developing a ux lead program

Developing a UX Lead Program

UPA International ConferenceTutorial | June 4, 2012

Enable a successful user experience from ideation to deployment

awasudesign.com

Before we get started, let’s welcomea new team member

How’s that feel?

We call this the Noise & Confusion problem.

It’s rampant even among senior, experienced people.

Sr. Interaction Designer

In-house (F100)

Seasoned, well respected

“I’ve been here for five years, and I’ve felt that way the whole time.”

What we hear in our trainings…

It makes perfectly good sense to be confused. This is a massive organization with years of history. Groups organize and re-organize. There are different processes. Different legacy systems. Different people. The list goes on and on.

•You’re not alone (or dumb, or lazy, or…)

•Don’t try to understand it all - just the important stuff

• The UX Lead program (with a guide, checklists, materials, and trainings) will help you figure out what’s important

Remember

What we tell them…

WHAT IS A UX LEAD PROGRAM?

What exactly is a UX Lead Program?

A set of tools, expectations and ways of being (for key UX team members to serve as “Leads” on projects).

“It’s what I do anyway; it’s just a process to work with partners and manage your co-workers and your contributors.”

In their own words: What is a UX Lead Program?

“Before, it wasn’t always clear who would do what. Now it’s clear.”

“Having a Lead frees up people’s energy and time to come up with tactical solutions.”

TODAY’S AGENDA

What we’ll cover today

•Definition, pain points, context•Components•Process of making it happen•Nuts & bolts, questions

Our intention is for this to be actionable, not theoretical.

We’ll provide time throughout the day to reflect and help each other figure out how this might work in your real life.

First, let’s see who’s in the room.

INTRODUCTIONS

• Richard hearts complexity• It’s all about successful delivery• PMI, CSDP• Adaptability, Flexibility• Equisoft• Software engineering background• Royal Highland Regiment (Black Watch)

of Canada

Richard CharetteProgram / Project Manager

Delivery Manager

Producer

• Craig hearts complexity• Awasu Design• Bolt | Peters User Experience (now fb)• Time for a new era of consultancies• CHI ‘09 Panel (Figuring out the “One

Thing” that will Move UX into a Position of Strategic Relevance)

• IA Summit ‘09 workshop (Strategies for Enabling UX to Play a More Strategic Role: What Will Work Where You Work?)

• CHI ’11 workshop (Leading Innovation Workshops)

• Sociology & Education Background

Craig PetersCEO

Advocate / Coach / Mentor

Let’s take a step back.

What does UX Leadership mean?

What is UX Leadership relative to the rest of the organization?

CONTEXT

Product development has been around for a while.

While user experience is relatively new.

UX Leadership is about more influence and strategic impact.

People have been talking about this for a few years…

Louis Rosenfeld (2002 blog post)

Evangelizing User Experience Design on Ten Dollars a Day•The ROI Case•Going to the videotape (of frustrated users)•Telling stories•Therapy•Consumer Sensitivity Boot Camp•Logs•Keeping up with the Jonses

http://louisrosenfeld.com/home/bloug_archive/000131.html

CHI 2007 Panel

•Document and evangelize UX work

•Calculate ROI

•Conduct ethnographic research

•Determine best ownership of UX

•Position UX strategically in the organization

CHI 2007 Panel

Five approaches

The Business of Customer Experience:Lessons I Learned at Wells Fargo

Secil WatsonSVP, Channel Strategy

Wells Fargo

CHI 2009 Panel

Four approaches

•Facilitate partnerships

•Invest in a highly visible success

•Deliver results quickly

•Improve the day-to-day effectiveness and execution of UX

personnel

•Facilitate partnerships

•Improve the day-to-day effectiveness and execution of UX

personnel

This is the heart of a UX Lead program

It’s not just the UX’ers who are confused.

Who else is involved in a product development lifecycle?

But wait…

NOISE & CONFUSION 2

Activity

What do non-UX’ers think about?

(What’s top of mind for them as they do their jobs?)

• Pick one of the roles listed on the wall and put yourself in their shoes.

• Write down what’s top of mind for them; their main responsibilities. (60 sec)

• We’ll report out to the whole room.

“Tell me again the difference between a wireframe and a mockup.”

