Latest update September 2013. Presented at UX Akron Meetup, September 2013. First presented at the Big (D)esign 2010 conference, May 2010.

1. Changing
Minds,
Removing
Barriers
UX
Prac77oner
As
Strategist
&
Change
Agent
Paul
Sherman
ShermanUX

2. let’s cut to the chase!
Usability
testing
≠
a
good
user
experience!
Strategic
user
experience
planning
can
yield
a
unified
and
consistent
user
experience.
And
strategic
design
leads
to
great
user
experiences.
2

3. why isn’t testing enough?!
Usability
testing
is
almost
always
tactical
and
short-­‐
term
focused.
Even
when
done
across
releases…the
results
are
almost
always
used
tactically.
3

4. so?!
But
the
method
is
not
well
suited
for:
§ Crafting
a
unified
user
experience
§ Planning
for
tomorrow’s
user
experience
§ Creating
delight,
loyalty,
stickiness
4
Usability
testing
can
find
problems
with
your
site
or
product.

5. Delight
Loyalty
Stickiness
How
do
you
attain
these?
5

6. By
designing
the
user
experience:
For
now.
For
next
year.
And
the
years
after
that.
6

7. And
designing
the
entire
experience…
Not
just
your
product’s
user
interface.
Or
the
email
campaign’s
HTML
formatting.
Or
the
user
assistance
content.
7

8. 8
STRATEGY VS. TACTICS!

9. yadda yadda definition…!
“[Strategy
is]
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.”
9
<Lazy>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy</>

10. here’s a good example: !
10

11. here’s a good example:!
11
Strategic
plan:
Go
from
airport
to
hotel
Tactics:
Make
some
turns

12. “Find
and
fix”
usability
is
like
making
a
turn.
It’s
a
good
thing
to
do…
If
you
know
where
you’re
going.
Do
you?
12

13. 13
A STORY ABOUT ALIGNMENT!

14. it’s about the organization!
At
many
companies,
various
groups
and
departments
are
not
aligned
around
creating
the
best
user
experience
possible.
In
fact,
some
groups
are
incented
to
create
a
bad
user
experience.
How
can
that
be?
Easy…unintended
consequences
of
incentive
structures.
14

15. unintended consequences!
Example:
Imagine
an
[ahem]
“fictional”
company
where
a
marketing
department
is
responsible
for
shipping
and
fulfillment.
Imagine
they
charged
$15.95
USD
to
ship
a
box
of
software.
And
this
made
the
marketing
department
600K
yearly.
How
many
people
do
you
think
abandoned
their
shopping
carts
when
they
saw
that
price?
15

16. unintended consequences!
…and
how
many
customers
do
you
think
were
lost
because
of
this
one
short-­‐sighted
decision?
16

17. my point is…!
Usability
testing
and
user-­‐centered
design
can
only
do
so
much.
To
create
great
user
experiences,
you
have
to
take
a
holistic
-­‐
and
strategic
–
approach.
17

18. i’m not the only one!
I’m
not
the
only
person
saying
this:
Steve
Baty
–
“Being
An
Experience-­‐Led
Organization”
http://bit.ly/40xrLP
Jared
Spool
–
UPA
2009
keynote
…and
many
others.
18

19. 19
USABILITY AND !
USER EXPERIENCE!

20. some definitions…!
What
is
usability?
A
person
can
accomplish
what
they’re
trying
to
do
with
your
product
or
service.
What
is
user
experience?
A
person’s
positive
and
negative
attitudes
that
results
from
interacting
with
a
product
or
service.
20

21. user experience honeycomb!
21
From
Peter
Morville:
http://semanticstudios.com/publications/semantics/000029.php

22. Usability
is
a
part
of
it…
But
only
a
part.
22

23. how do you quantify ux?!
Measure
it
There
are
many
ways
to
do
this…but
we
don’t
do
a
good
enough
job
today.
My
advice…
Use
multiple
methods,
multiple
measures,
and
look
at
multiple
customer
touchpoints...
not
just
the
product
experience.
23

24. what can you do NOW?!
The
first
step
is
to
become
aware
of
the
problems!
How?
Walk
through
the
entire
customer
experience.
24

25. walk the customer corridor!
From
sign-­‐up
to
initial
use…free
to
pay
conversion…calling
and
emailing
help,
tech
support,
and
billing…even
closing
the
account.
25

26. the “customer corridor”!
If
you
don’t
know
about
this
concept,
talk
to
your
product
managers.
They
do.
26
A
typical
product
manager
drawing…

27. and while you’re at it…!
27
Check
your
customer
service
line
UX!
Most
are
horrible!
(Because
the
IT
group
typically
designs
the
prompts
and
menus.)

