The Rise of the T-Shaped UX Designer: Why Cross-Functional Skills Matter
In today’s fast-paced, agile work environment, individual contributors are expected to possess a diverse set of skills that extend beyond their core expertise. This is particularly true for UX designers, who must navigate the complexities of product development and user experience. Enter the T-shaped UX designer, a versatile professional with a solid grasp of adjacent areas, also known as wing skills or wing disciplines.
What is a T-Shaped UX Designer?
A T-shaped product designer is someone who, in addition to their core UX expertise, develops a solid understanding of other adjacent areas. These wing skills can range from technical expertise to excellent presentation skills, and are essential for delivering more value to the product and growing one’s career.
The Benefits of Being T-Shaped
While specializing in a small niche can be successful, there are significant benefits to developing wing skills:
- Applying core skills more effectively: Understanding various areas adjacent to your core expertise helps you apply your in-depth knowledge to create optimal solutions.
- Being a more versatile contributor: Having a comprehensive skillset makes you more hireable and valuable, even if demand for your core skills drops.
- Exploring new interests: Developing wing skills increases the chance for a career breakthrough and adds novelty to your professional growth.
Examples of Wing Skills for T-Shaped UX Designers
Some examples of wing skills that can help you become a T-shaped UX designer include:
- Product strategy: Developing a broader understanding of your product, including its use cases, competitive landscape, and long-term vision.
- Data analysis: Making data-informed decisions by learning self-serve tools and understanding the quantitative side of things.
- Positioning: Understanding how users perceive your product and improving product communication to reinforce the positioning that best fits the product.
- Design operations (DesignOps): Improving the efficiency of your design process by implementing right processes, automating tedious tasks, and building a healthy in-house design community.
- Communication and collaboration: Mastering skills such as pitching, negotiation, communication frameworks, and conflict resolution to become a great asset to any team.
- Team leadership: Helping others grow and ensuring the whole team stays on track during turbulent times, even without a managerial title.
Focusing on Depth vs. Breadth
When deciding whether to focus on depth or breadth, consider your current circumstances and context. As a general rule:
- 0-2 years of experience: Focus on depth, developing strong baseline expertise in core UX design work.
- 2-4 years of experience: Focus on breadth, exploring wing skills that will be essential on your journey to seniority.
- 4 years+: Consider moving into a so-called M-shaped specialist, possessing a solid specialty in multiple areas.
The Future of UX Design
Developing wing skills is crucial for every UX designer. By giving you a better understanding of the broader context, they help you deliver more value from your core expertise, and the ability to contribute to more than one area of business makes you a more valuable asset both for the team and the job marketplace. As you grow towards seniority, a broader skill set will be invaluable, and considering developing new areas of expertise will increase your value as a designer even more.