them, but hopefully they will be able to catch up to speed with the rest of the digital world, learning from the case studies of companies that have tried, failed and succeeded.

With all of this said, Australia are already moving in the right direction with online retail currently estimated at A$22.1 billion for last year, a 7% growth on 2013. We’re also seeing a lot of ad tech businesses reaching our shores and setting up shop from both the UK and Palo Alto, a sign that digital could already have all the traction it needs to springboard ahead.

What are your thoughts on the future of digital in Australia? We’d love to hear from you – find us on Twitter @MitchelLake.

Join Us To Jumpstart Your Startup With $30,000 Investment Funding And Support

mitchellake on November 27, 2015

With startups close to our heart MitchelLake are proud to be partnering once again with NRMA’s Jumpstart program and you can join us at this year’s info session. Reserve your tickets here

Following the successful inaugural initiative in 2014 the accelerator program is back, with Jumpstart – powered by Slingshot – helping the next generation of entrepreneurs in two ways, via both a startup and scale-up program.

This year The Startup Program will provide a structured three-month accelerator program and $30,000 to get your startup business idea off the ground.

If you’re an existing business, you can leverage NRMA’s large and engaged customer network to help scale quickly under the Scale-up Program.

In the first instalment, Careseekers were named the winner across the startup category, receiving mentoring and financial support that provided a huge boost to their online service that connects people requiring in-home careers with those looking for care-based employment Australia wide.

Thanks to the wonderful network and connections that are created from being a part of the Jumpstart Program, four of the original Jumpstart finalists have attracted funding from investors that is close to topping the $2mill mark.

Please join us for this exciting event, and you could be getting the Jumpstart that your concept or established business deserves. Book your free spot here.

Fishburners
Level 1, 608 Harris Street
Ultimo, NSW
Thursday 16th July, 5.30-8pm

For more information visit MyNRMA.

How are we doing as people? Future Assembly asks the hard questions

mitchellake on November 17, 2015

How are we doing as people? If you took everything you know about the world, past and present, and rated us out of 10, how would humanity stack up?

This was the question that FutureCrunch Founders Angus Hervey and Tane Hunter asked the audience to answer in the opening presentation at Melbourne’s renowned Future Assembly event last Friday. MitchelLake’s very own Annie Denton and Nick Krekis both gave the human race moderately pessimistic scores of four and five, which were fairly consistent with the rest of the crowd. Like all good scientists, Angus and Tane let the facts paint a much more positive picture. Thanks to science and technology, the very things that this festival sets out to celebrate, humans are actually doing better now than they ever have before. The Melbourne-based think-tank acknowledges that we still have a host of challenges that threaten our progress, but that ideas and innovation have uplifted us enough to make 2014 statistically our “best year ever.”

Their talk was timely and thought provoking, as it highlighted the mainstream media’s role in directing our attention towards the worst atrocities over the positive innovations that have brought us forward. Keeping on theme, Angus and Tane pointed out that bad news actually outweighs the good by 20:1, capitalising on our biological inclination towards bad news (i.e. the media understands what rubbernecking is and knows how to use it to keep people watching). While the majority of the audience was presumably engaged enough to formulate opinions based on more than just mainstream media, the message was clear that we need to pay special attention to ever-expanding landscape of technologies that help us to tackle our problems and make the world a better place. While this is no small number, 10% of the world now lives in extreme poverty, vs. 80-90% of the world’s population in the 19th century. This is the most dramatic socioeconomic uplift for humanity 200 years, and the hope is that the innovations behind such improvements will continue through initiatives like “Random Hacks of Kindness” and the increasing push for open-source solutions to the world’s problems.

The two talks that followed, both by scientists at CSIRO, highlighted that Australia still has a long way to go if we want to keep expanding the possibilities that science and technology provide. We currently rank 18th out of OECD economies in funding for SciTech, and unfortunately R&D funding is at its lowest point in the last 30 years. This is a major roadblock that stands in the way of growth for great ideas. With the new possibilities provided by Big Data & Analytics (shout out to Toby & Gareth!), or scientific developments that allow for double the food production using the same amount of water (think controlled evaporation), Australians are now encouraged to come up with new funding models to help these innovations commercialise.

