the shift: ux designers as business consultants

THE SHIFT

Davide ‘Folletto’ Casali

UX DESIGNER AS BUSINESS CONSULTANT

UX Redirector Advisor

NIGHT.EU

Manifesto Ibridim a n i f e s t o i b r i d i . o r g

@Folletto

Who here already have a seat at the CxO / MD table?

2 / Canvas1 / Frame 3 / Drawing

0 / Foundation

Thanks to Jason Mesut

BARRIERS TO MAKE UX HAPPEN

Source: Making UX Happen survey of top 3 barriers (94 respondents)

Inertia and resistance to

change

Lack of senior-level client

sponsor for UX

Client doesn’t understand UX

processes

Client lack of vision, strategy

& business-case

Lack of resources

Lack of time

Lack of budget

Lack of commitment

to UXDriven by

technology & constraints

Consultant & agency

attitudes

Consultant skills &

experience

Politics & organizational

silos

Client doesn’t

measure or understand the value of

UX

Low stakeholder engagement Ineffective

communication & persuasion

My Client Does Not Understand Me

My Boss Does Not Understand Me

My ____ Does Not Understand Me

A story— a european telco 4 weeks projectovertimeoverbudgetfrustration

Solved with a 3 hour workshop

We love our craft, often more than results.

Anger. Frustration. Long days.

Misunderstandings.

We have met

the enemy

and he is us.

Different Reasons for Different People

HUGE EGO

IMPOSTOR SYNDROME

Early Red Flag: Any empty criticism against the client.

A design that doesn't get used is a failed

design by definition.

— THE SHIFT —

Use the core skills of designers on a different objective.

CONWAY’S LAWAny organization that designs a system

will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure.

Designer Product

OrganizationDesigner Product

1 / FrameMINDSET

ROI (abbr.) 1. Return On Investment The earning power of assets measured as the ratio of the net income (profit less depreciation) to the average capital employed (or equity capital) in a company or project. Expressed usually as a percentage, return on investment is a measure of profitability that indicates whether or not a company is using its resources in an efficient manner. For example, if the long-term return on investment of a company is lower than its cost-of-capital, then the company will be better off by liquidating its assets and depositing the proceeds in a bank. Also called rate of return, or yield.

Budget (noun) An estimate of costs, revenues, and resources over a specified period, reflecting a reading of future financial conditions and goals. One of the most important administrative tools, a budget serves also as a (1) plan of action for achieving quantified objectives, (2) standard for measuring performance, and (3) device for coping with foreseeable adverse situations.

Bottom Line (def.) 1. Net Income After Tax 2. What is left after all is said and done.

Risk Analysis (def.) 1. Corporate: As a component of risk management, it consists of (1) Identification of possible negative external and internal conditions, events, or situations, (2) Determination of cause-and-effect (causal) relationships between probable happenings, their magnitude, and likely outcomes, (3) Evaluation of various outcomes under different assumptions, and under different probabilities that each outcome will take place, (4) Application of qualitative and quantitative techniques to reduce uncertainty of the outcomes and associated costs, liabilities, or losses.

Learn Their VocabularyScope Creep (def.) Small changes in a plan or project that necessitate other changes which lead to still more changes ... and so on.

Educate

Can you make the logo bigger?I need the 12 pages designed by Tuesday.

Can you do your design stuff on this deck?A week is enough right?

This is her idea and I just think it’s too brilliant to be bothered by rules.

It would save us a lot of trouble if we didn’t have to pay you.

Set ExpectationsHere’s what you are going to get: ____

A story— cross-country team for USA client KPI re-alignment projectno objective statedmiddlemenyes-men

Counter-pitched with a new approach

2 / CanvasCONTEXT

DESIGNER BUSINESSunderstand

Understand the Business ModelBusiness Model Canvas

Business NeedsTake the brief and identify the end-goal of the project in business terms.

CLIENT: We need you to design an app for our company.

ME: Okay. What would you like the app to do?

CLIENT: Keep me from losing my job.

Clients from Hell · January 14, 2014

The untold truth about the project: personal interests, company politics, etc.Hidden Request

Business Needs

A story— a european bank 1+ years contractRFP identical to existing activitiesthey wanted to replace existing agencyinternal power struggle

We stepped out

Who pays? Who gains? Who loses?

POLITICS

DESIGNER BUSINESStransform

Agency

Marketing

Client

Development / IT

One Team

Other

Rhythm

do

observe

think

dotL OOP

The Dot Loop, the simplest process possible (2010)

PLAN

1-WEEK ITERATIONS

DELIVERABLES DIFFERENT STREAMS

MILESTONES PHASESREVIEWS

A good project manager is your dearest friend.

3 / DrawingENVIRONMENT

Impact

Systems

Maintenance

Workflows

Backoffice Work

Other units

Other projects

Campaigns

Brand perception

WRITE

Write everything. Summarize & send to check. Have a clear call to action. Go for yes/no replies. If you use the text log against the client, you lost.

by Enrico Baldetti

Visualize Everything

Keep Iterating

Keep Setting Expectations

0 / Attitude + System Thinking

1 / Mindset· Vocabulary · Educate · Set Expectations

2 / Context· Business Model & Need · Hidden Request · Politics · One Team · Rhythm

3 / Environment· Impact · Write · Visualize

Is something missing? Contact me: @Folletto ;)

!

(I’m writing a book and looking for case studies and feedback)

“

”Bruno Munari

To complicate is easy, to simplify is hard. To complicate, just add,

everyone is able to complicate. Few are able to simplify.

Thanks.

@Folletto