# Getting comfortable with the unknown — Amanda Pitcher — session 2026-08-28T04:45:00.000Z → 2026-08-28T05:15:00.000Z _460 transcript lines · 101 slides_ ## Transcript Let's get started, shall we? So I sent you off to the afternoon tea break with a little sort of fact about humans, and, human species. We are the last human species to move out of Africa. We were not the first human species to move out of to to migrate out of Africa was Homo erectus. And they lived for about two million years and spread as far east as China and Indonesia. The last pockets of Homo erectus were to be found in Indonesia up to a hundred and ten thousand years ago only. So from two million years ago, up to a hundred and ten thousand years ago at which point there were still three separate species of human in the area. Including one group on one island otherwise known as Hobbits, Florissiensis, us, and we may or may not have made it to these Australian mainland by that point. Evidence suggests maybe we did. And then Homo erectus, the very last pocket after two million years of life on the planet, There you go. Welcome back. So, this next talk, so we've got three sessions. Three sessions, left for the afternoon. Our first speaker in this last, sort of, last collection of talks is Amanda who's gonna be talking to us about getting comfortable with the unknown. Please join me in welcoming her to the stage. Hello. Thank you everyone. Tess you can hear me. I think you can. Great. Alright. Thank you for joining me this afternoon. And I wanna say congratulations to Steve and John and all the other organizers for such a fantastic Let's get into it. Who here has started something new this year? A new project, a new role, same company, new company, maybe even a new chapter of life. Parenthood, marriage, divorce. Who's found themselves thinking what the have I done? I have. Head your hands up. I have no idea what I'm doing. How did I get here? Why am I here? It's thrilling and terrifying at the same time. So many unknowns, so many things to learn, so many possibilities or forks in the road. For those of you who haven't felt this new for a while, I'm going to help you. We're gonna change that. And a quick trigger warning for any of us who have phobias or three the next few slides might be slightly uncomfortable but trust the process. So okay, just breathe, don't look down. It's okay, just keep going, look ahead, trust me. It's more scared of you than you're scared of it. Don't worry. Ignore the big fangs and the furry legs and the sensation of crawling on your skin. Just breathe, you've got this. The elevator will move again in a few minutes, ignore what that rumbling noise is, what's going on, that person next to me smells. Just breathe. You've got this. Sydney public transport. Sorry. So Oh, leave. So trust the process. Did that help? Being told to relax, to breathe, to not look down. Did any of that make you feel less uncomfortable? For me, yeah. It does not. When you're stressed about something being told don't worry about it. You've got this, trust the process, It doesn't make that worry going away. That worry go away. You see, never in the history of calming down has someone calm down by being told to calm down. In fact, to tell someone not to feel the way they're feeling it doesn't help. It actually has the opposite effect. It gets people to suppress that emotion And I think of emotion like an energy. And when we suppress the emotion, say no it's fine, I'm fine, it's all good, trust the process, that that energy or emotion, it doesn't go away. It gets compressed and magnifies and it happened for me anyway, it often bursts out at inop inopportune moments at minor triggers like my daughter, mommy, mommy, mommy, or my partner washing my brand new merino wool jumper on a cold cycle. So case in point, this is my dog, Alfie. He gets a special fancy wash every few months to get the fur and the stank off him. And every time I tell him, it's okay, I'm right here, nothing to worry about, Do you think it works? No. He sings the song of his people and rouses every dog in a five k radius. So I'm not going to tell you the trust to trust the process. I'm going to tell you to challenge the process Following a process blindly, trusting it too much, you might miss the point. Completely. You may ask the wrong questions, follow the wrong leads, trust the wrong information or the wrong people. Instead, I'm going to ask you to become a two to six year old, and ask a thousand whys. Never stop asking why. Why are we here? Why are we focusing on this problem? Why are these why these people are not those, why these users are not those. Why these features or functions? How are we gonna learn what we need to know? Why is that the right way to learn? Why do we need to know that? Assume nothing, question everything, Accept yourself. Don't question yourself. Okay. Let's wind it back a bit. How did I get here? On a train that ran on time? I work in consulting and as a consultant I'm always walking into the new. New projects, new clients, new teams, new proposals, new roles. Over and over again every week. And I got sick of lying awake at 3AM, staring at the ceiling listening to my partner and Alfie snore. And running through my mind was everything I hadn't figured out yet. A project at work, something going on in life, something that could go wrong. And yes, I am a deep or over thinker. And I got fed up with myself and I decided to do something about it. I took the tools that we and I use every day at work, and turn them on myself. I used them to get comfortable