074: Designers, Mind Your Business with Pek Pongpaet

Pek Pongpaet teaches us how to be business-minded designers. He reveals how designers with business knowledge and more tools in their tool belt will get hired more often than ones without and with less. He shows us how to get a seat at the table while challenging us to count the costs of actually having one. He motivates us to measure and quantify our designs. He also inspires us to get out of our comfort zones and talk to other disciplines and become consumers of information in the area(s) we desire growth in.

• Why Should We Listen to Pek? (05:04)
• Why Should Designers Understand Business More? (7:07)
• How Do I Begin to Care More About Business? (11:05)
• How Do I Learn More About the Business Model? Who Do I Talk To? (14:22)
• How Can Designers Influence Product/Business Strategy and Quantify Their Work? (16:52)
• How Do I Know That Something I Designed Achieved Its Business Goal? (20:18)
• What Do You Look For In a Designer When Hiring? (24:50)
• Why You Should be Best Friends with Your Analytics Person/Team (26:20)
• How Can Designers do a Better Job Communicating the Business Value of Design to Non-Believing Stakeholders? (30:21)
• How Does a Designer Get a Seat at the Round Table? (33:29)
• What's Your Best Advice for Designers Wanting to Grow in Business Side of Design? (40:45)
• Best Way to Connect and Keep Up? (45:45)

Check out the detailed show notes including mentioned links, transcript and Cesar Lemus’s astonishing superhero artwork at userdefenders.com/074

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Wonderful Insights into User Experience

Great guest. Great show. Well done. Packed with helpful information related to all things UX/UI. This particular episode provides some much needed perspective on the business side of things. Reminds me there are many musicians who want to be freed up to make music. They don't want to have to manage the business side of things too. But learning to speak the language of business and measuring results, will put you ahead of those who resist it. And you'll be much more likely to find a seat at the table.