Project Manager (non-UX)

“What am I looking at?”

“Why does it cost this much?”

Sponsor (Line of Business)

Is Noise & Confusion the reason we need a UX Lead Program?

It’s just one part…

Unless we deal with the noise and confusion, nothing else we’re doing will matter.

Again, it’s just one part…

PAIN POINTS

It usually begins with…

Activity

What’s your pain?

(Why did you decide to come to this tutorial?)

• Think about pain points at your organization that could be addressed by a better UX practice.

• Use a marker and write one pain point per strip of paper. (2 min)

• We’ll put them on the wall.

Pain points we’ve observed•Inconsistent engagement•UX Mgrs doing too much •UX contributors overworked & overwhelmed•Project details slipping through the cracks•Product solutions not as good as they could be – not innovative enough

•Business units look to outside agencies for the “creative” or “innovative” projects

Pain points we’ve observed•UX team members not equipped with the language of the business and project management, therefore can’t advocate and lead as effectively

•Other groups have difficulty translating UX into traditional project management process

•Difficulty estimating UX scope on projects

PART TWO

UCD STEPS

Sample User Centered Design Process

I’m still not sure what UX is doing. Something about a task flow… wireframes…?

Unfortunately, our business partners are not experts in user centered design.

Am I supposed to be doing something?

Why are we doing this activity?

Business Partner

The UX Lead program will help.

Let’s see the pieces…

Foundational Pieces of UX Lead Program

•(User Centered Design Toolkit)•UX Brief•One Sheeters•UX Lead Guide / manual / online resource•Training•Continuation Systems

Training ContinuationSystems

UCD Toolkit

Foundational Pieces of UX Lead Program

UX Lead Guide

UX Brief One-Sheeters

Let’s see the UX Brief and One-Sheeters in action…

UX Brief One-Sheeters

UX Brief – Starting a Project Right

We’ve got this project that needs design support. Are you

available?Yes, we’re here to help.

Tell us when and where the meetings are and we’ll be there.

UX’erBusiness Partner

The old way (risky business)

UX LeadBusiness Partner

We’ve got this project that needs design support. Are you

available?How can we respond?

(role play)

The new way (as UX Lead)

What did we just hear?

Why do we care?

Benefits?

Concerns?

Hi there, I’ve read through the resource request form and the attached background PPT. I also talked this over with some folks here in UX. I understand you want to improve the social sharing experience because customers don’t seem to be aware of them - or at least they’re not aware of the benefits.

Project Overview

UX Lead

Here’s how we can help. First, we’ll need to understand the customer more. To do that, we’ll interview you and other key stakeholders, then we’ll dig into the background research, creating a “Social Sharing Landscape” document that captures our understanding.

Next, we’ll also model the experience to get in the customer’s head more. We’ll be working with you and your team throughout.

Approach/High-Level UCD Plan

UX Lead

UX Brief – Starting a Project RightApproach/High-Level UCD Plan (continued)

At this point we’ll have a defined strategy for the design and content decisions. This is where the fun part begins: designing task flows and wireframes; writing content; developing a prototype and seeing how it works with real users. You and your team will be part of each stage. Most people find it an enjoyable process to be a part of.

UX Lead

UX Brief – Starting a Project RightResources

I’ll be serving as the Interaction Designer on the project and also the Lead on the project. We’ll also have a content strategist, a visual designer, a front-end developer for the prototyping stage, and a user researcher who will manage the usability testing portion.

UX Lead

UX Brief – Starting a Project RightAssumptions & Risks

One more thing, it’s really important that this is a collaborative effort and to that point, there are a number of activities and steps that will require your team to work with us. So, they’ll have to make time in their calendars for this to work. Otherwise we risk not having the benefit of all your knowledge, could end up spinning our wheels, not having buy in when it comes time to approve designs, etc.

Also, we noticed that voice recognition was mentioned in one of your background documents. From what we saw in the project request form, we’re assuming that full integration of voice recognition out of scope for this project. Is that correct?

UX Lead

Table of Contents for a Brief

•Project Overview

•Project Approach

•High-Level Plan

•Resources

•Assumptions & Risks

Manager forwards Resource Request UX lead recaps the call over email

UX Lead calls Partner

UX Lead clarifies things with Partner

UX Lead checks with Manager to make sure she’s not missing something

Thanks for the phone call today. Just to recap, we’re changing the copy of [that one page].