with the unknowns. And I'm gonna share them with you today. Six things that you can do to feel more comfortable with the unknown. These are laid out in a linear order, but as we know in design, things are rarely, there's a beginning, middle and end, they move all around. So I'm not suggesting that you would tick all of these off. Sometimes you might have already done part of this, sometimes you need to do it all, sometimes you switch around the order. Maybe one of them will make you feel a bit more uncomfortable when you're feeling that overwhelm of the new the great unknown. But everyone is different and there's no one size fits all. The first thing to do is frame the problem. Whether this is a personal situation or something at work, we don't understand and identify the problem, we can't then design or identify the right solution. And there's a great quote that's attributed to Albert Einstein and there's debate about whether he actually said it or not. But he says, what he has said to have said, if I had an hour to solve a problem, I would spend fifty five minutes understanding the problem, and then five minutes determining the solution. So if you do nothing else, spend your time framing the problem. And here's some ways to do that. So by framing the problem, of course, again I mean challenge the problem. Don't accept what you're told or what you think the problem is. Even if it seems obvious, challenge and test your thinking. And there's lots of different ways to do this and I've just cobbled together I'm a bit of a bowerbird or a magpie. I pick and choose what I like from different methodologies. And I've got two options here. If you're someone who likes to sort of deluge all the content and write things out, this is for you. This is one that I trend towards. It's the who, what, why, when, where and how. Who's experiencing this, me, uses, somebody else? What's the real impact? Why does it matter? Where and when does it show up? How do we know this? This is a critical one. What's the data? What's the information? Where am I getting the signals from? And I write out all of these questions and critical thing is you don't have to solve them all at once. We'll be getting to how we move into like to prioritizing and moving forward. The other way that to problem frame is one of your good old canvases, and I am not picking one out because there's so many different ones based on your context and your need. I like these if if I need to see a bit more visual, see all the information in one place. A problem framing canvas. It has been renamed as an opportunity canvas because some people think that problem is a negative word and in this world we have to be positive. But sometimes it's a problem, so I just call it a problem. You have all the information in one place. The context, the problem, the people impacted, the workarounds and the risks, all in one place. So jump on your favorite search tool, try her out, play around with them, pick one that works for you. So you've mapped out your problems, you've got all your quest You've gonna identify and prioritize the gaps and this is an image we saw a little bit earlier. You're gonna name your unknowns. So make a list of facts you know about the problem and its causes for sure. For sure means you've got data, metrics, measures that tell you that that is the problem and the cause. And if you don't know it, then you need to go away and get data that tells you that this is actually a problem. People are doing this, I don't know this, Whatever whatever the data you need to validate that. And then I like to give them a name. I don't know this, I don't know who this is, I don't know how to do this, whatever it may be. By naming the unknowns, the tensions, and the fears, you open up the space to engage with them. So we're identifying the gaps giving them a name. Then we're gonna prioritize them. Lots of different ways to do this again. I love an x y matrix as my colleagues here will know. When you have a lot of gaps, a lot of unknowns, it can feel overwhelming and you can find yourself going off on random paths trying to solve everything all at once all the time. And I'm sorry to tell you, we'll never know everything. At least not all at once. So this is my favorite prioritization matrix for problems. So on your vertical top to bottom matrix axis, we've got impact, clarity, or comfort. What's the impact of this unknown? Will it give you clarity? Will it give you comfort? So at the bottom is low, at the importance or urgency of closing that gap. So again, low on the left and high on the right. So you take all of your unknowns and you plot them on this matrix. And no two problems or unknowns can live in the same space. And what you get is your prioritization, of what you're gonna focus on first. So if it is high high, as I like to say, high impact clarity or comfort, and high importance or urgency, that's where you're gonna focus your attention. Complexity of complexity of unknowns, complexity of what you need to do it kills clarity. So this for me, it gives me clarity, it gives me a priority of where I'm gonna focus my attention. So hi hi, find out first. Prioritize doing that, understanding those unknowns, closing those gaps first. Then high low, so high impact clarity, comfort and lower urgency importance. I would find out next. And then things that are lower, on the impact clarity and comfort scale, but maybe higher importance urgency, I might find out later. Now those two can interchange depending on what they are, this is not an exact science. If it's low low, I