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Every job has its ups and downs. There are different kinds of ups, but as someone invested in another’s career, I need to understand what makes them feel alive. Working in product design or user experience engages many different skill sets and can therefore be exhausting. That said, one particular set of skills may trigger a flow state in someone.
Generally, this question is for people who you are mentoring, coaching, or managing. Getting a sense of what makes someone feel energized helps you shape their day-to-day work to ensure they’re getting a good balance. Not every moment of the day can be energizing – and perhaps it should not be – but as someone tasked with shaping the time and effort of another you should know what allows them to recoup and reset.
Early career UX designers may find everything energizing. This is perhaps a function of the novelty and excitement of the work. Or maybe they’re genuinely energized by the panopoly of user experience activities. Be prepared to dig into their answers, to find out what exactly engages them about each activity. By contrast, later career UX professionals – experiencing burn-out or frustration with the industry – may offer a very narrow set of activities they find energizing. In these conversations, it is also useful to tease out what about that particular activity or two buoys their spirits.
In the early stages of a new management relationship, it’s helpful to know what aspects of the work lifts someone up. Checking in regularly during reviews or one-on-ones identifies whether their thinking has shifted. Most importantly, if someone confesses to experiencing burn-out, surfacing the aspects of the work that engage them can help them navigate the burn-out. Moreover, if someone is questioning whether their current career trajectory is right for them, identifying the positive aspects can help triangulate a more satisfying or rewarding direction.
Although it’s easy to ask the opposing question, it can more more enlightening to dig into what about these aspects of the job they find energizing. I like hearing whether there’s joy in seeing people use the things they design, or digging in deep on a complex problem. It’s helpful to know whether it’s learning about people’s work that they love about user interviews, or the careful orchestration of an interview script. One way to do this is to ask them to walk you through the last time they did this activity. Allow them to paint a picture of the work and probe on the highlights.
What activity did you find most energizing last week?
What about user research do you find most energizing?