THE UX LANDSCAPE

Cleveland UXPAWorld Usability Day 2015

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MeI’ve built small and large UX teams.

Co-founded the DFW UXPA chapter in 2002.

UXPA International Board, President 2008-2009.

Teach at Kent State’s UXD program.

Provide user experience research and design consulting.

I’m Going To Do All This In 15 Minutes…

The UX Landscape

The Continuing Challenge

(Part Of) The Solution

The UX Landscape

Everything Is Awesome!

Source: UXPA 2014 International Salary Survey

Median User Experience Practitioner Salary 2005 - 2014

71K Jobs on LinkedIn!

Source: LinkedIn search about 3 hours ago J

So why do we still struggle for relevance?

It’s About Organizational Alignment

At many companies, various groups and departments are not aligned around creating the best user experience possible.

Sound familiar?

Time for a story.

At a former company, product management asked my UX team to conduct field research with small businesses.

We identified an opportunity for an accounting product that served new value dimensions.

That’s awesome! Woo!

Product management began writing up a business case.

We created personas and goals.

And mocked up workflows and views.

We started testing the mockups…

Product management began writing up a business case.

We created personas and goals.

And mocked up workflows and views.

We started testing the mockups…

And senior management promptly went batshit crazy.

What went wrong?

Org Culture

New products “just weren’t done here.”

Growth by acquisition.

Executives had no incentives to create new products.

In fact they had strong disincentives.

What went wrong?

Org Culture

New products “just weren’t done here.”

Growth by acquisition.

Executives had no incentives to create new products.

In fact they had strong disincentives.

Institutional

The organization had very few people who had ever worked on new products.

There was no institutional memory or process.

What went wrong?

Org Culture

New products “just weren’t done here.”

Growth by acquisition.

Executives had no incentives to create new products.

In fact they had strong disincentives.

Institutional

The organization had very few people who had ever worked on new products.

There was no institutional memory or process.

PM & UX Mistakes

We had the data, but we failed to communicate the pressing need effectively.

We failed to build awareness and alignment.

Once we started showing the prototype, it was perceived as insubordinate and threatening.

We got shut down within a couple weeks of the first prototype tests.

But organizational cultures can be changed!

Executives like process. They really like repeatable processes.

So we created a business process for new product innovation.

It included:

Field research (not just surveys) to discover new value dimensions.

Rapid prototyping and design iteration.

Cross-disciplinary involvement: product, design, development.

And a whole lot more.

The Intervention

Rapid contextual innovation – “RCI”

The “3-3-1” process

3 people

3 weeks

1 viable opportunity

We Even Had A Fancy Name…

Prototyping and iteration based on customer feedback became part of:

Initial value discovery

New product development

Business strategyUX

UX

The Outcome

We moved UX up the value creation chain.

We utilized our skills at the front end of the process…

On an equal footing with product management and development.

The Outcome

Our challenge as UX professionals…

We Need To Get Strategic

We need to lead, communicate, and advocate.

So how do you “do” strategic UX?

Strategy

“A long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.”

“Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions by its orientation on affecting future, not immediate conditions.”

<Lazy>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy</>

Strategy vs. Tactics

Strategy vs. Tactics

Strategic plan: Go from airport to hotel

Tactics: AccelerateMake some turnsSlow downStop

Tactics are good techniques… but only if you know where you’re going. Do you?

Guess what? You have a new job: change agent.

UXUX

Change AgentA person who leads a business initiative by:

Defining and researching the problemPlanning the interventionBuilding business support for the interventionEnlisting others to help drive change

Six Sigma - http://Isixsigma.com/dictionary/change-agent/UXmatters - The User Experience Practitioner As Change Agent – http://bit.ly/a2Xwux

UX Practitioner As Change Agent

To be a change agent, you must focus on strategic goals.

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive for short-term wins.

But they should be in the service of a long-term strategy.

UX

Research and design is only half of your job!

The other half is leading your organization to more fully incorporate UX practices.

Develop a UX plan that aligns with your organization’s business goals.

Advocate for the plan, get executive buy-in.

Then rack up some tactical wins…

And use this leverage to embed UX practices and process more deeply into your organization.

Your Mission

Now go be a UX superhero.

Thanks for your time.

More on UX and organizations:

slideshare.net/paulsherman