Advocating for UX Quality in Orgs That Value Speed & Metrics

Hosted by Catt Small

474 students

In this video

What you'll learn

Reframe design quality as a business problem

Learn to move conversations away from aesthetics by connecting UX issues to concepts the business understands.

Advocate for quality without becoming the blocker

Discover techniques to push back on shortcuts while still aligning with delivery expectations.

Protect your energy and political capital while advocating

Understand when advocacy is worth continuing and when it’s a signal to adjust strategy.

Why this topic matters

Senior and staff designers are accountable for outcomes but aren’t the final decision-makers. We sometimes find ourselves in environments where launch speed, metrics, and the needs of the business are used to dismiss usability issues and experience quality concerns. In this talk, Catt Small will share how she learned to elevate the quality of in-prod UX without being an obstacle to business goals.

You'll learn from

Catt Small

Staff Product Designer with 15+ YOE

Catt is a Staff Product Designer, game maker, and developer. She started coding around the age of 10 and designing at the age of 15. She graduated from SVA with a BFA in Graphic Design in 2011 and later received an MS in Integrated Digital Media from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering in 2016.

Catt has driven the design and launch of major product experiences that have impacted millions of people. The experiences she designed have drastically increased UX quality and revenue, unlocked an IPO, won awards, and led to successful patents. She enjoys helping people become their best selves and has proactively mentored many talented designers throughout her career — in addition to over 80 amazing individuals through Merit.

You can view her work at cattsmall.com.

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