How do you build a ship? You could draw up some blueprints. You could find people to gather wood, hand out tools. You could bark out orders all day long. Or, you could teach those same people to long for the sea.
You likely wouldn’t have a problem getting that ship built.
All that talk about ships is referencing a quote by a French author from the 40s, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Here’s the exact quote:
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up the men to gather wood, divide the work, and give orders. Instead, teach them to yearn for the vast and endless sea.”
– Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
I love this quote because as UX professionals, it speaks to one of the major challenges we seem to run into time and time again.
We spend all that time on research, designing beautiful wireframes, we account for everything, w do our handoff with the engineering team… And for one reason or another, the final product doesn’t look like what we designed.
The chances are good we didn’t tell a compelling story about why we designed what we designed. The engineering team was focused on their goal. The QA team was focused on their goal. No one cared about what the UX team’s goal was, because we didn’t inspire them enough to care.
But how might we tell more compelling stories? Check out this week’s episode for some tips on how to inspire your team with great storytelling.
Topics:
• 01:02 – How to build a ship by Antoine de Saint-Exupery
• 03:40 – when we fail to tell a compelling story
• 04:36 – When we tell compelling stories
• 06:05 – Pixar’s 6 points to a great story
• 07:01 – A great story is universal
• 07:29 – A great story has a character to root for
• 07:59 – A great story appeals to our deepest emotions
• 08:24 – A great story is surprising and unexpected
• 09:15 – A great story is simple and focused
• 10:01 – A great story has a structure and a purpose
• 11:34 – An example story using these techniques
• 14:33 – Applying these principles
• 19:18 – Where can we apply these techniques?
• 20:35 – How might we improve our skills?
Helpful Links:
• Ask a UXR: Storytelling for UX research portfolios | by Preeti Talwai
• 6 Rules of Great Storytelling (As Told by Pixar) | by Brian G. Peters | Medium
• What is Storytelling? | IxDF
• How To Use Storytelling In UX — Smashing Magazine
• The Ultimate Guide to Storytelling
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Meet your host
Jeremy Miller
Designer // Host // Mentor
I’m Jeremy. I’m a product designer from New Orleans. Here are some things I want you to know about me:
- I rally around research
- I’m dedicated to design
- I’m crazy about collaboration
- I’m sweet on the soft skills
- I’m entranced by the end users
- I’m passionate about the product
But most importantly, I know you can’t build great software without great relationships.
So join me here and learn about how to build truly great software.
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