might find out when you would need to, I would deprioritize that. So this is a way that I just give myself a starting point some clarity. Tip number three is to embrace I don't know yet. Don't be afraid to say I don't know yet. Now as humans and professionals, we can sometimes feel like we have to know everything and we don't want to admit our knowledge gaps. And I'm here to tell you that this is not you, it's your brain. A man called Roger Sperry ran an experiment in the fifties called the split brain. Experiment and don't worry, no no brains were split by Sperry It was he ran an experiment on people who had had their brain the left and the right hand side of their brain divided to treat epilepsy and seizures. And he found a way to deliver an or a task to the left or the doing side of the brain and then he asked the person why they did that. So he told them, stand up, pick up this, do this. And then he asked them why did you do that? So the thinking side of the brain. And he found that they would rather make up a reason for doing it than to say I don't know. So saying I don't know, we are wired to avoid saying that. So it's not you, it's your brain, but embrace saying I don't know yet. We all have our areas of expertise and then we have our areas we don't know so much about. For example, everything I do at work is focused on helping customers to identify the right problems to solve and then aligning them to the right technology with design in the middle. While I know a favorite about this, I'm still always learning every single day. And then on the other hand, we have the great, humble, humble humbleizer. I don't know if that's a word. I'm making it up. Humbleizer. Which is parenthood. It's the ultimate humbling experience. When I became a parent, this is a true story. I walked out of the hospital with my daughter in a carrier with my partner and I got to the car park and I realized, I have no idea what the hell am doing. And I thought, who in the right mind is letting me walk out with this in it like this baby? And I did consider going back in and saying, please take this child. I don't know what to do. And I realized I had to change my mindset and go back to being a student of parenting. And I took the mindset of always be learning because if anyone has a is a parent or you have a puppy or anything, the minute you think you've got it nailed, they change and they do something different. And this picture here is my daughter who's six now, a parent of her own as we can see. I still have no idea what I'm doing but I have learned to be more comfortable with that now. And I think of I'm always learning, always be learning that growth mindset. But there are some brain friendly alternatives to I don't know that I want you to start trying out. So instead of saying I don't know, I'll find out. I'll look into it. I'll circle back. That's an interesting question. Let's find out. Okay. Here's what I know and here's what I don't know. Tip number four is this is a common designer refrain, stay away from solution mode. Don't fence yourself in too early by focusing on a solution too early. If you can, keep it vague, maybe capture, write it all down. Because you don't know what you don't know at this point. Solution mode is a trap. If you focus on a solution whether it's an answer to your problem, tech stack, it's an app, website feature function, too soon in the great unknown, you stop trying to understand the problem and you start trying to prove your solution right. Or as we know, you're introducing bias, confirmation bias which is well talked about, I'm not gonna delve into it today, but we are all wired to find the evidence to support us and agree with us and start to skip and ignore the evidence. So stay away from solution mode, too early. Now The next tip is to share it. Two heads better than one, six heads better than two. The more diverse group that you share the problem with, the better. So this includes having all your homework ready and going to them so you've talked to your users, customers, competitors. Other industries, other solutions. Then you wanna go to your carefully selected group of, reviewers and share. Who you wanna pick is somebody who will listen actively, not listen to respond, who'll be curious, they'll wanna understand what you're saying, they'll challenge you, they'll ask you the tough questions, and critically, they will call you on your b s. Now the next next tip is to test. Critical in UX design, but also when we're in the great unknown. So run tests on what you've learned about the problem and this is a bit different but find ways to prove yourself wrong. And now I know I said to trust yourself and I said that our brains would rather make up an answer than say, I don't know. So I want you to trust yourself enough to ask the questions and test yourself enough to confirm the answers. So still trust yourself, but maybe challenge yourself as well. So don't be afraid of being wrong, embrace being wrong. Seek being wrong. Failing early is an asset as we know, failing a prototype a piece of paper don't fail on the full solution. Failing early is an asset not a liability. So there's that old saying, two wrongs don't make a right. Think they do because if you're getting proved right, you may have designed the test wrong, you may have asked the wrong questions. If you get told you're wrong, you prove yourself wrong, then you're heading in the right direction. So if no one because if you get told at no if you get told no, that point in time, you get pointed in the right direction. I just