How to create the new normal as UX Chemist for sustainable team products
And why you shall stop promoting (just) yourself.
Do you like coffee, catalysts, atoms and molecules (I’m not speaking Atomic Design)? Then this article might be for you.
What to expect: This read is going to compare chemical basics and translates them into UX Chemist processes. This might be a proposal to get rid of legacies that benefited from individual contributor environments and translates them into actionable steps for a (real) UX Chemist Reaction. Sounds chemical? Yeah, you're totally right!
Don’t forget to grab your coffee — NOW.
Let me tell you this — if you’ve already grinded your coffee — you have been undertaken a physical reaction, the (team) compounds within your coffee cup have undergone the Maillard reaction (a key reaction for the development of roasted coffee flavour and colour), and caffeine is going to bind your adenosine receptors in your brain. Well, yes. This ‘smell’ of success of a perfectly self brewed coffee shall be your catalyst for this article’s ‘new normal’. But let me call this rather the ‘new progressivism’.
Let’s kick this off, as you’ve already come this far.
To be fair: this is a creative-chemical-UX-designer’s-approach
What makes a good UX Chemist?
Actually three things and comparing them with a UX Designer it seems there are more similarities, that you might have thought.
If haven’t listened to your chemical teacher back in high school it might be helpful to jump into a basic chemical reaction diagram. This is what we’re up for: a basic chemical reaction turned into a UX Chemist reaction. Have a look here:
This is the transformational approach:
Two things we might overcome as a UX Chemist, as they are common baselines:
a) The ‘new team normal’ comes with room temperature
Since COVID-19 hit through the economy like a hot sword (with lots of heat and activation energy) it’s just a matter of time of rethinking our team interconnectivity.
Shifting from a promotion driven system to a supportive culture, that’s not just reinventing social interactions within a remote setting, as it is recreating remote office environments where (normally) the loudest get the most speech time. Now it’s the one with the noisiest background in remote settings. Just saying…
A bit of chemistry: Let me tell you this — the internal friction (viscosity) increases with temperature in gases and decreases in liquids.
What a UX Chemist can do: Creating teams that are creating controversial discussions. This might heat up the room temperature a bit but also delivering activity energy to create something new.
Key takeaway: Friction and opinions take place in well functioning teams. High performer teams call out flaws by their name.
b) Strong compounds of old work patterns are reversible, so are chemical compounds
If we compared pre-COVID working structures with chemical compounds, they are not going to change behaviour rapidly. Systems consist of particles that have formed compounds for decades. In simple chemical terms: the COVID-19 situation worked as a catalyst of rough change. Still, customer-facing.
And here are the good news – strong legacy compounds can be reversed. For sure this will take some preparation and activation energy.
Key takeaway: Bad circumstances might cause change and act as a catalyst.
Change might happen over a long period of time. Whereas change is accelerated in the presence of a catalyst.
Let’s jump into our laboratory of chemical creativity and do some applied science, or shall I call it chemical UX?
You’re a UX Chemist now. Please start dissolving your first strong compound, that got your team stuck with the following steps for change. Take on your protective glasses and your white coat.
1) Progressive catalysts driving directions
People within your teams are needed to set a ‘new normal’. Create a new baseline and set rules for group related success. Your chemical reaction description:
- At least try to build teams that may consist of:
+individual educts(reactants) // 2–3 individual contributors, that got mixed up with the catalyst team member
++and build a strong foundation of trust, create a safe place and drive curiosity to create new products.
The advantages of a catalyst and why you shall hire those:
2) Team promotions before individual contributor promotions
Positive change and compounds take a long time, a catalyst decreases the amount of effort for team support.
Some molecules do not want to bind because they are too noble/too experienced in that sense.
+ In chemistry: the electron shells of an atom might be‘full’.
They won’t bind easily.
++ Translated into the real world: If employees fill their ‘shells’ with experience, it is more difficult to be open-minded for new knowledge. And the experienced professionals also must share knowledge with new professionals.
Key learning: Stay always curious and leave space for new unbiased approaches (in your shell). Yeah! Giving away electrons, sharing knowledge shall be a ‘must have’ instead a ‘nice to have’ ticket in your weekly sprint.
PS: A catalyst can also be helpful here!
3) Various products aka diverse team members.
Why a catalyst can’t survive in homogeneous teams: Diverse hires might create the baseline for teams who will get the highest amount of team promotions.
Explained in detail: Identical elements do not form a chemical compound. Translated into real life: Confirmation Bias is the tendency of people to favour information that confirms their existing beliefs or hypotheses.
And that’s not what we might want, huh.
Therefore, different starting products are elementary to form new compounds. Over and above new hires should not be friends or family members from homogeneous structures, but if possible molecules/individuals from other structures (true stories).
4) Stop defending your (work) territory
You won‘t need to fight for your territory when you’re sharing the same promotional team benefits.
What am I doing when not defending the status quo aka my own territory?
The time spent might be used for a positive cultural change. Small and only in your own pocket (AOC style).
5) Team members who are willing to react and change.
Elements with many ‘arms’ can hold more molecules (e.g. we love ‘four arms’ which can be found in carbon).
6) Create a positive memory
People that have been working within an environment of team promotion, are going to bring that experience and memory to future jobs. This will create a change of positivity within economic sectors like a positivity-vibe-career-muscle.
In this way, we not only create micro change, but the macro change in the professional world, and are turning post-COVID into a new normal — the new progressivism.
And this is how it looks like. Kind of :)
7) Use kinetic vibes/speed to create new connections.
If this activation energy is going to be used and added by many companies we will see new progressivism.
That said, catalyst, activation energy, various products increase reaction speed and outcomes.
This is how it actually works:
Remember the diagram from the beginning? We might want to create this chemical reaction:
This was a creative-chemical-UX-designer’s-approach for a sustainable team approach in lean environments. Thinking and acting as a UX chemist might help to see from a different angle. Summarized: stop promoting yourself and start helping your teams getting promoted instead. Spread the ‘new progressivism and let us overcome the ‘new normal’ in a team vibe. Heat the (WFH) room temperature up!
(This is a tribute to my dad —‘‘Hey, dad!’’— Who always told me that change is accelerated due to chemical reactions. True story!)
Thanks for reading this. Tschüss, bye and let’s stay curious!
Additional links for your UX Chemist curiosity:
Everyday chemical compounds:
https://www.compoundchem.com/
Maillard Reaction (when you love coffee like me):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maillard_reaction
Periodic table:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Periodic_table
Chemical reaction:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemical_reaction
