Chicago Camps Podcast

From UX to PM—How the Transition Happened: Transitioned into project management organically when the former PM left—Tyler was already exploring Agile and had strong team relationships.Leaned into a design mindset to lead—asking questions, listening, finding patterns, and breaking down complexity.Learned the value of not needing all the answers—collaboration beats solo problem-solving.Project management, to him, is about creating conditions for great work, not controlling outcomes.Making Agile Work for Designers:Tyler’s team was already working in a design-forward agile way from the start, often encouraging devs to adopt more iterative practices, not the other way around.Practice of “sharing before we’re ready” allows for earlier feedback and keeps iteration alive.Involve design early—in sprint planning and backlog refinement—to avoid isolation.Work slightly ahead of development to maintain flow without sacrificing quality.Breaking Away from Waterfall:Made iteration non-negotiable by building habits like early

Session OverviewIn this Tent Talks session, Heidi Trost dives deep into the evolving relationship between AI, privacy, and the future of UX. She introduces a helpful mental model involving three key players in the cybersecurity ecosystem: Alice (the user), the threat actor (the adversary), and Charlie (the design of the system). Through this lens, Heidi explores how invisible interfaces and AI agents are shifting the landscape of privacy and security, often creating tension and confusion for users like Alice.Heidi emphasizes that while AI can enhance usability and offer powerful new capabilities, it also opens up major risks—especially when users are unaware of how their data is being used or what rights they have. She calls for UX designers to become advocates for Alice, learning enough about the underlying technology to design responsibly and communicate clearly. Throughout, she stresses the importance of trust, transparency, and cross-functional collaboration to build safer, more user-friendly systems.How

In this Tent Talks session, Sabina Leybold dives deep into the world of content modeling, illuminating its critical role in UX design and content strategy. Sabina, a hybrid UX designer and content strategist, unpacks the complexity behind structuring content within digital systems and why this often-overlooked discipline matters so much to user experience and operational scalability. She offers real-world examples, particularly from her agency work with web content and CMS implementation, to show how thoughtful content modeling supports better design, consistency, and reuse.Throughout the session, Sabina balances technical insights with thoughtful critiques—particularly around AI in content creation. She offers practical advice for UX professionals looking to bridge the gap between design and content strategy, advocating for better collaboration, more exposure to CMS environments, and a healthy respect for the behind-the-scenes work of structuring information for both users and editors.What is content modelin

Where Should Leaders Focus to Improve Team Dynamics?• More with less: Teams are under pressure with fewer resources, leading many leaders to default to process changes.• Removing friction: Instead of adding more processes, reducing inefficiencies that slow teams down is key.• Clarity and autonomy: Alignment on practices and priorities, along with clear roles and expectations, improves efficiency.• Empowerment over micromanagement: Giving teams autonomy to make decisions enhances team effectiveness. How Do Teams Undermine Communication, Collaboration, and Culture? Communication Pitfalls:• Assuming clarity: Just because something was said doesn’t mean everyone understood it the same way.• Over-reliance on tools: Slack, email, and PM platforms don’t replace direct human conversation.• Avoiding feedback: Lack of check-ins and retrospectives leads to misalignment and bigger problems. Collaboration Pitfalls:• Unclear roles: If no one knows who owns what, collaboration becomes chaotic.• Department silos: Teams optim

In this Tent Talks session, Kara Fitzpatrick, former Director of Experience Design in the Obama White House, breaks down the essentials of mentorship—structured versus unstructured, common pitfalls, and the tools that make mentorship impactful. She shares personal experiences from government, corporate, and community-based mentorship, offering practical ways to create meaningful mentor-mentee relationships. Through thoughtful guidance, adaptable strategies, and an emphasis on trust, Kara provides a roadmap for professionals at any stage to engage in mentorship effectively. Structured vs. Unstructured Mentorship: Key Differences & Impact• Mentorship generally falls into three types: casual “coffee chat” mentorship, semi-structured engagements, and fully structured mentorships with defined goals.• A structured mentorship starts with a clear understanding of objectives, expectations, and a mutual agreement on what success looks like.• Setting clear goals from the beginning ensures both mentor and mentee gain

