Date: Thursday December 10, 2015, 7:00PM
Time: Networking starts at 6:45pm, Presentation starts at 7pm
Location: Bahen 1130 (main floor), 40 St. George Street
Cost: Free. RSVP Required. Come and see what ToRCHI is all about, and if you like these presentations, join ToRCHI for $20/year membership.
Presenter: Patañjali Chary, Advisor, EchoUser Inc., former VP UX Ultimate, and UX Evangelist Oracle
Getting user experience to the business leadership table is often thought of as a process of just building the right kind of user experience team, collecting and sharing reams of usability engineering data, and educating, even convincing people that “we are worthy” as UX professionals to have a seat at the “big” table, and perhaps just “holding out”.
But are these kinds of strategies, like “design by two-by-four” really effective in the end? Is there a better way that actually works in the long-run?
What it actually takes to EXECUTE on a product designed for the marketplace (and not just come up with great ideas that never get built – a far too often heard outcome in UX circles), is an entire set of collaborators.
Business is all about trust and relationships, and therefore, so should UX be.
Patañjali Chary, former Vice President of User Experience at Ultimate Software, will tell you that in the end, it’s all about building trust, empathy, and forging solid relationships with the entire product team and beyond. He understands that UX folks can sometimes be “nervous” when their designs are not accepted out-right or in “the now”. Rather ironically, it’s about learning to strategically “let go”. In this talk Patañjali will discuss how he coaches his organizations to take the long view of UX success by first focusing primarily on building partner trust, even over compelling design, which requires a high level of patience and empathy.
Top Career Takeaways & Learnings for You:
- How to build trust and empathy so that collaborators view you as a critical partner in the business process
- How to evangelize User Experience to partners to build strong understanding and cohesion
- How to keep UX teams motivated when the goal is long term trust, rather than short term design wins
BIO: Patañjali Chary, Advisor, EchoUser Inc.
Patañjali most recently served as Vice President of User Experience for Ultimate Software in Greater Miami, FL. Prior to joining Ultimate in 2012, Patañjali was Chief Evangelist, User Experience at Oracle, and lead numerous user experience efforts at Oracle for over 12 years. His past stints have also included senior user experience roles at Microsoft and at Kent Ridge Digital Labs in Singapore. Patañjali holds an MBA from both Columbia Business School, and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, as well as a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence from the University of Toronto, Canada. Separately, he is also a Certified Natural Chef, and completed his externship at the world-renowned Michelin-starred restaurant Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, CA. He currently serves as an advisor to several firms and startups in the USA and Canada, including Hyphenapp.io and EchoUser, Inc.