Building the User Experience Community at SDL

Building the UX Community at SDL
Best Practices and Recommendations
Philipp Engel, UX Director, SDL

This presentation describes how we built an in-house user
experience community at SDL. We started small, with the
literal UX team of one, but grew and expanded the team and
the discipline over the last 6 years.
In this presentation, we summarize what worked for us and
share experiences and best practices. Not only to inspire other
user experience teams, but any discipline in a large scale
software development organization that intends to grow
from a handful of disconnected experts into a strong internal
community.

Our Journey
Establish the
Community
Enable
Collaboration
Nurture
Community
Formulate a Mission Statement
Set up a Communication Plan
Define a Default Process
Provide a Digital Space for Collaboration
Provide a Physical Space for Collaboration
Provide a Space to Hang Out Together
Visit Conferences and Meetups
Join the Larger Professional Community
Define Your Values
Create a Culture
Establish a Vision
Identify Members
Define Your Discipline
1
2
3

1) Establish the Community
Establish the
Community
Enable
Collaboration
Nurture
Community
Deﬁne Your Values
Create a Culture
Establish a Vision
Identify Members
1
2
3

External Definitions for Your Discipline…
What we learned:
There is no point in arguing what is the right
definition for your discipline. Create one that
works for you and your organization.

Create Your Own Definition
UX at SDL in 2010

Establish an Maturity & Growth Model
UX at SDL in 2010

Look for “go-to persons”, trusted thought leaders for a specific discipline
Identify a Community Leader
UXI

Find folks that care about your discipline or area of expertise and get them
together. At SDL we started the UX community with a mixed group of
technical writers, UI developers, product managers, and testers.
Identify and Invite Members
UXI
Customer Support Product Manager UX Designer Technical Writer Developer

SDL UX Community 2015
Catalin Timofti
UX Designer, Cluj
Nikki Veldhuis
UX Designer, Amsterdam
Adela Muresan
UX Designer, Cluj
Elske Schrauwen
Peter Boersma
UX Strategist, Amsterdam
Ariel Vargas
Fernando Quiros
UX & Visual Designer, Amsterdam
Philipp Engel
UX Director, Amsterdam
Arne de Booij
Hristo Spasunin
Visual Designer & Developer, Sofia
Riccardo Russomanno
Visual Designer, Amsterdam
Carrie Kim
UX Strategist, Seattle
Joao Lopes
UX Strategist, Mechelen
Scott Darcy
UX Designer, Wakefield
Brian Shurtleff
UX Designer, Cluj/LA
Jaap Jan van den Bosch
Sander Viegers
Today the UX Community at SDL is comprised of UX strategists, user
researchers, interaction designers, and visual UI designers.

What is happening out There?
We researched trends and developments disrupting our industry.
The Social Enterprise
People, not files, are the center of activity
Touch &
Gesture Interaction
as a primary input method
Generation C
Connected all the time
Consumerization &
Software as a Service
Mobile Computing
The rise of mobile PCs over desktop PCs

Develop a Vision and Tell a Story
We demonstrated opportunities those trends and developments hold for
us if mapped to our products and services…

Make Your Vision Concrete
2Username 3
2Username 3
Community
Social Media
Targeting
Online Campaigns
Mailings
38
Workflow Tasks
Welcome
Username
Domainusername
9
Customer Engagement
User Preferences
Audience
Web Sites
Web Content
Content Management
Multimedia Content
245
Engage your community, spread ownership,
take them on a journey!

Cross Silos and Build Bridges in the Organization
SDL Customer Ecosystem
Design Strategy & Touchpoints
SDL Channels
Campaign &
Microsites Social Media
Apps
DISCOVER
SDL.com
(Corporate Web
Site)
Translationzone
(Market specific
Web Site)
Language Cloud
(Offering specific
Web Site)
Online Store
(embedded)
EXPLORE & BUY
Support &
Training
Developer
Space
Documentation
Video
Channel
Blogs, Forums,
Groups, Ideas
ASK & ENGAGE
App Marketplace
SINGLE ID
My SDL ID
Account
Data, Analytics,
Insights
Carbon 2.0 Product UI Guidelines
Lucia Navigation, Screen Templates, Catalina Controls
“Espresso” Web Design Guidelines
Page types for Landing pages, content pages, etc.
“Espresso” Web Design Guidelines
Page types for My SDL & Community
“Espresso” Web Design Guidelines (less strict)
General page layouts, footer
USE
Products
Plans
Trials
Public/Private
Job Marketplace
Collaboration
CXC/LC -‐ ENTERPRISES
USE
Collaboration Public Job
Marketplace
Trials
Plans
Products
LC -‐ TRANSLATORS & LSP’s
Embed your vision in a larger context.