28. vui is a specialization!
Just
because
you
do
GUI
doesn’t
mean
you
can
do
VUI.
VUI
expert
Susan
Hura:
“Is
Your
Goal
To
Get
Rid
Of
Money?”
http://bit.ly/2yehF
“Are
You
Working
Hard
To
Suck
Less?”
http://bit.ly/18vVP1
28

29. full disclosure…!
She’s
my
wife.
She’s
also
the
best
VUI
usability
expert
around.
29

30. How
do
you
“do”
strategic
user
experience?
It
sometimes
means
big
changes.
It
often
drives
process
and
organizational
structure
changes.
30

31. it takes big changes!
Remember,
in
many
organizations,
departments
and
teams
are
incented
to
create
bad
user
experiences.
Changing
organization
structures
and
incentives
to
refocus
on
the
customer
is
hard
work.
31

32. some do it instinctively!
Offline:
Nordstrom’s.
Virgin
Air.
Online:
Zappos.
Amazon.
Land’s
End.
And
more.
32

33. The
sad
truth:
most
organizations
don’t
align
on
the
user
experience.
33

34. whose fault is it?!
Everybody’s.
And
nobody’s.
That’s
the
problem.
34

35. How
do
you
take
a
strategic
approach
to
creating
a
great
user
experience?
Four
very
hard
easy
steps…
35

36. a strategic approach to ux!
1.
Alignment
Find
the
disincentives
to
delivering
a
good
user
experience,
then
surface
them
to
your
leadership.
Eliminate
them.
Advocate
for
tweaking
the
business
model
if
you
need
to.
Don’t
take
“bad
profits.”
Bad
profits
are
unsustainable
profits.
36

37. strategic user experience!
2.
Values
Be
open
to
learning
about
and
improving
the
user
experience.
Those
aphorisms
about
the
customer
always
being
right?
They’re
all
true.
Remember
the
guy
who
complained
about
the
food
on
Virgin
Air?
He’s
now
a
taster.
Stunt?
Yes.
But
effective
and
revealing!
37

38. strategic user experience!
3.
Assess
the
user
experience
holistically
Traverse
the
customer
corridor.
Assess
the
total
experience
–
not
just
the
UI.
Find
the
sticky
points,
the
little
trapdoors.
Remember,
one
bad
touchpoint
affects
the
whole
brand.
38

39. strategic user experience!
4.
Leverage
user
experience
design
Don’t
just
fix
the
little
user
experience
trapdoors
and
holes.
Assess
and
redesign
the
customer
touchpoints…
all
of
them.
Even
the
IVR.
And…document
what
you
do
and
how.
(More
on
this
in
a
few
minutes.)
39

40. Yeah,
but…
how
do
I
get
my
organization
to
do
this?
“Initiative”
40

41. Give
yourself
a
new
job:
“Change
agent”
Easy
to
say…
harder
to
put
into
practice.
“Initiative”
41
UX

42. What is a change agent?!
A
person
who
leads
a
business
initiative
by:
§ Defining
and
researching
the
problem
§ Planning
the
intervention
§ Building
business
support
for
the
intervention
§ Enlisting
others
to
help
drive
change
Six
Sigma
-­‐
http://Isixsigma.com
UXmatters
-­‐
The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent
42

43. “Change
agents
must
have
the
conviction
to
state
the
facts
based
on
data,
even
if
the
consequences
are
associated
with
unpleasantness.”
43
http://www.isixsigma.com/dictionary/change-­‐agent/

44. Successful
strategic
user
experience
is
not
just
about
delivering
a
design
or
testing
the
user
interface.
44

45. It’s
about
aligning
the
organization
to
measure
and
improve
the
user
experience…
Using
the
tools
and
techniques
of
user
research,
interaction
design,
and
usability
assessment.
45

46. If
you’re
doing
your
job
right,
you’re
changing
your
organization.
“Initiative”
46

47. Here’s
something
I
created
to
help
me
build
a
strong
UX
presence
at
my
former
organization.
47

48. 48
THE STORY OF !
THE UX KIT!

