97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 8. Amplify Your Value by Finding Advocates Outside Your Team

Catherine Dubut

As you progress in your UX career, it’s imperative that you hone the skill of communicating your work’s value in the context of the company’s business. We already practice the day-in, day-out task of aligning with product management, development, and other partners. Beyond sharing designs and ideas with immediate stakeholders, it is crucial to find colleagues who can amplify your value. These people that you build relationships with can become your greatest advocates and can help share your work’s value with the broader business.

Why search for such advocates? Without them, key information about the business challenges you are solving with design can inadvertently be left out of the conversation. When I overlooked developing these relationships, I became isolated in my thought patterns and was limited to the similar perspectives of those on my immediate team. And when my product team neglected to share our process beyond immediate stakeholders, our projects lacked visibility and ended up lower in business priority.

Finding these advocates can strengthen design’s influence in the product development process. At a prior company, our director of product saw my work result in tangible outcomes, and he was familiar with my overall design process. The company considered outsourcing development work ...