why ux #fails (with notes)

ChrisFeix

Director of the Ultimate Experience

@GoRevCogorevco.com

PART 1

UX vs. UI Confusion

LinkedIn is the problem.

UX vs. UI Confusion

The User Experience helps the user decide on whether or not they will act. Emotional

UX vs. UI Confusion

The User Interface gives the user the means in which to act. Technical

Apple UX

Clean, modern, simple, unwavering.

The computer symbolizes an extension of human thought, communication, and memory.

Apple UI

Not quite the same experience as their brand promise.

That’s because their brand promise is buried in their hardware.

UX: What ISN’T your job?

1. Branding?2. Web site design?3. Customer service processes?4. Marketing assets?5. Mobile app project?6. Interior design?7. Staff training?

UI: What ISN’T your job?

1. Branding?2. Web site design?3. Customer service processes?4. Marketing assets?5. Mobile app project?6. Interior design?7. Staff training?

UX: You are here. Digital.

UX

CD

AD

Designers

SOCIAL MEDIA

CD

AD

DesignersUI

Developers

UICDAD

Designers

UI Developers

WEBSITES

APPSGAMES

UI: You are here. Digital.

UX

CD

AD

Designers

SOCIAL MEDIA

CD

AD

DesignersUI

Developers

UICDAD

Designers

UI Developers

WEBSITES

APPSGAMES

Shhh… It’s some sort of secret.

UX

UX

UX

UX

SOCIAL MEDIA

UX

UX

UXUX

UX

UIUXUX

UX

UX UX

WEBSITES

APPSGAMES

Are you a part of leadership?

How does your company value UX?

How does your company promote?

If you are truly responsible for your company’s UX, then you MUST be on a level playing field with the people that ultimately make the decisions.

4 Steps to utter failure

1. Tom is an excellent Artist2. Let’s make him an Art Director3. Art Directors manage people4. Lets give Tom people to manage

Are you a part of leadership?

YOU

You’ve been promoted to Director!

Are you a part of leadership?

NOT YOU

But you aren’t good at managing people.

Are you a part of leadership?

LEADERSHIP = MANAGEMENT

Now your work suffers because you’re mired down in managing people.

And the people suffer because you’re a terrible manager.

If you are truly responsible for your company’s UX, then you MUST be on a level playing field with the people that ultimately make the decisions.

That DOESN’T mean you have to manage people.

PART 2

Business Goals vs. People Goals

The corporate agenda is flawed.

The corporate agenda is flawed.

Lessons learned serving in the Marines…

Solutions are top down instead of bottom up

Solutions are Action-motivated vs. Results-motivated

Projects have predefined expectations

Budgets & Timelines (Good UX has no end date.)

Are you designing for a client or their users? Does the client know this?

Outcome Driven Innovation

“People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole!”

Theodore Levitt

What Customers Want, by: Anthony Ulwick

Theodore (Ted) Levitt born 1925 GermanyCoined (popularized) the term “Globalization” 1983 Harvard Business Review

Creativity Is Not Enough, Harvard Business Review, 1963.

What defines great UX?(In terms of interfaces)

Nobody wanted these. Everyone thought they would fail. Until they hit the market...THEN THEY SOLD OUT!

Do you find it easier to just build familiar interfaces?

A good user experience is “fast to learn and maintains consistency”.

A great user experience is that, plus it “delivers on the brand promise”.

It doesn’t have to be a familiar interface.

When they are wrong YOU ARE WRONG.

Customers should not be trusted to come up with solutions; they aren’t expert or informed

enough for that part of the innovation process.

People only know what they have experienced. How will you ever invent anything?

They are not experts in innovation.

When you take product solution orders from your customers you become McDonald’s

‘Scat’tergun Brainstorming

1. When it comes to innovation, the job, not the product, must be the unit of analysis.

2. Opportunities (which are unmet needs) dictate which market growth paths to pursue.

PART 3

Putting together the winning team.

How to work with “winners”.*

Important projects get assigned to important people.All the departments must be represented.

How to work with “winners”.*

*Highest volume of “winners” assigned to Enterprise-level

They are winners for a reason.

Five qualities for climbing the ladder to success:

• Flexibility.

• Honesty.

• Leadership.

• Accountability.

• Intelligence.

But you’re dealing with these mother f*ckers

Stuck in Middle Management Vortex

5 qualities of a good middle

manager:

1. Ability to persuade

2. Strategic thinker

3. Cultural fit

4. Measurable success

5. Hard worker / Devotion to team

Five qualities for climbing the

ladder to success:

1. Flexibility

2. Honesty

3. Leadership

4. Accountability

5. Intelligence.

Which leads to…

Which leads to…

Department-specific functionality that eats up large portions of the budget

Pushing the envelope is prohibited. Mediocrity is the only way to make EVERYONE happy

Whole-project solutions fall short of individual expectations.

PART 4: Summary

Remember: UX is based on the user’s opinion.

Sometimes users are wrong.

But EMPATHY is a critical quality of a good User Experience

Did you get their opinions before or after development?

Probably both. Which opinions cost you the most money?

Which opinions made the product better?

Design earlier – develop later.

Make sure clients value UX.

Entertain, Evaluate, Empathize, Educate

Ask them about their past experiences.

Start objective conversations early.

Ask why 6 times.