49. done!!
I
could
do
the
kit
spiel
in
less
than
5
minutes.
It’s
actually
quite
boring
taken
alone.
49
What’s
interesting
is
why
I
needed
one,
why
you
probably
need
one…
and
what
we
should
be
doing
about
this.

50. here’s the story’s main point!
User
experience
practice
needs
to
be
embedded
more
securely
into
product
development
lifecycle
activities.
50

51. a proposition: !
Despite
what
we
may
wish
or
think,
UX
is
still
poorly
integrated
into
product
ideation,
design,
and
development
activities.
51

52. gaps!
Like
Jared
Spool
said
in
his
UPA
2009
keynote,
there
are
gaps
in
our
field.
I
believe
that
one
of
them
is
the
lack
of
organizational
structure
and
process
guidelines.
52

53. why?!
Why
isn’t
there
good
stuff
out
there
on
how
to
integrate
UX
teams
into
organizations?
There
are
some
lists.
A
few
books.
But
there
doesn’t
seem
to
be
many
lively,
ongoing
discussions
about
UX
and
organizational
structures,
cultures,
etc.
53

54. why?!
But
isn’t
setting
up
a
team
a
precondition
to
actually
DOING
effective
user
experience
work?
54

55. my hypotheses!
1. It’s
a
trivial
problem…
I’m
stupid
and
everyone
gets
this
stuff
but
me.
Note:
this
is
a
definite
possibility.
55

56. my hypotheses!
2. It’s
a
particularly
thorny
problem
or
a
problem
that
our
field
is
not
equipped
to
work
on.
But
we
have
so
many
research
psychologists
in
our
ranks!
56

57. my hypotheses!
3. It’s
just
not
as
interesting
or
sexy
as
other
problems
in
our
field.
57

58. 1. It’s
a
trivial
problem…
I’m
stupid
and
everyone
gets
this
stuff
but
me.
2. It’s
a
particularly
thorny
problem
or
a
problem
that
our
field
is
not
equipped
to
work
on.
3. It’s
just
not
as
interesting
or
sexy
as
other
problems
in
our
field.
I
choose
#3
58

59. yup, that’s me…!
…always
working
on
the
unsexy
problems.
59

60. 60
THE PROBLEM!

61. ux ino, or “cargo cult ux”!
I’ve
worked
in
several
organizations
that
claimed
to
do
UX.
Some
of
them
actually
did…
61

62. ux ino, or “cargo cult ux”!
Some
orgs
*thought*
they
were
doing
UX.
But
what
they
were
really
doing
could
be
called
“UX
in
name
only.”
62

63. cargo cult user experience!
“A
cargo
cult
is
a
type
of
religious
practice
that
may
appear
in
tribal
societies
in
the
wake
of
interaction
with
technologically
advanced,
non-­‐native
cultures.”
“The
cults
are
focused
on
obtaining
the
material
wealth
of
the
advanced
culture
through
magical
thinking,
religious
rituals
and
practices…”
63
<Lazy>Yes
I
took
this
from
Wikipedia
too.</>

64. cargo cult ux!
“Cargo
cults
conduct
rituals
imitating
the
behavior
they
have
observed
among
the
holders
of
the
desired
wealth
in
order
to
receive
the
wealth
themselves.”
64

65. pics or it didn’t happen!
65

66. pics or it didn’t happen!
66

67. can i hammer this point
even more?!
“The
term
‘cargo
cult’
is
invoked
as
an
English
language
idiom
meaning
to
imitate
the
superficial
exterior
of
a
process
or
system
without
having
any
understanding
of
the
underlying
substance.”
67

68. (not so) clever
impersonation!
Some
orgs
do
something
resembling
UX…
but
it’s
not
really
UX.
68

69. I
think
some
of
you
have
seen
this
too.
Yes?
69

70. now you know my problem !
At
a
former
company
I
was
asked
to
help
put
together
UX
teams
in
other
product
groups.
It
took
me
one
failure
to
realize
that
I
needed
to
give
them
more
than
this:
“You
need
a
user
researcher
and
an
interaction
designer
and
a
usability
analyst.
And,
uh,
a
manager
too.”
70

71. my solution!
I
did
what
PhD’s
do
best:
I
wrote
a
paper.
And
then
I
remembered
who
my
audience
was,
and
cut
it
by
2/3.
71

72. who was it for?!
Senior
managers
and
directors
who
needed
advice
and
consultation
on
how
to
set
up
a
UX
team.
72
Most
had
no
idea
that
they
would
have
to
change
processes
and
procedures
to
benefit
from
UX.