It goes without saying that Future Assembly brought together some of the tech world’s most innovative minds. Internet of Things was the talk of the Showgrounds as inventors and entrepreneurs showcased their products. We had a ball perusing the many interactive demos, which included numerous 3D Printers (one of which was actively printing an Iron Man mask), virtual reality goggles that let us take a walking tour of one of the apartments from The Block, drones, an engineless Tesla car, augmented reality games courtesy of One Fat Sheep, and Zorb Soccer (not really digital, but loads of fun).

The highlights were many, but one standout was a video game controlled by Eyes Decide’s eye-gaze tracking technology (imagine thinking “a little to the left” and making it happen instantaneously). The implications of this technology are far-reaching, as this startup has been able to apply their technology across healthcare and e-commerce. Imagine being able to understand your customer conversions and user experience through tracking heat maps and reports based on where people look versus where they drag their mouse. Eyes Decide has developed a disruptive technology that they are trialling with big names in classifieds and online marketplaces to do just that.

We ended the day by watching two inspiring talks by Sophie Blachford from Instagram and Slade Sherman (Head of Product at Buzz, and all-round IoT guru). As early adopters of Instagram and avid amateur brunch-photographers, both of us were enthralled with Sophie’s talk. Slade Sherman’s case study on IoT as a way to utilise new marketing channels and acquire better metrics on success was also extremely interesting. Plus, the connected Budweiser Red Light and connected Beer Fridge were definitely things that would have been great to have around during my share housing days at Uni!

All in all, Future Assembly put on a fantastic event showcasing some of the most innovative, disruptive technology that will surely be influencing our everyday lives. What do you think will be the most disruptive technology going into 2016? Get the conversation going on Twitter @MitchelLake.

Practice What We Preach: A whole new perspective on UX Design

mitchellake on November 10, 2015

Having recently commenced a part-time General Assembly UX course, I am now in the process of working through our latest project: developing an idea for my own app. I spent the majority of the weekend going back over my notes and lecture slides. All weekend I meandered from one cafe to another telling myself that “the next place will have a more creative ambience, great for generating new ideas”. I even shamefully sat in the library, procrastinating by dusting my new laptop.

It did not matter how many new Post-Its I bought or however many Sharpie pens I used; as I Googled ‘motivational quotes’ I realised I need to understand what my real problem was. I used diagrams of Design Thinking techniques on myself to work out what was actually going on to lead me to this behaviour. It was then that I realised just how much I am overthinking the whole thing because I normally recruit within Experience Design. Being a GA student learning to actually do UX myself is a whole other ball game and the main thing I need to tackle is my own fear. My appreciation for what Experience Design professionals do has increased even more than before – and trust me, it was already high!

During our first lesson we all explained our backgrounds and I felt my face going red as I said “I recruit in UX”. No one even cared, it was me that was paranoid that people thought I was there to ‘headhunt’ rather than learn. So, knowing that and wanting to ensure that everyone knew I was there for the right reasons, I thought about a way my personal project could solve a problem that a lot of individuals go through. I decided to apply my previous background in Law and a recent, difficult experience in applying for Permanent Residency in Australia, as the basis of my app.

The night before our MVP presentations, it was as if all of my research for my app idea, the ‘AUpra app’, had gone out of the window and it was as though I had forgot how to speak in front of people. The sheer build up to those 5 minutes of me talking and contemplating the possible Q&As still stirs me up now! Gladly it was not so bad – everyone in the class did really well and now I am seeking advice from people who go through this every day.

Our second activity as a class revealed that I blatantly can not sketch. We were asked to write a name tag and draw what kind of animal we would be. My monkey looked more like an owl and my physical posture more of a field mouse. We have not had the prototyping lesson yet but one thing is for sure, popcorn will be needed at home for the amount of tutorial videos I will need to watch!

While my app may not be a best-seller and while my design skills certainly won’t get me hired by themselves, I’m already seeing the benefit of doing this course. I can learn as much as possible in and around the course, to not only assist with my UX project in class, but to also allow me to become better in my role at filling UX roles with the most exciting, inspiring people in the business.

As we know, great Experience Design can happen in various forms and I would love to explore this further with those interested. I would appreciate any tips or advice from those in the industry already – as you can tell, it is new to me actually ‘doing UX’. Hopefully hear from you soon!

