flow of competence in ux design practice
TRANSCRIPT
flow of competence in UX DESIGN PRACTICE
COLIN M. GRAY
AUSTIN L. TOOMBS & SHAD D. GROSS
Iowa State University
Indiana University
Little attention has been paid to the implementation of UX practices within a corporate context, particularly
in what value it can (or should be able to) bring to the organization
“[UX designer] roles are often misunderstood and our adjacent disciplines such as product management and development see their
work as unnecessary or in some cases are threatened by them. [...] We find that the culture of the company we are trying to deploy UX resources into isn’t ready to accept them and we find that our role becomes more that of a change manager than a user experience
manager. We have a vision for what the future processes of the company can look like but we find it hard to communicate that vision…. ”
(Thompson, Anderson, Au, Ratzlaff, & Zada, 2010)
Documenting elements of competence in UX practice
Mapping the flow or movement of competence between UX practitioners and companies
courtesy of Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797009214
Identity-centric view of UX competence (Gray, 2014)
T-shaped design thinkers (Guest,1991; Futt & Rasid, 2011)
Design leadership, or “being in service” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012)
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4325067780
FROM STATIC TO DYNAMICMoving from identifying a static set of
UX competencies to understanding how competencies are built and evolve over time
FROM STATIC TO DYNAMICMoving from identifying a static set of
UX competencies to understanding how competencies are built and evolve over time
Training of UX designers
UX impact on organizations
Organizational reaction to UX adoption
DATA COLLECTION • One hour interview with six practitioners in a range of
design disciplines • Working definition of competence in relation to their practice
and professional experience
ANALYSIS • Emergent thematic analysis in two phases • Creation of a preliminary schema
OUR APPROACH
DATA COLLECTION • One hour interview with three additional UX practitioners • Competence in interaction design, their design process, and
relevant flow patterns to explore their change in competence over time
ANALYSIS • Three case studies, showing a wide range of variation
ESTABLISHING GENERATIVE VALUE
SCHEMAUltimate purpose is
generative insights, not a precise modeling of reality
(Nelson & Stolterman, 2012)
INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
ESPO
USE
D
IN U
SE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
IN U
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ESPO
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a
CASE STUDIES
PETER SENIOR INTERACTION
DESIGNER
5 1/2 years experience working for an educational software company
NASCENT TO DEVELOPED
DESIGN CULTURE
JOEL UX MANAGER
5 1/2 years experience working
for a software company
PUSHING DESIGN CULTURE
FORWARD
MARTIN INTERACTIVE DESIGN
ENGINEER
1 year experience working for a large
technology company
DESIGNING IN AN ENGINEERING
CULTURE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
PERFORM your beliefs as a UX designer
ALTER your beliefs
based on your performance
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
PERFORM your beliefs as a UX designer
ALTER your beliefs
based on your performance
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Taking part in non-company design activities to maintain a “contemporary process”
Reading widely and regularly
Engaging in formal or informal community building within the organization
PETER, MARTIN, & JOEL
the organization
PERFORMS its beliefs
the organization
ALTERS its beliefs
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
the organization
PERFORMS its beliefs
the organization
ALTERS its beliefs
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION
Company hired executives sympathetic to design PETER & JOEL
“There are a lot of career, highly decorated engineers that now have to deal with people telling them how to
design their product, and it’s challenging" MARTIN
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters company practice
company practices
CHANGE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters company practice
company practices
CHANGE
“…we know we need you, but we also need you to teach us what you do and we need you to teach us how to facilitate what you do. It’s a lot of education
to stakeholders about what it is you do because no one here really knows about it.”
MARTIN
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters company practice
company practices
CHANGE
“I could either leave or I could make the best of it. [...] Looking back at it now, it seems kind of ballsy,
‘cause now that I’m at this point in my career, it looks like I had a chip on my shoulder. The key to
doing things like this is always to be tactful.” JOEL
“When you used to talk about UX, I thought you were full of shit. But now I
actually believe what you do is valuable.”
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters individual practice
beliefs enable
PERFORMANCE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters individual practice
beliefs enable
PERFORMANCE
“…the responsibility is on the designer to fit themselves with the business, rather than the business
trying to fit a designer, and find one that fits them”
“[stop] asking those questions and rely on a little bit more faith. Whether it’s right or wrong really isn’t in my
control. I had to let go of that.” MARTIN
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS her beliefs
PERFORMANCE alters individual practice
beliefs enable
PERFORMANCE
Engages in side projects, “work[ing] on things in the way he thinks it is appropriate.”
PETER
INDIVIDUALESPOUSED
INDIVIDUALIN USE
GROUPESPOUSED
GROUP IN USE
INDIVIDUAL
GROUP
IN U
SE
ESPO
USE
D
“When I came out of school, my realistic competence level should have been [lower], and I was way up here [higher] […] and I pissed people off. I’d get into these conversations with people and really push the envelope, saying ‘you know what, we aren’t meeting the needs that the users have’ and all of the things that you know are
true. […] competence comes in when you understand why it’s not possible.”
PETER
persistence of individuals + larger organizational forces
BUILDING A DESIGN CULTURE REQUIRES LEADERSHIP
[AND LUCK]
STRATEGIES FOR UX ADOPTION
EVANGELIZING UX practices to
stakeholders
TEACHING UX practices to colleagues
Educating both colleagues and the stakeholders about the capabilities of UX, and building competencies for delivery and sustainment of UX principles appears to
be key to a culture of UX taking hold.
Exploring the tensions and additional states that may exist over time between espoused and in use frames
Additional attention should be paid to UX adoption strategies, both within practice and in UX education
courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4328394839
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