Interview with Anne Stevens, Director of UX Research at The Culture Trip

We interviewed Anne Stevens to find out how she got into UX, the challenges she faced and overcame as a working mom, how she approaches remote working and what her advice is for getting into a UX role without breaking a sweat! Enjoy! 🌟

Anne Stevens

1. I learned that UX Mums supports flexible working within the UX community. What made you want to be active on this issue and what did you learn from it?

I didn’t want to take a step down — but I equally wanted time with my baby.

The first spark that would lead to forming UX Mums was ignited within me shortly after I had my first child in 2008. When I returned after maternity leave to the company where I was working at the time, I sought out to discuss flexible part-time work with my then-current employer to accommodate my family.

I realised during my maternity leave that I didn’t know a single mom in UX — I, of course, knew men with kids but, generally, they just didn’t ask for flexible work arrangements or didn’t have the rights to ask at that stage.

The thing is, I didn’t know any women that struggled with what I was going through — that need to return to work and maintain the same level of work. At the time, I had a UX manager role and I didn’t want to take a step down — but I equally wanted to have time with my baby.

There are also realistic constraints for child care when a nursery opens and closes during the day and the commute between work, home and the nursery that need to be considered. Some things are simply out of your control!

As a working mom, you also have to make people aware that you can’t be at the office at certain times or you need to leave after certain times. I really found it difficult and didn’t know anyone who had these same issues.

However, I was lucky and could negotiate some flexi-time — I met my employer in the middle with four days a week after I initially wanted three.

Around this time, I connected with Ladies that UX and the suggestion was made that we create a mums’ spin-off where we can find like-minded moms that are facing the same challenges. The idea was to set up a side group that was open to moms, moms-to-be and women who were planning to have kids and who wanted to know how to handle things. It was then that I finally met women who were in the same situation that I was.

For quite a long time, we did face to face meetups — which for moms with kids could prove to be difficult — before we moved on to digital meetups such as on Slack! We have, however, stayed in touch over the years and still check in with one another on our strategies to balance family and work. Everyone has slightly different approaches and experiences, and we shared employers and recruiters who we found were sympathetic to working with moms who need flexibility.

2. How has what you’ve learned from running this organization helped you to apply your learnings to your career or role you are in?

I have no interest in working for a company that doesn’t allow flexibility — I know where my red lines are.

To be honest, approaches to flexible working in the workplace have changed since I kicked off UX moms more than ten years ago. It was much harder then because we didn’t really have tools like Slack and Zoom.

The idea of working from home was also relatively new and many companies were strict with the expected 9 to 5 spent at the office.

Nowadays, it is not uncommon — even before COVID-19 changed our working lives — to work from home. I think things have changed a lot thanks to the technology that enabled working remotely and more people requesting and expecting this benefit.

The most important thing that my experience of working remotely has taught me is that I have no interest in working for a company that doesn’t allow flexibility — I know where my red lines are. Even if I love my job and the company I work for, if my child is ill or I have to have a plumber come over and there is no flexibility for time, I know that company will not support me.

I think that one good thing that hopefully will come from what we’ve learned about working remotely due to the Coronavirus is that everyone has proved that they can work from home and that moms can juggle kids from home and be productive.

After becoming a parent, flexibility at work isn’t just a perk—it’s a necessity.

3. How has your journey been to run a UX team in an industry that’s been completely changed in recent months?

I believe that all interactions at work need that personal element.

In my situation, I had to deal with a job change and then work remotely for the majority of the time I have been with my new company. I changed jobs in mid-January this year and joined a travel company called Culture Trip just before Corona impacted businesses.

I think I have been somewhat lucky in that I wasn’t forced to work in a certain way. To give you an example, we have UX design and research teams based in London and Tel Aviv. I lead the UX research team and have one researcher who is based in Tel Aviv. We have a great working connection that has not been affected by remote working or working via video calls.

Another thing our UX teams have put a lot of effort into is ensuring conversations are not always about work. For instance, we have set up a Slack channel that is purely for UX social chats, and we have times of day that are dedicated to coffee chats that are not work-related.

I believe that all interactions at work need that personal element. We need to make that effort to not only just have an agenda for a meeting, but to chat on a personal level too.

Even at work, you should try tapping into personal element

4. You have an outstanding career path working both in start-ups and big corporations such as Tesco. Any advice for those just getting into UX to succeed in this difficult time?

I would recommend that even if you are sure you want to become a UX Researcher, that you still make the effort to familiarise yourself with how a UX designer works.

In my experience, coming from a UX research perspective, when people first start a career in UX they tend to keep their approach broad before later moving onto research.

If you are truly considering a career in UX research, I would recommend that even if you are sure you do not want to become a UX designer, that you still make the effort to familiarise yourself with how a UX designer works. UX research goes hand in hand with UX design and you never know: you might enjoy learning about UX design!

I know that it can be really hard to find entry-level UX research roles as there are only a few companies that do internship or graduate roles. But having said that, there is an option to look out for Research Ops roles. If you do not have UX experience, an Admin/Ops role can allow you to observe how researchers work and teach you the basics of day to day logistics. Basically, it is learning on the job.

Another layer to consider is when you start your job hunt for a UX role, you need to be able to prove to a recruiter that even if you are an entry-level candidate and there is no expectation to be an expert, you can demonstrate what you’ve learned so far. Recruiters will be looking for methodologies and how you are able to translate these into workable solutions.

UX findings are different from those of writing a university research report that are often compiled and then left as is for reference. In the commercial realm, your UX findings need to be actionable and have key insights to need to be taken note of.

You need to be able to answer the question of “what’s next?” And your next step can literally be something as simple as a workshop! I think it is important that even after a recent project is finished, that your insights are used and interpreted correctly — it is that close collaboration with design and having a good relationship.

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Interviewed by Misato Ehara

Edited by Misato Ehara and Anne Stevens

Illustrations by Andrea Mendez

Edited with Google docs

Published on 1 Oct 2020

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Interviewee: Anne is the Director of UX Research at Culture Trip, a global travel, media and entertainment start up. Its vision is to inspire people to go beyond their cultural boundaries and connect with the world around them.

Anne has worked in UX Design and Research for 20 years and has led teams at companies such as Channel 4, Tesco and Just Eat.

Anne is also a passionate STEM Ambassador and works with primary and secondary schools to inspire the next generation of tech professionals.

Interviewer: Misato Ehara is founder of The UX Review, former design Strategist at Gensler. She is currently completing a Masters in Curating Contemporary Design and is open to UX research roles starting in October 2020.