repeated myself. Let's jump forward. So some ways to prove yourself wrong. Ask yourself what would change my mind? And if you say nothing, there's bias because there's always new information that would change your mind. Increased scope, increased time, more, you know, a different technology, a new tool. So challenge yourself, how would I change my mind? What would change my mind? Who would change my mind? This is one of my favorite activities and those who've worked with me may have seen me do this, but maybe not call it out as the devil's advocate exercise. And this is something you can do for yourself or if you're working in a team, you assign somebody the role of devil's advocate, and what they want they're going to do is poke holes in everything. Look for the flaws, the missing logic, the missing data. And then you get to have that debate or conversation with them and it very quick it unravels if you have any gaps. So the devil's advocate exercise, Then design a test that could kill your favorite idea, feature, or function. So really design to stress test that your favorite thing. In writing they say, kill your darlings in design, kill your favorite feature or challenge your favorite feature. At the very least. And the final way to prove yourself wrong is to run a pre mortem activity which is you go, okay, we failed. Let's work back and figure out why. So did we focus on something to early? Did we talk to the wrong people? Did we design it the wrong way? This is an activity where you find the weak points the fail points and your biases. Now And a bonus tip is to make it fun or and or funny. Celebrate the wins along the way and this is if it's it's a personal or a team activity. So I like to do things have little ceremonies or traditions like coffee time. And this is whether you're virtual or in person, coffee time. Elevenses, a weekly team, you know, lunch or at activity like going for a walk. Back in COVID days, we would jump on a a Teams call and go for a walk and sort of chat to each other. We still do this sometimes today. Something that I like to do is have a I don't know if anybody appreciates this, but I do. Have a quote board which could be We've had it physically in the in the office or a digital one. And write funny things that you've said or done. Surprisingly, I'm often featured highly on these sort of sort of artifacts. And I like to use these quotes or funny things that have happened, at the at a wrap like activity. I call it gig trivia or project trivia. Where we remember the highs and the lows of a project or an engagement over a year or a period of time. So 10 points who can remember how many pies Sakee had we went to Roma for the Great Start Discovery engagement. So only Sakeb and I know the answer, but it was three. Or who slept with a butter knife under their pillow when we went to a slightly dodgy town in rural, Queensland because we're worried about it being a quite dodgy hotel. Who slept with a wine bottle next to their bed for the same reason? These types of activities and celebrate the wins big or small. So on a project of course, closing it out, it may be we got through our backlog, it may be that we had just a great interview. As a parent, it was like, I changed a nappy without getting pooing myself. Yay. The other thing to do is, I know this is boring, but please in the discovery phase is to document. Whatever way shape or form makes sense for you. So this is if it's personal, if it's professional. Write down, your thoughts, your actions, your concerns, your problems, your activities, write it down at the time a voice note, AI chat, interpretive dance, You won't remember with accuracy the next day, the next week, the next month, context will change things, the things that you learn will change. So capture it somewhere along the way. First of all, accuracy, but also it's great to reflect on your journey. Go, I start done. So So going back over these, we've got six sort of seven tips. I've got a bonus tip in there. Frame the problem, challenge it, identify and prioritize, the unknowns, the gaps, what do you need to know first, Get comfortable with saying I don't know yet or the brain friendly alternatives. Let's find out, I'll look into it. Stay away from solution mode, it's a trap. Share with somebody who will challenge you, call you on your b s. Test and find ways to prove yourself run. Wrong, run, wrong. Make it fun and document. So where are we today? I started here at 3AM, wide awake, running through every unknown, every problem, everything that could go wrong. And I still have lots of unknowns in work and life. Lots of uncertainty as we all do. Now I've got some tools that can help me to sleep a bit better. And hopefully so do you. So don't trust the process, trust yourself. Thank you. Thank you. Questions for Amanda? Anyone wanna pick up on something they heard during that? Or anyone wanna share? Anyone like to share? Anything that they do? No. Or no. I I I will say I felt the same way leaving the hospital with twins. Oh, boy. It's just like, this is madness. You should not let me alone at all right now. Yep. But they did. They just let us, like, going home. And they're great by the way. Still got both of them. Okay. We good? Alright. Thank you all. Thank you. Thanks. While we get set up, Good. Small random facts. Woah. Jeez. I don't know. The last known use of or the last known carving or piece of writing using Egyptian hieroglyphics was done in three ninety six AD. The first ones that we've got recorded were about two thousand seven hundred and eighty BC. So it's about a four three and a half thousand year period where hieroglyphics were used But the Egyptians sort of pharaonic period lasted so long that Egyptian archaeology was a career in Cleopatra's Egypt. She kept archaeologists studying Egyptian archaeology in Egypt. It had been around for that long. But for her at the time, ancient Egypt, so the old pyramid and geyser and the ones that Joseph were older than the Colosseum is for us. That's how long that, those dynasties lasted and that civilization had been around. There you go. Is that good enough for me? Love it. Love that one? