Evangelizing User Experience Design

UXDustin DiTommaso

Dustin@BostonDesignCouncil.com

Good Design is Good

“” Business.

- Thomas Watson, IBM 1950 (around)

The Customer Experience is the Next Competitive Battleground.

“

” - Jerry Gregoire, Dell

The Customer Experience is the Next Competitive Battleground.

“

” - Jerry Gregoire, Dell 1999

What the F UX?

Why are we still defending Experience Design?

What is User Experience Design?

User Experience is the Perceived Sum of All interactions, both positive and negative, that a customer / user has with a product or service (brand).

A DEFINITION:

UX Happens with or without User Experience Design.

UX Happens with or without User Experience Design.

To ensure a (mostly) positive outcome, the experience must be crafted strategically and with intent.

Who is Responsible for the User Experience?

EVERYONE User Experience Architect / Interaction Designer / Developer / Visual Designer / Program

Manager / CEO / Usability Analyst / Information Architect / Technical Support / Copywriter / Animator / Web Producer / Human Factors Engineer / User Experience Specialist / Customer

Support Personnel / Design Research / Cognitive Psychologist / User Centered Designer / Executive Management / Help Desk / Marketing / Chief Internet Officer / UX Designer / Director of Technology / Regional Manager / Interface Usability Specialist / Chief Creative Officer / User Experience Planner / Digital Art Director / Interaction Specialist / Web Designer / UI Designer /

Interactive Services / Human Factors Analyst / Interactive Developer / HCI Engineer / Marketing Manager / UCD Engineer / HR Manager / Usability Researcher / VP Marketing / Accessibility

Professional / Marketing Director / Web UI Designer / Digital Producer / HCI Analyst / Director of Account Services / Usability Engineer / Interactive Producer / User Experience Researcher / Project Manager / GUI Designer / Director of Account Services / User Experience Strategist / Product Innovation Specialist / Interactive Marketer / CXO / Information Designer / Creative

Director / Software Engineer / Business Analyst / Testing Coordinator / UX Practitioner/

Titles Donʼt Matter

Titles Donʼt Matter

The UX Vision must be shared across the Entire Organization.

What if weʼre not there?

Strategies to Elevate and Integrate User Experience Design within your Organization

Strategies to Elevate and Integrate User Experience Design within your Organization

(& your clientsʼ)

01 Know Your Culture

Culture Matters

…

… Until I came to IBM, I probably would have told you that culture was just one among several important elements in any organizationʼs makeup and success, along with vision, strategy, financials,… I came to see that culture isnʼt just one aspect of the game – it is the game.

“

” - Lou Gerstner in “Who says Elephants Can’t Dance?” (2oo2, p. 182)

+ System of shared meaning held by members

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE DEFINED:

+ The way they do things - How they make decisions & who makes them - How and with whom they interact - What they measure, reward and punish - Where they allocate resources - How they work; their pace, standards, etc.

Observables

LEVELS OF CULTURE

Values, Assumptions, Beliefs - What we believe is important and true - What we take for granted

- What is seen, heard, done, etc…

Espoused Values / Beliefs

VALUES / ASSUMPTIONS / BELIEFS

Enacted Values / Beliefs (Values in Use) - The Values/Beliefs that can be inferred from behavior i.e., the values that explain the organizationʼs actions

- Values / Beliefs that the organization claims to follow - Contained in Annual Reports, Landing Pages, etc.

+ ESPOUSED VALUES ARE EXPLICIT (STATED) + ENACTED VALUES ARE IMPLICIT (INTERPRETED)

CULTURES VARY

“At GM, if you see a snake, the first thing you do is hire a consultant on snakes. Then you get a committee on snakes, and discuss it for a couple years… At EDS, the first guy who sees the snake kills it. ” - Ross Perot

on how the culture of General Motors differed from EDS, which he founded.

SOME DIFFERENCES IN VALUES / BELIEFS

- Our success depends on the customer OR customers are to be tolerated.

- Employees deserve respect OR employees are disposable.

- All employees can make major contributions OR ideas come from the top.

- Results matter most OR the process matters most.

- Best work comes from individuals OR from teams.

- It is better to take risks and have some fail OR always play it safe.

- To stay alive, we need to keep changing OR maintain the status quo.

- Only excellence is OK OR OK is OK

- Letʼs do today what could be done tomorrow OR letʼs do tomorrow what could be done today.

