Intro
Welcome to Spotlight, your gateway to the UX/ Content Design world, through a distinctive series of interviews that spotlight the industry's leading voices. Our succinct, direct-to-the-point approach poses ±10 sharp questions to veterans and rising stars, gathering insights and perspectives shaping the UX scene.
Meet our guest ⸻ Bill Kurland, Senior Manager, Content Design at Walmart
Originating from a musical foundation with an AA in Music Theory and Composition from the College of DuPage, Bill Kurland transitioned into Content Design. He rose to prominence in the industry. His foray into content strategy commenced in 2011, following an invitation from a friend to join a niche marketing agency focused on sectors like consumer financial services, real estate, and medical services.
Bill honed his expertise in Content Strategy, SEO, Content Management, Copywriting, and Team Leadership, managing a team of six content strategists. After years of experience, Bill now oversees UX and Content Design leadership at Walmart, leading content design teams to excellence.
His major involvement in the company includes:
Establishing content design within Walmart Marketplace—the platform that helps third-party sellers reach hundreds of millions of customers.
Built and nurtured content design teams for Walmart's Enterprise Services—from ad tech to social commerce to global seller and supplier experiences.
Bill is keen on delving into ideas and merging various perspectives. His dislike for categorization, genres, and formats is notable, as he prefers to unify ideas while disregarding genres and categories.
Without further ado, let's get to the Q&A:
12 Questions with Bill Kurland
What does a typical day entail for you in leading and shaping the content design teams at Walmart?
I'm not sure I've had a typical day in my 13 years in content design. 🤣
But I can say that over the last few years at Walmart, the main story has been about building systems that scale at speed. And when I say systems, I don't just mean tech platforms and governance/workflow processes. For me, it starts with the people.
Gaining influence by proving my impact (vertically and horizontally) was the first part of getting buy-in from leaders and peers to build and shape teams. And then it became about using the influence I'd gained to make space and create opportunities for my team members to take over the spotlight.
But what people need most (in my experience) is structure. So that's been a big focus for me and our teams: how do we build the right amount of standards and process at the right altitude while still delivering on a high volume of work at the searing pace of retail?
Erin Williams taught me how to do this, and I'm eternally grateful to her for that and many other things.As the person in charge of Content Design teams, who are the main collaborators you interact with regularly, including roles like UX Designers, Developers, Content Designers, and Project Managers?
If you're interested in systems thinking, the world's largest company is a fascinating place to work. Everything we do impacts hundreds of millions of people all over the world, so there's a lot of direct partnership with a lot of stakeholders.
So, yes, I spend a lot of my time aligning on strategy and planning with directors and senior directors in design, engineering, and product, but also with brand, support, research, marketing, legal, and more.What tools (Software) do you use for writing, planning, and collaborating with the rest of the team (UX designers, developers, content peers, PMs, etc.)?
So, I'm climbing on top of my soapbox for a second here.
Tools are great. And content designers, in my opinion, should be able to collaborate within the same tools as product designers. But I think what's more important than the tool is the thinking and the chronicling of that thinking.
Can AI improve the digital proximity to style guides and word lists? Sure. But you need the documentation of the decisions first. And I see a lot of people presume that the tool will be the forcing function to do that work. "We paid $1M, so we better get our act together!"
Put together a process. Document standards. Plan your capacity and engagement. Then worry about the tooling.
(Shannon Leahy has a great talk on using everyday office tools to create great UX.)
(Also, credit to Michael Haggerty-Villa for introducing me to the concept of "digital proximity.")From your experience how do see content/UX Writing can help products thrive and meet business goals? And how does disregarding the importance of word choice in UX Writing undermine the success of a product or service?
Every product communicates something to someone, based on their context. And every business hopes that their product communicates its value above all else.
That communication can happen in many ways, and a great content designer understands when to use different languages (verbal, visual, tactile) to address people's needs and business goals.
When we choose to use text, it's amazing how dismissive but detailed internal discussions can become. One second, content designers hear, "No one reads." But then we spend 59 minutes of a 60-minute meeting debating one noun with non-specialists.
I'm not saying we should be non-collaborative; if we use the tradesperson metaphor, people shouldn't assume a brick wall that's off its axis is fine because the bricklayer laid it. But I think we can flip the conversation to put the onus of rationale on the provider of feedback, not just on the creator of the content.Could you explain the interplay between content and design? How do they manifest in your team’s daily processes, and who takes the lead in the content-design partnership?
As a content person who got their start in the early 2010s, my experience for many years was being a full-stack content person. That meant writing long-form white papers, architecting websites in CMS platforms, designing and coding emails, working on brand strategy and creative campaigns with art directors. All while working in a pod of product and project managers, engineers, UX designers, and researchers. Even writing protocols and conducting in-person usability tests!
Before that, I came from a music background. I learned bass, guitar, drums, piano. I came from a culture that valued just picking up an instrument and understanding it. Like the band The Replacements used to do, we'd swap instruments while rehearsing, or pick up the one that helped us express the kind of idea we had at the time.
I say all of that (I swear there's a point), to say that I prefer a fluid and open collaboration between all disciplines and sub-disciplines. I've found what success I have through being really curious and asking lots of questions with an open mind. I try to inspire that in my teams. It takes a really psychologically safe environment and a lot of trust to make that work, though.How do you balance documentation in the design process, considering some UX teams over-document while others rely more on intuition and minimal documentation, whether it's internal or for end users? What's your approach, and what risks do you see in having too much, too little, or no documentation?