I’m going to change that one thing to the way we talked on the phone. I’ll be doing the majority of the work, with John chiming in for a quick review. We should have something for you on Friday.

I understand that you’ve already checked with [key stakeholder] and got their blessing.

Thank you for double-checking if Jane’s team feels that this impacts them. If you hear anything about that, please let me know.

Talk to you soon,Your UX Lead

Preparing the Brief for a very simple project

Request Form

UX Lead Partner

UX Lead UX Manager

Straightforward, right?

UX Lead Partner

Preparing the Brief for larger projectsManager talks to partner

UX Manager Partner

Partner sends PPT Mgr asks for resource request

UX Manager Partner

Manager looks it over

PPTRequest

Manager assigns UX Lead

UX Manager UX Lead

Lead looks it over

PPTRequest

Lead meets Partner

UX Lead Partner

Checks with other UXers

UX Lead Partner

Clarifies with Partner

UX Lead Research

Checks w/ research group Checks in with Partner

UX Lead Partner

~~Brief

Checks previous Briefs

UX ManagerUX Lead

Talks to Mgr Re: exec review Checks in with Partner

UX Lead Partner

Iterates Brief w/ PartnerChecks w/ UX Producer

ProducerUX Lead

UX Brief as email

•Project Overview

•UX Approach

•High-Level Plan

•Resources

•Assumptions & Risks

Thanks for the phone call today. Just to recap, we’re changing the copy of [that one page].

I’m going to change that one thing to the way we talked on the phone. I’ll be doing the majority of the work, with John chiming in for a quick review. We should have something for you on Friday.

I understand that you’ve already checked with [key stakeholder] and got their blessing.

Thank you for double checking if Jane’s team feels that this impacts them. If you hear anything about that, please let me know.

Talk to you soon,Your UX Lead

UX Brief as document

I got the UX Brief, but I’m still not sure what a site map is.

What do I do at this stage?

Why are we doing this activity?

The UX Brief helps, but our business partners are still not experts in UCD.

Business Partner

UX Brief

ONE-SHEETERS

One-Sheeters

Put simply, the One-Sheeters are one-page representations of a UCD activity or tool. They answer the questions who, what, where, when, why, and how.

THE PLANNING STAGE

This stage can go by many names:

• Planning stage • Project set up • Understand the project • Prep

Most UCD Processes involve these stages

The UX Lead program adds a deliberate stage to set the project up for success. This is where the UX Lead works on the UX Brief.

The UX Brief marks the end of this stage

…UX Brief One-

Sheeters

Stage 0 – Project Set Up

UX STRATEGY

What it Means to be a Consultative Partner

Conduct Competitive Analysis

Attend Kickoff

Complete a Content Inventory

Analyze Data

Define Key Scenarios

Design Wireframes and page flows

Whew, we’ve been busy.

UX’ers

The old way (a few weeks into the project)

Overall, I like it a lot. I’ve just got a couple

questions…

Here are the wireframes, page flows, and a start on

the copy. What do you think?

Great, let’s do it.

UX’ers

Business Partner•Wireframes

•Research•Page Flow

The old way (it might go smoothly)

Hmmm. I don’t know... Why don’t we do it like this.

Here are the wireframes, page flows, and a start on the

copy. What do you think?

I used to work here and it was good.

UX’ers Business Partner

The old way (it might not go so well)

A common problem is that the UX team went through the Discovery Phase without getting alignment from the project team. This is where the UX Strategy comes into play.

But they still weren’t on the same page when the designs were presented.

So, what went wrong?

The business partners received a Brief and One Sheeters at the end of the planning stage.

The UX Brief, One Sheeters, and UX Strategy help, but let’s get back to the UX Leads. How do they learn what to do?

The answer is two-fold. A guide and trainings.

UX GUIDE

The guide covers:•Company history•How the organization is structured•Groups throughout the organization•Roles throughout the organization•Processes and how UX processes fit in•Types of projects•Deep dive into the UX team structure and roles•What the UX Lead role is•Techniques for effective consulting•UX stages of engagements•Description of UCD activities & Lead considerations•Checklists •Anything else that’s useful to your UX Leads

UX Lead Guide

CHECKLISTS

Everyone loves checklists

You will have to decide which tasks and processes make sense to structure with a checklist. What follows are some examples.

