UX STRAT Europe 2017 presentation by Ronnie Battista, Practice Lead, Experience Design, Slalom: “Rock On! XD: Taking Business Advantage to 11”

1. Ronnie Battista
UXSTRAT EUROPE
June 16, 2017
ronnieb@slalom.com
@ronniebattista
ROCK ON!THE STRATEGY OF THINKING LIKE A ROCK STAR

2. ROCKING
OUT TO
HAPPY
HOUR
THANKS
PAUL!

3. BEHIND THE MUSIC – UXSTRAT EDITION
SEX - STRATEGIC EXPERIENCE
DRUGS

4. REDACTED

5. My first Rock
experience.

6. 1984 – Lip Sync
”Back in Black”
AC/DC
Me

7. "TAKING IT TO 11”

8. TAKING BUSINESS STRATEGY TO 11
STRATEGY
RESEARCH
DESIGN

9. THE CASE FOR “ROCK STAR”
THE CASE FOR ”ROCK STAR”

12. QUICK SIDEBAR:
I HATE THE TERM
“UNICORNS” IN UX.
(or anywhere really)

14. UNICORNS MIGHT CRAP
RAINBOWS…
… BUT IT STILL SMELLS
LIKE BULLSHIT

15. MEAT?
YES.
MAGIC?
NO.

16. WE
AREN’T
MAGICAL

17. WIZARD

18. JEDI

19. GURU

20. ZEN
MASTER

21. SHERPA

22. NINJA

23. ROCK STAR

24. A FEW CAVEATS ABOUT “ROCK STAR”…

25. THIS IS NOT A UX ROCK STAR

26. THIS IS NOT A UX ROCK STAR

27. FACT: SOME ROCK STARS ARE ASSHOLES
A FACE JUST
BEGGING TO
BE PUNCHED

28. THE STRATEGY OF
THINKING LIKE A
ROCK STAR

29. UX STRATEGISTROCK STAR
•KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE
•KNOW THEIR BUSINESS
•BREAK DOWN SILOS
•ALIGN STRATEGIC, DIVERSE TEAMS
•PERSEVERE!
•KNOW THE PRODUCT IS THE EXPERIENCE

30. ROCK STARS KNOW THEIR AUDIENCE
Led Zeppelin pioneered Album-Oriented Rock (AOR), which evolved from progressive rock
radio in the mid-1970s, using detailed audience research and formal programming to
create an album rock format with greater commercial appeal.

31. HAIR BANDS WERE GREAT…
People love us!
(mostly our hair).

32. … UNTIL THEY WEREN’T
Underground ‘grunge’ generation listened
and gave voice to an audience that
perceived the musical excess of the
previous one.

33. WHO LIKES
CANDY?
EVERYBODY
WANT SOME?
ROCK STARS KNOW THEIR BUSINESS

35. ”WHEN I WOULD WALK BACKSTAGE, IF I SAW A BROWN M&M IN THAT BOWL ... WELL, LINE-
CHECK THE ENTIRE PRODUCTION. GUARANTEED YOU'RE GOING TO ARRIVE AT A TECHNICAL
ERROR. THEY DIDN'T READ THE CONTRACT. GUARANTEED YOU'D RUN INTO A PROBLEM.
SOMETIMES IT WOULD THREATEN TO JUST DESTROY THE WHOLE SHOW. SOMETHING LIKE,
LITERALLY, LIFE-THREATENING.”

36. BREAK DOWN SILOS WALLS…

39. ALIGNING STRATEGIC TEAMS…

40. • DESIGNER• PRODUCT
MANAGER
• ENGINEER• UX
STRATEGY VOCALS BASS
GUITARDRUMS
WHO IS
IN YOUR
BAND?
WHO
ISN’T?

41. AARON
IRIZZARY

44. SEPTEMBER, 1992
“
“Goofy garage thunder from an international quartet who all met at the University
of York. Live Shows apparently adopt an exclusive theme. Students from Hell, we
presume” – Kerrang

45. “They sound too damn
happy for their own
good! Maybe someone
should attach a cheese
grater to their genitals
to help toughen up
their sound”
– Rob Zombie

46. …AND EMBRACING DIVERSE ONES.

47. THIS IS NOT
ROCK & ROLL.
OR A TEAM.
(AND NO ONE
IS LAUGHING
WITH YOU
CHRIS)

49. THE SCHLOMONES!!!
Ladies and Gentile-men…

50. “People don’t
want to see
women doing
things they don’t
think women
should do.”
- Joan Jett

51. “If you have twenty guys
in the room and you just
bring in one girl, you
change the entire mood
and everyone plays
different.”
- Jack White

52. “There is no
'language
barrier' in
music”
– Yui “Yuimetal” Mizuno,
BabyMetal

53. “Imagination grows by
exercise, and contrary to
common belief, is more
powerful in the mature
than in the young.”
- Paul McCartney

54. “IF YOU THINK
YOU ARE TOO OLD
TO ROCK & ROLL,
THAN YOU ARE”
Lemmy Kilmister
Motorhead
1945 - 2015