My friend and long-time colleague Rodrigo Zuloaga introduced me many years ago to the idea that three times is a pattern. (Dan Mall describes this in his book Design That Scales.)
I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about what needs documentation. Are you being asked to write endless error messages? Destructive modals? Promotional cards? Invest the time to create the pattern.
In all likelihood, guidelines for these common challenges exist elsewhere and are publicly available. Why spend time reimagining how you'd do the documentation when people have been generous enough to solve the problem and share the solution? You'll deliver so much more value by focusing on solving wicked problems than "bikeshedding" on error message guidelines.
(Another shoutout: Erin Erb for introducing me to Parkinson's law of triviality.)In what ways, if any, does your punk culture background play a role in your content design tasks, and could you give some examples of this influence?
I think it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about music and curiosity. I've written, talked, and posted pretty extensively about what punk culture means to me and I don't want to be a broken record (puns are fun!).
I'll just say that the band Idles has a record called Joy as an Act of Resistance, and I think it's that general sentiment that influences me on a daily basis: positivity, generosity, and inclusion as an act of resistance.Could you provide insights into the spectrum of platforms your team is responsible for? I'm interested in knowing if this encompasses the website, mobile apps, digital kiosks within stores, and marketing or landing pages. Also, how is localization managed across each of these platforms?
Our design team has the broadest scope of any team at Walmart. Websites, mobile apps, internal tools, the in-store experience, the built environment. My teams and I have had the opportunity to work on AI, AR, VR, 0-to-1 projects, long-term visions, and much more. Accessibility and localization are huge components.
One of your 6 counterculture principles for content designers, is staying away from the gatekeepers, which are the contingent of people who are like, this is the only definition of punk. How do you see this in an industry where people still can’t agree on titles for some jobs?
I think it's less about titles and more about the recruiters and hiring managers whose perspective is so selective that they believe the only candidates worth talking to are the people who have done very specific work, for a very specific brand, for a very specific amount of time.
I know we're in a market where those people can flex that power, but I personally want no part of such a closed-minded perspective.People come to UX writing/content design from a lot of backgrounds. How can this diversity in background and skills be used in favour of helping the product team?
Content designers are great systems thinkers. And even better if they come from different writing backgrounds. A content designer might be thinking about brand naming, go-to-market plans, support articles, communications, and the entire content ecosystem in a way a product team may gloss over or forget.
Content designers are typically involved at the very end. They are provided with a high-fidelity UI prototype and asked to write or improve the copy with little context, if any. How does this process cause problems and difficulties?
See below.
Finally, at Punkt, we are revolutionizing the UX industry by building a Content-First UX platform where Content Designers and UX Writers co-lead the product UX/Design decisions. We believe a Content-First UX approach will fix too many daily issues most product teams deal with. Is it possible to give the Content Team the lead in guiding the entire UX process?
I want to answer two questions with one final idea (did anyone make it this far? 🤣)
We are story-driven people. We understand the world, connect with cultures, and express ourselves through narrative.
Our world is already content-first, and the sooner that teams stop expending so much effort fighting against that fact, the faster we'll be able to deliver things that are meaningful and valuable to people and businesses.
👋 Don't forget to follow Bill
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bill-kurland/
Website billkurland.com
Intro
Welcome to Spotlight, your gateway to the UX/ Content Design world, through a distinctive series of interviews that spotlight the industry's leading voices. Our succinct, direct-to-the-point approach poses ±10 sharp questions to veterans and rising stars, gathering insights and perspectives shaping the UX scene.
Meet our guest ⸻ Bill Kurland, Senior Manager, Content Design at Walmart
Originating from a musical foundation with an AA in Music Theory and Composition from the College of DuPage, Bill Kurland transitioned into Content Design. He rose to prominence in the industry. His foray into content strategy commenced in 2011, following an invitation from a friend to join a niche marketing agency focused on sectors like consumer financial services, real estate, and medical services.
Bill honed his expertise in Content Strategy, SEO, Content Management, Copywriting, and Team Leadership, managing a team of six content strategists. After years of experience, Bill now oversees UX and Content Design leadership at Walmart, leading content design teams to excellence.
His major involvement in the company includes:
Establishing content design within Walmart Marketplace—the platform that helps third-party sellers reach hundreds of millions of customers.
Built and nurtured content design teams for Walmart's Enterprise Services—from ad tech to social commerce to global seller and supplier experiences.
Bill is keen on delving into ideas and merging various perspectives. His dislike for categorization, genres, and formats is notable, as he prefers to unify ideas while disregarding genres and categories.
Without further ado, let's get to the Q&A:
12 Questions with Bill Kurland
What does a typical day entail for you in leading and shaping the content design teams at Walmart?
I'm not sure I've had a typical day in my 13 years in content design. 🤣
But I can say that over the last few years at Walmart, the main story has been about building systems that scale at speed. And when I say systems, I don't just mean tech platforms and governance/workflow processes. For me, it starts with the people.
Gaining influence by proving my impact (vertically and horizontally) was the first part of getting buy-in from leaders and peers to build and shape teams. And then it became about using the influence I'd gained to make space and create opportunities for my team members to take over the spotlight.
But what people need most (in my experience) is structure. So that's been a big focus for me and our teams: how do we build the right amount of standards and process at the right altitude while still delivering on a high volume of work at the searing pace of retail?
