A Day in the Life of a UX Designer (When the Clock’s Ticking)

Before you dive into interviews or start sketching wireframes, you need to know what success looks like. That means sprint planning, setting expectations, and defining what’s in (and out) of scope.

You’re not just doing this for your own clarity - your client needs to feel confident too. So set up a shared backlog, block out time for key activities, and give yourself enough structure to stay focused.

This is your chance to bring the team and client together and really dig into the why behind the project. What’s the problem we’re solving? Who are we solving it for? And what does success look like?

A good workshop uncovers more than just requirements - it reveals assumptions, risks, and opportunities. By the end, everyone should be nodding along, knowing exactly where you’re heading.

Next, it’s time to get your research toolkit in order. Draft an interview guide that asks the right questions (not leading ones), prep your surveys, and line up your participants.

You want to hear from real users. Decisions should be made with data and insight and not based on the loudest stakeholder in the room or the HIPPO (Highest Paid Persons Opinion). That means creating space for your team to challenge and ask questions, like – “what insight do we have to support that direction?”

Now you’re in the field, talking to users, soaking up insights, and looking for patterns. Don’t just rely on gut feel - pair qualitative interviews with behavioural data. Look at analytics, heatmaps, whatever helps you connect the dots.

And don’t forget to debrief with your team as you go. Getting multiple perspectives helps keep bias in check and stops you from jumping to conclusions too early.

These early-stage planning activities are not a once off set-and-forget. At regular intervals you should check in on progress and ask the questions – “is what we thought to be true, still true?” and “did we complete all the work we thought we would?” 

Structure your time, talk to the right people, and keep your eyes on the goal.

Those first couple of days? They set the stage for everything that follows. If you’ve built trust, captured the right insights, and created a clear plan - the rest of the project flows more smoothly.

You’ve got this.