Web Summit: Thoughts from a first timer

mitchellake on October 28, 2015

In November I spent 5 days in Dublin in the middle of arguably the largest gathering (and rowdiest, compliments of the free Guinness at the venue) of Tech-focused professionals on the planet: Web Summit. There were more people, more speaking sessions, more pitches, and more hustle and bustle than one could imagine.

First and foremost Irish entrepreneur and co-founder of WebSummit Paddy Cosgrave put on an amazing event, with over 30,000 attendees and 1,000 speakers descending to Dublin over 4 days!

I had a great time but saw so many people looking ‘lost’ and struggling to tackle the sheer size and undertakings of the event.

Because of this I’ve made a list of a few observations from my first time there, hopefully it provides some insight for people thinking of going next year, and an understanding of what it’s like on the ground.

1. Hustle.
The buzz in the Summit was unreal, it was inspiring to see the passion. You could see people sneaking into the investor lounge trying to get in front of a VC or two; I even got given an elevator pitch while standing in an actual elevator! If you’re not there to hustle I wholly suggest just going as an attendee. You’ll get so much out of it and sometimes it’s not worth it to pay for a booth.

2. Prep your idea
While most ideas were incredible and inspiring, I felt that some of the pitches were not yet fleshed out. This may have been the concept itself, or the target audience being too niche. A pitch for a social network for imaginary friends left me scratching my head. There were a few that left me asking “are these people really dedicating their life to creating an app which allows people to more efficiently shop online while driving?”. (I’ll be the one eating my words when this takes off).

With under-developed ideas, it made me wonder why they were being pitched. While there is overwhelmingly a lot of good that comes from the Summit I’d caution people to think about what stage they are at with their idea and what they want to get from the event. I think that if you go to the Summit expecting client acquisition and you still haven’t figured out your product then you need to reconsider. I’d be keen to hear your thoughts about when an idea is ready to be pitched.

3. The most widely used word of the summit: Bubble.
I’d bet that the word ‘bubble’ was used at every fireside chat (and there were hundreds of those). No one knows whether its actually coming or when, but it’s certainly the main topic of conversation.

4. Dublin lives up to its reputation of being full of good people who love Guinness.
The city was incredible, the nightlife was unreal, and the concierge at the hotel said it is like that all the time! With so many bar crawls, dinners and private parties, make sure to get your sleep and spend time finding out who is there and what to do with your evenings.

There is incredible networking to be done at night if you’re organised enough to be where the action is. Through a bit of prior-planning I had the chance to hang with my old boss, friend, and speaker Andy McLoughlin one night, which was awesome.

5. Learn from the masters
On the topic of prepping for the event, check out the Web Summit Hacks. I got a few blast emails from companies that used the event as a tool for mass marketing to 40,000 people that they knew would all be at the event, looking to set demos or get meetings.

6. Globalisation is happening, fast.
Even just last year, I remember hearing a panel of VC’s saying that they preferred to focus their investments in certain geographies. At the summit, through dozens of conversations with investors, this is simply not the case. Additionally, any company of >10 people already has an expansion plan to push into new geographies. Where you live and incubate your company is only confining if you choose it to be. It’s only a matter of time before Silicon Valley becomes one of many top places to be, not the only place. This is more of an observation than anything, but a pretty cool one in my mind.

7. On that topic of observations: the future will be out of this world.
It’s not just the emergence of VR, hover boards and self-driving cars. On-demand and sharing economies, and the IoT are already melding together and creating some amazing opportunities. I’m imagining soon living in a world where a robot preps my dinner in a self-monitoring oven and delivers it to me on Mars.

The incredible thing about the Web Summit is that you can get out of it whatever you put in. Be realistic with your expectations of what should come of it and then get to work making that happen. Don’t get caught thinking that all the VCs will just get swept up in your idea regardless of where it’s at – develop it, develop it, develop it.

On a personal note, it was incredible seeing so many passionate people. I’m not a techie and don’t know the first thing about coding, but I do get excited thinking about how many problems people are solving. If you want to help end child hunger, there actually is an app for that.

Hit us up on our Twitter to share your experiences of Web Summit.