Erin Williams taught me how to do this, and I'm eternally grateful to her for that and many other things.As the person in charge of Content Design teams, who are the main collaborators you interact with regularly, including roles like UX Designers, Developers, Content Designers, and Project Managers?
If you're interested in systems thinking, the world's largest company is a fascinating place to work. Everything we do impacts hundreds of millions of people all over the world, so there's a lot of direct partnership with a lot of stakeholders.
So, yes, I spend a lot of my time aligning on strategy and planning with directors and senior directors in design, engineering, and product, but also with brand, support, research, marketing, legal, and more.What tools (Software) do you use for writing, planning, and collaborating with the rest of the team (UX designers, developers, content peers, PMs, etc.)?
So, I'm climbing on top of my soapbox for a second here.
Tools are great. And content designers, in my opinion, should be able to collaborate within the same tools as product designers. But I think what's more important than the tool is the thinking and the chronicling of that thinking.
Can AI improve the digital proximity to style guides and word lists? Sure. But you need the documentation of the decisions first. And I see a lot of people presume that the tool will be the forcing function to do that work. "We paid $1M, so we better get our act together!"
Put together a process. Document standards. Plan your capacity and engagement. Then worry about the tooling.
(Shannon Leahy has a great talk on using everyday office tools to create great UX.)
(Also, credit to Michael Haggerty-Villa for introducing me to the concept of "digital proximity.")From your experience how do see content/UX Writing can help products thrive and meet business goals? And how does disregarding the importance of word choice in UX Writing undermine the success of a product or service?
Every product communicates something to someone, based on their context. And every business hopes that their product communicates its value above all else.
That communication can happen in many ways, and a great content designer understands when to use different languages (verbal, visual, tactile) to address people's needs and business goals.
When we choose to use text, it's amazing how dismissive but detailed internal discussions can become. One second, content designers hear, "No one reads." But then we spend 59 minutes of a 60-minute meeting debating one noun with non-specialists.
I'm not saying we should be non-collaborative; if we use the tradesperson metaphor, people shouldn't assume a brick wall that's off its axis is fine because the bricklayer laid it. But I think we can flip the conversation to put the onus of rationale on the provider of feedback, not just on the creator of the content.Could you explain the interplay between content and design? How do they manifest in your team’s daily processes, and who takes the lead in the content-design partnership?
As a content person who got their start in the early 2010s, my experience for many years was being a full-stack content person. That meant writing long-form white papers, architecting websites in CMS platforms, designing and coding emails, working on brand strategy and creative campaigns with art directors. All while working in a pod of product and project managers, engineers, UX designers, and researchers. Even writing protocols and conducting in-person usability tests!
Before that, I came from a music background. I learned bass, guitar, drums, piano. I came from a culture that valued just picking up an instrument and understanding it. Like the band The Replacements used to do, we'd swap instruments while rehearsing, or pick up the one that helped us express the kind of idea we had at the time.
I say all of that (I swear there's a point), to say that I prefer a fluid and open collaboration between all disciplines and sub-disciplines. I've found what success I have through being really curious and asking lots of questions with an open mind. I try to inspire that in my teams. It takes a really psychologically safe environment and a lot of trust to make that work, though.How do you balance documentation in the design process, considering some UX teams over-document while others rely more on intuition and minimal documentation, whether it's internal or for end users? What's your approach, and what risks do you see in having too much, too little, or no documentation?
My friend and long-time colleague Rodrigo Zuloaga introduced me many years ago to the idea that three times is a pattern. (Dan Mall describes this in his book Design That Scales.)
I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about what needs documentation. Are you being asked to write endless error messages? Destructive modals? Promotional cards? Invest the time to create the pattern.
In all likelihood, guidelines for these common challenges exist elsewhere and are publicly available. Why spend time reimagining how you'd do the documentation when people have been generous enough to solve the problem and share the solution? You'll deliver so much more value by focusing on solving wicked problems than "bikeshedding" on error message guidelines.
(Another shoutout: Erin Erb for introducing me to Parkinson's law of triviality.)In what ways, if any, does your punk culture background play a role in your content design tasks, and could you give some examples of this influence?
I think it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about music and curiosity. I've written, talked, and posted pretty extensively about what punk culture means to me and I don't want to be a broken record (puns are fun!).
I'll just say that the band Idles has a record called Joy as an Act of Resistance, and I think it's that general sentiment that influences me on a daily basis: positivity, generosity, and inclusion as an act of resistance.Could you provide insights into the spectrum of platforms your team is responsible for? I'm interested in knowing if this encompasses the website, mobile apps, digital kiosks within stores, and marketing or landing pages. Also, how is localization managed across each of these platforms?
Our design team has the broadest scope of any team at Walmart. Websites, mobile apps, internal tools, the in-store experience, the built environment. My teams and I have had the opportunity to work on AI, AR, VR, 0-to-1 projects, long-term visions, and much more. Accessibility and localization are huge components.
One of your 6 counterculture principles for content designers, is staying away from the gatekeepers, which are the contingent of people who are like, this is the only definition of punk. How do you see this in an industry where people still can’t agree on titles for some jobs?
I think it's less about titles and more about the recruiters and hiring managers whose perspective is so selective that they believe the only candidates worth talking to are the people who have done very specific work, for a very specific brand, for a very specific amount of time.
I know we're in a market where those people can flex that power, but I personally want no part of such a closed-minded perspective.People come to UX writing/content design from a lot of backgrounds. How can this diversity in background and skills be used in favour of helping the product team?
