UX + Into, Through, and (Almost) Out of Design with Kara DeFrias — DT101 E103

11/22/22 • 48 min

Kara DeFrias is the current Chief of Staff for the Intuit QuickBooks Platform, with a background rich in both private and public sector experience. Previous work includes serving as senior advisor to the leadership team of the technology and design consultancy 18F in the Obama Administration, founding TEDxIntuit, and being part of the Emmy Award-winning production staff on the Oscars. A do-gooder at heart, Kara has done pro bono digital strategy. Today on the show we talk about UX and moving into, through, and almost out of design.

Listen to learn about:

>> Advice for newcomers wanting to get into design>> Seeing the world through design>> The importance of choosing work that aligns with your values>> The need for new voices in the design industry>> Designing in-person UX

Our Guest

Kara DeFrias' passion for designing engaging experiences has brought her to many exciting places, including the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and two White Houses.

Kara's background is a unique mix of private and public sector experience, including 9 years with Intuit and an appointment to the first class of Presidential Innovation Fellows. In the latter she served as entrepreneur in residence, reimagining the relationship between the government and the people from a technology perspective. Kara was Director of UX for then-Vice President Biden at the Obama White House, where she led the Cancer Moonshot work around cancer clinical trials. She then served as Senior Advisor in the Office of Technology in the Biden-Harris White House. She’s currently Chief of Staff for the Intuit QuickBooks Platform team.

Previous work includes Senior Advisor to 18F’s Executive Director and senior leadership team, founder of TEDxIntuit, and part of the Emmy award-winning production staff on the Oscars. She also worked on the Women's World Cup press operations team and the Super Bowl. A do-gooder at heart, Kara has done pro-bono digital strategy and communications for the likes of Team Rubicon and spent 10 days in rural India teaching micro-entrepreneur women human centered design, product management, and business skills.

Kara graduated summa cum laude from Penn State University with a masters degree in instructional systems design, and was a finalist for San Diego Woman of the Year. According to her 2nd grade report card, Kara “likes to talk. A lot.”

Show Highlights

[02:05] The three stages of Kara’s career.[02:34] Her time in instructional design, including a graduate degree from Penn State.[03:03] Moving to California and working in the entertainment industry.[03:51] Starting work at Intuit and finding UX and design.[05:11] Working with the NJM Insurance Group New Media team on usability and user research.[06:39] Developing her UX skillset, and having a great mentor.[09:03] Some of today’s challenges for new people wanting to get into design.[12:44] Advice for newcomers wanting to get into design.[13:20] Kara mentions a few good design conferences.[14:34] The need for design veterans to mentor and support, and conferences to make their spaces accessible and welcoming to new voices.[15:02] Volunteering is an important part of skillset and career development.[17:11] Kara sums up her advice.[19:56] The importance of ensuring that one’s design work endures, to be used and built upon by others.[21:26] What do you do when you feel like you’ve done everything you can in design?[22:30] Kara’s move out of design, and being Chief of Staff at Intuit.[23:46] Learning design will change how you see the world.[27:05] Kara talks about a life a-ha she had while leaving the Obama White House.[27:57] Dawan and Kara talk about aligning your values with the work you choose to do.[30:50] An early lesson Kara learned about treating one’s team well.[33:18] Being OK with making mistakes publicly and taking steps to correct them.[34:54] Asking for help.[36:57] Kara and Dawan joke about a hypothetical Design Twitter Over Dinner podcast.[38:36] Why new voices are a critical need in the design community.[41:51] Book recommendations from Kara.[42:45] Kara’s experience with TedX San Diego and founding TedX Intuit.[45:18] Designing great in-person UX.[47:09] Dawan closes by encouraging veteran designers to become mentors to emerging designers.

Links

Kara on Twitter Kara on LinkedIn Kara on Medium Kara on Women Talk Design Kara’s website How to get out of your own way as a designer and get down to business Designing the Intersection of Government, Cancer, and the People

Listen to learn about:

Our Guest

Kara DeFrias' passion for designing engaging experiences has brought her to many exciting places, including the Super Bowl, the Oscars, and two White Houses.

Show Highlights

Links

Previous Episode

5.5 Things Every Designer Should Know About: The Opioid Overdose Epidemic (Part 1) with Stacy Stanford — DT101 E102

This episode of the Design Thinking 101 podcast is 5.5 Things Every Designer Should Know About: the Opioid Overdose Epidemic. Our guest today is Stacy Stanford, the Senior Director of Overdose Injury and Violence Prevention at the National Association of County and City Health Officials in Washington DC (NACCHO). At NACCHO, she leads the overdose injury and violence prevention team to deliver funding and technical assistance to more than 60 communities across the United States.

Listen to learn about:

>> The current state of the U.S. opioid overdose epidemic>> The ways COVID-19 has affected the healthcare system’s ability to work with and treat those who use drugs>> The core principles of harm reduction>> The role misperceptions and stigma about drug use play in making it difficult for those who use drugs to get treatment

Our Guest

Stacy Stanford joined NACCHO in 2012 and is currently serving as a Senior Director of Overdose, Injury and Violence Prevention. She provides leadership, planning and guidance to the team’s management and staff in the areas of drug overdose, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), falls prevention, and the intersection of COVID, ACEs, and Suicide Prevention. Prior to this position she was the Director of Public Health Transformation and led Project SHINE, a fellowship to strengthen health systems through interprofessional education. Ms. Stanford received her Masters of Science in Public Health Microbiology from The George Washington University School of Public Health. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Denver. Prior to joining NACCHO, she worked on Influenza surveillance and in the development of HAvBED, the Hospital Bed Availability Reporting System during H1N1 at the Department of Health and Human Service.

