Brave UX with Brendan Jarvis 🇺🇦

Vidya Dinamani - The Rebel's Guide to Making Great Products

Vidya Dinamani shares important strategies for building belief, healthy product cultures, and positive cross-functional relationships. 
Highlights include:
How have you increased your chances of your initiatives being supported?
How do you determine what is needed for a product org to improve?
What do you do when a leader is preventing the product org’s success?
How do the best leaders manage the demands on their team’s time?
What advice do you have for teams being crushed by their backlog?
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Who is Vidya Dinamani?
Vidya is the co-founder of Product Rebels, a company that has provided world-class and hands-on product management coaching, by tenured product management executives, to over 1,200 product leaders and founders.
She is also a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, a specialist early-stage venture investment firm and accelerator that helps female founders to get funded.
Before founding Product Rebels, Vidya was the VP of Innovation and Design at Mitchell International, where she established and grew a team that was focused on new growth products and the development of an innovation framework, metrics and process.
Vidya also spent a little over a decade at Intuit, where her last role was as the Director of Product & Customer Experience Development for TurboTax.
She holds 9 US software patents. Is a member of both GroupSolver’s and Sash Group’s board of directors. A limited partner of the Neythri Futures Fund. A mentor for Techstars and GrowthMentor. And the founder and lead organiser of Product Tank San Diego.
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Find Vidya here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vdinamani/Website: https://vidyadinamani.mystrikingly.com/X: https://twitter.com/vdinamani
Product Rebels: https://productrebels.com/Ad Astra Ventures: http://www.adastra.ventures/ 
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Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Suj Premachandran - Bringing the Power of UX Design to Children

Suj Premachandran shares how Digital Influx brings UX to children, how they integrate Eastern educational philosophy, and the challenge of changing archaic education systems.
Highlights include:
How are you helping children to become creative thinkers and designers?
Are some of Digital Influx’s practices too ‘foreign’ for UK educators?
How are you bringing design to people of colour through Digital Influx?
What inspiration have you taken from non-Western education systems?
Why do students create projects related to UN Sustainable Development Goals?
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Who is Suj Premachandran?
Suj is the CEO of Digital Influx, an international, industry-led, and interactive EdTech platform that helps children, teens and adults to develop UX design skills and to think differently about problems, large and small. 
Suj is also the Vice President of the recently established Digital Influx Foundation; a US based non-profit that aims to make design education accessible to all children, regardless of their socio-economic background.
Before founding Digital Influx, Suj worked in design recruitment as a senior talent partner for Revolut, one of the world’s first global super apps. And also as a creative talent consultant for product and UX people at Salt in London.
Suj is an advocate for design & UX education at Tech London Advocates, a network of more than 15,000 tech leaders, entrepreneurs and experts across the globe. He is also a member of the Design Leadership Forum.
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Find Suj here:
Website: https://digitalinflux.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suj-premachandran-b630b444/X: https://twitter.com/CEOinflux
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Andy Vitale - Scaling Your Design Organisation

Andy Vitale shares his experiences as an executive design leader, how he’s successfully scaled several design orgs, and why a career in pro wrestling wasn’t for him.
Highlights include:
Why do you create a five year plan for the design orgs you lead?
How has Grey’s Anatomy informed the design of your design organisations?
Why go to the trouble of helping someone who’s struggling in an interview?
How do you navigate the expectations of being the most senior design leader?
How do you feel you’ve enabled people on your team to speak to you as an equal?
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Who is Andy Vitale?
Andy is the Chief Design Officer of Constant Contact, an automation platform that helps small businesses to simplify and amplify their digital marketing. In this crucial role, Andy is responsible for providing executive leadership for the design organisation.
A master when it comes to scaling design teams, while at Rocket Companies Andy grew the design team into a multidisciplinary organisation with over 170 people working across design, research and brand.
Aside from his busy day job, Andy is also helping to shape the thinking of future user experience professionals, through his work as an adjunct professor for Kent State University’s Masters of Science in User Experience Design programme.
Andy is the co-host of the Surfacing Podcast where, alongside Lisa Welchman, he engages designers, technologists, and business leaders in inspiring conversations.
He is a member of the Fast Company Executive Board, an Adobe Education Leader, and - believe it or not - he still finds time to mentor designers on ADPList.
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Find Andy here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andyvitale/Website: https://www.andyvitale.com/Medium: https://medium.com/@andyvitaleX: https://twitter.com/andyvitale
======
Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Ben Sauer - Presenting High-Stakes Design Work