Content designers are great systems thinkers. And even better if they come from different writing backgrounds. A content designer might be thinking about brand naming, go-to-market plans, support articles, communications, and the entire content ecosystem in a way a product team may gloss over or forget.
Content designers are typically involved at the very end. They are provided with a high-fidelity UI prototype and asked to write or improve the copy with little context, if any. How does this process cause problems and difficulties?
See below.
Finally, at Punkt, we are revolutionizing the UX industry by building a Content-First UX platform where Content Designers and UX Writers co-lead the product UX/Design decisions. We believe a Content-First UX approach will fix too many daily issues most product teams deal with. Is it possible to give the Content Team the lead in guiding the entire UX process?
I want to answer two questions with one final idea (did anyone make it this far? 🤣)
We are story-driven people. We understand the world, connect with cultures, and express ourselves through narrative.
Our world is already content-first, and the sooner that teams stop expending so much effort fighting against that fact, the faster we'll be able to deliver things that are meaningful and valuable to people and businesses.
👋 Don't forget to follow Bill
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bill-kurland/
Website billkurland.com
Intro
Welcome to Spotlight, your gateway to the UX/ Content Design world, through a distinctive series of interviews that spotlight the industry's leading voices. Our succinct, direct-to-the-point approach poses ±10 sharp questions to veterans and rising stars, gathering insights and perspectives shaping the UX scene.
Meet our guest ⸻ Bill Kurland, Senior Manager, Content Design at Walmart
Originating from a musical foundation with an AA in Music Theory and Composition from the College of DuPage, Bill Kurland transitioned into Content Design. He rose to prominence in the industry. His foray into content strategy commenced in 2011, following an invitation from a friend to join a niche marketing agency focused on sectors like consumer financial services, real estate, and medical services.
Bill honed his expertise in Content Strategy, SEO, Content Management, Copywriting, and Team Leadership, managing a team of six content strategists. After years of experience, Bill now oversees UX and Content Design leadership at Walmart, leading content design teams to excellence.
His major involvement in the company includes:
Establishing content design within Walmart Marketplace—the platform that helps third-party sellers reach hundreds of millions of customers.
Built and nurtured content design teams for Walmart's Enterprise Services—from ad tech to social commerce to global seller and supplier experiences.
Bill is keen on delving into ideas and merging various perspectives. His dislike for categorization, genres, and formats is notable, as he prefers to unify ideas while disregarding genres and categories.
Without further ado, let's get to the Q&A:
12 Questions with Bill Kurland
What does a typical day entail for you in leading and shaping the content design teams at Walmart?
I'm not sure I've had a typical day in my 13 years in content design. 🤣
But I can say that over the last few years at Walmart, the main story has been about building systems that scale at speed. And when I say systems, I don't just mean tech platforms and governance/workflow processes. For me, it starts with the people.
Gaining influence by proving my impact (vertically and horizontally) was the first part of getting buy-in from leaders and peers to build and shape teams. And then it became about using the influence I'd gained to make space and create opportunities for my team members to take over the spotlight.
But what people need most (in my experience) is structure. So that's been a big focus for me and our teams: how do we build the right amount of standards and process at the right altitude while still delivering on a high volume of work at the searing pace of retail?
Erin Williams taught me how to do this, and I'm eternally grateful to her for that and many other things.As the person in charge of Content Design teams, who are the main collaborators you interact with regularly, including roles like UX Designers, Developers, Content Designers, and Project Managers?
If you're interested in systems thinking, the world's largest company is a fascinating place to work. Everything we do impacts hundreds of millions of people all over the world, so there's a lot of direct partnership with a lot of stakeholders.
So, yes, I spend a lot of my time aligning on strategy and planning with directors and senior directors in design, engineering, and product, but also with brand, support, research, marketing, legal, and more.What tools (Software) do you use for writing, planning, and collaborating with the rest of the team (UX designers, developers, content peers, PMs, etc.)?
So, I'm climbing on top of my soapbox for a second here.
Tools are great. And content designers, in my opinion, should be able to collaborate within the same tools as product designers. But I think what's more important than the tool is the thinking and the chronicling of that thinking.
Can AI improve the digital proximity to style guides and word lists? Sure. But you need the documentation of the decisions first. And I see a lot of people presume that the tool will be the forcing function to do that work. "We paid $1M, so we better get our act together!"
Put together a process. Document standards. Plan your capacity and engagement. Then worry about the tooling.
(Shannon Leahy has a great talk on using everyday office tools to create great UX.)
(Also, credit to Michael Haggerty-Villa for introducing me to the concept of "digital proximity.")From your experience how do see content/UX Writing can help products thrive and meet business goals? And how does disregarding the importance of word choice in UX Writing undermine the success of a product or service?
Every product communicates something to someone, based on their context. And every business hopes that their product communicates its value above all else.
That communication can happen in many ways, and a great content designer understands when to use different languages (verbal, visual, tactile) to address people's needs and business goals.
When we choose to use text, it's amazing how dismissive but detailed internal discussions can become. One second, content designers hear, "No one reads." But then we spend 59 minutes of a 60-minute meeting debating one noun with non-specialists.
I'm not saying we should be non-collaborative; if we use the tradesperson metaphor, people shouldn't assume a brick wall that's off its axis is fine because the bricklayer laid it. But I think we can flip the conversation to put the onus of rationale on the provider of feedback, not just on the creator of the content.Could you explain the interplay between content and design? How do they manifest in your team’s daily processes, and who takes the lead in the content-design partnership?
