Project Unicorn
Duration: 7 Weeks
Role: Product Designer
Team: Product Designer, Product Manager, Developer
Tools: Figma, Maze
Breaking Black women into tech.
A diverse workplace whereby inclusion is at its core means more access to different perspectives, skill sets, creative visions, approaches, and experiences. This allows tech companies to producing more innovative products and services for users and clients. In addition to this, tech companies are also starting to realize that hiring women and underrepresented minorities have benefits that reach beyond a socially appropriate PR effort. Technology reflects society. Therefore, diversity and representation are important factors to consider when creating technology that will make decisions for us in the future.
It’s has been proven that diverse teams, particularly in the tech space, work better. A study of gender diversity on technical work teams found that diverse teams adhere to project schedules better, have lower project costs, and Individual employees have higher performance ratings. Frankly, the upsides are endless.
According to Statistics Canada, women make up 50.4% of the total population, but research has shown that women are only 20% of the Tech workforce. How many of these are black women?
Existing Canadian research on diversity within tech primarily looks at gender and often overlooks race, the numbers hardly exist which uncovers a larger problem. Black women accounted for 3% of the tech industry in the US and estimated to be about 1% in Canada.
This begs the question Why? Why are the numbers so low? We determined that education was not a barrier, seeing as Research shows 7 in 10 Black adults have a post-secondary diploma. Is this problem a result of a lack of access, the recruitment process, or a lack of awareness?
Our customer research was able to provide us with insights into the factors that may be responsible for the low numbers.
Background
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Black women are enrolled in and graduating from school in the highest percentages across racial and gender lines, but are still very underrepresented in the workforce. It’s been proven that diverse teams, particularly in the tech space, work better.
Gender diverse technical work teams have been found to adhere to project schedules better, have lower project costs, and Individual employees have higher performance ratings.
A diverse workplace where inclusion and equity are at its core, means more access to different points of view, skillsets, creative visions, approaches, and experiences which translates to tech companies producing more innovative products and services for users and clients.
Technology by itself is not biased, it is a reflection of society, and in creating technology that would be making decisions for us in the future, diversity and representation are extremely important.
The Evolution
RESEARCH METHODS
User interviews were the primary form of research. This experience is a unique one and it was important to feel the emotion of each user by gathering their true and authentic thoughts.
During our user research, we interviewed two groups of users. Some were women who made up the 1% already in Tech jobs, and other Black women were trying to land similar jobs. Both sides had differing perspectives that we came to realize were two sides of the same coin. For the job seekers, we found that part of the problem is, these women do not know what jobs/opportunities exist in tech besides the traditional roles, and these positions are often filled from an existing pool of non-diverse talents.
On the other hand, when they apply to these positions, they lack advocates to speak for them and level the playing field so they can be given a chance to prove their worth. This has led them to believe that tech companies are hostile to people that look like them.
INTERVIEW QUOTES & INSIGHTS
“When you don’t see yourself represented in an industry, you do not see it as somewhere you can thrive or excel in.”
“I am tired of being the ONLY in the room, I would like to have more people that look like me in the organizations where I work.”
“1%? That is very low, what can I do to help bring that number up?”
To effectively cut scope because we had only six weeks to build a solution, considering our resources and other constraints, we decided to focus our solution on a platform that would immediately provide value based on our goal, which is to get more Black women into Tech jobs.
This was our overarching goal, and to do this our MVP is centered on bringing both sides of the equation to the same playing field. Our product is built to connect Hiring managers and Recruiters who are serious about equity and diversifying their workforce directly to Black female talent.
For our MVP, our user groups are divided into 2 categories. The first set of users are anyone with Hiring power or someone with knowledge of job openings at companies they work at. The second set of users are qualified Black women looking to land jobs in tech.
The solution provides hiring managers with a space to post opportunities available in their organizations and enables Black women apply to jobs from companies actively seeking underrepresented & diverse talent.
Design Outcome
FINAL DESIGNS