CULTURE: SUMMARY

+ It Matters + It Controls + It Varies + Itʼs Stable + Itʼs the Enacted Beliefs and Values

02 Create a Unified UX Vision

& Take Over the World

…

There are many methodologies for User Experience Design yet they all have one thing in common… Usersʼ interests are at the center of all Activities.

PIANO, PIANO

+ Change is Slow - Organizations are slow to change and methodologies are slow to get adopted /implemented.

+ Start Slow - Try to fit your methodology in and around existing methods.

- Donʼt be afraid to scale down your approach at first. UCD is not “One size fits All.”

ENLIGHTEN WITHOUT LOSING YOUR FRIENDS

01 Know your sh!t craft and be credible. Continually improve. Read books / blogs. Join professional groups, Go to conferences, etc.

02 Make your (already) read books available for colleagues to skim or borrow. Print out valuable articles & white papers as well.

03 Make your work visible (pen / pencil sketches, whiteboards)

04 Make allies at any level in any department. Champion UX together.

05 Educate and Explain. Donʼt dictate.

06 When giving feedback complement things done well, in addition to making suggestions for improvement. …

ENLIGHTEN WITHOUT LOSING YOUR FRIENDS

07 Set-up monthly multidisciplinary workshops (UX, proj. mgmt., communication) Invite all departments to host.

08 Get everyone involved in testing, brainstorming, evaluating (IDEO)

09 Strive to get involved in projects as soon as possible.

10 Pick projects you can have the most impact on (if possible).

11 Just do it! Fix UX problems (at least on paper). Offer up the the “discovery” as a “looking for feedback” request.

12 Seize Every Opportunity AND Know when to Quit.

Focus on the User and All Else Will Follow.

Focus on the User and All Else Will Follow.

If this is true, then whatʼs the Problem?

03 Barriers to a Unified UX Vision

& How to Break them Down

…

COMMON BARRIERS & RESISTANCE

01 No Support with Top Level Management

02 Developers See UX as an obstacle that eats into development time

03 Visual Designers see it as a creative restraint (& eat into “design time”)

04 Marketing feels threatened by research overlap

05 No understanding of what User Experience Design is & why it matters

SHOWING VALUE TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT

- Improve In-House Tools & Processes. +intranets, budget tools, forms, daily workflows, tasks, etc. = increase worker productivity & satisfaction

- Engage executive level in UX activities. Ask for opinions. (even if you throw them away).

- Understand companiesʼ strategic logic and link UX activities to Business Objectives

However, trying to focus on $ alone is a risky endeavor.

SHOWING VALUE TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT

-  Instead, show how UX fits into the overall Corporate value chain

- Risk Management: Avoids costly errors

- Improve Stock Value: Better products lead to greater market share

- Reduced support, training and maintenance costs.

- UX contributes to longer product shelf life

- Meeting user goals helps differentiate product

- UX reduces testing and quality assurance costs

SHOWING VALUE TO DEVELOPMENT TEAM

- Help to Define Interaction Frameworks and Patterns + Allows for Reuse of Code + Shorter Development Cycle

- UX activities and web analytic data can work together to tell the whole story (WA = “what” // UX = “why”)

-Increased product quality reduces maintenance and post launch bug fix work

SHOWING VALUE TO DESIGN TEAM

- UX Research allows for Informed Decisions & Less Revisions + It Rhymes!

SHOWING VALUE TO MARKETING TEAM

- Share your Research Work + Deliverables like Personas & Use Cases can be shared and refined to benefit both marketing and UX practitioners.

- Marketing and UX can work together to develop a firmʼs Product Offer so that the *Net Delivered Customer Value is maximized for the firmʼs targeted market segments.

*Net Delivered Customer Value (NDCV) = Perceived Benefits – Perceived Costs

= (Value of Product Use + Service + Image + Personal Interaction) - (Financial + Time + Energy + Psychic COSTS)

WRAP UP

01 Understand Company Business Concept and Culture

02 Develop an Experience Strategy to support it

03 Collaborate with all departments in your organization

04 Share knowledge & resources as a means to communicate the UX vision

05 Deliver amazing user experiences to your customers

// fin Dustin DiTommaso

Dustin@BostonDesignCouncil.com Twitter: @DU5TB1N

Interaction Design | Design Management