As a content person who got their start in the early 2010s, my experience for many years was being a full-stack content person. That meant writing long-form white papers, architecting websites in CMS platforms, designing and coding emails, working on brand strategy and creative campaigns with art directors. All while working in a pod of product and project managers, engineers, UX designers, and researchers. Even writing protocols and conducting in-person usability tests!
Before that, I came from a music background. I learned bass, guitar, drums, piano. I came from a culture that valued just picking up an instrument and understanding it. Like the band The Replacements used to do, we'd swap instruments while rehearsing, or pick up the one that helped us express the kind of idea we had at the time.
I say all of that (I swear there's a point), to say that I prefer a fluid and open collaboration between all disciplines and sub-disciplines. I've found what success I have through being really curious and asking lots of questions with an open mind. I try to inspire that in my teams. It takes a really psychologically safe environment and a lot of trust to make that work, though.How do you balance documentation in the design process, considering some UX teams over-document while others rely more on intuition and minimal documentation, whether it's internal or for end users? What's your approach, and what risks do you see in having too much, too little, or no documentation?
My friend and long-time colleague Rodrigo Zuloaga introduced me many years ago to the idea that three times is a pattern. (Dan Mall describes this in his book Design That Scales.)
I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about what needs documentation. Are you being asked to write endless error messages? Destructive modals? Promotional cards? Invest the time to create the pattern.
In all likelihood, guidelines for these common challenges exist elsewhere and are publicly available. Why spend time reimagining how you'd do the documentation when people have been generous enough to solve the problem and share the solution? You'll deliver so much more value by focusing on solving wicked problems than "bikeshedding" on error message guidelines.
(Another shoutout: Erin Erb for introducing me to Parkinson's law of triviality.)In what ways, if any, does your punk culture background play a role in your content design tasks, and could you give some examples of this influence?
I think it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about music and curiosity. I've written, talked, and posted pretty extensively about what punk culture means to me and I don't want to be a broken record (puns are fun!).
I'll just say that the band Idles has a record called Joy as an Act of Resistance, and I think it's that general sentiment that influences me on a daily basis: positivity, generosity, and inclusion as an act of resistance.Could you provide insights into the spectrum of platforms your team is responsible for? I'm interested in knowing if this encompasses the website, mobile apps, digital kiosks within stores, and marketing or landing pages. Also, how is localization managed across each of these platforms?
Our design team has the broadest scope of any team at Walmart. Websites, mobile apps, internal tools, the in-store experience, the built environment. My teams and I have had the opportunity to work on AI, AR, VR, 0-to-1 projects, long-term visions, and much more. Accessibility and localization are huge components.
One of your 6 counterculture principles for content designers, is staying away from the gatekeepers, which are the contingent of people who are like, this is the only definition of punk. How do you see this in an industry where people still can’t agree on titles for some jobs?
I think it's less about titles and more about the recruiters and hiring managers whose perspective is so selective that they believe the only candidates worth talking to are the people who have done very specific work, for a very specific brand, for a very specific amount of time.
I know we're in a market where those people can flex that power, but I personally want no part of such a closed-minded perspective.People come to UX writing/content design from a lot of backgrounds. How can this diversity in background and skills be used in favour of helping the product team?
Content designers are great systems thinkers. And even better if they come from different writing backgrounds. A content designer might be thinking about brand naming, go-to-market plans, support articles, communications, and the entire content ecosystem in a way a product team may gloss over or forget.
Content designers are typically involved at the very end. They are provided with a high-fidelity UI prototype and asked to write or improve the copy with little context, if any. How does this process cause problems and difficulties?
See below.
Finally, at Punkt, we are revolutionizing the UX industry by building a Content-First UX platform where Content Designers and UX Writers co-lead the product UX/Design decisions. We believe a Content-First UX approach will fix too many daily issues most product teams deal with. Is it possible to give the Content Team the lead in guiding the entire UX process?
I want to answer two questions with one final idea (did anyone make it this far? 🤣)
We are story-driven people. We understand the world, connect with cultures, and express ourselves through narrative.
Our world is already content-first, and the sooner that teams stop expending so much effort fighting against that fact, the faster we'll be able to deliver things that are meaningful and valuable to people and businesses.
👋 Don't forget to follow Bill
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bill-kurland/
Website billkurland.com
Intro
Welcome to Spotlight, your gateway to the UX/ Content Design world, through a distinctive series of interviews that spotlight the industry's leading voices. Our succinct, direct-to-the-point approach poses ±10 sharp questions to veterans and rising stars, gathering insights and perspectives shaping the UX scene.
Meet our guest ⸻ Bill Kurland, Senior Manager, Content Design at Walmart
Originating from a musical foundation with an AA in Music Theory and Composition from the College of DuPage, Bill Kurland transitioned into Content Design. He rose to prominence in the industry. His foray into content strategy commenced in 2011, following an invitation from a friend to join a niche marketing agency focused on sectors like consumer financial services, real estate, and medical services.
Bill honed his expertise in Content Strategy, SEO, Content Management, Copywriting, and Team Leadership, managing a team of six content strategists. After years of experience, Bill now oversees UX and Content Design leadership at Walmart, leading content design teams to excellence.
His major involvement in the company includes:
Establishing content design within Walmart Marketplace—the platform that helps third-party sellers reach hundreds of millions of customers.
Built and nurtured content design teams for Walmart's Enterprise Services—from ad tech to social commerce to global seller and supplier experiences.