At SDL we create user
experiences that are:
Unified
SDL product suite with a unified
user interface and a harmonized
user experience
Integrated
SDL products are integrated in a
way in that they share common
components, enrich each other
by providing functionality in-
context, have optimized flows
between applications
Personalized
Key elements of the user
interface can be personalized
such as notifications, view
settings, information
dashboards, and navigation
Collaborative
Embedded social features allow
users to connect, stay informed,
communicate, and by these
means collaborate
Relevant
Bring relevant functionality and
information to the user when
she needs them and avoid
information overload
Context aware
Optimized for the context
(online/offline, location, etc.) and
the device the user is using,
including desktop, tablet, and
mobile devices
Touch enabled
SDL products are optimized for
touch input as well as traditional
input methods such as keyboard
and pointing devices. User can
use these methods in
combination, based on personal
preference or individually based
on device capabilities

Communication, sharing, transparency
Team over the individual
Focus on goals and results, not just process
Curious open minds driving change and innovation
Diversity, equality, respect in the community
Ambitions to make the world a better place
What We Value in SDL’s UX Community

We are a democracy, not
a dictatorship
• We have multiple distributed teams
• It is all about teams iterating
together and sharing information
• Design decisions are de-centralized
• Independent product UX teams for
each product/development project
• Centralized UX group for
coordinating design decisions,
vision and strategy development
We agree on the same
values and goals
• We create transparency, we share
our work, and collaborate
We share UX concepts,
designs, research results, and
final deliverables with the
internal UX community
• We collaborate across the
organization, work closely together
with other product teams
• We aim to understand what other
teams did and why they did it like
this
• We provide regular design
workshops, give demos, and seek
for feedback
• We ensure improved and updated
designs are properly documented
and communicated to all teams
allowing them to adopt new
designs across teams there too
We get together and
collaborate
• When new projects start – we get
multiple relevant product UX teams
together in ”design war rooms" and
discuss the design direction (What
design patterns, screens, controls,
etc. are available in other products
that can be reused?)
• We only leave the room with a
common understanding of the
design direction forward
• We test our assumptions and iterate
Some Principles

UX Community Culture
Who we are
17 Designers, 9 Nationalities
Diverse global group of design
researchers, data nerds, user
advocates, micro-‐interaction lovers
& pixel-‐perfect UI designers
Hungry for innovation, creative
processes, strive for intuitive
interactions & beautiful interfaces
Our focus on service experience
make us connect, collaborate,
bridge teams, and connect with
individuals throughout SDL,
always with the customer in mind.
What we do
User Experience Strategy
Research, innovation, experience
architecture, service design, design
process
User Experience Guidelines
Design guideline development,
documentation, distribution
User Experience Design
Interaction design, prototyping,
UI design & guidelines, UI controls
& documentation, and usability
testing with product/project focus.
How we work
5 Timezones, 7 Offices
• UX Community Meeting
(Weekly)
• UX Strategy Meetings (Weekly)
• UI Alignment Meetings (tbd.)
• UX Summit (Yearly)
• “UX Walls” in Team Spaces
• All Designs on UX WIKI
• UX Facebook Hangout
• Dribbble Space

2) Enable Collaboration
Establish the
Community
Enable
Collaboration
Nurture
Community
Deﬁne Your Values
Create a Culture
Establish a Vision
Identify Members
1
2
3

UX Community Call (Weekly)
UX Strategy Meeting (Weekly)
UX Summit (Yearly)
Product Line Meetings (On-demand)
Individual One2Ones (Bi-Weekly)
Design Deep Dives (SDL focus, on-demand)
Design Critique Sessions (Outside world focus, on-demand)
SDL UX Communication Plan

Weekly UX Community Calls
What we learned:
Don’t do standup meetings… better have someone
present their current work every week. Keeps meetings
interesting and encourages sharing and regular feedback.

Yearly UX Summit
What we learned:
Get distributed teams together in a room at least ones a year
(for 2-3 days) is invaluable. Face time and actually getting to
know each other is is the foundation for remote collaboration.

Yearly UX Summit
What we learned:
Circulate offices. Hosting a UX Summit and gathering the entire community
helped increasing visibility for the UX discipline in several offices.

Yearly UX Summit
What we learned:
Get stuff on the walls! Make it physical and tangible. Post-it’s rock!
Invite related disciplines too (we invited other designers from
Marketing which improved collaboration across departments).