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All good. We're gonna pick up and carry on the sort of leadership theme, in this next session. All three sessions really, If we're we're good? Yep. Alright. So, picking up on that theme around leadership, I'd like to introduce and welcome to the stage, Amir Ansari. Welcome, mate. Thank you. One, two, three. Yeah. Yeah? Yeah. Fantastic. You can hear me. Thanks, Steve, for the introduction. Now I know I am the second last speaker for this conference. But I'm hoping you are sticking around not just out of professional courtesy, to make me look better, but you're actually got interested in something I have to say before you hear Nathan close out the conference. So I'm gonna talk to you about leadership. Specifically, leadership that lasts. But I'm gonna preface my talk with two things. One, when I talk about leadership, I'm not just talking about people in a position of power. People who are managing others. I'm also talking about anybody who aspires to be a leader help others improve and grow. Or just generally anybody who's interested to make their lives better and be a better version of themselves. So that's the first preface. And second one is, this is the only time in this talk I will mention the word AI. Down. You've heard it. You're not gonna hear it again. So if you want to hear more, you might be a bit disappointed. So I would like to also acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, I would like to pay my respects to the elders past and present And I would like to acknowledge the enduring knowledge, care, and leadership His connection to country, culture, and community continues across generations. Now I'm gonna do a quick poll. So in a second, I'm gonna get you to take your phones out. You're gonna scan a QR code. We'll go to slider.com. That includes you guys, who's sitting around virtually. Or doing maybe jumping jacks that I can't see. And I'm gonna ask you two questions. So get ready, pull out your phones, Now you've all had leaders. Right? You've had good leaders. You've had average leaders. You probably had some shit leaders. So go to slider.com. And enter that number or enter the QR code, and we're gonna have a bit of a horse race. I would like to know what should good leaders leave behind? Product leaders, design leaders, technology leaders. And you can choose multiple And if you choose other, that's okay because that's what the second question is gonna be about. Okay. Looks like a bit of a strong winner. Capital e growth and maturity. 48 people responding. Great. And I'll let the people online enter some as well. There's other. Okay. 28%. Interesting. Keen to know what people say there. Maybe these results are surprising, maybe they're not. It's good to see what the audience is thinking. Okay. So if you said other, I'm gonna move to the next question, and I'm gonna get you to just put some words in on what you think other is. ## Slides ### 00:00:14 # Amanda Pitcher [Image of a dirt path leading through a wooded area towards a bright light in the distance] ### 00:00:30 # Amanda Pitcher [Black and white image of a path leading into a bright, distant light, surrounded by trees] ### 00:00:33 # Amanda Pitcher [Image of a dirt path leading into a bright light source at the horizon, surrounded by trees or brush] ### 00:00:56 # Amanda Pitcher [Image of a path through a wooded area leading towards a bright light] ### 00:01:18 ## Amanda Pitcher [Image of a dirt road leading into a bright, hazy distance, flanked by trees and bushes] ### 00:01:43 # Getting comfortable with the unknown Amanda Pitcher [Image of a dirt road disappearing into a foggy distance, flanked by bare trees and dense foliage] ### 00:02:04 [A long, straight road stretching into the distance with a large fork stuck upright in the middle, casting a long shadow, under a cloudy sky with a sunset glow.] ### 00:02:26 [Image of a giant fork stuck in the middle of a long, empty road, symbolizing a "fork in the road" or a decision point.] ### 00:02:47 [A long road stretching into the distance with a giant fork stuck upright in the middle, casting a long shadow.] ### 00:03:10 [Close-up photograph of a tarantula on a person's hand] ### 00:03:27 [Close-up photograph of a young woman with a distressed expression, looking up, surrounded by blurred figures in a crowd.] ### 00:03:30 [Close-up photograph of a young woman with a distressed expression, looking up, surrounded by blurred figures in a crowd.] ### 00:03:51 ## Trust the process? ### 00:04:11 > Never in the history of calming down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down... [Image of several people shouting, with hand-drawn megaphones overlaid] ### 00:04:26 > Never in the history of calming down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down... [Image of several people shouting into megaphones] ### 00:04:32 > Never in the history of calming down has anyone calmed down by being told to calm down... [Image of several people