chi2016 case study: why designers might want to redesign company processes to get to better ux...

Why Designers Might Want to Redesign Company Processes to Get to Better UX DesignMeghan Ede – SAP AribaGarett Dworman, Ph.D. – VMwareA Case Study for CHI 2016, San Jose

Meghan Ede & Garett Dworman -- presented at CHI 2016

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PlotThis CASE STUDY……includes information from multiple clients.Like a good fairy tale • It is a good STORY • About everyday PEOPLE encountering a PROBLEM• That they RESOLVE• With SIGNS & TIPS – so you can resolve this problem

yourself!9 May 2016


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Once Upon a Time…Assignment: Redesign Account Creation screens of an out-dated and hard to use Product Warning Signs: Each of our Attempts to do GOOD DESIGN…Met with Resistance

YEAH!

Oh No!9 May 2016


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Plot TwistsA Story about UX Design…

… Became a story about Process Redesign

With Warning Signs, like:Design Dead End Ahead

Pointing out a Need for Changeo Creating a new “design culture”

9 May 2016

DESIGN

DEAD END


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We were asked to Redesign…

Change this:Account Creation

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But NOT this… Needed Fixing:• Too many

steps• Outdated UI• Too wordy• Broken

workflow• Manual data

entry• …

DON’T Change this:

On Boarding Flow

9 May 2016

We began to notice the signs…


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Sign: Screens vs Flows

Redesign THESE SCREENS – and NO others..!

…Asked to design (or redesign) discrete features or single screens, rather than full task flows.

DESIGN

DEAD END

9 May 2016


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…Products that look like Frankenstein’s monster:“random parts, stuck together”

Sign: Frankenstein’s monster

DESIGN

DEAD END

A sign that redesigning

SCREENS but NOT FLOWS has

become a HABIT.

9 May 2016


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Sign: Because John said so……When product design decisions are made solely by an influential person in the company -- and these decisions have no rationale, other than that person’s position.

DESIGN

DEAD END

CFO -- CEO -- CIO

I like Vista’s black on black. -- Do that.

9 May 2016


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Sign: Repeated Flows…When a single activity is repeated multiple times, each using a different look-and-feel.

DESIGN

DEAD END

These steps do nearly the same thing!

9 May 2016

Login Log In: ______

Sign In


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Sign: No Overview…When a large complex product is built in bits and pieces, with no person or team monitoring the overall impact.

DESIGN

DEAD END

Known by: Sally

Known by: Jerry

Known by: none

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Sign: Mystery Rationale…When the story and rationale for a product design cannot be discovered or conflicting stories and rationales are provided.

DESIGN

DEAD END

No one knows why this steps is here.

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Looking for the RIGHT path…We floated ideas for UI improvements -- to many people…as much to gauge reactions as to propose actual redesigns.

Result: Negative responses whenever our ideas addressed:

• Overall flow • More than a few screens 9 May 2016


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Sign: Unreasonable Negative Responses…When all important (or minor) design changes are rejected.

Courtesy: The Monsters’ Monster, Patrick McDonnell

DESIGN

DEAD END

9 May 2016

Our “Big Bad Wolf” – We have a Process problem

No GOOD DESIGN can occur in this environment.

The Wolf we battled…Changing a “Siloed” environment into …a cooperative, innovative one.Using only our Wit (Design Skills)(full details about this battle and success – in the Paper)


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YOU can be the HERO of the Story!Address the Process problem using your design skills…

… So, you can get back to Design

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Battle Overview

Do Research -- understand the root-causes (fix the right problems)Create a Plan -- get feedback (learn and revise)Get a Champion -- If your culture is top-down, find an Exec to “lead” the redesignCreate a Shared Vision – get everyone working towards a common goalDo the work – this won’t happen overnight

9 May 2016


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The BattleOur Goal: unified and holistic redesign effort for one flow - Onboardingo Uncover and pull together -- all teams / people working on PARTS

of onboardingo Teach New Ways -- design thinking and design skills o Pick holistic sub-projects -- within the Onboarding flowo Create cross-functional work groups – no more “silos”o Keep work groups aligned – central Steering Committee (us, in

disguise)o Get Permission – point to “Exec Champion” as “approval”

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Successes…• Moved focus from SCREEN to FLOW• Consensus on “real” problems• Cohesive, innovative, effective Redesign Projects• Cross-functional teams – working together• Support, excitement, and commitment – to start the actual

redesign• Communication across formerly “siloed” teams

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Did this work? Hmmm….… In more than 6 months – hadn’t quite gotten to:

redesigning onboarding…

BUT – we now had the right cultural context for redesign to succeed

9 May 2016

TipsIt’s easy to miss a Process problemTry these tips…

(only listing two, rest are in the Paper)


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Tip: Get off the Computer…to see the WHOLE product or large task flows, you need a LARGE visual area - like a wall

DESIGN

DEAD END

9 May 2016


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Tip: Talk to many people…many people are involved in getting products “out the door” – try talking to people in many functional areas (PM, Ops, QA, business, sales…)

DESIGN

DEAD END

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Takeaways:UX is …More than the sum of UI screens

Product lifecycle Complete Flows

…Created by more people than just the UI designers Business decisions on features to create, maintain, and evolve“Ownership” of products and decisionsTeam interactions and communications -- across many company functionsDevelopment resources (and how they are used)

9 May 2016


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See alsoConference & Paper Details

ACM SIGCHI Conference, 2016https://chi2016.acm.org/wp/CHI 2016 Extended Abstracts – Citation and link to Full Paperhttp://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2851609&CFID=784556388&CFTOKEN=51669932Full Paper (PDF) – direct linkhttp://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2860000/2851609/ea840-ede.pdf?ip=108.202.177.246&id=2851609&acc=OPEN&key=4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E6D218144511F3437&CFID=784556388&CFTOKEN=51669932&__acm__=1463070644_f1c8b740963ee294901d69bc4d30f505Slidesharehttp://www.slideshare.net/meghanede/chi-2016-redesigning-company-processes-to-get-to-better-ux-design

Authors:Meghan Ede: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanedeGarett Dworman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dworman

9 May 2016

https://chi2016.acm.org/wp/

https://chi2016.acm.org/wp/

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2851609&CFID=784556388&CFTOKEN=51669932

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2851609&CFID=784556388&CFTOKEN=51669932

http://delivery.acm.org/10.1145/2860000/2851609/ea840-ede.pdf?ip=108.202.177.246&id=2851609&acc=OPEN&key=4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E4D4702B0C3E38B35%2E6D218144511F3437&CFID=784556388&CFTOKEN=51669932&__acm__=1463070644_f1c8b740963ee294901d69bc4d30f505





http://www.slideshare.net/meghanede/chi-2016-redesigning-company-processes-to-get-to-better-ux-design



https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanede

https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanede

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dworman