building and managing successful ux teams

1 September 2008

Building & Managing User Experience

Teams Dr. Rod Farmer, Senior Manager, User Experience and Creative Services, 3 Mobile Australia

…not just about the architecture

Notre Dame de Paris….

Not just about the content

……Not just about navigating from A to B

….not just about successfully completing goals

It’s about the sensations that people get from using

service

Experience goes beyond service

Knowers and Learners

Our journey

Better user research...

Better design methods...

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…how we approach building UX teams

…fostering team leadership

...achieving greater accountability in our designs

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Know where you’re going

Building your team: Team Direction

Competency Management Individual i Individual i+1 Individual N Ind. Avg Distance Action

Information Architecture 3

User Research 3

Visual Design 5

Information Design 4

Interaction Design 4

Dev Knowledge 4

Writing Skills 4

0=NR, 1=Occasional, 2=Basic, 3=Good, 4=Strong, 5=Exemplary

Building your team: Team Assessment

Competency Management Individual i Individual i+1 Individual N Ind. Avg Distance Action

Information Architecture 3 2 4 2 2.5 0.5 Supervise

User Research 3 1 1 2 1.5 1.5 Train

Visual Design 5 4 5 4 4.5 0.5 Supervise

Information Design 4 3 3 4 3.5 0.5 Supervise

Interaction Design 4 4 4 4 4 0 Monitor

Dev Knowledge 4 2 2 2 2 2 Develop

Writing Skills 4 1 1 1 1 3 Hire

0=NR, 1=Occasional, 2=Basic, 3=Good, 4=Strong, 5=Exemplary

Something’s missing .....Personality

4 core personalities Executor

Carer

General

Sovereign

(self-actualisting)

(humanistic-encouraging)

(achievement)

(affiliative)

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... building a dream team is not the end-game

“Specialisation has its advantages, but it also creates a situation where people just see their own little world instead of the entire context..”

- Getting Real, 37Signals

“Organisations, which design systems, are constrained to produce designs that are copies of the communication structure of these organisations.”

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fear + =

All too common occurrence...

size of effort

diffe

rent

iatio

n

opportunities

All too common occurrence...

size of effort

diffe

rent

iatio

n

Innovation Space

Delighters

Delighters

Safety, Parity and Mediocrity

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90%

Greater UX Maturity...

Influence drivers

‘t’ is exponential

Greater UX Maturity...

Individualistic mindset

Skill Specialisation

Greater UX Maturity...

Collaborative mindset Skill Diversification

Greater UX Maturity...

Influence drivers

Concept Workshops

from little things big things grow

1 September 2008

taking steps towards creating advocates

Great UX leadership involves a simple story:

Who you are, what you stand for, and what others can expect from you.

Has a compelling story about UX for the company

Makes inclusivity an essential part of day-to-day activities

The UX Manager who isn’t afraid to fail, is a leader who is driven to succeed.

Fail, fail often, fail fast and fail small.

Manager owns (new) mistakes. You own improvement.

Golden rule: “Only new mistakes are permitted”.

FOOTBALL IMAGE

“Your job is to touch everyone and get into their soul. Every moment you are in your office, you are useless.”

- Jack Welch (CEO, General Electric from 1981-2001)

transformation Encouraging beautiful

kai:“change;zen:“smallgood”

Improving quality ...

The team-oriented approach

Qualities

Learning focused

Systemic/Holistic

Team sets criteria

Management sets cut-offs

Non-judgemental

Our Approach: Open Design Forums

Fortnightly

Discuss project goals and measures Open feedback

Roles at the door

Encourage PBL & Ownership

The management approach

Our Approach: Design Circle

Held monthly

Non-UX management involved

Establishes baselines

Evaluates performance

Agrees on countermeasures

Initiatives training

Re-evaluates planning

Qualities

Results-focused

Evaluates performance across projects Sets quality goals for team

Establishes future plans

Performance metrics

What has worked well for us...

Set clear, achievable and measurable goals for your team Individuals set project-level goals and measures

Individuals own their outcomes

UX Management establishes “goodness”

Management challenges, not fixes

Communication skills and coaching development

Change is possible...

Email: rfarmer@hutchison.com.au

Available on SlideShare....