Importance of Prioritization:Prioritization is straightforward in simple, static environments but complex in dynamic, large-scale settings.Under stress, people revert to familiar but outdated methods.A consistent methodology, using tools and frameworks, is essential for effective prioritization.Prioritization is often confused with time management or productivity but encompasses much more.Common Organizational Challenges:Many individuals are unaware of how prioritization happens within their organizations.Effective organizations have clear visions and mature operating models that guide prioritization.Learning and recognizing prioritization patterns at different levels (individual, team, organizational) is crucial.DEGAP Strategy:DEGAP stands for Decide, Engage, Gather, Arrange, Prioritize.It helps close the gap between current and desired states.Harry uses examples, like his experience at AllClear ID, to illustrate the practical application of DEGAP in high-pressure scenarios.Balancing Personal and Team Priori

Session OverviewIn this Tent Talks session, Meghan Casey delves into her journey from her early career to establishing Do Better Content Consulting, emphasizing the importance of content strategy and modeling. She shares insights on how content modeling enhances content consistency and efficiency, and discusses common challenges and effective collaborative strategies for implementation.Content Strategy Journey:Meghan's career began in roles such as Communications Manager, Website Editor, and Marketing Manager.She often asked strategic questions about audience, goals, and key messages, leading her to content strategy.Joined Brain Traffic in 2008, transitioning from web writer to content strategist.Authored "The Content Strategy Toolkit," which boosted her career and reputation.Founded Do Better Content Consulting six years ago, working with clients to solve various content-related problems.Explaining Content Modeling:Content model bridges the front-end experience and back-end content management systems.Helps d

Common pitfalls leaders face when creating alignment:Definition of alignment: Varies among individuals based on their experiences.Strategic understanding: Importance of knowing why a task is strategically important.Role clarity: Everyone should understand their contribution to the desired outcomes.Key barriers: Misalignment in vision and strategy, shaky planning, misaligned incentives, and emotional challenges in decision-making.Balancing diverse viewpoints and common goals:Shared understanding: Ensuring everyone understands the outcomes and actions agreed upon.Healthy discourse: Encouraging evidence-based discussions without fear of social pressure.Psychological safety: Creating a safe environment for proposing ideas and viewpoints.Learning culture: Emphasizing learning from failures and supporting open communication.Simplifying complex messages:Repetition: Necessary for messages to sink in, especially in larger organizations.Cartoon clarity: Boiling messages down to simple, clear points that can be quickly

Background on the CIA and Patel's RoleThe CIA's core missions include foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, all-source analysis, and covert action.The agency is organized into directorates and mission centers, integrating different functions for regional or functional focus.Patel's Transnational and Technology Mission Center (T2MC) synchronizes with the private sector and addresses global strategic technology issues.User Experience in the Intelligence CycleUX plays a critical role in presenting intelligence to policymakers in a digestible and usable format.Key elements of effective intelligence presentation include:Bottom-line upfront: presenting the most crucial information first.Conciseness: limiting reports to one or two pages.Structured storytelling: ensuring a clear narrative with a story arc and relevance to national security.Visualization: using maps, charts, and graphics to aid memory retention.Accessible formatting: maintaining white space and larger fonts to enhance readability.Evolution of Tec

Common Misconception About Form Design:Forms are often undervalued despite their crucial role in user interactions.Many UX professionals and budget holders fail to see the value in investing in form improvements.Poorly designed forms can lead to high error rates, inefficiency, and user frustration.Digitizing a bad form doesn't fix its inherent issues; it just transfers them to a new medium.Impact of AI and Modern Technologies:AI and machine learning have been integrated into form design since the early '90s, with technologies like OCR.These technologies have improved but still face significant limitations, especially in understanding context.AI should assist rather than replace human judgment in form design, ensuring critical nuances are captured.The balance between automation and human intervention is crucial for effective form design.Strategies for Ensuring User-Friendly Forms:Conduct usability testing by observing users in real-time as they fill out forms.Focus on where users direct their attention and ide

