Bootcamp for New Design Leads

Following my original IBM Designcamp training two years earlier, I returned to our flagship studio in Austin for the next phase in my professional development.

For one week, a select group of up-and-coming design leads from studios around the world came together to learn from senior designers, design managers, design principals, distinguished designers, and an external industry VP of design. Through daily interactive sessions we absorbed their knowledge & wisdom and gained new skills that we would need going forward in our careers as design leads, mentors, and colleagues.

Leading New Hires at IBM Design Bootcamp

In summer 2016 I had the opportunity to be a ‘Section Lead’ at the ‘IBM Design Bootcamp for Early Career Professionals’. This 3 month training period is a launchpad that prepares new hires for the complexity of design at scale on IBM’s software product teams.

I lead a team of 14 designers from different disciplines - User Experience, Visual, Research, and Front End Development. Sharing my own 3 month Designcamp experience from 2014, I helped them understand business problems and arrive at effective solutions using Design Thinking. It taught me a lot about leadership, and the importance of listening.

There was one week of ‘Section Lead on-boarding’ before the new hires started. This was a crash course in how to lead a team. It taught us the correct steps to take if & when particular situations arise. We found out who our teams were and reviewed the schedule and the project briefs.

A section lead typically works with their bootcamp team until the end of the micro project. I was fortunate to be able to stay in Austin for the duration of the entire Bootcamp, which gave me the opportunity to also be a mentor on their incubator project. This was beneficial to me as their project related to my own product team work with IBM Collaboration Solutions.

The schedule below outlines the overall time-frame of my Section Lead assignment.

Leading the Accessibility Hackathon

The goal of this first week was to throw the new hires in the deep end and have them learn about accessibility through making a digital experience and practicing design thinking. Four teams were assigned a different type of disability - physical, hearing, vision, and cognitive.

My team had vision and split into groups to tackle different parts of the research. They developed empathy for people with visual impairments by using special goggles which replicate a type of sight condition. I also gave them advice on what design thinking exercises they could use to better understand the issues facing people who design accessible experiences.

’IBM Designers need a better way to learn + practice accessibility.’

Designers need a way…

…to empathise with a range of user disabilities.
…to quickly learn tactics for designing accessible experiences.
…to quickly evaluate whether a design concept will meet user needs.

The outcomes they presented at the end of the week showed their ability to explore concepts within a short timeframe and how to compromise & prioritise in order to reach their goal of a proof of concept.

Leading the Micro Project

This 4 week project gave the teams more time to develop the scope of their ideas. My own team worked on an interesting project called ‘Scaling Insights’. They were given this problem statement to consider…

’Research is often considered as slowing progress. How might we have teams move faster as they scale, share, and consume their research insights?’

They were given one week per phase of the project - research / concept / vision / delivery - and had to deliver a milestone playback presentation at the end of each.

I was there each day as they talked through their research findings, listening to their brain-storming and suggestions, observing how they formed concepts together. I tried to only offer advice when necessary, as the point was not for me to do the work with them, but rather be someone they could turn to for advice as needed.

It was my responsibility to be aware of their progress each day and make sure everything was running on schedule toward their presentations, and help alleviate any issues or blockers. Their final playback was a great success with their proposed design solution piquing the interest of all stakeholders, and demonstrating how much they had learned and grown as a team.

Mentoring the Incubator Project

With the previous Micro-project experience setting the scene for them, our bootcamp teams were re-shuffled into new groups for the final phase of their training - the incubator project. Typically Section Leads bow out at this stage, but in my case one of the projects closely related to my own product team work so I welcomed the opportunity to stay on as a mentor.

This particular project work has not yet been released publicly, so while I can’t disclose any details I can say that the team poured themselves into the research phase and learned a lot about how people collaborate with their teams and create content using mobile devices.

They focused in on key insights and I helped them to sharpen their skills at writing hill statements by iterating on them until they had a clear set of goals to move forward with. Their resulting design solution was a crowd-pleaser, being well received by key stakeholders at the final presentation, and demonstrating real potential for growth and development.

Learning & Growth

Having had the opportunity to go through three months of intensive design training in sunny Austin, and then getting to come back two years later to help guide new designers through the same process, has been the most incredible journey so far.

As much as I’ve learned through the training programs myself, it feels great to know I’m able to give back and help new designers grow into their own, while benefitting from my shared experiences too. I couldn’t have worked with a more out-going and inspiring team of young designers, and I can’t wait to for the next opportunity to learn and to lead!