Week 3: Storming

UXD730

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This week’s content discusses the five dysfunctions of teams, a model developed by Lencioni which summarises the possible challenges of how a team can be dysfunctional (Lencioni 2005: 1).

1. Absence of trust

Trust is the most crucial element of any team. Team members should be able to trust their colleagues to fulfil the tasks and duties that were agreed on. Without trust, the project will not achieve results (Lencioni 2012: 5).

2. Fear of conflict

When there is no trust, team members will be reluctant to be open and provide constructive feedback. This will create an unbalanced and dishonest team which could lead to problems in the project. The team must challenge each positively so they can learn and develop their practice.

3. Lack of commitment

The team must commit to one approach when there are many ideas but ensure everyone's input is considered.

4. Avoidance of accountability

Each team member must be accountable for their actions and not rely heavily on the team leader. The team leader must be willing to step up in difficult situations and guide the team in the right direction (Parker 2021).

5. In attention to results

The project is about working as a team rather than independently.

Progress and supervision

This week we divided the research into two, Aleksandra and Jake conducted user interviews, and Alaa and I organised the survey. Alaa and I designed questions and merged them into one document. We gathered feedback from the rest of the team, reviewing each member's comments. It was insightful to hear others' thoughts, and this was a great learning experience. We spotted mistakes we hadn't identified before and improved the survey. I was happy to listen to my peers and take their ideas on board.

The first supervision session discussed what we did, what we were doing and what we do next in the project. The supervisor's role was to moderate and guide the project in the right direction whilst answering any queries we may have. As this was the first meeting, we discussed our research plans and organisation structure. The supervisor suggested adding in people's hours and availability. Although this is quite hard to measure as we all have different availability and schedules, we decided that adding people's holidays would be beneficial. It would allow us to know people's time and plan ahead.

We later had an internal team meeting the next day to discuss progress and update the Gantt chart. It was a very productive meeting because we made sure we structured the project phases and decided the deadlines. We want to focus on the research in June, the design and development in July and the testing and pitch video in August.

We also agreed that we'd prefer to work as a multidisciplinary team, so there wasn't a division of labour in roles but instead “embrace and adopt new specializations within the user experience profession” (Mayhew 2008: 4). Studies reveal that this can be the key to success, increasing the team's chances of achieving the project goals. Although the supervisor suggested assigning roles within the group can provide clarity and structure. The team and I agreed to think about what we want to gain from this project, which can help form integral roles if needed.

We organised a charter to set the rules and expectations of the project. We must follow these guidelines for the project to run smoothly. I realised we should have organised this in the first meeting; however, I am glad we have established these rules to support the team.

Figure 1: Team charter, strengths and weaknesses and goals

Moreover, we discussed the team's strengths and weaknesses to help establish potential roles. I would say my strength is organisation and time management because I like to plan ahead of time, making sure I complete everything I need to and considering contingency if needed. I am also proficient with Figma, Balsamiq and sketching.

My main interest is the visual design of UX, but I am also happy to dabble in other areas. As I am the least experienced team member in UX, I have a lot to learn and experience from others. As part of my goals for this module, I will be mentored by a senior UX Designer to learn from them and support me in my growth. Jake has kindly offered to help my learning, and at the same time, he has used this as his goal.

SMART goals

Goal 1:

I will learn and develop my skills as a UX Designer by learning from an experienced UX Designer within the Co-creative Design and Development Practice module. I will do this by listening and taking guidance from the team leader, Jake and report my progress and learning in each weekly meeting (30th May – 11th August = 11 weeks).

Goal 2:

I will obtain experience working with other UX Designers to learn and develop my communication and collaboration skills. I will complete this by committing to tasks and showcasing my ideas via video recordings or meetings weekly (30th May – 11th August = 11 weeks).

Goal 3:

I will experiment with new tools and software such as Figma Jam to improve collaboration and teamwork. I will do this by utilising the software in the module and continue to add my ideas and experiment with tools within the software. I will do this three times a week or whenever I need to showcase my findings.

Reflection

Due to the team's work schedules, it took some time to finalise the questions, but once it was complete, I distributed the survey to family, friends and work colleagues. I found it a little challenging to find many respondents and felt a little pressure to get at least 30 participants. So I branched out to more work colleagues and my network on Linkedin to solve this issue. We later went through the user interview feedback and survey results. We discussed the findings and grouped them into categories according to similarity and topic. Some of the findings had a challenge or potential solution we could solve. We gathered these insights and voted on what interested us the most.

Figure 2: Finalised insights

I have learned to deal with people's schedules. Due to team members' availability and holidays, I had to work around things and ensure the project was progressing. Teamwork is essential to running a smooth project, including having a supportive mentality.

References

LENCIONI. 2005. ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team (2002)’. Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team [online]. Available at: http://meridiancoaching.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Definition-and-Lencioni-Teams-.pdf.

LENCIONI. 2012. ‘The Five Dysfunctions of a Team’. Pfeiffer, a Wiley Imprint, San Francisco [online]. Available at: https://www.cbmcexecutiveforums.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019...The-Five-Dysfunctions-of-a-Team-1.pdf.

MAYHEW. 2008. ‘User Experience Design: The Evolution of a Multi-Disciplinary Approach’. Journal of usability studies [online]. Available at: https://uxpajournal.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/pdf/JUS_Mayhew_May2008.pdf.

PARKER, Alcwyn. 2021. ‘Week 3: The Dysfunctions of Teams’. Learn Falmouth [online]. Available at: https://learn.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/243/pages/week-3-the-dysfunctions-of-teams?module_item_id=19109 [accessed 26 Jun 2022].