The Collaborative Edge: Unlocking the full potential of UX
The Collaborative Edge: Unlocking the full potential of UX
Exclusion, inclusion and overstepping: Learn what your team might be doing wrong
Hey, everyone! Welcome to the newest addition to this newsletter, Interviews, where you get a peek inside the finest UX-writing brains out there.
Let’s roll out the proverbial red carpet for Unnathi Rayaprolu, Senior UX writer at Mindtickle. With 6+ years of experience, she’s on a mission to make user experiences more human and functional. Today, she sheds light on an underrated and often overlooked part of being a UX Writer—Collaboration.
For the uninitiated, UX Writing Bud translates UXW mumbo-jumbo to human so you can learn and kickstart your career with the least effort and investment. If you've been looking for something like this…
UX Writers don’t get meeting invites. They get,
“Just fill in the blanks.”
“Replace lorem ipsum with your magic.”
“Please fix the words. Stat. It goes live tonight!”
Designing user experience is a highly collaborative, well-thought-out, well-planned activity with high stakes, except when it comes to content. UX writers are the last persons involved and often get little to no direction about user flows or pain points. And that’s their pain point!
There are two things at play here:
less awareness about the value a specialised UX writing role adds when it’s involved from the beginning and
less proof of how more context (to UX writers) can impact a company’s baseline.
One way to get past this is to be your own evangelist. Or, as I like to say…
Let’s hear how Unnathi Rayaprolu did it as she shares some wonderful (read: actionable) suggestions and insights from her experience.
UXWB: Collaboration between UX Writers, Designers, and PMs is underrated and overlooked but vital to the development process. What, according to you, are the key pillars of their collaboration?
Unnathi: The pillars of collaboration include establishing processes and standards. However, the most important aspect is cultivating empathy and understanding of each other's roles. Curiosity about teammates' work builds trust and makes collaboration enjoyable. For example, one could ask what another’s day looks like and figure out where one can collaborate or offer help to make their work easier.
Additionally, being open to learning and new ideas fosters a positive collaborative environment. Many people with time and experience get increasingly rigid in hearing new ideas, suggestions or feedback.
I got some of the best feedback from the dev team!
UXWB: Say you encountered a user issue or a new feature is to be launched. Walk me through the work process, highlighting independent work and collaboration at Mindtickle. When can a UX Writer add value?
Unnathi: At Mindtickle, the UX writing team collaborates with designers, engineers, and product managers to establish a comprehensive UX writing process.
The PM presents the problem statement and potential solutions in the discovery meeting. From there, the designer creates prototypes, and UX writers work alongside them to brainstorm and refine the flows. After review, the high-fidelity wireframes are passed to developers with guidance from the PMs. Collaboration with technical writers may be required for onboarding tooltips or other aspects. Once the designs are in staging, we do another quick review and sign off to go live.
UX Writers add value throughout the process!
UXWB: Wow! The team at Mindtickle certainly is restoring my faith in humanity.
Jokes apart, collaboration sounds ‘doable’ (for the lack of a better word). So, if UX writers are just a meeting invite away, why do teams work in silos and struggle to align?
Unnathi: Teams work in silos due to the absence of established processes or foundations. I have been in situations where I was excluded from work for a long time, leading to errors and delays that could have been avoided with my involvement from the start.
UXWB:
I mean, how did you resolve this issue?
Unnathi: To overcome this, I emphasised my work, role, and the value I bring to the product. Especially when I started working as a UX writer, I created decks to explain my responsibilities and regularly communicated with engineering teams to establish my presence and offer assistance.
If you are stuck in this rut of working in silos, it's crucial to take these foundational steps and seek support from leadership or design/product leads to break free. In short, you must be vocal and claim your place at the table.
UXWB: I see companies preferring on-site work and UX workforce asking for remote and flexible timings. How do remote, on-site and working asynchronously impact productivity and the ‘sense’ of collaboration?
Unnathi:
Remote work: I am not a fan of the “show up to work to be productive” narrative. I believe individuals can be productive in an environment they feel comfortable. Although I miss my office banter and Bangalore, remote work allowed me to travel, and my productivity was never hampered.
Office setup: I haven’t worked in an office setup for almost 2 years; this feels alien. Jokes apart, working in an office can expedite completion as communication is faster. However, the sense of personal space can be compromised.
Flexible work hours or different time zones: I work asynchronously with my US-based manager. I feel the time difference is great for the business since sometimes after I wrap up, my manager takes over, and issues get resolved or addressed by the time I log in the next day. The seamlessness is a fabulous benefit!
UXWB: It sounds all too promising and simple. I wonder if there are any forbidden areas where one team member, say PM, should not interfere with another team’s work.
Unnathi:
Recently, a few instances left me wondering the same—why would they interfere?
There is a distinction between healthy participation and excessive involvement in others' work. PMs and designers sometimes overlook the value of specialised roles like UX writing which is hurtful. Overstepping boundaries, such as providing a copy to developers without consulting UX writers or excluding them from calls and feedback, can harm collaboration and leave you with bad taste.
UXWB: Indeed! Exclusion is a different kind of trespass. What would you say are the deterrents to effective collaboration?
Unnathi: People who don’t listen are the biggest deterrents to any kind of collaboration, in my opinion. Learning to receive and when to talk is one of the most important traits one could bring to the table, especially in a corporate environment.
UXWB: Have you encountered groupthink?
Unnathi: Yes, I have been in a ‘groupthink’ situation. I took some time to understand the problem, speak to my colleagues individually, get their perspectives and then we presented the arguments for the decision made before.
UXWB: Sounds about right. Finally, reveal your favourite collaboration tools!
Unnathi: Figma is my favourite tool. I also use Jira and Google Docs and appreciate Asana's project tracking.
Collaboration isn’t hard. What’s hard is not knowing what you could have done better to reduce revision time and support ticket volume. What’s harder is accepting that not involving UX writers was the mistake.
It’s okay. You can still do it. Add UX writers to the next meeting. And the next ones after that. And you’ll see the difference in your own work.
Collaborate to elevate, people!
I’ll see you next week,
Mansi