Example checklists:•Receive Assignment•Create Relationships•Question, Listen, & Learn•Iterate UX Brief w/ UX Producer &

Business Partner

UX Lead Guide

TRAINING

• Who to train

• When to train

• Trainings as co-creation of the program (participation

versus presentation)

• Re-training

• Training the trainers

Considerations for Training

PART THREE

STAGES FOR DEVELOPING A UX LEAD PROGRAM

Remember, every situation is different.

Some of these stages will apply to you…

and some of them won’t. The key is to focus on the goal and spirit of the stages.

1. Discover (assess & understand the problem)

2. Plan (refine problem statement and scope)

3. Create (processes, materials, programs)

4. Iterate (pilot, field test, improve)

5. Launch (roll out solutions, assign ownership)

6. Improve (assess, adjust, and iterate)

Stages to Developing a UX Lead Program

Main goal • Understand what needs to be done. What’s working? Not

working? What’s wanted?

Additional goals• Generate buy-in and ownership. • Set the stage for piloting and field testing.

Discovery Stage

•Identify key people to involve•Gather and analyze data•Conduct interviews

Discovery Stage

A big part of the discovery phase involves interviews.

As many people as possible. One-on-one and group.

Let them know their input shapes the solution.

Include people inside and outside the UX group.

(See the appendix for interview reminders)

Discovery Stage

Within the UX team

• Individual Contributors and

Managers

•UX/UI/IA Designers

•Visual Designers

•Front-end Developers

•Delivery Managers

•Content Strategists

•User Researchers

Beyond the UX team

•Business Analysts

•Product Managers

•Project / Program Managers

•Engineers

•Marketing

•Legal & Compliance

•Business Unit Project Sponsors

Who We’ve Interviewed

Activity

Who to interview?

(In your situation, who are the key people to interview in discovery?)

• Write down the people who would be most appropriate to involve at your organization.

• We’ll report out to the room.

What We’ve Learned

• In most cases, the UX team members are professional,

well meaning, conscientious, and hard working.

• Solutions need to make their job easier, not harder.

Simple, logistical solutions like checklists and templates

are good.

• They’re weary of additional procedures / bureaucracy.

It’s only after discovery that you can really know what the solution can be.

Work with stakeholders and implementers to create the plan and scope.

Remind key people that all plans change as you learn more. A plan is a starting point.

Create simple solutions with key people.

Remember to keep the solutions simple. You don’t want to add extra work or bureaucracy.

Create

Test out materials with a couple key people both in and outside the UX team.

Gather feedback from UX people and also from those outside of the UX team.

Iterate and then expand (nail it before you scale it).

Iterate

If you’ve incrementally piloted and iterated, the “launch” will be less disruptive.

Launch often involves a training where you introduce the pieces.

Involve others as much as possible in the launch (those who have piloted, for example).

Assign ownership before the launch as much as possible.

Launch

Position the “launch” as just a starting point.

Assign a program manager.

Plan for managers to work with team members on the new program.

Actively solicit feedback and offer support.

Improve

CONTINUATION SYSTEMS

• Communicate outwardly as road show or organic

• Managers working with direct reports during roll out

• Program manager for the UX Lead program

• Assigning ownership to individual pieces

• Pivoting

• Solicit feedback in many ways (one-on-one, surveys, etc.)

Keeping the Program Going

PART FOUR

WHO SHOULD BE A LEAD?

This question must be answered by each organization. Some organizations have designers serve dual purpose on a project: lead and design. Others designate a particular role as a Lead. That person might not do any design.

Many organizations have a role in the User Experience team that focuses on managing the successful delivery of the UX engagement. Sometimes this person is called a UX Producer, Delivery Manager, or Project Manager.

UX Producer (Delivery Manager)

Activity

What would work best at your organization?

• What would work best for your organization: – A team member that

serves as Lead on a project-by-project basis?

– A dedicated Lead role?– UX Producer?– Some other arrangement?

• We’ll report out to the room.

