The article discusses the journey of the author from being a Graphic Designer to a UX Strategist, highlighting the shift in focus from visual design principles to a broader understanding of factors influencing design decisions.
At Vanguard, the author experienced the importance of balancing design with business goals, market shifts, and technical constraints, leading to the realization that good design alone is not always sufficient.
The author's role as a UX Strategist at Vanguard involved translating how design aligns with both business and client needs in a continually evolving puzzle that different stakeholders perceived differently.
The strategist's deliverables became more ambiguous, overlapping with the Product Owner role, focused on near-term execution, and immediate outcomes.
The analogy of sailing from California to a destination across the Pacific was used to explain the importance of long-term planning while staying anchored in the present.
The author emphasizes the significance of gathering insights through servant leadership and reflective listening to shape long-term strategy, fostering mutual understanding among team members.
Prioritization played a crucial role, with the author devising an Airtable system to rank features based on client and business value, as well as feasibility/scope, leading to purposeful and structured conversations.
Being a UX Strategist is portrayed as delivering clarity by synthesizing multiple inputs into a consumable strategy that guides the team towards a shared vision, drawn from research, user interviews, and corporate objectives.
The article concludes by highlighting the value of leveraging diverse skills, such as design, writing, or architecture, to bring clarity to team priorities and excel in a strategic role.