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Unlocking Diversity in Tech: a Deep Dive with Kat Holmes & Josh Birk
Today on the Salesforce Admins Podcast, Admin Evangelist Josh Birk sits down with Kat Holmes, Chief Design Officer and EVP at Salesforce.
Join us as we chat about diversity, accessibility, and her book, Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design.
You should subscribe for the full episode, but here are a few takeaways from our conversation with Kat Holmes.
What is a mismatch?I brought Josh on the podcast to host this special deep dive episode of the Salesforce Admins Podcast, and we couldn't think of a better guest than Kat Holmes. At Salesforce, she's in charge of User Experience. But she's also the author of the amazing book, Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design.
The title of the book comes from the World Health Organization. In 2011, they redefined disability as "a mismatched interaction between the features of a person's body and the features of the environment in which they live." As Kat explains, thinking of design as a way to solve mismatches leads to innovative solutions you wouldn't otherwise find.
The problem with designing for the "average user"For decades, designers have tried to make things for the "average user." Kat takes us through the fascinating history of the bell curve, which goes back to a 19th-century Belgian astronomer who set out to apply the principles of statistics and probability to sociology. The problem, as she points out, is all of the different types of users that this approach leaves out.
Kat's favorite example is the keyboard. It's an interface that's incredibly efficient and enables pretty much everything we do with computers. But it was actually invented to help a blind Italian countess write letters without the need to dictate everything. And there are tons of other examples, like bendy straws and curb cuts. These designs solved one person's specific mismatch problem but ended up benefiting all sorts of other people, too.
Designing with inclusion and the potential of AIWhen you're building something, Kat recommends recognizing the abilities on your team and thinking about who might be excluded. As she puts it, "What abilities are missing that are important to the design we're making?" Then, find a way to include someone with those different abilities in your process.
We also get into AI and what the future holds. As it becomes easier and easier for admins to build things, it's more important than ever to factor in things like accessibility and inclusion into the equation. And there's a lot of potential to adapt to the interface to the user to give each person a different experience.
There's so much more in this deep dive episode, so be sure to take a listen for . Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss out.
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