WAYS OF BEING

UX personnel juggle many moving parts:

• Business goals

• Many different people

• Technical limitations

• Design best practices

• Product development processes

• Research results

• Accessibility guidelines

• Legal and compliance reviews

• And so on…

The UX Lead facilitates collaboration between different people:

The UX Lead also educates the

project team about each individual

design activity, deliverable, and

process.

The UX Lead program materials –

Guide, Training, etc. – should

explicitly address and develop these

skills among the Leads.

UX Lead as Facilitator & Educator

Typical Technical Skills for UX:

• Persona development

• Information architecture

• User research

• Interaction design

• Visual design

• Prototyping

• Competitive analysis

• And so on…

Facilitation & Educational Skills:

• Set context for UX process

• Negotiate tradeoffs

• Explain value of UCD

• Involve partners in design decisions

• Explain how to give feedback

• And so on…

UX Lead as Facilitator & Educator

Don’t underestimate how foreign user experience activities are to people outside the UX team.

Peter Block’s work is instructive for UX Leads. We’ll cover three concepts here:• Authenticity • Contracting• Attending to each stage

Consulting Skills

For more, see Peter Block’s book, Flawless Consulting.

Ways of Engaging

• Engagement instead of mandate or persuasion• Participation instead of presentation• Difficult public exchanges• Real choice• New conversations for new culture• Deliberate environment and meetings

Within the UX team

•Motivate the team

•Collaborate w/ UX Producer

•Represent UX vision

•Problem solve challenges

•Introduce new UX members

•Oversee quality of deliverables

•Determine need for reviews

Beyond the UX team

•Build relationships

•Understand business needs

•Attend to concerns

•Educate

•Advocate for designs

•Negotiate tradeoffs

Leading Internally and Externally

One final takeaway:

Commitment is more important than perfection

Remaining Questions?

Craig Peterscraig@awasudesign.com@craigpeters

Richard Charetterichard.charette@awasudesign.com

APPENDIX

What internal consultants want from their boss

• A clear definition of the job before I am sent out on a project

• Access to the boss

• Assistance on the nontechnical and political elements of the project

• Don’t overcommit me all the time

• Freedom to negotiate contracts based on the particulars of the

situation

• Minimum bias on how the project should turn out, what the

recommendations should look like

• A clear definition of the job

• Access to the person who really represents the client organization, also

access to data

• Work the problem together – cooperation

• Commitment to the project

• Share the blame and glory

• To be wanted (to feel useful)

• No bias about the outcome

• Take care of physical needs to accomplish the job

• Openness and feedback

• Feedback on what happened after I left

What internal consultants want from their clients

Your role

You might already have a relationship with them. Tell them that for this engagement, you’re just a researcher. You’re not evaluating their performance in any way.

Reminders for your interviews

Prior knowledge of the effort

If you’re embarking on a UX Lead effort, it’s likely they will have heard about it. Have them explain what they know of the effort. This warms them up to talking, surfaces misperceptions, and generates ownership. Ask them what the goals of the effort are and should be.

How projects happen today

You’re looking for their understanding of the nuts and bolts of how projects are assigned, handled, staffed, carried out, etc. Have them describe how they get assigned to projects. Who else is typically on a project? When is UX involved? How are those decisions made? Etc.

Uncovering what is and isn’t working

You can ask directly: What’s working? What’s not working? What would make your job easier? What parts of the job are your least favorite?

Also ask indirectly. What was your favorite project? Your least favorite? Why? Go into the details of those projects.

Other models

Oftentimes people’s vision narrows when they work in one environment. This is to open up their thinking.

Have you worked other places in a similar role? Did those companies have set practices that you followed? How did that work for you? What worked well? Not well?

Future look-back

This helps reveal what’s truly important to them.

Imagine looking back on this effort a few months from now. Hypothetically, how might you finish these statements:

I’m so glad we did this, because now ___.

This didn’t work out so well, because ___.

Other Pieces of UX Teams

•User Centered Design toolkit

•Project request process

•Design patterns

•UCD process

•Onboarding

•UX “Producing” (UX Project Managing)

•UX Scorecard

THANK YOU!

Craig Peterscraig@awasudesign.com@craigpeters

Richard Charetterichard.charette@awasudesign.com

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