73. what did I cover?!
73

74. damn! that’s a lot.!
I
know!
74

75. what i said about process!
75

76. roles and responsibilities !
Product
Management
Business &
Requirements
Analysts
User
Experience
Design
Development Quality
Assurance
PMO
Ideation
Role: Approver/Driver
Responsibility:
Target audience
definition, business
model research, ID of
value areas. Create
customer use cases.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Review PM’s
assumptions and
high-level
requirements.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Investigate target
market needs at the
level of individual
users (workflow,
success criteria).
Role: Informed Role: Informed Role: Informed
Design
Role: Approver
Responsibility:
Contribute to design
process. Validate
adherence to
customer business
model and value.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Create and maintain
business and
functional
requirements and
specifications.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Design to meet
market & user
requirements, within
constraints.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Manage feasibility
and other
technical
considerations.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Create test cases
and test plan from
scenarios,
requirements, use
cases.
Role: Driver
Responsibility:
Plan and manage
plan for overall
program of work.
Development
Role: Approver Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Ensure that
development meets
requirements, elicit
unknown/latent
requirements.
Role: Informed Role: Driver
Responsibility:
Implement the
solution, meeting
requirements
within constraints.
Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Conduct iteration
testing as
modules are
completed.
Role: Informed
Validation
Role: Approver/
Contributor
Responsibility:
Ensure that solution
meets use case
requirements and
delivers customer
value.
Role: Informed Role: Driver
Responsibility:
Conduct customer
validation research to
ensure solution
viability.
Role: Informed Role: Driver
Responsibility:
Assure quality –
minimal defects,
adherence to
requirements.
Role: Informed
Release
Role: Approver
Responsibility:
Approval authority for
release signoff.
Role: Informed Role: Contributor
Responsibility:
Approve
enhancement from
customer view.
Role: Informed Role: Driver
Responsibility:
Release
management.
Role: Informed
Discipline
Phase

77. ux team services!Service Phase Description Provides:
Contextual inquiry Ideation
Investigation of users’ goals, objectives, tasks, and limitations/
constraints; at the users’ place of business (or other
appropriate use context).
Rich descriptions of users’ goals,
motivations, environment.
Task analysis Ideation Step-by-step, granular identification of users’ work tasks. Details of the users’ processes.
User profiling Ideation
Detailed reports of real users; what they do, how they do it,
etc.
A “library” of user profiles that can be
used to guide design.
Persona creation Ideation
An abstracted description of users, based on the attributes of
real users.
A “design target” specifying who the
design is aimed at.
Role/task matrix
Task/object matrix
Task frequency &
criticality ratings
Design
Additional details about who does what in a particular
environment, as well as the importance of particular tasks. “Quasi”-quantitative information
about users, roles, tasks, etc.
Content strategy Design
A plan for content to be provided, content providers,
communications and communication modalities, etc.
An action plan.
Scenarios
Use cases
Process flows
Content
Design
Designs describing the flow or transformation of information
through a system, and how the system and user interact with
each other.
Information about how a design
should work in the “real world” when
implemented.
Early-phase usability
testing
Design
Testing the process flows and scenarios to ensure that they
meet real users’ needs.
Validation of the design and
correction opportunities.
Wireframes & prototypes
Validation &
documentation
A lo- or medium-fidelity representation of the feature or
product.
A working system that can be tested
in late-phase usability testing.
UI / interaction spec
Validation &
documentation
The formal, complete documentation of the feature or
product’s user interface.
A specification to code and inspect
against.
Visual design
Validation &
documentation
Formal documentation of the visual design for the product or
feature.
A specification to code and inspect
against.
Late-phase usability
testing
Validation &
documentation
Usability testing using a working prototype or mockup. Validation of the design and
correction opportunities.
Summative usability
testing
End-of-cycle
validation
Usability testing of a finished version of the product,
measuring key indicators such as average time-on-task, error
rate, etc.
Information to feed into the next
lifecycle’s activities.