Show Highlights

[01:47] Stacy talks about her work at NACCHO, the membership organization of local health departments for the U.S.[03:15] The current state of the opioid overdose epidemic.[03:55] There have been three waves in the epidemic.[05:04] How the COVID-19 pandemic affected our ability to respond to the epidemic.[05:40] The worst problems caused by the pandemic.[06:36] The rise in telemedicine and mobile vans.[07:31] Harm reduction and keeping people safe.[08:08] What is harm reduction?[08:48] A misperception about drug use.[09:42] The core principles of harm reduction.[11:01] What implementation of harm reduction looks like in practice.[12:42] Medication for Opioid Disorder.[13:11] The importance of having peers throughout the programs and healthcare systems that serve those who use drugs.[15:01] The need to change perspectives and de-stigmatize drug use.[16:10] Intersectional stigma.[18:09] What happens when someone gets labeled as an addict or abuser.

Links

Stacy on LinkedIn Chicago Recovery Alliance National Harm Reduction Coalition CDC Drug Overdose information website Drug Policy Alliance Shatterproof

Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like

5.5 Things Every Designer Should Know About: The Future of Higher Education with Bryan Alexander — DT101 E97 5.5 Things Every Designer Should Know About Strategic Foresight with Bart Édes — DT101 E95

Next Episode

Learning + Teaching + Design Thinking Impact in K-12 with Rich Wiener — DT101 E104

Rich Wiener is an educator and consultant who works to engage K-12 learners at a high level, and has zeroed in on design thinking as a key component. Rich's career has included being a school principal, Director of Curriculum for Ramsey Public School District in New Jersey, and an adjunct professor of education at Columbia University. We talk about the impact of design thinking in K-12 education.

Listen to learn about:

>> The design thinking classroom program in the Ramsey public school district>> How design thinking impacts Ramsey’s high school students and teachers>> Advice to school districts wanting to start their own design thinking program>> Some of the partner projects students worked on during the program

Our Guest

Rich Wiener has served the educational community as a teacher, principal, curriculum director, and adjunct professor of education. He received his Masters Degree from the University of Oregon and his Doctoral Degree from Teachers College, Columbia University. He taught the supervision course in the Department of Curriculum and Teaching at Teachers College, Columbia and courses on change leadership and methods of teaching at Ramapo College of New Jersey. Rich is currently the CEO of the educational consulting firm, GEN Z Innovate.

Throughout his career, Rich has worked to develop educational programs and experiences that inspire student engagement, foster creativity and complex problem-solving, and promote deep understanding and insight. As a part of that journey, Rich and his colleagues in Ramsey, New Jersey established a high school level design thinking course, modeled after the Stanford University d. school. The Ramsey High School Design Lab established partnerships with American Express, Liberty Science Center, Boxed Wholesale, All Things Media, The Center for Social Innovation in New York City, Crisis Text Line, and the New Jersey Legislature, among others. The design thinking model has proven to be a successful approach to engaging high school students in an experience that successfully fosters the creative mindsets that underlie innovative, complex problem-solving.

Show Highlights

[01:47] Rich’s story begins at the Ramsey Public School District.[02:32] How Time Magazine’s How to Build a Student for the 21st century article influenced and inspired the school district.[04:10] Rich explains the concept of transfer in education.[05:03] Performance assessments and complex problem solving.[06:37] Rich’s thoughts on educational curriculum.[07:10] Our curriculum overemphasizes content over creative thinking.[08:39] Our curriculum doesn’t focus enough on teaching students how to respond to societal issues and problems.[09:15] Our curriculum doesn’t help students understand themselves and their place in the world.[10:17] Rich’s reaction to seeing the 2013 60 Minutes’ interview with IDEO’s David Kelley.[11:37] The question Rich and his colleagues created for their design thinking project.[12:45] The school district’s first foray into teaching design thinking to students.[14:14] Lessons learned during that first project.[16:18] The deeper goals and outcomes of the project.[17:26] Helping kids embrace risk-taking and failure.[18:06] The traditional classroom vs. the design thinking classroom.[20:00] The students’ first project on the first day of class.[21:22] Teaching empathy.[22:25] Partnering the classroom with an outside organization to give students a real-world experience.[24:51] The positive impact the design thinking course had on the teachers, and on teaching and learning outside of the classroom.[28:48] Students tackling English curriculum revision using design thinking.[30:25] Rich gives advice for other K-12 schools that may want to start their own design thinking course.[32:44] How to find businesses and organizations to partner with.[34:44] Rich talks about a student partner project with All Things Media.[42:34] Another student partner project, with American Express.[44:13] Where to learn more about Rich and his work.

Links

Rich on TwitterRich on LinkedIn Design Lab and Design Thinking Course at Ramsey High School GenZ Innovate Grant Wiggins on ACSD 60 Minutes David Kelley interview Project Breaker

Book Recommendations

The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design, by IDEO.org

Other Design Thinking 101 Episodes You Might Like