Ben Sauer shares why designers need to be better presenters, how to keep stakeholders awake and engaged, and what to do when disaster inevitably strikes.
Highlights include:
Is how design is presented more important than the design itself?
How do you help stakeholders to relate more powerfully to design work?
What is the Goldilocks Zone and how can designer’s find it quickly?
Why can it be useful to show stakeholders design work bit-by-bit?
How do you deal with difficult people when presenting design work?
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Who is Ben Sauer?
Ben is an independent product and design strategist, coach, and trainer, helping companies to craft the vision for their products, and to inspire better internal processes and practices.
Drawing on over 20 years of experience, he has written and spoken about strategic storytelling, voice UI design, and how slowing down can help organisations to speed up. And his insights have been put to use at organisations such as NASA, Amazon and the BBC.
Ben’s most recent mission is helping designers to become more influential by becoming more confident communicators of their work. That’s why he’s recently published a book called “Death by Screens”, a practical how-to guide for presenting high stakes design work.
Before becoming an independent consultant, Ben worked at Babylon Health, where he was first a Director of Design and then a Director of Product. There, he led a large team of over 100 designers, clinicians, data scientists and engineers.
He has also been a Senior UX Designer at Clearleft, the world-renowned and perhaps first UX design consultancy in the United Kingdom.
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Find Ben here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bensauer/Website: https://bensauer.net/X: https://twitter.com/bensauer
Death By Screens: How to Present High-Stakes Digital Design Work and Live to Tell the Tale - https://bensauer.net/deathbyscreens/
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Aylin Uysal - Leading a Global Enterprise UX Design Org

Aylin Uysal shares her story of leading enterprise design, the reality of being an exec and a parent, and how patience and perseverance have served her well.
Highlights include:
Why is it important to have a good grasp of the details as a senior design leader?
How do you know when you haven’t got the work-parent balance quite right?
What changed at Oracle to enable the culture to significantly support design?
How do you work across Oracle to ensure that users’ experience great design?
Why can’t business apps be as simple and delightful as consumer apps?
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Who is Aylin Uysal?
Currently the VP of User Experience for Cloud Applications at Oracle, Aylin is at the forefront of design at one of the tech industry's most established companies, helping its customers to see data in new ways, discover insights and unlock endless possibilities.
During over two decades at Oracle Aylin has held several senior leadership roles, serving previously as a Senior Director of User Experience, a Director of Applications User Experience, and as a Senior Manager of HCM User Experience.
Before her long-standing tenure at Oracle, Aylin was a valued member of the design team at SAP, where she was a lead designer. She also made her mark as a senior designer at Silicon Graphics, a legendary Silicon Valley icon.
Originally from Turkey, Aylin graduated from Middle East Technical University with a Bachelor's in Industrial Design. She further honed her craft, obtaining a Master of Fine Arts from San Francisco's Academy of Art University.
Aylin's influence is not just corporate; she's been celebrated as one of the top thirty influential Turkish-American women by Turk of Amerika, she is a board member of the TUSIAD Silicon Valley Network, and is credited on 8 US patents. 
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Find Aylin here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aylinuysal/X: https://twitter.com/aylinuysal
======
Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Monal Chokshi - Growing Impactful UX Research Organisations

