building a ux team in higher education
TRANSCRIPT
BUILDING A UX TEAM IN HIGHER EDUCATION
A THREE-STEP GUIDE TO
By Jonathan Kochis
Adapted from a talk given at PSEWEB 2016
BUILDING A UX TEAM ISN’T EASY, ESPECIALLY IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
LET’S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY:
BUT THERE’S HOPE…AND IT STARTS HERE.
UNDERSTAND UXSTEP ONE
UNDERSTAND UXSTEP ONE
User experience is a feeling, an emotional outcome. It’s not the
way something looks or what it does but the way something
makes us feel before, during, and after we use it.
UX is a team sport. Everyone in your organization should be
involved. The responsibility of delivering a great digital user
experience can’t fall on one person, or even one department (see
the elusive UX unicorn on the following slide).
Great user experiences are valuable , usable , accessible , and
appealing.
Suggested reading: The UX Playbook for Colleges and Universities.
LET’S GET THIS OUT OF THE WAY:
FIND (OR BECOME) A LEADER
STEP TWO
FIND (OR BECOME) A LEADER
STEP TWO
Sell UX. As a leader you need to be a UX advocate within your
organization. Do your research and present cases where design
and CX-focused organizations outperform their peers. You can
also discuss the cost of providing a bad user experience.
Build empathy. Start by scheduling and executing simple
usability tests on-site. Invite people to watch and share the
recordings. User exposure helps sell the value of UX and is
critical when building an understanding of your customers.
Set KPIs. Your (eventual) team needs to understand that what
they’re doing matters and how to tell if they’re work is making a
difference. As a leader your job is to help set these targets.
Suggested reading: The Benefits of User-Centred Design.
QUESTIONSQUESTIONSSTART WITH A GUILDSTEP THREE
START WITH A GUILD
STEP THREE
Teams can be expensive aren’t built overnight. There are likely
people in your organization already participating in UX activities.
Find them and discuss forming a UX guild.
A guild is an organized group of people who have joined together
because they share the same job or interest. You can set
standards and use the KPIs to help everyone move forward, even
if they work in different departments.
Grow together. Professional development should be part of your
guild standards. Attend conferences, watch recorded talks
together, and find mentors and colleagues in your community.
Suggested reading: Scaling Agile at Spotify (includes information on
guilds).
JONATHAN KOCHISFEEL FREE TO CONNECT!
@jonathankochis
http://res.im