How is AI reshaping the future of UX design, particularly for newcomers?AI advancements are rapid, with new updates and integrations across various tools and environments.New designers may feel overwhelmed by the abundance of tools and the rapid pace of technological change.Despite economic instability and layoffs, integrating AI into workflows can enhance competitiveness.Jakob Nielsen's concept of "pancaking" in UX design emphasizes the evolution rather than the replacement of core UX principles.AI helps lower skill gaps, promotes a wider range of skills, and leads to more agile, less hierarchical teams.Smaller teams can achieve more with AI, as demonstrated by successful startups with minimal staff.Kai Tran's journey from print design to AI product design: Key lessons and influencesTransitioned from film and gaming cinematics to merchandising design for retail, gaining a holistic understanding of user experience.Emphasized the importance of understanding end-to-end user journeys and strategic thinking in AI

Overview of the Inclusive Tech Lab:The lab is located on Microsoft's campus and serves as a space to engage with the disability community.The lab has hosted over 16,000 visitors and focuses on including people with disabilities in the design process.The facility includes a sensory room designed to meet the needs of the neurodiverse community.The lab's primary goal is to involve the disabled community directly in the design process to create more inclusive technology.It emphasizes the principle of "nothing about us without us," ensuring that designs are made with input from those who will use them.Most Impactful Project – Xbox Adaptive Controller:The adaptive controller, introduced with a prominent Super Bowl ad in 2019, began as a project to include veterans who were gamers.The design addressed the limitations of the traditional Xbox controller, which required the use of two hands and dexterity.The project was driven by the need to support veterans' mental health and social integration.The adaptive controller

Navigating Varied Tech Environments:Cassidy emphasizes the importance of self-audits to determine personal and professional likes and dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses.She mentions that these audits help her decide when it's time for a change, ensuring she's always aligned with her interests and skills.Side Projects and Balance:Discusses the genesis and development timeline of her side projects, such as W9 Crafter and Jumbly.com.Highlights the use of the Obsidian app to organize ideas and manage time efficiently, especially around her responsibilities as a new mother.Passion for Education:Cassidy shares her drive to provide learning resources she wished she had when starting in tech.She recounts impactful moments in education, like helping friends secure jobs through her guidance and resources.Organizational Techniques and Productivity Tools:Describes her reliance on digital tools like Obsidian, Brainstory, and others for productivity and organization.Cassidy values scheduled planning and strategic use of a

Design Leadership and Mental Health:Tanya underscores the importance of designing the team member experience, advocating for personalized approaches to feedback and recognition.She suggests practical strategies such as setting clear boundaries, creating a code of conduct, and establishing fixed times for team accessibility to improve mental well-being in the workplace.Emphasizes the necessity of leaders being proactive and mindful about the mental health of their team members, rather than just offering standard support programs.Signs of UX Theatre in Companies:Tanya defines UX theatre as the adoption of UX terminology and superficial processes without substantive user-centered methodologies.Critiques the misuse of design thinking as a replacement for comprehensive UX strategies and the tendency of some organizations to test UX concepts with executives rather than actual users.She warns about the dangers of UX theatre in diluting the effectiveness of UX practices and misleading stakeholders about the maturity

Shift in Researcher Activities:Researchers are becoming more involved at the executive level, driven by organizational changes and the impact of new technologies like AI.Effective communication and business understanding are crucial for researchers to influence executive decisions and strategies.Impact of AI on Research:AI and large language models are expected to become essential tools for researchers, enhancing their productivity and expanding their capabilities.These technologies will likely lead to a significant transformation in research practices, making them more efficient and less labor-intensive.Centralized Research Functions:There is a growing trend towards integrating research functions more deeply within the product development process.Empowering non-researchers with research skills can reduce communication overhead and lead to more insightful and effective product strategies.Role of Learners Platform:Learners is designed to support ongoing professional development and community engagement among r

