When I was first promoted to UX lead, being a manager was entirely new to me. How I spent my time as a contributor was obvious to me as a UX Designer. I was so used to dedicating my days to completing the requests that landed in my lap, that I wasn’t sure how to pivot to prioritizing and strategizing those same requests myself. On top of that, prioritize to whom?! I was in desperate need of a team.
From the many questions I had found myself scratching my head over, I decided to seek out mentorship externally from other UX Leaders. From the conversations I had, one with Janice Chow (UX Leader at Shopify) stood out to me the most. Our conversation around the AAA framework was mind blowing to me. To this day, it continues to guide the way I structure my time and my team.
What is the AAA framework?
The AAA framework is a process that enables leaders to be agile about where their time is spent depending on the current needs of their team. This is also largely dependent on who is on your team, and the individual needs of each contributor, and not just wider team.
Aim
Aim is all about defining the vision for the product. This is where you spend your time creating strategies, roadmaps, and requests. This is also the time that you collaborate closely with the Product Managers to help define and shape the why’s. Why is this important? Why does this need to be done now? What is the outcome? If there are more senior designers on the team, this is also a great area to pull them in.
Assemble
Assemble means being a people manager. This area involves building the team. Recruiting and hiring are a key part of assemble, but this also includes fostering a positive and effective team culture. Assembly is about getting great people on your team and making sure they have everything they need to succeed. This is where DesignOps and mentorship comes into play.
Achieve
Achieve is where you spend your time acting as an IC (individual contributor). Depending on the calibre of your team, and the number of requests, this percentage can be more or less prevalent. This can change daily/weekly/quarterly. In my experience, this is also the section that gives or takes away from the pervious two, depending on company objectives.
Following the AAA framework has helped guide me though my first years in design leadership. Not only has it provided me with a rubric on how to structure my time, but it has provided me with much needed language for responsibilities in the often times abstract world of start up life.