User experience (UX) is booming: employment, salaries, and the profile of the profession are all on the rise. But are we losing sight of what really matters? Drawing parallels between the current boom in UX, Dutch tulip mania and Ireland's recent property boom, Morgan argues that UX is showing bubble-like properties, and that it needs to refocus on value and delivering meaningful results to business to remain relevant. From the UX Masterclass, Johannesburg, March 2012

1. On tulips & hubris: is UX a bubble?
Morgan McKeagney UX Masterclass
iQ Content Johannesburg, South Africa
www.iqcontent.com 30 March, 2012
@morganmck
morgan@iqcontent.com

2. Build it and they will come.

10. The “expert” opinion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdREFJnNa2M&feature=player_embedded#!

15. Right. But what’s all this got
to do with UX?

16. Source: Lanyard.com, 12th September 2011

18. Explosion in UX jobs & salaries

19. IA?
iXD?
UX?
content strategist?

21. Misinterpreted Jobs Effect:
Design Fethisism*

23. Flow
Cooper
Fjord
iQContent

26. Losing sight of what really matters?

28. “Make my life
simpler & better”

29. “I have $10. Where do I put it?”

30. Six imperatives.....
 UX as a strategic weapon: high
6
performance through insight & design
 Results & problem-solving focus: sales,
conversion, cost deflection
 Move beyond reports: become problem-
solvers, makers & doers
 It takes all sorts: embracing technology &
multidisciplinary teams
 Getting serious about data: insight,
reporting, ROI

31. “The strategic sweet spot of a
company is where it meets
customers’ needs in a
way that rivals can’t,
given the context in which it
competes.”
Differentiation through design,
innovation and execution.
Source: “Can You Say What Your Strategy Is?”,David J. Collis and Michael G. Rukstad,
Harvard Business Review, April 2008

32. 3
1
Execution
Insight
2
Design
Beyond design: a simple framework

33. Problem: 68% of our calls go unanswered
Insight: 50% of calls relate to driving test

34. Strategy:
Facilitate self-service & reduce calls through
exemplary content & design
Impact:
76% reduction in driver-test related queries in
Month 1.

35. Problem: our plans are too complex
Insight: We need to faciliate comparisons

36. Strategy:
Simplify product choices to eliminate confusion;
streamline the purchasing funnel to drive
conversions
Impact:
888% increase in online sales in Month 1.

37. How much money are we making or
saving for our clients?

38. Evolution: from report writers
Evolution / Fidelity of Deliverables
to makers and doers
prototypes &
applications
visual design,
content & html
wireframes
report
Time

39. +
+

40. MyWay: Transforming multichannel
interactions

41. 1+1=11

42. Design is strategy, strategy is UX.

43. Content is UX, content is design,
content is strategy.

44. Visual design is UX, visual design is
strategy.

45. Coding, testing & QA is UX

46. Data & analytics is UX,
data is strategy & design

47. It’s all interconnected...boundaries are
arbitrary & create problems

48. UX is Dead; Long Live UX.

49. Back, briefly, to tulips...

50. ...and the Irish patient.

51. Nothing can have value
without being an object of
utility. If the thing is useless, so
is the labour contained in it.

52. Thanks! Have fun!
Morgan McKeagney
iQ Content
www.iqcontent.com
@morganmck
morgan@iqcontent.com