55. PERSEVERE!

57. Tony Iommi
Black Sabbath

58. THE PRODUCT IS THE EXPERIENCE

59. WE ARE IN THE PEOPLE
BUSINESS

60. PEOPLE
NEED
PRODUCTS

61. TODAY MUCH OF THE TALK IS ALL ABOUT A FOCUS ON THE
PRODUCT EXPERIENCE
AND
DIGITAL.
S’GOTTA BE
DIGITAL.

62. BUT PRODUCTS DON’T
HAVE EXPERIENCES

63. PROVIDE PEOPLE WITH
GOOD EXPERIENCES
BUT THE DIGITAL
PRODUCTS WE HELP
BRING TO LIFE WITH UX

64. PRODUCT WILL NOT
SAVE THE WORLD
EXPERIENCE
LIVES
HERE

65. YES, TECHNOLOGY IS
CREATING NEW WAYS TO
“EXPERIENCE”

66. EXPERIENCE THE NEW REALITY

67. YES, TECHNOLOGY
ROCKS!
"The blues, it got people—black and
white—to think about life, how
difficult, yet also how good it can be…
This is how they relieved the burden
of what existed day in and day out.”
- Sam Phillips

68. TECHNOLOGY
CHANGES…
…BUT THE SONG
REMAINS THE SAME

69. MUSIC IS AN
INCORPOREAL PRODUCT.
IT CAN ONLY BE
EXPERIENCED.

70. The BieberThe Beatles

71. The Bieber

73. THE BIG PICTURE?

76. IS THIS “GOOD”
UX STRATEGY?

77. - Lis Hubert
http://uxmas.com/2016/the-world-that-ux-is-helping-create/
DO

78. “DO YOU,
LIKE THE WORLD
DEAR UXer,
YOU ARE CURRENTLY HELPING
TO CREATE?”
- Lis Hubert
http://uxmas.com/2016/the-world-that-ux-is-helping-create/

79. ROCK CAN
TEACH US.

80. IT’S BIGGER THAN THE
MUSIC
IN YOUR HEAD.

81. ROCK AND ROLL
IS CONNECTION

82. SHARED
EXPERIENCE
CONNECTS

83. THE “CONNECTION” EXPERIENCE

84. BECAUSE EVERYBODY ROCKS
Ronnie
James
Dio
1942 - 2010

85. http://pitchfork.com/news/gene-simmons-files-patent-for-devil-horns-hand-gesture/
June 12th 2017
Not so
fast
Ronnie

86. REMINDER: SOME ROCK STARS ARE ASSHOLES
ANOTHER FACE
JUST BEGGING TO
BE PUNCHED

87. BECAUSE EVERYBODY ROCKS
A SYMBOL OF
CONNECTION

88. SOMETHING OLD SCHOOL.
NOT TO HEAVY, NOT TOO LIGHT.
SOMETHING THAT CONNECTS
THINGS IN NEW WAYS.

89. LIKE IF THE BEE GEES AND AC/DC JAMMED

92. @ronniebattista #UXSTRAT

93. NOTE: To respect the many UX’ers around the
world who “threw the horns” for this deck,
recognizing they may not want their photos on
the web afterward, I have removed the 25-ish
from this presentation. (and the one of my
parents with the ’doobies’)
Except Oliver, Michael and Alexandros.
Because they rock. See next slide

94. Michael Rawling
Head of UX, Unruly.co
Oliver Potie
Channel Manager, ING
Alexandros Philopoulos
Invision AG
@ronniebattista #UXSTRAT

95. THIS IS WHY
WE ARE HERE.
THIS IS WHAT
UXSTRAT IS

96. WHY WOULD YOU
COME TO THIS
CONFERENCE IF YOU
CAN GET THE
CONTENT FOR FREE?

97. People experiencing the same
event, at the same time and in the
same space, are in that sense
“equals”. This has tremendous
binding power.
A togetherness is formed and this
is called “communitas”.
Quote: https://medium.com/@bobhoranjr/why-we-crave-shared-experiences-5443afba6405#.wtgf4ka88
VICTOR TURNER
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST

102. BECAUSE EVERYBODY ROCKS
UX STRATEGY: UNITES US ALL
Kieron Lattimer
Guitarist, Lucy Fur
(now a Maths teacher in New Zealand) @ronniebattista #UXSTRAT

103. BECAUSE EVERYBODY ROCKSAndy Marsh
Drummer, Lucy Fur
(now IT Manager at NHS Trust, UK) @ronniebattista #UXSTRAT

104. UXSTRAT 2016
ROCK ON
TOM WOOD!

105. READY TO
DOUBLE-DOWN
ON A CHALLENGE?
.

106. TIME FOR SOME
COMMUNITAS
(PLEASE STAND)
RIGHT NOW!

107. UXSTRAT EUROPE!!!
THROW SOME HORNS AND
SHOW THE TWITTERVERSE
HOW HARD WE
ROCK!

108. THINK LIKE A ROCK STARTHE TUNE TO
REMEMBER:
• KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
• KNOW YOUR BUSINESS
• BREAK DOWN SILOS
• ALIGN STRATEGIC, DIVERSE TEAMS
• PERSEVERE!
• KNOW THE PRODUCT IS THE EXPERIENCE
• FIND COMMUNITAS

109. THINK ABOUT YOUR ROLE IN UX
STRATEGY LIKE DAVE GROHL
THINGS ABOUT ROCK & ROLL
To me this award means
a lot because it shows
that the human element
of making music is
what’s most important…,
it’s not about what goes
on in a computer. It’s
about what goes on here
(heart) and it’s about
what goes on in here
(head). “

110. IT’S ALWAYS GREAT
GETTING THE
UXSTRAT BAND
BACK TOGETHER…

111. Peace LOVE
https://img1.etsystatic.com/059/0/9634473/il_570xN.729034461_ipxk.jpg
TIME TO
PARTY
LIKE A
ROCK STAR!
… AND DAY 1 OF THIS
UXSTRAT GIG IS OVER.

112. LOVEPeace