shouting into sketch-style megaphones, facing each other] ### 00:04:55 [Close-up of a brown dog wearing a purple towel wrapped around its head, looking directly at the camera.] ### 00:05:17 # Challenge the process! [Illustration of two knights on horseback, labeled "YOU" and "PROCESS", jousting with lances.] ### 00:05:29 # Challenge the process! [Illustration of two knights on horseback jousting, labeled "YOU" and "PROCESS"] ### 00:05:50 [Close-up of a young boy with a surprised expression, pointing one finger upwards] ### 00:06:13 ## 3.00am ### 00:06:25 # 3.00am ### 00:06:46 ## 3.00am ### 00:07:06 ## SIX things you can do to feel more comfortable with the unknown ### 00:07:26 # SIX things you can do to feel more comfortable with the unknown ### 00:07:47 ## TIP #1: Frame the problem [A hand holds an empty picture frame against a backdrop of a cliff overlooking the ocean] ### 00:08:10 # Challenge the problem! [Illustration of two knights on horseback jousting, labeled "YOU" and "PROBLEM"] ### 00:08:28 # Challenge the problem! [Illustration of two knights on horseback, labeled "YOU" and "PROBLEM", jousting with lances.] ### 00:08:29 # Challenge the problem! [Illustration of two knights on horseback, labeled "YOU" and "PROBLEM", jousting with lances.] ### 00:08:49 ### Option 1 - Who - What - Why - Where - When - How ### 00:09:11 ### Option 2 #### Problem Framing Canvas * **Idea** * **Goal** * **Future** * **Problem Statement** * **Business Context** * **Customer Contact** #### Problem Framing Canvas (another template) * **PROBLEM**: What is the root cause of the problem? * **CONTEXT**: When does the problem occur? * **CUSTOMERS**: Who has the problem most often? * **ALTERNATIVES**: What do customers do now to fix the problem? #### Frame (another template) * **Frame**: What's the problem? Who is involved? * **Reframe**: Look outside the frame * **Move forward**: How do we keep momentum? [Multiple overlapping canvases and frameworks for problem framing and design thinking, including a "Problem Framing Canvas" with sections for ideas, goals, and problem statements, and another canvas with sections for problem, context, customers, and alternatives. Some sections contain placeholder sticky notes.] ### 00:09:27 # Option 2 ## Problem Framing Canvas (Template 1) - **Frame** - What's the problem? - Who is involved? - **Reframe ### 00:09:34 ## Option 2 ### Problem Framing Canvas (visible sections from multiple canvases) * **Frame**: What's the problem? Who is involved? * **Reframe**: Look outside the frame, Rethink the goal * **Context**: When does the problem occur? * **Customers**: Who has the problem most often? * **Move forward**: How do we keep momentum? * **Problem**: What is the root cause of the problem? * **Alternatives**: What do customers do now to fix the problem? * **Problem Framing Canvas** (another instance with sections like Idea, Business Context, Customer Contact, Problem Statement) [Multiple overlapping canvases for problem framing, including one with sections like Frame, Reframe, Context, Customers, Move forward, Problem, and Alternatives, and another titled "Problem Framing Canvas" with sections filled with numerous small colored blocks representing ideas or notes.] ### 00:10:00 # TIP #2: Identify & prioritise the gaps [Image of a train platform edge with "MIND THE GAP" painted in yellow on the ground] ### 00:10:22 # TIP #2: Identify & prioritise the gaps [Close-up image of a train platform edge with "MIND THE GAP" painted in yellow on the ground] ### 00:10:26 ## TIP #2: Identify & prioritise the gaps [Photo of a subway platform edge with "MIND THE GAP" painted in yellow on the ground] ### 00:10:47 **Impact / clarity / comfort** (vertical axis, LOW to HIGH) **Importance / Urgency** (horizontal axis, LOW to HIGH) - **High Impact / Low Importance**: Find out next - **High Impact / High Importance**: Find out first - **Low Impact / Low Importance**: Find out when you need to - **Low Impact / High Importance**: Find out later [A 2x2 matrix diagram with axes labeled "Impact / clarity / comfort" and "Importance / Urgency", divided into four quadrants each containing a phrase.] ### 00:11:09 # Information Prioritization Matrix - **Y-axis (vertical):** Impact / clarity / comfort (LOW to HIGH) - **X-axis (horizontal):** Importance / Urgency (LOW to HIGH) **Quadrants:** - **High Impact / Low Importance:** Find out next - **High Impact / High Importance:** Find out first - **Low Impact / Low Importance:** Find out when you need to - **Low Impact / High Importance:** Find out later [2x2 matrix chart showing information prioritization based on impact/clarity/comfort and importance/urgency] ### 00:11:25 # Information Prioritization Matrix - **Y-axis: Impact / clarity / comfort** (LOW to HIGH) - **X-axis: Importance / Urgency** (LOW to HIGH) - **Quadrant: High Impact/Clarity/Comfort, Low Importance/Urgency** - Find out next - **Quadrant: High Impact/Clarity/Comfort, High Importance/Urgency** - Find out first - **Quadrant: Low Impact/Clarity/Comfort, Low Importance/Urgency** - Find out when you need to - **Quadrant: Low Impact/Clarity/Comfort, High Importance/Urgency** - Find out later [2x2 matrix diagram with axes labeled "Impact / clarity / comfort" and "Importance / Urgency", divided into four quadrants each containing a phrase related to when to find out information.] ### 00:11:31 # Information Prioritization Matrix - **Y-axis: Impact / clarity / comfort** (LOW to HIGH) - **X-axis: Importance / Urgency** (LOW to HIGH) - **Quadrant: High Impact/Clarity/Comfort, Low Importance/Urgency** - Find out next - **Quadrant: High Impact/Clarity/Comfort, High Importance/Urgency** - Find out first - **Quadrant: Low Impact/Clarity/Comfort, Low Importance/Urgency** - Find out when you need to - **Quadrant: Low Impact/Clarity/Comfort, High Importance/Urgency** - Find out later [2x2 matrix diagram with axes labeled "Impact / clarity / comfort" and "Importance / Urgency", divided into four quadrants each containing a phrase related to when to find out information.] ### 00:11:53 # Information Prioritization Matrix - **Y-axis: Impact / clarity / comfort** (ranging from LOW to HIGH) - **X-axis: Importance / Urgency** (ranging from LOW to HIGH) ## Quadrants: - **High Impact / Low Importance:** Find out next - **High Impact / High Importance:** Find out first - **Low Impact / Low Importance:** Find out when you need to - **Low Impact / High Importance:** Find out later [2x2 matrix diagram with axes labeled "Impact / clarity / comfort" and "Importance / Urgency", divided into four quadrants with text labels] ### 00:12:14 [2x2 matrix chart with axes labeled "Impact / clarity / comfort" (vertical, from LOW to HIGH) and "Importance / Urgency" (horizontal, from LOW to HIGH). The quadrants are labeled as follows:] - **Top-left (High Impact / Low Importance):** Find out next - **Top-right (High Impact / High Importance):** Find out first - **Bottom-left (Low Impact / Low Importance):** Find out when you need to - **Bottom-right (Low Impact / High Importance):** Find out later ### 00:12:26 [Quadrant chart with Y-axis "Impact / clarity / comfort" (LOW to HIGH) and X-axis "Importance / Urgency" (LOW to HIGH)] - Top-left quadrant: Find out next - Top-right quadrant: Find out first - Bottom-left quadrant: Find out when you need to - Bottom-right quadrant: Find out later ### 00:12:48 # Information Prioritization Matrix - **Y-axis (vertical):** Impact / clarity / comfort (LOW to HIGH) - **X-axis (horizontal):** Importance / Urgency (LOW to HIGH) **Quadrants:** - **High Impact / clarity / comfort, Low Importance / Urgency:** Find out next - **High Impact / clarity / comfort, High Importance / Urgency:** Find out first - **Low Impact / clarity / comfort, Low Importance / Urgency:** Find out when you need to - **Low Impact / clarity / comfort, High Importance / Urgency:** Find out later [2x2 matrix chart for prioritizing information based on impact/clarity/comfort and importance/urgency] ### 00:13:11 > "I don't know' has become 'I don't know yet'." > > Bill Gates ### TIP #3: Embrace IDK... yet [Portrait photo of Bill Gates wearing glasses] ### 00:13:26 > "I don't know' has become 'I don't know yet'." > > Bill Gates ### TIP #3: Embrace IDK... yet [Close-up photo of Bill Gates looking to the side] ### 00:13:30 > ““I don’t know’ has become ‘I don’t know yet’.” > > Bill Gates ### TIP #3: Embrace IDK... yet coopwhoop.com [Close-up photo of Bill Gates looking to the side] ### 00:13:56 # Embrace it! A-B-L [Close-up photo of a smiling young child next to a baby doll with a pacifier] ### 00:14:16 # Embrace it! A-B-L [Photograph of a young girl smiling and holding a baby doll] ### 00:14:42 # Embrace it! A-B-L [Close-up photo of a smiling young girl holding a baby doll with a pacifier] ### 00:15:03 # Embrace it! A-B-L [A young girl smiling and holding a baby doll] ### 00:15:23 # Brain-friendly alternatives to IDK - I'll find out. - I'll look into it. - That's an interesting question, let's find out. - Here's what I know, and here's what I don't know... ### 00:15:48 ## TIP #4: Stay away from solution-mode [Two dogs, one brown and white, the other merle, peeking over and through a wooden fence in a grassy field] ### 00:16:09 # It's a trap... Focusing on a solution too early = solution **validation** vs understanding the problem. [Image of a mousetrap with an Australian dollar bill as bait] ### 00:16:28 # It's a trap... - Focusing on a solution too early = solution **validation** vs understanding the problem. [A mousetrap with Australian currency (a $50 note) as bait] ### 00:16:30 # It's a trap... Focusing on a solution too early = solution **validation** vs understanding the problem. [A mousetrap with a folded Australian $50 note as bait] ### 00:16:53 ### TIP #5: Share [Photograph of a group of people smiling and sitting around a table in a restaurant, with the name "The Sambal" visible on the wall in the background.] ### 00:17:14 ## Pick someone who: - Will listen - Be curious - **Challenge you** - Ask tough questions - **Call you on your bs** [Close-up photo of a calf with its mouth open, as if shouting or mooing] ### 00:17:28 # TIP #6: Test [Close-up of a lab tray with many small clear vials, and a pink pipette dispensing liquid into one of them] ### 00:17:50 ## TIP #6: Test [Close-up photo of a pipette dispensing pink liquid into a tray of many small clear test tubes] ### 00:18:11 ### TIP #6: Test [A pipette dispensing purple liquid into a tray of small clear test tubes or wells] ### 00:18:28 ### TIP #6: Test [A close-up of a pink pipette dispensing liquid into one of many small clear test tubes arranged in a tray] ### 00:18:30 ### TIP #6: Test [Close-up image of a pipette dispensing pink liquid into a tray of small clear test tubes in a lab setting] ### 00:18:52 # Prove yourself **WRONG**: - Ask: "What would **change my mind**?" - **Devil's Advocate** exercise - Design the test that **could kill your favourite idea** - Run a pre-mortem [Image of a man with wild, electrically shocked hair and a burnt shirt, holding frayed electrical wires, looking surprised] ### 00:19:14 # Prove yourself WRONG: - Ask: "What would **change my mind**?" - **Devil's