Monal Chokshi shares the lessons learned from growing three UX research orgs, what makes research impact a reality, and reflects on the next step in her career.
Highlights include:
What do you wish you knew about management before becoming a manager?
What do researchers leaders need to do to increase their impact and influence?
Did you become a manager to have more influence on product decisions?
What do you look for in a company when deciding whether to apply for a job?
What is the right way to socialise and influence partners with insights? 
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Who is Monal Chokshi?
Until recently, Monal was a Senior Director and Head of Research & Insights at Dropbox, the company behind the cloud-based file storage and synchronisation service that helps over 700 million people, in over 180 countries, keep life organised.
At Dropbox, Monal led an organisation with researchers embedded in teams working across the company’s diverse range of products. As well as a centralised research team that contributed to Dropbox’s strategic direction through foundational research.
Before joining Dropbox, Monal was the Head of UX Research at Lyft. It was here that her visionary leadership enabled the discipline to grow from just her, to over 30 researchers, design strategists, and research operations specialists, working across all of the company’s products and services.
A generous contributor to the community, Monal has shared her insights at popular events, such as at UX Live’s UXR Conference, and on podcasts like the UX STRAT Podcast, Noam Segal’s UXR Conversations, and UserZoom’s UX Peditious.
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Find Monal here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/monal/X: https://twitter.com/MonalChokshi
How to Succeed as a UXR Manager: https://youtu.be/JhjCOljQDHA
======
Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
======
Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Jakob Nielsen, PhD - Plainspoken, Hard-hitting and Unorthodox

Jakob Nielsen addresses some of the criticism he’s faced, calls on UXers to urgently adopt AI, and shares why he believes the commoditisation of UX is a good thing.
Highlights include:
Are you surprised by how much you’ve offended some people?
Why do UXers need a greater sense of urgency about adopting AI?
Were the hiring practices at your previous company elitist?
What is the state of UX today and where is the growth potential?
Will AI impede our ability to develop our professional judgement?
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Who is Jakob Nielsen, PhD?
Jakob is the founder of UX Tigers, the website and associated substack he uses to bring his 41 years of UX knowledge and experience to the world, in what he has described as a plainspoken, hard-hitting and not bowing to orthodoxy kind-of-way.
Before founding UX Tigers, Jakob was the co-founder and principal - for 25 years - of a rather well known UX consultancy, the Nielsen Norman Group.
His other notable roles include being a distinguished engineer at Sun Microsystems, and a member of the research staff at Bell Communications Research - one of the world’s top three HCI labs in the 1990s.
Jakob is known for many other things, among which are being the founder of the discount usability movement, the foundational 10 usability heuristics for user interface design, and the eponymously named Jakob’s Law of Internet User Experience. 
He is the holder of no less than 79 United States patents and the author of 8 books, including the best-selling “Designing Web Usability: The Practice of Simplicity”, “Usability Engineering”, and the pioneering “Hypertext and Hypermedia”.
In 2013, Jakob received the Lifetime Achievement Award for HCI Practice from ACM SIGCHI and in 2024 he was named a “Titan of Human Factors” by the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society.
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Find Jakob here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakobnielsenphd/Website: https://www.uxtigers.com/
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Justin Dauer - Finding Fulfilment: A Designer's Journey

Justin Dauer shares how he conquered his ego to become a better designer, why he’s left executive design leadership, and how unfulfilled designers make bad products.
Highlights include:
Has digital visual design become a little bit boring?
Why is humility the most important trait for a designer?
What made you realise you were done with in-house design leadership?
Why is it unacceptable for design leaders to ‘coast’ in their careers?
How have you’ve been able to reach a high level of professional fulfilment?
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Who is Justin Dauer?
Justin is the Founder of Anomali by Design, a consultancy specialising in design strategy, product design, and engagement. Through Anomali, Justin helps organisations to develop their design leaders, so that they in turn foster healthier processes, methods, and cultures.
Before founding Anomali, Justin was the Vice President of Human-Centred Design and Development at bswift, a tech company owned by CVS Health, that transforms the way millions of employees perceive and engage with their benefits.
Justin also spent a number of years as Design Director of Nansen, a Swedish-American design firm. In this role, he established the Chicago office and managed a multi-disciplinary team of designers, front-end developers, and UX architects.
He is the author of two celebrated books on design. His first, the beautifully illustrated “Cultivating a Creative Culture” was published in 2017, with a second-edition released in 2020. His latest book, “In Fulfillment: The Designer’s Journey” was released is early 2022.
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Find Justin here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pseudoroom/Website: https://anomalibydesign.com/X: https://twitter.com/pseudoroom
Books:
In Fulfillment: The Designer’s Journey - https://www.in-fulfillment.com/
Createive Culture: Human-Centered Interaction Design & Inspiration -https://www.the-culturebook.com/
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Rob Hamblen - Behind the Scenes of World-Class Design Sprints

