1.
Building Buy-In:
Internally Positioning UX
for Executive Impact
Brilliant Experience
John Whalen, PhD
Tracy L Hayes

2.
Introductions

3.
Agenda:
1. Using your UX powers in your organization.
2. How to mature your UX practice.

4.
“Anyone who has read the HBR
gets the importance of UX,
but that may not translate
into what it takes to do that.”

5.
Let’s get our arms around the problem
by studying our empathy patterns for our
colleagues.

6.
C-Suite Executive
When we interact with…

7.
(Pompous Assholius)
C-Suite Executive
Some might think…

8.
C-Suite Executive
but keep in mind…
Motivations What Resonates
- Pay Package
- Profitability
- Board
- Business performance
- Brevity
- Data driven recommendations
Weight of company on shoulders

9.
VP Marketing
When we interact with…

10.
(Delusionus of Grandeuronomus)
VP Marketing
Some might think…

11.
Shaping company voice
VP Marketing
but keep in mind…
Motivations What Resonates
- Brand
- Customers
- Sales
- Brand extension
- Marketing data
- Brand loyalty

12.
Product Owner
When we interact with…

13.
(Randomnous Decisionasaurus)
Product Owner
Some might think…

14.
(Randomnous Decisionasaurus)
Product Owner
But don’t forget…
Motivations What Resonates
- Launch date
- P & L
- Customers
- An earned partnership
- Data driven decisions
- Achieving goals

15.
Developer
When we interact with…

16.
(condescending-smurkasaurus)
Developer
Some might think…

17.
Spends hours making it all work.
Developer
But don’t forget…
Motivations What Resonates
- Quality
- Performance
- Risk
- Understanding their tech stack
- Willingness to compromise
- Pizza

18.
Moral of the story:
We must use our UX powers
to solve for their needs.

19.
If we want to move from…
‣ Usability tester to insight generator
‣ Informing product to informing product roadmaps
‣ Utility player to strategic advisor

20.
We need to evolve by building buy in:
1. Demonstrate Value
2. Empathize and Evangelize
3. Get Embedded in the System
4. Become Strategic Partner

21.
Step 1. Demonstrate Value

22.
Step 1. Demonstrate Value
a. Say YES
b. Create Usability Seal team
c. Have light touch, big impact
d. Share up
Bonus points: Pick your battles

23.
“We already knew it,
but you Humanized it”

24.
Step 2. Empathize and Evangelize

25.
Step 2. Empathize and Evangelize
a. Understand your Org’s Psychology
b. Teach
c. Translate findings

26.
Step 3. Get Embedded in the System

27.
Step 3. Get Embedded
a. Build leader-leader relationships
b. Embed UXers into product teams
c. Provide design principles
d. Build dataset

28.
“I want my UX team to be
independent and able to tell
anyone the cold hard facts.”

29.
Step 4. Become Strategic Partner

30.
Step 4. Become Strategic Partner
a. Immerse Executives
b. Make the Shift to Strategic Partner
c. Offer Insights to Sales and Marketing
d. Reduce Operational Inefficiencies

31.
When UXers say:
Delight
Empathy
Disrupt
Synthesis
Prototype
Opportunity Mapping
Usability Testing
Heuristic review
Strategy
Iterative Design
Information Architecture
Feedback
Design-Thinking
Experience Journey
bit.ly/ux-impact #uxpa2016@johnwhalen

32.
Executives hear:
Delight
Empathy
Disrupt
Synthesis
Experience Journey
Prototype
Design-Thinking
Opportunity Mapping
Usability Testing
Heuristic review
Strategy
Iterative Design
Information Architecture
Feedback
$$$
COST OVERUN
BONUS RECINDED
MISSED METRICS
3 MORE MONTHS

33.
Up your game
‣ Design as competitive advantage
‣ Numbers moved, efficiencies gained
‣ Opportunity: Research leads to
Insights, Product Innovation

34.
In Summary

35.
Solve for their needs too!

36.
Steps to Building Executive Buy-In:
Step 1. Demonstrate Value
a. Create Usability Seal team
b. Light touch, big impact
c. Share up
Step 2. Empathize and Evangelize
a. Understand your Org’s Psychology
b. Teach
c. Translate findings
Step 3. Get Embedded in the System
a. Build leader-leader relationships
b. Embed UXers into product teams
c. Provide Design Principles
d. Build Dataset
Step 4. Become Strategic Partner
a. Immerse Executives
b. Make the Shift to Strategic Partner
c. Offer Insights to Sales and Marketing
d. Reduce Operational Inefficiencies

37.
Tracy L Hayes
tracy.hayes@gfk.com
linkedin.com/in/tracylhayes
Brilliant Experience
Thank you!
John Whalen
jw@brilliantexperience.com
linkedin.com/in/johnwhalen