Bill is keen on delving into ideas and merging various perspectives. His dislike for categorization, genres, and formats is notable, as he prefers to unify ideas while disregarding genres and categories.
Without further ado, let's get to the Q&A:
12 Questions with Bill Kurland
What does a typical day entail for you in leading and shaping the content design teams at Walmart?
I'm not sure I've had a typical day in my 13 years in content design. 🤣
But I can say that over the last few years at Walmart, the main story has been about building systems that scale at speed. And when I say systems, I don't just mean tech platforms and governance/workflow processes. For me, it starts with the people.
Gaining influence by proving my impact (vertically and horizontally) was the first part of getting buy-in from leaders and peers to build and shape teams. And then it became about using the influence I'd gained to make space and create opportunities for my team members to take over the spotlight.
But what people need most (in my experience) is structure. So that's been a big focus for me and our teams: how do we build the right amount of standards and process at the right altitude while still delivering on a high volume of work at the searing pace of retail?
Erin Williams taught me how to do this, and I'm eternally grateful to her for that and many other things.As the person in charge of Content Design teams, who are the main collaborators you interact with regularly, including roles like UX Designers, Developers, Content Designers, and Project Managers?
If you're interested in systems thinking, the world's largest company is a fascinating place to work. Everything we do impacts hundreds of millions of people all over the world, so there's a lot of direct partnership with a lot of stakeholders.
So, yes, I spend a lot of my time aligning on strategy and planning with directors and senior directors in design, engineering, and product, but also with brand, support, research, marketing, legal, and more.What tools (Software) do you use for writing, planning, and collaborating with the rest of the team (UX designers, developers, content peers, PMs, etc.)?
So, I'm climbing on top of my soapbox for a second here.
Tools are great. And content designers, in my opinion, should be able to collaborate within the same tools as product designers. But I think what's more important than the tool is the thinking and the chronicling of that thinking.
Can AI improve the digital proximity to style guides and word lists? Sure. But you need the documentation of the decisions first. And I see a lot of people presume that the tool will be the forcing function to do that work. "We paid $1M, so we better get our act together!"
Put together a process. Document standards. Plan your capacity and engagement. Then worry about the tooling.
(Shannon Leahy has a great talk on using everyday office tools to create great UX.)
(Also, credit to Michael Haggerty-Villa for introducing me to the concept of "digital proximity.")From your experience how do see content/UX Writing can help products thrive and meet business goals? And how does disregarding the importance of word choice in UX Writing undermine the success of a product or service?
Every product communicates something to someone, based on their context. And every business hopes that their product communicates its value above all else.
That communication can happen in many ways, and a great content designer understands when to use different languages (verbal, visual, tactile) to address people's needs and business goals.
When we choose to use text, it's amazing how dismissive but detailed internal discussions can become. One second, content designers hear, "No one reads." But then we spend 59 minutes of a 60-minute meeting debating one noun with non-specialists.
I'm not saying we should be non-collaborative; if we use the tradesperson metaphor, people shouldn't assume a brick wall that's off its axis is fine because the bricklayer laid it. But I think we can flip the conversation to put the onus of rationale on the provider of feedback, not just on the creator of the content.Could you explain the interplay between content and design? How do they manifest in your team’s daily processes, and who takes the lead in the content-design partnership?
As a content person who got their start in the early 2010s, my experience for many years was being a full-stack content person. That meant writing long-form white papers, architecting websites in CMS platforms, designing and coding emails, working on brand strategy and creative campaigns with art directors. All while working in a pod of product and project managers, engineers, UX designers, and researchers. Even writing protocols and conducting in-person usability tests!
Before that, I came from a music background. I learned bass, guitar, drums, piano. I came from a culture that valued just picking up an instrument and understanding it. Like the band The Replacements used to do, we'd swap instruments while rehearsing, or pick up the one that helped us express the kind of idea we had at the time.
I say all of that (I swear there's a point), to say that I prefer a fluid and open collaboration between all disciplines and sub-disciplines. I've found what success I have through being really curious and asking lots of questions with an open mind. I try to inspire that in my teams. It takes a really psychologically safe environment and a lot of trust to make that work, though.How do you balance documentation in the design process, considering some UX teams over-document while others rely more on intuition and minimal documentation, whether it's internal or for end users? What's your approach, and what risks do you see in having too much, too little, or no documentation?
My friend and long-time colleague Rodrigo Zuloaga introduced me many years ago to the idea that three times is a pattern. (Dan Mall describes this in his book Design That Scales.)
I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about what needs documentation. Are you being asked to write endless error messages? Destructive modals? Promotional cards? Invest the time to create the pattern.
In all likelihood, guidelines for these common challenges exist elsewhere and are publicly available. Why spend time reimagining how you'd do the documentation when people have been generous enough to solve the problem and share the solution? You'll deliver so much more value by focusing on solving wicked problems than "bikeshedding" on error message guidelines.
(Another shoutout: Erin Erb for introducing me to Parkinson's law of triviality.)In what ways, if any, does your punk culture background play a role in your content design tasks, and could you give some examples of this influence?
I think it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about music and curiosity. I've written, talked, and posted pretty extensively about what punk culture means to me and I don't want to be a broken record (puns are fun!).
