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Mentoring & Training

For me, mentoring isn’t just about sharing expertise—it’s about building connections, fostering growth, and making an impact.

My Philosophy

With over 25 years of experience in UX Research, I’ve had the privilege of shaping user-centered solutions across various industries. Throughout my career, mentoring has been a consistent thread and a deep passion of mine. I firmly believe that mentoring is one of the best ways to level up—not only for the mentee but for the mentor as well. Sharing knowledge, helping others overcome challenges, and guiding them to achieve their goals is incredibly enriching and rewarding.

My mentoring philosophy revolves around creating a safe, supportive space where mentees can grow, explore, and unlock their potential. Whether it's navigating career transitions, refining research strategies, or breaking into the UX field, I strive to provide actionable insights, encouragement, and thoughtful advice tailored to individual goals. I’m here to help you succeed and reach the next stage of your journey.

Training Clips

COGNITIVE LOAD THEORY  

Duration: 4:58

Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), developed by John Sweller, explains how the brain processes and stores information. It emphasizes that working memory has limited capacity, and overloading it can hinder learning and decision-making.

Facilitating Usability Testing

Duration: 5:08

As a UX research facilitator, you take on multiple roles to ensure a smooth and effective usability test: Scientist, Flight Attendant, and Sportscaster. This video specifically delves into your role as a Scientist, emphasizing the importance of unbiased observation and accurate data gathering in UX research.

Leading the Witness

Duration: 5:47

Leading refers to unintentionally guiding or influencing participants to respond in a specific way. This can happen through the phrasing of questions, the tone of voice, or body language. Leading questions and behaviors can bias results, compromising the reliability of insights. The goal in UX research is to gather authentic, unbiased feedback by asking neutral, open-ended questions that allow participants to express their true thoughts and experiences.

Impact

  • Training programs and mentoring provide researchers and cross-functional team members with essential UX research skills, such as interviewing, usability testing, and data analysis.

  • Mentees gain confidence to independently conduct research, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of UX initiatives.

  • Empowering more team members to understand and apply UX research leads to better-informed design and product decisions.

  • Teams can identify and solve user pain points earlier, resulting in higher user satisfaction and reduced development costs from fewer redesigns.

  • Standardized research training ensures that research methods are applied consistently across teams and projects.

  • Quality improves as more stakeholders understand best practices, reducing biases and errors in data collection and analysis.

  • Training and mentoring increase the organization’s capacity to scale research efforts by distributing knowledge across teams.

  • Collaborations between product, design, and engineering teams are strengthened as all parties develop a shared understanding of user needs.

  • Mentoring programs foster the next generation of UX leaders, who can take on greater responsibilities in research, strategy, and team management.

  • Former mentees often become mentors themselves, creating a sustainable culture of continuous learning and knowledge sharing.

Contact

Sarah kirk
skirken@gmail.com
314 537 0809

LinkedIn

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