Integrating AI into Design Workflow:LLMs have significantly shifted Colin's approach to design, especially in the ideation phase, by accelerating the move from idea generation to discernment and filtering.AI's capacity for generating diverse ideas helps bypass the initial, often time-consuming, brainstorming stage.Despite AI's assistance, the importance of human judgment, discernment, and taste remains undiminished.Challenges in Designing for LLM-Based Products:The unpredictability and non-deterministic nature of LLMs pose unique challenges, diverging from traditional design principles that emphasize predictability.Designers are tasked with navigating these challenges by guiding users through the unpredictability of LLM outputs and equipping them with tools to manipulate and utilize these outputs effectively.Role of Human Creativity:The conversation highlighted a broader, more nuanced understanding of creativity, suggesting that while AI can take over repetitive aspects of creative work, elements like discern

Critical Processes in Design Systems:Emphasis on building from a library of UI components and visual language.Importance of collaboration between designers and developers.The notion of a design system as a product serving products, requiring evolution, roadmap, support, and marketing.Strategic Planning for Design Systems:Life cycles of design systems as generations, each with its focus and operational mode.The necessity of strategic periods, production processes, and shifts to business-as-usual modes.Prioritization of initiatives and the balance between major investments and ongoing feature development.Contributions to Design Systems:Challenges with the conventional approach to contributions.Advocating for a shift from central governance to facilitating direct sharing and reuse among teams.Success stories of changing perspectives on contributions leading to more effective collaboration and system growth.Evolution of Design Systems:Higher levels of rigor and formality in design system teams compared to product

Session OverviewChristine Perfetti dives into the concept of "Strategic Rallying" as a team-based, collaborative approach aimed at setting and executing a strategy and product vision with a focus on understanding and involving both external users/customers and internal team members of an organization. She shares insights from her experience, particularly a successful implementation at Aquia, where a one-day workshop with cross-functional teams led to significant alignment on product vision and strategy. Perfetti emphasizes the importance of involving the team in the process to foster ownership and execution on the vision. Additionally, she provides steps for organizations to shift towards a problem-space ideation culture and highlights the role of Strategic Rallying in bridging the gap between research insights and actionable outcomes. Moreover, she discusses recalibrating organizational culture to celebrate team success beyond traditional metrics and addresses how her approach tackles team chemistry within p

Finding Your Voice:Danielle is still on a journey to discover what she wants to share with the world, using her experiences with Women Talk Design and the process of writing "Present Yourself."She aims to empower others to amplify their impact, believing in supporting others to do their best work and share their ideas.Unfinished Stories in Presentations:Unfinished stories can make audiences feel less alone, invite collaboration, and allow speakers to outline potential outcomes.Sharing unfinished work can be intimidating, but it fosters connection, collaboration, and opens up discussions.Five Beliefs in Public Speaking:Public speaking has no one right way; diversity in presentation styles enriches the field.New voices are crucial for industry and societal evolution.Acknowledging that public speaking is not a level playing field is vital for inclusivity.Improvement in public speaking comes with practice.Community support is essential for resilience and effectiveness in public speaking.Lessons from Self-Publishi

Session OverviewIn this episode of Tent Talks, Christine McGlade, a sessional lecturer on digital futures at OCAD University, shares her insights on designing tomorrow with a focus on ethics and AI. Christine discusses the importance of futures thinking as a design discipline akin to systems thinking, emphasizing the need for ongoing engagement with the world to anticipate changes. She highlights the challenges of finding trusted primary sources in an era where AI-generated content is becoming increasingly prevalent, leading to a potential "model collapse." Christine also delves into the ethical dilemmas faced by designers in creating AI-driven solutions and the importance of incorporating ethical considerations into the design process. Additionally, she shares her thoughts on the intersection of humor and AI, suggesting that while AI struggles with creating humor, it can be a powerful tool to address ethical issues in AI.Approaching Futures Thinking in AI:Futures thinking is likened to a design discipline, s