I'll just say that the band Idles has a record called Joy as an Act of Resistance, and I think it's that general sentiment that influences me on a daily basis: positivity, generosity, and inclusion as an act of resistance.Could you provide insights into the spectrum of platforms your team is responsible for? I'm interested in knowing if this encompasses the website, mobile apps, digital kiosks within stores, and marketing or landing pages. Also, how is localization managed across each of these platforms?
Our design team has the broadest scope of any team at Walmart. Websites, mobile apps, internal tools, the in-store experience, the built environment. My teams and I have had the opportunity to work on AI, AR, VR, 0-to-1 projects, long-term visions, and much more. Accessibility and localization are huge components.
One of your 6 counterculture principles for content designers, is staying away from the gatekeepers, which are the contingent of people who are like, this is the only definition of punk. How do you see this in an industry where people still can’t agree on titles for some jobs?
I think it's less about titles and more about the recruiters and hiring managers whose perspective is so selective that they believe the only candidates worth talking to are the people who have done very specific work, for a very specific brand, for a very specific amount of time.
I know we're in a market where those people can flex that power, but I personally want no part of such a closed-minded perspective.People come to UX writing/content design from a lot of backgrounds. How can this diversity in background and skills be used in favour of helping the product team?
Content designers are great systems thinkers. And even better if they come from different writing backgrounds. A content designer might be thinking about brand naming, go-to-market plans, support articles, communications, and the entire content ecosystem in a way a product team may gloss over or forget.
Content designers are typically involved at the very end. They are provided with a high-fidelity UI prototype and asked to write or improve the copy with little context, if any. How does this process cause problems and difficulties?
See below.
Finally, at Punkt, we are revolutionizing the UX industry by building a Content-First UX platform where Content Designers and UX Writers co-lead the product UX/Design decisions. We believe a Content-First UX approach will fix too many daily issues most product teams deal with. Is it possible to give the Content Team the lead in guiding the entire UX process?
I want to answer two questions with one final idea (did anyone make it this far? 🤣)
We are story-driven people. We understand the world, connect with cultures, and express ourselves through narrative.
Our world is already content-first, and the sooner that teams stop expending so much effort fighting against that fact, the faster we'll be able to deliver things that are meaningful and valuable to people and businesses.
👋 Don't forget to follow Bill
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bill-kurland/
Website billkurland.com
Intro
Welcome to Spotlight, your gateway to the UX/ Content Design world, through a distinctive series of interviews that spotlight the industry's leading voices. Our succinct, direct-to-the-point approach poses ±10 sharp questions to veterans and rising stars, gathering insights and perspectives shaping the UX scene.
Meet our guest ⸻ Bill Kurland, Senior Manager, Content Design at Walmart
Originating from a musical foundation with an AA in Music Theory and Composition from the College of DuPage, Bill Kurland transitioned into Content Design. He rose to prominence in the industry. His foray into content strategy commenced in 2011, following an invitation from a friend to join a niche marketing agency focused on sectors like consumer financial services, real estate, and medical services.
Bill honed his expertise in Content Strategy, SEO, Content Management, Copywriting, and Team Leadership, managing a team of six content strategists. After years of experience, Bill now oversees UX and Content Design leadership at Walmart, leading content design teams to excellence.
His major involvement in the company includes:
Establishing content design within Walmart Marketplace—the platform that helps third-party sellers reach hundreds of millions of customers.
Built and nurtured content design teams for Walmart's Enterprise Services—from ad tech to social commerce to global seller and supplier experiences.
Bill is keen on delving into ideas and merging various perspectives. His dislike for categorization, genres, and formats is notable, as he prefers to unify ideas while disregarding genres and categories.
Without further ado, let's get to the Q&A:
12 Questions with Bill Kurland
What does a typical day entail for you in leading and shaping the content design teams at Walmart?
I'm not sure I've had a typical day in my 13 years in content design. 🤣
But I can say that over the last few years at Walmart, the main story has been about building systems that scale at speed. And when I say systems, I don't just mean tech platforms and governance/workflow processes. For me, it starts with the people.
Gaining influence by proving my impact (vertically and horizontally) was the first part of getting buy-in from leaders and peers to build and shape teams. And then it became about using the influence I'd gained to make space and create opportunities for my team members to take over the spotlight.
But what people need most (in my experience) is structure. So that's been a big focus for me and our teams: how do we build the right amount of standards and process at the right altitude while still delivering on a high volume of work at the searing pace of retail?
Erin Williams taught me how to do this, and I'm eternally grateful to her for that and many other things.As the person in charge of Content Design teams, who are the main collaborators you interact with regularly, including roles like UX Designers, Developers, Content Designers, and Project Managers?
If you're interested in systems thinking, the world's largest company is a fascinating place to work. Everything we do impacts hundreds of millions of people all over the world, so there's a lot of direct partnership with a lot of stakeholders.
So, yes, I spend a lot of my time aligning on strategy and planning with directors and senior directors in design, engineering, and product, but also with brand, support, research, marketing, legal, and more.What tools (Software) do you use for writing, planning, and collaborating with the rest of the team (UX designers, developers, content peers, PMs, etc.)?
So, I'm climbing on top of my soapbox for a second here.
Tools are great. And content designers, in my opinion, should be able to collaborate within the same tools as product designers. But I think what's more important than the tool is the thinking and the chronicling of that thinking.
Can AI improve the digital proximity to style guides and word lists? Sure. But you need the documentation of the decisions first. And I see a lot of people presume that the tool will be the forcing function to do that work. "We paid $1M, so we better get our act together!"
Put together a process. Document standards. Plan your capacity and engagement. Then worry about the tooling.
