Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Doing Work That Matters: A Look Beyond The Idealistic Notion of 'Doing Meaningful Work'
Gold
Friday, June 10, 2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Share the love for this talk
Doing Work That Matters: A Look Beyond The Idealistic Notion of 'Doing Meaningful Work'
Speakers: Barb Spanton
Link:

Summary

There’s something shifting in our field. Increasingly, design professionals are drawn to work in domains that truly help humanity, rather than building another ‘Uber for X’, to make the rich richer. While this is an expected response to recent world events, the reality of doing such impactful work is full of obstacles. Spanton will draw on 12+ years of UX design in healthcare to share some experiences and strategies, helping you anticipate and navigate predictable obstacles, so that you can apply your skills toward solving meaningful problems and realizing your goal of a truly impactful career. The talk will cover: 5 common obstacles 3 coping mechanisms 1 big bag of hope and determination to create lasting meaningful impact

Key Insights

  • Working in meaningful impact domains often involves heavy regulatory constraints that are more complex and far-reaching than initially apparent.

  • Medical product standards, like Australia’s on-screen medication guidelines, are thoughtfully designed to prevent fatal errors and serve as crucial safety tools.

  • The mantra “don’t kill grandma” encapsulates the ethical imperative behind regulated healthcare design: preserving life and safety above innovation speed.

  • Large-scale impactful products are inherently complex, making quick fixes or simple solutions rare and slow to ship.

  • Scope decisions in complex projects, such as Canada's COVID exposure app, can unintentionally exclude vulnerable populations, undermining intended impact.

  • Meaningful work in sensitive domains demands utmost respect for users’ dignity, privacy, and emotional state, influencing every design detail.

  • The familiar startup motto “move fast and break things” is often inappropriate and harmful in healthcare and other sensitive fields.

  • Seeking smaller, quicker projects that avoid most obstacles can boost team morale and sustain motivation for longer, slower initiatives.

  • Direct connection with end users, such as site visits to cancer centers, revitalizes teams with empathy and real-world insight.

  • Anchoring work in a core meaningful purpose—whether a corporate vision, a symbolic detail like a Periwinkle carpet, or the ethical mantra—provides resilience amid challenges.

Notable Quotes

"I still kind of pause in my tracks when I see our corporate vision: a world without fear of cancer."

"Don’t kill grandma is our mantra reminding us the stakes of the tiny design details we face every day."

"Regulations aren’t obstacles to dismiss but tools to respect and embrace that help us protect grandma."

"Quick fixes rarely exist in these domains because beneath every problem are layers of complexity."

"The scoping of Canada’s COVID app protected people with new phones, but left vulnerable populations unserved."

"Working in healthcare means every tiny moment in a patient’s experience can either uphold or erode their dignity and sense of control."

"Move fast and break things doesn’t work when you’re designing for cancer patients or disaster victims."

"Shipping smaller, less complex side projects helps build team morale and energizes us for the big slow work."

"Site visits with users don’t just give actionable insight; they give us raw, humbling inspiration to keep going."

"You need to find your own mattress—a grounding purpose or phrase—that you can rely on when progress feels hopeless."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sam Proulx
Accessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Emily DiLeo
Stronger Together: Lessons Learned from UX Research Ops
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Matt Stone
Scaling Empathy, A Case Study in Change Management
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Nathan Shedroff
Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme 2 Intro
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Trisha Causley
[Demo] Complexity in disguise: Crafting experiences for generative AI features
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Becoming a Civic Designer: Making the Move from Private to Public Sector
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Alexandra Schmidt
Enterprise UX Playbook
2022 • Enterprise Community
Taylor Jennings
Research Debate Club
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Conference
Peter Morville
The Architecture of Understanding
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Frances Yllana
DesignOps Exposed: What do our peers really think of us?
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Marisa Bernstein
It Takes GRIT: Lessons from the Small, but Mighty World of Civic Usability Testing
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Russ Unger
Onboarding: The Ecosystem, not the Afterthought
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Michele Marut
Research Repositories Reconsidered
2019 • DesignOps Community
Mandy Drew
What Role(s) Can Research Play in Responsible Design?
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Kayla Farrell
What It's Like To Be a User Researcher at Compass
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold

More Videos

Edward Cupps

"Switching sideways from management to principal IC was a leap of faith but ultimately gave me more impact."

Edward Cupps

The Principal Path: Journeying from Management to Individual Contributor

June 11, 2021

Stephanie Wade

"You have to plan ahead for sustainability; no one else will do it for you—you are your own best advocate."

Stephanie Wade

Building and Sustaining Design in Government

December 8, 2021

Sarah Alvarado

"Getting everyone to agree on what research should answer and in what order is where the fruitful back and forth happens."

Sarah Alvarado Nalini P. Kotamraju Anne Mamaghani Peter Merholz

How to make UX research leadership more effective [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]

October 26, 2023

Brigette Metzler

"We partnered with Consent Kit to create and maintain an open source consent form builder that addresses multiple legal frameworks."

Brigette Metzler Dana Chrisfield

Research Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community

August 27, 2020

Alana Washington

"Demand is ultimately outstripping supply, and carrier rates are rising, pushing up prices for shippers."

Alana Washington

(Remote) Service Design: A Transformation Case Study

June 8, 2022

Brian T. O’Neill

"Decision culture is a better lens than data culture for thinking about what decisions we're trying to facilitate with AI."

Brian T. O’Neill Maria Cipollone Luis Colin Manuel Dahm Mike Oren

Does Designing and Researching Data Products Powered by ML/AI and Analytics Call for New UX Methods?

February 18, 2022

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"Research should prioritize participant and researcher well-being over institutional convenience."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

The power to heal and harm

March 13, 2025

Prayag Narula

"Founders are hard to recruit for research, so showing genuine interest by solving their problems helps turn them into advocates."

Prayag Narula Abhinav Krishna

Dialing for Research: How to Reach the Unreachable

March 10, 2022

Sam Ladner

"Some of the most mundane objects can signal change."

Sam Ladner

How Research Can Drive Strategic Foresight

March 9, 2022