Advocate** exercise - Design the test that **could kill your favourite idea** - Run a **pre-mortem** [Image of a man with electrically shocked hair and a dirty shirt, holding smoking electrical wires, looking surprised] ### 00:19:26 # Prove yourself WRONG: - Ask: "What would change my mind?" - Devil's Advocate exercise - Design the test that could kill your favourite idea - Run a pre-mortem [Illustration of a man with wild, electrocuted hair and singed clothes, holding two broken electrical wires] ### 00:19:48 # Prove yourself WRONG: - Ask: "What would **change my mind**?" - **Devil's Advocate** exercise - Design the test that could **kill your favourite idea** - Run a **pre-mortem** [Image of a man with electrocuted, frizzy hair and burnt clothes, holding two sparking wires] ### 00:20:10 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:20:27 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:20:29 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:20:50 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:21:10 ## Bonus Tip/s! Make it fun, or funny. Celebrate the wins. ### 00:21:28 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:21:30 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:21:51 ### Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. ### 00:22:11 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. - Document... ### 00:22:26 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. - Document... ### 00:22:30 ## Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. - Document... ### 00:22:52 # Bonus Tip/s! - Make it fun, or funny. - Celebrate the wins. - Document... ### 00:23:15 # Embracing the unknown 1. Frame the problem – **challenge it!** 2. Identify & prioritise the unknowns – **what do you need to know first?** 3. Get comfortable saying **"I don't know, yet..."** 4. Stay away from solution mode – **it's a trap!** 5. Share – with **someone who will challenge you** 6. Test – find ways to prove **yourself WRONG** Make it FUN. Document. ### 00:23:27 # Embracing the unknown 1. Frame the problem – **challenge it!** 2. Identify & prioritise the unknowns – **what do you need to know first?** 3. Get comfortable saying **"I don't know, yet..."** 4. Stay away from solution mode – **it's a trap!** 5. Share – with **someone who will challenge you** 6. Test – find ways to prove yourself **WRONG** Make it FUN. Document. ### 00:23:48 # 3.00am ### 00:24:09 [https://aka.ms/msft-dev-community](https://aka.ms/msft-dev-community) [QR code linking to aka.ms/msft-dev-community] [Image of a person's torso and arms] ### 00:24:25 [Image of a person from the chest up, wearing a dark top] [QR code] ### 00:24:29 [Image of a person from the chest up, wearing a dark top] [QR code] ### 00:24:54 [The slide is mostly blank white. At the very top, there are several small, indistinct icons with accompanying illegible text.] ### 00:25:19 © Amir Ansari - UX Australia 2026 [Landscape image of mountains under a sky with a sparkling effect] ### 00:25:41 © Amir Ansari - UX Australia 2026 [Background image of mountains under a starry sky] ### 00:26:08 [Image of a landscape with numerous icebergs floating in water, under a light purple sky.] ### 00:26:27 © Amir Ansari - UX Australia 2026 [Stylized image of a mountain landscape under a starry sky with a bright light source] ### 00:26:50 # Leadership that lasts ## What great leaders leave behind [Dark landscape illustration with mountains and glowing particles in the sky] ### 00:27:11 # Leadership that lasts What great leaders leave behind [Dark background with a silhouette of mountains at sunset/sunrise and sparkling lights] ### 00:27:24 # Leadership that lasts ## What great leaders leave behind © Amir Ansari - UX Australia 2026 [Image of mountains at sunset or sunrise with sparkling lights] ### 00:27:45 # Leadership that lasts ## What great leaders leave behind [Dark landscape with mountains and distant lights under a starry sky] © Amir Ansari - UX Australia 2026 ### 00:28:07 © Amir Ansari | UX Australia 2026 [The Australian Aboriginal Flag (red and black with a yellow circle) next to the Torres Strait Islander Flag (green, blue, green with a white Dhari and star)] ### 00:28:25 # A quick poll: What should great leaders leave behind? Select as many as relevant [Abstract illustration of a glowing orange point with many thin, branching lines extending from it] ### 00:28:27 # A quick poll: What should great leaders leave behind? Select as many as relevant [Abstract illustration of a bright point with branching lines, resembling a neural network or a light burst] ### 00:28:48 # What should great leaders leave behind? - Capability growth and maturity - Systems and operations - Enduring structures and operating models - Product and service quality and innovation - Other... Join at slido.com #1588 570 [QR code linking to https://www.sli.do/ for an active poll] ### 00:29:10 ## What should great leaders leave behind? - Capability growth and maturity (74%) - Product and service quality and innovation (32%) - Enduring structures and operating models ( ### 00:29:26 ### What should great leaders leave behind? - Capability growth and maturity (74%) - Enduring structures and operating models (28%) - Other... (28%) - Product and service quality and innovation (25%) - Systems and operations (22%) Join at slido.com #1588 570 [QR code for joining the Slido poll] [Horizontal bar chart showing poll results for each option] ### 00:29:48 # What should great leaders leave behind? - Capability growth and maturity: 74% - Enduring structures and operating models: 33% - Other...: 29%