(Shannon Leahy has a great talk on using everyday office tools to create great UX.)
(Also, credit to Michael Haggerty-Villa for introducing me to the concept of "digital proximity.")From your experience how do see content/UX Writing can help products thrive and meet business goals? And how does disregarding the importance of word choice in UX Writing undermine the success of a product or service?
Every product communicates something to someone, based on their context. And every business hopes that their product communicates its value above all else.
That communication can happen in many ways, and a great content designer understands when to use different languages (verbal, visual, tactile) to address people's needs and business goals.
When we choose to use text, it's amazing how dismissive but detailed internal discussions can become. One second, content designers hear, "No one reads." But then we spend 59 minutes of a 60-minute meeting debating one noun with non-specialists.
I'm not saying we should be non-collaborative; if we use the tradesperson metaphor, people shouldn't assume a brick wall that's off its axis is fine because the bricklayer laid it. But I think we can flip the conversation to put the onus of rationale on the provider of feedback, not just on the creator of the content.Could you explain the interplay between content and design? How do they manifest in your team’s daily processes, and who takes the lead in the content-design partnership?
As a content person who got their start in the early 2010s, my experience for many years was being a full-stack content person. That meant writing long-form white papers, architecting websites in CMS platforms, designing and coding emails, working on brand strategy and creative campaigns with art directors. All while working in a pod of product and project managers, engineers, UX designers, and researchers. Even writing protocols and conducting in-person usability tests!
Before that, I came from a music background. I learned bass, guitar, drums, piano. I came from a culture that valued just picking up an instrument and understanding it. Like the band The Replacements used to do, we'd swap instruments while rehearsing, or pick up the one that helped us express the kind of idea we had at the time.
I say all of that (I swear there's a point), to say that I prefer a fluid and open collaboration between all disciplines and sub-disciplines. I've found what success I have through being really curious and asking lots of questions with an open mind. I try to inspire that in my teams. It takes a really psychologically safe environment and a lot of trust to make that work, though.How do you balance documentation in the design process, considering some UX teams over-document while others rely more on intuition and minimal documentation, whether it's internal or for end users? What's your approach, and what risks do you see in having too much, too little, or no documentation?
My friend and long-time colleague Rodrigo Zuloaga introduced me many years ago to the idea that three times is a pattern. (Dan Mall describes this in his book Design That Scales.)
I think this is a really useful framework for thinking about what needs documentation. Are you being asked to write endless error messages? Destructive modals? Promotional cards? Invest the time to create the pattern.
In all likelihood, guidelines for these common challenges exist elsewhere and are publicly available. Why spend time reimagining how you'd do the documentation when people have been generous enough to solve the problem and share the solution? You'll deliver so much more value by focusing on solving wicked problems than "bikeshedding" on error message guidelines.
(Another shoutout: Erin Erb for introducing me to Parkinson's law of triviality.)In what ways, if any, does your punk culture background play a role in your content design tasks, and could you give some examples of this influence?
I think it goes back to what I mentioned earlier about music and curiosity. I've written, talked, and posted pretty extensively about what punk culture means to me and I don't want to be a broken record (puns are fun!).
I'll just say that the band Idles has a record called Joy as an Act of Resistance, and I think it's that general sentiment that influences me on a daily basis: positivity, generosity, and inclusion as an act of resistance.Could you provide insights into the spectrum of platforms your team is responsible for? I'm interested in knowing if this encompasses the website, mobile apps, digital kiosks within stores, and marketing or landing pages. Also, how is localization managed across each of these platforms?
Our design team has the broadest scope of any team at Walmart. Websites, mobile apps, internal tools, the in-store experience, the built environment. My teams and I have had the opportunity to work on AI, AR, VR, 0-to-1 projects, long-term visions, and much more. Accessibility and localization are huge components.
One of your 6 counterculture principles for content designers, is staying away from the gatekeepers, which are the contingent of people who are like, this is the only definition of punk. How do you see this in an industry where people still can’t agree on titles for some jobs?
I think it's less about titles and more about the recruiters and hiring managers whose perspective is so selective that they believe the only candidates worth talking to are the people who have done very specific work, for a very specific brand, for a very specific amount of time.
I know we're in a market where those people can flex that power, but I personally want no part of such a closed-minded perspective.People come to UX writing/content design from a lot of backgrounds. How can this diversity in background and skills be used in favour of helping the product team?
Content designers are great systems thinkers. And even better if they come from different writing backgrounds. A content designer might be thinking about brand naming, go-to-market plans, support articles, communications, and the entire content ecosystem in a way a product team may gloss over or forget.
Content designers are typically involved at the very end. They are provided with a high-fidelity UI prototype and asked to write or improve the copy with little context, if any. How does this process cause problems and difficulties?
See below.
Finally, at Punkt, we are revolutionizing the UX industry by building a Content-First UX platform where Content Designers and UX Writers co-lead the product UX/Design decisions. We believe a Content-First UX approach will fix too many daily issues most product teams deal with. Is it possible to give the Content Team the lead in guiding the entire UX process?
I want to answer two questions with one final idea (did anyone make it this far? 🤣)
We are story-driven people. We understand the world, connect with cultures, and express ourselves through narrative.
Our world is already content-first, and the sooner that teams stop expending so much effort fighting against that fact, the faster we'll be able to deliver things that are meaningful and valuable to people and businesses.
👋 Don't forget to follow Bill
LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/bill-kurland/
Website billkurland.com