Yearly UX Summit
What we learned:
Organize workshops (e.g. around design thinking
and service design) and avoid long presentations.
People get to know each other when working in
groups, and get inspired when solving design
problems together.

Design Critique Sessions (Outside World Focus)
What we learned:
Collect and bring awesome product and service design examples and explain what
you love about them. Fosters discussions about design quality and recent trends.

Design Deep-Dives (SDL Focus)
What we learned:
Print major screens and get them all on the wall. Helps
aligning interaction flows and visual UI design details.

Product Management
(PM’s, PO’s, Business Analysts,
Market Researchers)
Engineering
(Architects, Developers,
Testers, Ops)
User Experience
(User Researchers, Designers,
Design Strategists)
Bring Disciplines Together
Business
(viability)
Technology
(feasibility)
People
(desirability)
Innovation
Happens Here!

Define Overall Process Customer
Ecosystem
Product Line
Product LineProduct Line
Product LineProduct Line
Product LineProduct Line DevOps
Leadership
Experience Design & Guidelines Teams
Focus on Design, Details, Execution, Guidelines,
Documentation, Distribution
SCRUM Teams (Dev/Doc/QA)
Code, Consistency, Efficiency (Reusability) &
Compliancy
Experience Strategy Team
Focus on Research, Innovation, Data, Strategy
Product Management Team
Focus on Market, Direction & Roadmaps

Define Actors, Actions, and Deliverables
Action
Deliverable
Actor
Feedback
Experience
Strategist
ProductM
anager
Input
User&
M
arket
Research
Document
DocumentResearch
D
ata
and
Insights
ProductBrief,Goals,Epics
ProductRoadm
ap
UX
Strategy
UX
Strategy
Review
UX
Strategy
Draft
Reject
Experience
Strategist
ProductM
anager
UX
Strategy
(Personas,Scenarios,Goals,Functional
Specification,Prototypes)
Present
Update
Document
Interaction
&
UID
esign
(perstory)
Review
(perstory)
Interaction
&
UID
esign
Draft
Interaction
&
VisualUID
esign
(ProductspecificScreens,UIControls&
UIControlLibraryControls,Docum
entation)
Start Project
Experience
D
esigner
Experience
Strategist
ProductO
w
ner/UID
eveloper
Reject
Present
Update
Document
Experience
Guidelines
Im
plem
entation
(perstory)
Functional&
Usability
Testing
(perstory)
Im
plem
ented
Story
Approved
Story
Approve Approve
UID
eveloper
Tester
Experience
D
esigner
Reject
Demo
Implement
Update / Fix

Align Actors & Actions
ProductStrategy
/
ProductRoadm
aps
Experience
Strategy
Experience
Design
UIDevelopm
ent/
Testing
§ Product Objectives
(Business Goals, Success Metrics)
§ Functional Specification
(Prioritized list of requirements)
§ User Needs
(Research, Personas, Journeys, Service
Blueprints, etc.)
§ UX Strategy
(Goals, Experience Metrics, IA, Design
Concepts, Prototypes)
§ Interaction Design
(Conceptual Models, Metaphors, Flows)
§ Interface Design
(Wireframes)
§ Visual Design
(Colors, Icons, Typography, Grids, etc.)
§ Design Guidelines
(Screen Templates, UI Controls, Rules, Documentation)
§ UI Controls & Example Code
(Catalina Controls, Reusable Code, Documentation)
PM / UX / Architects UX / PO / DEV
Prior to Project During Project
Experience
Guidelines

