building and managing successful ux teams
DESCRIPTION
Presentation to the ARK Online User Experience Conference. Provides an overview of how to build and manage successful User Experience teams through planning, leadership, and organisational influence. More specifically, this presentation argues that greater quality and org influence do NOT come through focusing on better research and design skills ...TRANSCRIPT
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...
13
14
…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
29
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...