Rob Hamblen shares his insights on effective sprint facilitation, why he asks clients if they’re designing for today or tomorrow, and why design sprints have a PR problem.
Highlights include:
What do you do when senior leaders aren’t willing to be wrong?
What types of business challenges are most suited to a design sprint?
What have you learned from facilitating sprints with tricky team dynamics?
Does dot voting to enable effective group decisions to be made?
Does it matter if design sprints are performative if alignment is the result?
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Who is Rob Hamblen?
Rob is the Founder of Be the Leap, a company specialising in the combination of rapid innovation frameworks, like the Design Sprint and Design Thinking, with leadership accelerators. Why? To help product teams launch more successful products!
With over three decades of experience working in and leading teams that make digital products, Rob has worked with clients like AMEX, Adidas, HSBC Bank, McKinsey and ‘that company formerly known as Twitter’.
Before founding Be the Leap, Rob served as a Product Design Director at AJ&Smart in Berlin. In this role, he honed his facilitation expertise, leading the B2B sprint team and overseeing both the client experience and the development of the product offering.
Prior to that, Rob spent some time in sunny Dubai as the Creative Director of UX for IBM iX, where he helped to establish IBM Studios and managed a cross-functional team that supported clients as they sought to transform their businesses.
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Find Rob here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robhamblen/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betheleap/Website: https://www.betheleap.com/X: https://twitter.com/bamberlingling
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/

Adam Perlis - How to Get the Design Job You Want

Adam Perlis shares why it’s important to always treat interns well, how he’s trying to solve bad recruitment practices, and some practical advice for navigating the job market.
Highlights include:
How did an intern play a pivotal role in your career?
What do the most successful design portfolios demonstrate?
Why are you deeply surprised that you’ve become a design recruiter?
How do you assess a candidate before deciding to present them to a client?
Where and how should designers go the extra mile when applying for jobs?
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Who is Adam Perlis?
Adam is the CEO and founder of Academy, a flexible staffing and recruitment agency that helps companies like Under Armour, NBC Universal and Wish.com, to scale their UX orgs and UXers to further their careers.
Before founding Academy, Adam spent a decade working in various design roles in New York, including as a Head of UX for AKQA, Head of Design for B-Reel and notably, Head of Design for TIME magazine, where he led the team responsible for TIME.com, FORTUNE.com and MONEY.com.
Adam has also been a Creative Director at AT&T, guiding the design of AT&T AdWorks and AT&T AdWorks Lab, and at Dish Network, where he was a manager of Interactive Television.
A dedicated contributor to the field, Adam has spoken at events around the world, such as SXSW, Web Summit and Tech Open Air. He is also the host of “How We Scaled It”, a podcast that explores the journey of growing a successful design practice from 0-100.
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Find Adam here:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamperlis/Website: https://adamperlis.com/X: https://twitter.com/AdamPerlis
Academy - UX Staffing & Recruiting Agency:
Website: https://www.academyux.com/Blog: https://blog.academyux.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/academyux/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8wVKD8NG7uhrcPSuylrPnQX: https://twitter.com/academyuxdesign
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Liked what you heard and want to hear more? Subscribe and support the show by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (or wherever you listen).
Follow us on our other social channels for more great Brave UX content!
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/TheSpaceInBetween/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-space-in-between/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thespaceinbetw__n/
======
Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brendanjarvis/