London 2021

Join us on vi.to for a day of presentations and discussion.

Working in one product allows designers to build a strong understanding of a specific area. But it can also silo knowledge and encourage a product-specific mindset to develop, which makes it harder to create collaboration opportunities to find a solution together.

The BBC UX Architect (UXA) team uses a service design approach to stay curious with a holistic view beyond the silos. As a new joiner, I experienced a dynamic change of the team’s challenges, know-hows, and impact. I’ll share how service design creates new connections between products and stakeholders that brings business impact.

In today’s world of tech, we spend so much time and money building MVPs and forget that we can learn what we need by faster, more effective means. Ioannis Nousis, Interaction Designer at Google discusses how we can maximise the rate of learning by minimising the time to try things and build products that have product-market fit and a lower chance of failing.

Organisations often suffer from the twin problems of how to find information and how to re-use it. Traditional approaches are increasingly inadequate as products become more complex.

I'll show how to address both of these needs by using structured content, based on a content model. Using classification and structured taxonomy, we arrive at the content graph.

Bringing order to content systems is a large step. I'll share a 5-step plan to help you get from here to there.

An introduction to using systems thinking to improve information architecture scaling in bureaucratic environments. The presentation includes a general introduction to system thinking, practical advice on how to apply it when designing information architecture, and guidance on using it to deliver change.

Release documentation is often written late in the development process; we think we can't start to write content until the software is stable, tested and ready for release. But that's the worst time to access SMEs, do the research, and write good-quality content, as we create content in a rush, or release it late. It’s a lose-lose scenario for both writers and readers.

If we look at code development, we see that Continuous Integration (CI) and Continuous Delivery (CD) practices solve a similar problem. David will describe how he is adopting a CI/CD solution for documentation management, by "shifting down" to turn everyone into writers, and by "shifting left" to write documentation earlier.

Simplification is good, but does the simple approach introduce bias? Let's look at 3 common cognitive biases and how they can affect getting the right content to the right people at the right time. We'll look at how other cultures receive and consume information to ask - how do we conceptualise content for the world of tomorrow?

A strategic planning framework for the rest of us. Where time flies like an arrow through the double diamond, Zenko Mapping respects that impactful projects don’t always move in a straight line.

Inspired by Japanese folklore and Steward Brand’s pace layering ideas, John Willshire has developed a practical model for organising people and spaces as learning develops from sketch to scaffold to structure. Whether you’re wrestling with information, product or organisational challenges, this method helps you make progress visible, spotlight issues ahead and make sure you’re always doing the next right thing. 

We think we’re creating products, services, and software. But we’re not. We are agents of change. Our systems shape belief and behaviour at scale. Experience isn’t enough. Methods, metrics, culture, and governance are shifting. To realise the future, we must get better at planning.

In this spirited talk about the design of paths and goals, Peter Morville builds upon his famous “polar bear book” to reframe vision, strategy, process, and the information architecture of time; and draws from his latest book Planning for Everything to reveal four principles and six practices essential for shaping the future.