I am a probably-too-much pragmatic person. That’s why, every time I go to a conference, I cannot stop focusing on what can I learn and apply to my every day life. So, here’s my review of the UX Fighters 2016. I prefer to give it a couple of weeks, so the distance helps having a more objective point of view, and skip all those logistic errors that really screwed me on the first day.

What I got from the UX Fighters 2016 is:

The Kano model workshop from Juan José Elizondo (latam) was simply terrific, and I learned a new technique for my user experience toolbelt. Learnings:

• Useful to priorize a project backlog using a user-centred approach.
• Focus on fixing dissatissfaction first
• Not a silver bullet (cultural differences, need a big user base to fetch a valid sample and stakeholders need to be taught).
• Learn to perform your UX lean and with a low budget, because this won’t change even if you’re working on a big company :-D

Alberto Barreiro and his Digital killed the media star gave me some really amazing quotes:

• “The one who controls the interface controls the business” about facebook being a proxy of all the big media companies.
• This one is amazing: “Mobile users trust the feed”. As it’s harder to type, they rely on Facebook giving them what they need.
• The feedback loop pushes us towards an opinion corner. Confirmation bias and “intelligent feeds” force users to enter in a feedback loop where everything they read support their opinions.

El supermercado del futuro: “If you come with data let’s talk about the data. If you come with an opinion let’s talk about mine.”

Direct Seguros case study showed me this beautifully designed measurement glass that you can see from above:

Where are the limits of humor? from Carlos Areces was just brilliant. Sadly I didn’t take any notes.

“Make a briefing, even if you’re your unique user” from the Comics and user experience talk.

Open data discussion: “You know that phrase of ‘Data speaks for itself’? It’s a lie” as not everyone is able to extract information from data.

The engaging and eye-opening Discovery Program talk from Pere Rosales taught me a word (that’s also a new learning vector for me): Basadur.

Experiencias Efímeras from Alejandro Herrera showed me that maybe I was completely wrong about vertical video: If the video is going to be consumed in vertical format, it’d may be a good idea to record it vertically (and with things like periscope or facebook live, it’s also easier to record it vertically)

This one sentence from Juan Moyano We can be heroes talk is simply gold: “The more people understanding a problem, the better. The less people implementing a solution, the better”.

Marcos Viñuela García taught me the startup triangle: [buscar triangulo] Personal Ego, self-realisation and ambition.

Photo credits to Aurora Melchor

Fuerzas Vivas presentation from Gonzalo Madrid and Toni Garrido: “Common sense is disruptive” (as a force against company routine and doing the same things we’ve been doing because it’s what we’ve been doing.)