78. 78
ux team services (again)!

79. resources in the kit!
I
provided
crazy
amounts
of
templates,
data
sheets,
recruiting
forms,
report
formats,
etc.
None
of
this
is
brand
new;
most
of
the
content
has
been
around
in
various
forms.
79
When
you
steal
from
me,
you’re
stealing
(at
least)
twice!

80. what did i tell the leaders?!
80

81. what did i tell them?!
Hire
at
least
3
direct
contributors
–
user
researcher/usability
analyst,
interaction
designer,
visual
designer.
You
may
need
more
than
one
of
each,
depending
on
the
size
of
your
product.
Hiring
a
manager
or
a
director
is
also
highly
recommended.
81

82. what did i tell them?!
Budget
for
between
$20,000
and
$60,000
USD
in
research
expenses,
depending
on
the
size
of
your
product
team
and
how
many
products
you
support.
But
if
you
can
only
get
10K
or
5K…
so
be
it.
82

83. what did i tell them?!
You
can
spend
as
little
as
$5,000
or
upwards
of
$75,000
USD
on
usability
and
user
research
equipment.
(Update
for
2013:
you
don’t
really
even
need
much
equipment
today!)
In
any
case,
build
the
team
and
budget
the
research
dollars
first.
83

84. and the big one…!
Be
aware
that
you
will
HAVE
to
change
your
ideation,
design
and
development
processes
in
order
to
successfully
implement
user
experience.
If
you
don’t
explicitly
make
room
for
design
research,
ideation
and
iteration
in
your
processes…
you
might
become
a
“cargo
cult”
UX
team.
84

85. the results!
85

86. so how did the kit go over?!
Meh.
At
first,
anyway.
86

87. but after a while…!
87

88. but after a while…!
It
took
more
than
a
year.
But
eventually
the
product
groups
started
making
the
transition
to
more
fully
incorporating
UX
activities.
They
didn’t
always
go
as
far
as
my
original
team.
But
they
went
further
than
they
had
ever
gone
before.
88

89. things i wish i had covered!
§ Agile
and
other
methods
§ How
to
deal
with
force
reductions
89

90. caveats!
My
UX
kit
has
gaps.
It
doesn’t
cover
smaller
orgs
or
startups.
Use
at
your
own
risk!
90

91. was it worth it?!
Absolutely.
91

92. snappy conclusion!
Be
bold,
but
patient.
Organizations
resist
change.
But
they
need
change
to
grow
and
improve.
92
YOU
can
be
the
change
agent,
with
your
mad
UX
skillz.

93. parting thoughts!
You
might
not
get
to
focus
on
strategic
issues
yet.
But
start
thinking
about
it
now.
Start
talking
with
your
colleagues
about
the
long-­‐term
direction
of
the
products
and
services
you
support.
Find
the
problems
with
usability
testing
and
evaluation.
Fix
the
ugly
parts
now,
but
plan
to
overhaul
the
whole
experience.
93

94. resources!
The
UX
Kit:
http://shermanux.com/_files/UX_Kit_v2.pdf
This
deck
(updated
September
2013):
http://www.slideshare.net/PaulSherman
94

95. some other takeaways!
Connecting
Cultures,
Changing
Organizations:
The
User
Experience
Practitioner
As
Change
Agent.
Paul
Sherman.
http://uxmatters.com/MT/archives/000162.php
Customer
Support
on
the
Web:
Don't
Call
Us,
We'll
Call
You.
Dan
Szuc.
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2007/11/customer-­‐support-­‐on-­‐
the-­‐web-­‐dont-­‐call-­‐us-­‐well-­‐call-­‐you.php
The
Bizarre
Myth
of
Customer
Service:
An
Interview
With
David
Jaffe
http://www.infodesign.com.au/uxpod
(Look
for
#42…
see,
it
IS
the
answer
to
everything.
J)
95

96. contact!
Paul
Sherman
http://www.shermanux.com
paul@shermanux.com
Twitter:
@pjsherman
96