When you work in a large UX?team

I recently wrote an article titled "When You Are the Only UX in a Company," which discussed my experience working for a startup.

I was the first UX Designer they hired. My mission was to create the Design System, introduce the UX culture to the company, work with a team of developers, and more. I recommend you read it if you haven’t yet.

Going from a startup to a multinational company with over 30 UX Designers worldwide is a big jump.

When you are the only UX Designer on a small team, you may receive feedback, maybe from a programmer regarding its functionality or the Product owner asking for more details on the flow or suggesting or adding something relevant to the project. The approval process can be fast, and few people are involved.

The reduced budget that startups generally have makes every decision go into a more dynamic practice, not only from the design perspective but all around.

As a UX Designer, you should be ready to provide clear answers to questions during your presentation and advocate for every part of the mock-up presented.

Other UX designers will listen to your proposal on a large team. Each has a different background and perspective and is ready to give feedback about your presentation.

When facilitating a workshop, presenting the solution to other UX designers is an excellent opportunity to get feedback and improve the product you are working on.

First, please remember that this is not personal, and I'd like to hear criticism.

You will spend days and hours researching, planning, booking meetings, taking notes and sketching wireframes before using the computer to mock up an interface or a user flow.

If you like to see things happen fast and are anxious to see the project live, be aware that it may take months to be finally approved, and it might not be implemented, and you will never know why.

Online meetings can be challenging. The team’s different opinions over the presented new feature, interface, or user flow can take hours; at the end of the day, nothing is resolved.

It isn't easy to find a definitive solution for a new project. The lack of proper research makes all UX designers’ proposals assumptions. What might seem logical to some may not be so logical to?others.

When you imagine yourself in that position, you must listen to everyone, take notes, and research before suggesting a solution for the team.

These meet-ups also function as brainstorming sessions, so preparing your research with examples and references is an excellent way to raise your hand at the next meeting and offer suggestions.

Imagine a meeting with over 30 UX Designers deciding whether a button should be outlined, whether we will use a dropdown to select, or whether we should use a checkbox or radio button.

I don’t think we should have this discussion when most basic UI and UX topics have already been researched.

Plenty of articles show the best practices, so having a meeting to discuss these can be a waste of time and frustrating when you have other complex pain points to resolve.

It is essential to have good relationships with other team members. Remember, this is not a competition to see who can come up with the best solution; now is the time to learn from one another.

You may notice that some of your workmates have an inflated ego that prevents them from hearing what others say.

They believe whatever they do is the unique and best solution, but don’t worry. In this market, they are the first ones to get kicked.