The Relentless Climb Out of the Valley of Creative Despair: Getting Unstuck & Moving Forward—Caitlin Vlastakis Smith

We all get stuck. This is especially true for teams tackling complex problems across business, design and technology ecosystems. This talk gives designers, creative professionals and technologists simple and applicable ideas to help them get out of the valley… that often lonely place of "What now?" and "How do we move forward?"

Talk delivered at Adobe Creative Jam in Raleigh 2019 by Caitlin Vlastakis Smith

1. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Get???g U??tu?? & Mov??? F?r?a?d

2. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Hel??!
Ca?t??? Vla???k?? S?it?
Dir????r, Ser???? Des??? & St?a??g?
@ Glo???t

3. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith

4. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
How ?? ??d u? ?? t?? ?al???:
Too little information
Too much information
Imposter syndrome

5. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
The ????w??? Sli?? ??
To? ??t??e In???m??i??

6. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Des??? Y?ur O?? Con??r????s
1.Frame the problem

2.Focus on the humans

3.Understand the money


Bring your peers along with you;
reshape them together!

7. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
A ve?? c??? ?hi??. Al?o ??t ?? p?o??.
Small kids have to master
many things at once
when learning to ride a
bike. Balance is the most
difficult. Design a way for
kids to learn how to
ride a bike.
The Problem

8. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Pro??-Per????s A?e ??l? a?d ???? Yo?r ???e?d
The Humans

9. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
“Write to please just one person.
If you open a window and make love to the world,
so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.”
- Kurt Vonnegut -
The Humans

10. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Get ???? t?e B???n o? ? C?O
More info: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/whats-difference-between-bottom-line-top-line-growth-john-kingsley/
The Money

11. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Determine
what you’re
impacting!

●Helping to sell more things/services to new customers
●Creating differentiated market value for the company
●Making it easier for current customers to buy more things

●Reducing time employees spend on mundane and menial tasks
●Decreasing amount of low-value customer service interactions
●Cutting out internal processes that drain resources

More info: https://articles.uie.com/yes-alan-there-is-an-roi-for-ux-design/
The Money

12. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
The ???? ??ti?? S??m??e ?f

To? ??c? I?fo???t?o?

13. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
How will we
measure
success?How do we
execute?
Ele????on C???k
What are we
trying to achieve?
Why?
Who’s
benefiting?

14. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Wad??? Th?o??h ??? Det????
Ask yourself—and your team—broad questions to start distilling:

What do we
BELIEVE we
know
about the
need/ask?
What are we
expected
to deliver
by the end of
this phase?
What’s
everything we
know about
this feature
request?
Pro??t:

Pro??t:

Pro??t:

15. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Wad??? Th?o??h ??? Det????
What do we
BELIEVE we
know
about the
need/ask?
Pro??t:

16. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Wad??? Th?o??h ??? Det????

Identify the
riskiest
assumptions.

Prioritize.
Validate.

17. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
The ???? ??an? ??...
...IM???T??!

18. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Winter 2015-2016
A Re?l-li?? T??t ?e???g?*
Me →
← My ??ar? ?r????
*Sha??? w??? pe???s??o?

19. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
“Stop walking through the world looking
for confirmation that you don’t belong.”
- Brene Brown -

20. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Winter 2015-2016
Let’s design and redesign the many broken and painful
things around us.

We’re living in a messy ecosystem of digital interactions, legacy processes,
disparate technology systems, money, governance, power, culture, AI, and a
world in need of systemic change.

We need more YOUs—people who ask: What about the humans?
Cli?? O?t ?? ?he V????y. Let’s Ru? ???t. (Ple???!)

21. Globant Raleigh // @caitvsmith
Tha??s ???
be??? h??e!