Integrate with Existing Processes (e.g. UX & SCRUM)
Input SupportInput Support
Feedback &
Input
Support Support
Product Release
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Dev Story
Product
Backlog
Sprint Backlog
Sprint Planning
Backlog
Grooming
Daily
Scrum
Potentially shippable
product increment
Acceptance / Demo
Retrospective
Sprint
(2-4 weeks)
Development
Testing
Documentation
Sprint
UX: Detailed Design within
Sprints
• Interface Design (Wireframes) /
Information Design
(Wayfinding) / Visual Design
(Colors, Icons, Typography,
Grids, etc.)
• Terminology (Tech writers)
• Design Specification /
Documentation
UX: Usability Testing
• User Testing (Users)
• Usability Inspections (Testers/Other Designers)
• Cognitive Walkthroughs
• Heuristic Evaluations
• Conceptual Evaluation (Expert reviews)
Document
Designs
Document
Designs
Document
Designs
Dev Story
Dev Story
UX:
Design for
Sprint 3
UX:
Design for
Sprint 2
UX: Test /
validate
completed
stories Sprint 2
UX:
Design for
Sprint 4
UX: Test /
validate
completed
stories Sprint 3
UX: Test /
validate
completed
stories Sprint 4
DEV: Stories
not requiring
desing
DEV: Review
Designs
DEV:
Implement
Stories
DEV: Review
Designs
DEV:
Implement
Stories
DEV: Review
Designs
DEV:
Implement
Stories
DEV: Review
Designs
DEV:
Bug Fixing
DEV: System
Architecture
DEV: Proof of
Concepts
Design Documentation
Completed
Stories
Documented
Designs
Completed
Stories
Documented
Designs
Documented
Designs
C
Completed
Stories
C
Release
Stories
C
Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Stabilization
Product/Service - Detailed Designs
Per Story: Interface Design (Wireframes) / Information Design (Wayfinding) / Visual Design (Colors, Icons, Typography, Grids, etc.)
UI Control Library
Product/Service - UX Strategy
UX: Evaluation
• Beta Feedback (Internal/
External)
• Feedback (PS / Partners/
Customer Support)
• User Testing (Customers)
• Collection of Metrics
Post-‐Release
UX: High Level Design
§ UX Strategy (Goals)
§ UX Research (Personas, Scenarios)
§ Interaction Design (Conceptual Models,
Metaphors, Navigation Design)
§ Concept evaluation
Document
Strategy
New/enhanced
UI Control
UX: User Needs
§ Site visits
§ Interviews
§ Questionnaires
§ Observations
§ Background research
§ Competitor studies
Pre-‐Project
Input
Technical
Feasability
Validation
PM: Product Strategy
§ Product Objectives (Business
Goals, Success Metrics)
§ Functional Specification
(Prioritized List of
Requirements)
Sprint 0
reference to
Design Story
Design Story
This sprint
Next sprint

Setup a WIKI for Collaboration
What works for us:
We maintain a separate space in our development WIKI

Encourage discussions
What we learned:
Tagging content, setting up “smart” lists (e.g. for discussions), activity
streams, and notifications allow for high level of transparency and
provide visibility on what everybody is working on.

What we learned:
Provide version information and status for all pages
containing design concepts or UI specs. Provides
clarity to stakeholders (e.g. PM & Dev) if they looking
at a draft or final version of a page.

Experiment and pick what works for you…

Provide Physical Space for Collaboration

We came up with a concept
Creative Spaces Town Hall
Meetings
Social Spaces

So we got a “Creative Space”
Colors
Stimulate creative processes
Whiteboard
covering the whole wall
Flexible movable furniture
for various use cases (design workshops, hackathons,
townhall meetings, product demos, etc.)
More: Google Ventures: Your Design Team Needs A War Room. Here's How To Set One Up

Creative Spaces
Write with whiteboard
markers on tables
Helps every discussion

Design War Rooms / Walls
Design Books
Inspiration
Personas
Design Printouts

If Possible, Get the Community to Sit Together
Decorate for soccer
world cups!
Get stuff on
the walls!

3) Nurture Community
Establish the
Community
Enable
Collaboration
Nurture
Community
Deﬁne Your Values
Create a Culture
Establish a Vision
Identify Members
1
2
3

SDL UX Community Hangout
What works for us:
(Almost) everybody is on Facebook and
knows how it works. So we set up a private
Facebook group for SDL’s UX community
where we exchange articles, photos, talk
about events, trends, share cat videos…
everything except of actual discussions
about work. Works great to create a sense
of “closeness” with teams that are
distributed over offices and time zone.

SDL UX Community Hangout
What works for us:
When anybody goes to a conference or
meetup we share some pictures and what
was discussed – keeps everybody in the
loop and triggers our own discussions.

Participate in the Larger
Professional Community

Gain Visibility in Existing Communities
We are on Dribble!
Visit our Dribbble Space and follow us:
www.dribbble.com/sdl

Set up a Community Site, Blog, or Forum
Shortly we will be launching a
UX group in the public SDL
Community. Join us there and
participate in discussions
around UX and design at SDL
in general!

If You Do Cool Stuff Then Talk About It
Speak on
Conferences

Visit Conferences, Workshops, and Meetups

Host a Meetup, Un-conference, etc.

Summary
Establish the
Community
Enable
Collaboration
Nurture
Community
Deﬁne Your Values
Create a Culture
Establish a Vision
Identify Members
1
2
3

Thank You!
Questions, Feedback? Mail or Follow me!

Building the User Experience Community at SDL

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