Noah Stammbach

7.20 AM

On Tuesdays I go into the office to work with my team, so I get up early to catch the train. We usually come into the office twice a week, but sometimes the grads come in 3 days.

8.03 AM 

I make it onto the train and spend the ride listening to music and checking socials.

8.30 AM    

I sit down at my desk in the UX corner (we get fancier high-res monitors to use for design work) and check my emails. I go through my to-do list of work tasks and start allotting time in my calendar around meetings. Today I have quite a few meetings so I have to maximize ‘focus time’.

8.55 AM 

Everyone in the UX team has arrived now so we grab our reusable mugs and head downstairs to for coffee. This is our time to catch up with each other and start the day in a positive mood. Coffee catchups are a great way to get to know everyone without the pressure of being in a formal setting!

9.15 AM

We’re back in the office and I’m reading through a project plan I finished yesterday. I refresh my memory so that I can be confident when presenting it to my team. 

9.30 AM 

We have the Travel and Experiences (T&E) UX team stand-up, which is a meeting for us to discuss what’s happening in T&E and what we’re working on. I start off the meeting by presenting my project plan. I give the team an overview of what the project is about and get feedback to understand if I’ve understood the brief correctly. This is the first official project that I’ll have ownership over, so I’m pretty excited about it. 

10.00 AM 

The RACV workplace giving platform launch is on! The Beehive is a digital platform that consolidates donations to charity in a more structured way. The CEO is here to talk to us about his experiences in giving and why the new platform is important. We also have a morning tea with some branded cupcakes. 

11.00 AM

Design sharing is a meeting we have twice a week to share webpages, slide decks, prototypes or components we’re working on. This is a way to foster more creative problem solving by getting lots of different perspectives from the broader UX team, which spans from design ops to content authoring. Our head of digital channel experience is there to give feedback and approvals. This creates a more streamlined approach to design as a team; we can create more consistent digital RACV offerings. I’m not presenting this week, so I mostly just observe and try to learn from the others how to present, approach feedback and take it on board. 

12.00 PM 

Lunchtime! I usually bring my own lunch because I like to do meal prep on the weekend and it’s just a whole lot cheaper. I’m eating creamy mushroom pasta, chicken and baked sweet potato. I find some work friends to sit with, usually from the design department or the other grads who are from all over the business. I enjoy lunchtime because it’s a chance to just hang out and chat – you won’t catch me eating at my desk alone.

1.00 PM 

I have some time now to work on my project. I go to a focus room to make sure I don’t get distracted. I get started on Miro which is a great tool to make visual notes and organize my thoughts. I start with gathering inspiration by doing a competitor’s analysis. This lets me see how other companies approach the problem so that I can see what works and what doesn’t. 

2.00 PM 

Next up is a learning session to learn how to build your personal brand. This is one of the grad learning sessions that help set us up for success in the grad program as well as generally introduces us to how the corporate world works. We learned how to deliver a successful and succinct elevator pitch.

4.00 PM

I have a meeting with my manager, and internal and external stakeholders about a new product offering. There is a lot of high-level business talk in it which is confusing but also interesting to learn about. These insights will help me contextualize my project better, as well as build relationships with colleagues I’ll be working with regularly in the future. 

4.35 PM 

The meeting ends early since we sorted out all the action points quickly – by this I mean we divided up the tasks that need to be done in preparation for the product launch. Since I came into the office early today and have finished all my urgent tasks, I’m able to leave early. I organize a check-in with my manager for tomorrow, and head to the station.

4.50 PM 

I’m at the station and it’s not as crowded as it was in the morning, so at least I get a seat on the train home. I’m always listening to music to tune out my surroundings and get out of the work mindset.

5.20 PM 

I spend some time chatting with my housemates and we decide on a movie to watch together tonight. 

6.00 PM

Time for a workout. I usually do some strength training at my home gym. We do have access to a gym at work too though. 

7.00 PM 

Dinner is meal prep again. I often don’t feel like cooking dinner so having it ready is super useful. It also means I’ll be less likely to just order takeout or delivery. I add on a salad to make the meal it more well-rounded. 

7.45 PM 

We watch a movie and spend some time discussing it afterwards.

10.00 PM 

I play some PS5 to end the day. 

11.15 PM 

Time to get ready for bed and get to sleep.

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