Women’s Day: interview with Irene Au
Part 2: Irene Au, former Global Head of User Experience at Google and VP User Experience and Design at Yahoo; current Design Partner at Khosla Ventures
“Embrace diversity, not necessarily by filling quotas, but by really seeing the qualities that each individual can bring to the table.”
For this year’s International Women’s Day, Fabricio Teixeira and I decided to interview some of the most well-known and respected female leaders in UX and HCI, to understand how they have dealt with gender balance, and sometimes inequality, over the course of their careers. Learning from other professionals’ experiences and paths can hopefully inspire a younger generation of designers starting in User Experience just now.
Meet Irene
Irene Au is Design Partner at Khosla Ventures, where she works with early-, mid-, and late-stage startup CEOs. She is dedicated to raising the strategic value of design and user research within software companies through better methods and practices, processes, leadership, and quality.
Irene has unprecedented experience elevating the strategic importance of design within internet companies, having built and led the entire User Experience and Design teams at Google (2006–2012), Yahoo! (1998–2006), and Udacity (2012–2014). She began her career as an interaction designer at Netscape Communications, where she worked on the design of the internet’s first commercial web browser. Irene also teaches yoga at Avalon Yoga Center in Palo Alto where she is among the teacher training program faculty. A frequent author and speaker on mindfulness practices, design, and creativity, Irene’s popular essays can be found on Medium.
She has authored the definitive book on design in venture capital, published by O’Reilly, Design in Venture Capital, and has been featured in Wired magazine, Fast Company magazine, and on the cover of Mindful magazine.
Irene, it’s a pleasure interview you for this series. Let’s start from the start: how did you enter the field of HCI? What was your first job like?
I majored in electrical and computer engineering during a time when human computer interaction was mostly an obscure field of study. As I began my graduate studies, I found myself increasingly drawn towards studying people and how they relate to technology; thus, my pursuit of HCI as a field of study was born.
My first job was at Netscape Communications as an interaction designer. Having been at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign for graduate school, where Mosaic, the first graphical web browser, was born, I knew in my bones that I wanted to work at Netscape. It was exhilarating to be on the forefront of bringing the internet to a consumer audience.
You definitely played a unique role in the development of HCD field itself. Since that time until today how balanced is the work environment in terms of number of men vs. women, their titles and responsibilities?
At Netscape, even though there were more men than women, the general vibe was very inclusive — we were all there because we loved the internet and were passionate about what we were building. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside some incredible people, men and women alike, from
whom I learned a great deal that really taught me how to be effective later in my career.
The early days at Yahoo! had a more even balance of men and women. The culture was less nerdy, but more fun and irreverent. Beyond gender diversity, Yahoo! embraced engineers, marketers, designers, web “surfers” alike. All that changed sometime in the early/mid-2000s as the tech industry’s composition
became more homogenous and “bro-like”.
Joining Google in 2006 felt like a 2.0 company version of Netscape. Google had Netscape’s nerdy culture married with Yahoo!’s irreverence. They operated radically differently from any other company that existed before. The way they did hiring made it quite difficult to build teams with diversity in mind at that time. Venture Capital in general continues to be quite imbalanced when it comes to gender.
“There is no template or single ‘right way’ to be an effective designer.”
Irene, despite recent advancements in terms of gender equality, we know the design and tech industries are still predominantly male and nerdy as you mentioned. Have you been through any particular challenges for being a woman in that context?
Absolutely, I have experienced challenges as a woman in the tech industry that men otherwise have not. For me personally, how I have navigated these challenges depended on the currency and seniority I had in those moments.
Earlier in my career when I had less experience or authority, I learned how to be effective by listening well, and by coaxing people towards the right answer by relating to them on their terms. As I gained more career experience and financial freedom, I reminded myself that I could afford to walk away from any bad situation, which was incredibly empowering.
“How I have navigated these [gender inequality] challenges depended on the currency and seniority I had in those moments.”
What suggestion you would give for companies on how they can contribute to a more balanced and equal industry?
Embrace diversity, not necessarily by filling quotas, but by really seeing the qualities that each individual can bring to the table and build teams comprised of complementary skills. Embrace diversity, not just in race and gender, but in socio-economic background, life experience, education, geography, and skill set. Diverse teams build better products and better companies because they are more empathetic and creative.
“The same day UX Magazine published a QuickPanel on Women in Tech, featuring comments from Indi Young, Christina Wodtke, and Brenda Laurel, and me, I had dinner with a high ranking executive at a large well-known tech company. When the topic about women in tech came up, he declared, ‘I would love to hire women, if only I could find ones who are qualified‘. This perspective is not surprising to me since so many others in this industry have expressed the same sentiment.“
In her article “Hiring and Retaining Women in Tech”, Irene brought up some good points about the hidden bias when we judge what qualified means as well as how could companies — and professionals — do better in terms of help other woman to be qualified and retain their talents inside the company. She mentioned initiatives as Etsy, that sponsored training for women and increased their pipeline of female qualified candidates. Read the full article here.
And what advice would you give to female designers who are just starting in UX?
Be yourself. Carve out your own path. Every context and situation is different. There is no template or single “right way” to be an effective designer.
If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to younger you when you were just starting?
Practice yoga and meditate every day. Doing so would have alleviated so much suffering: the stress, the symptoms of stress, and physical injuries.
Can you name someone who has inspired you? Any other leader (male or female) you often look up to?
I am wholly inspired by my husband, Bradley Horowitz. I have had the great fortune to know him as my life partner and also as a colleague and best friend. He is whip-smart, has a huge heart, and is the most hilarious person I know. He has taught and shown me how to move through the world with grace, humor, abundance, and love.
To wrap it up, Irene: why UX?
Technology-based products and services are made to serve people. If we don’t have an empathetic understanding of people, we can’t effectively design for them.
UX done well is a way of expressing love and gratitude to your customers because the customers are seen, understood, and cared for. In turn, customers love companies that show they care about them. Good UX is good for business and good for people.
Your favorite UX book?
The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman changed my life. When I read this book it became really clear to me that this was my life’s calling.
Thanks for following us in our journey. See you tomorrow in our next interview.
Part 1:
