When you can’t talk about your best UX work
By: H Locke
Tags: Portfolio, UX, Careers, Design

Earlier this year I designed the experience architecture for something Top Secret. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to talk about it.

I know other people have this challenge, particularly working in the public sector or on product start ups — You can’t talk about your best work and writing a portfolio case study is an NDA risk.

Or when you meet other UXers for a beer (remember when that was a thing?) and the “so what are you working on” comes up. What are you going to say? Because if you’re a UX geek, you probably want to talk about your best work.

So what do you do when you can’t talk about it?

Photo by Calum MacAulay on Unsplash

Write it anyway

I’m not saying publish it, I’m not saying announce it on social media — I’m saying write the case study somewhere for your own reference.

There are many benefits:

You’ll forget project details over time if you don’t It gives you a single narrative structure and mental model of the project for those times you need to think or speak about it You will have stored all the images, videos and other assets somewhere in a logical order You never know when some or all of it can go public in future

Give it a code name

If you can’t name the client or project, you can give it a code name and an industry section. ie. Project Space Cadet, Financial Services

Write an elevator pitch

Find a set of words you can use to talk around the project. Just a couple of sentences that frame the main challenge, process and solution. That way if you absolutely need to talk about it, you’ll be ready.

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Identify challenge themes and biggest learnings

Whatever project you work on, public or not, the most important thing is what you take away from it that makes you better at UX work, so write down the main themes of your project and key learnings. At some point in the future either a conversation, presentation or another live project is going to bring this project to mind, and you’re going to want to use what you’ve learned, even if you don’t reference the project details.

Some examples:

What was completely new that you’ve never done before and how did you handle that?

How has it built on your knowledge, e.g. of a specialist area?

What skills did you increase or expand on through the work?

What methodologies or tools did you need to employ?

What people skills did it require?

What learnings will you take into your next project?

You can even create a few key slides for your UX Library that cover the main challenges. Using, of course, your project code name.

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Define “secret”

There are different definitions of secret, and you should probably be clear what you’ve agreed to.

If you have signed the Official Secrets Act, then really don’t talk about it

If your employer has asked you not to talk about it publicly, don’t. But get a time frame.

Check your employment contract and any NDA to see if there are time limits or additional specifications for project secrecy

If you’re not sure ask, and get a response in writing.

As always, never assume. There are some projects that you think are secret, but then once they’re live you’re free to talk about them. On the other hand, there are a number of freelancers I’ve had to spank for announcing confidential research and strategy work on LinkedIn, while we’re in the middle of the Discovery phase. Sigh.

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Get a password-protected portfolio

Many portfolio platforms provide password protection without the need to code your own secure website. You can use a fully password protected portfolio like Carbonmade if, like me, you work mostly on complex top secret experience architecture projects and new products, or you can just use Wordpress and lock down a specific case study.

This way, you don’t even have to think about whether to write the case study or not — just write everything up and then lock it down.

Passwords give you access control so that key individuals can see work (when you’re looking for a job), but also gives you the power to change it if needed (when you’re done).

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

Talk about it, but don’t leave behind

If you’re in a job interview, it can feel like a choice between “talk about it” and “no job”. This is a hard one.

One way round this is to take the project code name, and the summary theme slides mentioned above, and talk at a high level about your learnings — the key challenges of the project that are relevant to this interview.

Whatever you do, don’t give access or provide leave-behinds for truly confidential work.

I’ve never not-hired someone for refusing to share confidential work. However I have not-hired someone for being unable to think around this problem and find a way to discuss their approach and learnings at a high level. This is called fluid intelligence. It uses the same brain muscle as being put on the spot to tell a client the research shows no one wants their product, and a million other UX project scenarios that happen every day.

Ultimately, if the potential employer is forcing you to disclose confidential information about another client, then you don’t want to work for them anyway.

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Is this kind of work really for you?

Working on secret projects is not for everyone. And based on the conversations that triggered this article, working on and talking about secret projects can throw up practical and emotional challenges.

Do you get a thrill out of doing behind-the-scenes work that will inform a final experience, or do you prefer to be on the UI-before-go-live end of the process?

Think about whether this kind of work is something you’re happy doing as you progress your career. Having interviewed and hired lots of UX people, I have learned that some people just want to work on things that go live publicly and win awards. And that’s cool, but have some self-awareness otherwise you’re going to waste a lot of peoples’ time, and make yourself and your project team miserable.

Not all ‘top secret’ work is equal

If you’re thinking that a life of stealth projects and password protected portfolios is for you, then just bear this in mind — just because it’s secret, doesn’t mean it’s good work.

Sure, I’ve worked on public sector stealth projects that have money and lives. But I’ve also worked on vanity app projects that were never going to make it to market and would have been embarrassing if they had. It’s good to be aware of the difference between the two.

Photo by Alex on Unsplash

Top tips

In summary, here are the things to consider:

Define “secret” and never assume

Don’t publish anything you’re not sure of

Write the case study anyway, as soon as the project is over

Have a clear project narrative in your head — know what you’ve learned

Decide if this is the kind of work you want to be doing.

Realistically, unless your portfolio is 100% personal pet projects or final UI, there are going to be parts of your client work that remain “secret”, for example you’re going to have to blur out and talk around things like business strategy, research findings and proprietary data. So when it comes to writing or talking about your portfolio, whether you’ve signed The Official Secrets Act or not, these are all good skills to learn.