Winning hearts and minds: how to embed UX from scratch in a large organisation

Michele Ide-SmithUX Cambridge, November 2011

“As their usability approach matures, organisations typically progress through the same sequence of stages, from initial hostility to widespread reliance on user research.”

Jakob Nielsen

A bit of background

Photo by Kaptain Kobold http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5359290323

About me

Web developer

Project Manager & Information

Architect

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Head of Interactive Production

Web Strategy Manager

UX Specialist

Web accessibility

Observed user testing

Information Architecture

Started MSc in HCI

Graduated with MSc in HCI

A revelation can become a passion

The organisation I worked for had to save £160 million in the next 5 years

Costs per transaction

• Face-to-face £8.23• Telephone £3.21• Website £0.39

Source: SOCITM (Society for IT Managers), 2009

Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989)

Making Council web services useful and usable saves public money

We came a long way in 5 years…

2006 2011

Occasional usabilitysurvey

Dedicated UX ArchitectUX techniques and skills embedded

UX Maturity Model diagram from an article by @rfeijo http://johnnyholland.org/2010/04/16/planning-your-ux-strategy/

We got to here

Photo by Sarah and Mike …probably http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahandmikeprobably/4266668689/

How did we get started?

UX techniques are not hard to pick up

But knowing when and why to use them takes experience

Lesson learnt #1

Start with small butperfectly formed projects

Research

Design

PrototypeEvaluate

Improve

Demonstrate the value of using UX methods, however small the project

Lesson learnt #2

Some stakeholders have strong opinions

Data can speak volumes

Use data to tell a story about your users

Call centre stats

Customer feedbackUser testing / interviews

Analytics

Lesson learnt #3

Highlighting poor design and content requires tact and diplomacy

Use familiar language e.g. ‘customer focus’, ‘customer experience’

Always point out something positive as well as the negatives

Photo by hatalmas http://www.flickr.com/photos/hatalmas/6094281702

Lesson learnt #4

Find a UX Champion who can gain organisational support and resources

Photo by Dunechaser http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/3538429942/

UX rocks!!

Lesson learnt #5

If you have budget available and decide to use external expertise

Work collaborativelyFind a supplier who’ll work collaboratively

And help transfer skills to in-house teamsPhoto by Lollyman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lollyman/4424552903

Lesson learnt #6

The whole team can learn UX skills

Everyone in the team could use Analytics data or do an expert review

Photo by Oblong http://www.flickr.com/photos/oblongpictures/5250948891

Anyone can have design ideas

The person who created these sketches had no prior UX experience

Developers appreciate design input when it makes their lives easier

Lesson learnt #7

Regular user testing is an invaluable way to get early feedback on designs

Photo by Kaptain Kobold http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5181464194

Recruiting users can be time consuming and expensive

Maximise opportunities to recruit users e.g. add a check box on customer surveys / feedback forms, or a question to the call

centre scripts

Lesson learnt #8

It’s your job to sell the value of UX

Set targets and evaluate and benchmark using consistent metrics

Lesson learnt #9

UX people should influence all areas of the business that impact on customers

Procurement decisions are often only based on cost and business requirements

Bad UX costs the business through increased calls to customer support

Photo by ntr23 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23/4435476085

Integrate usability evaluations and accessibility audits into procurement

Speak to customer support to understand customer problems

Lesson learnt #10

Standardising processes and templates saves time and helps with a UX roll out

We integrated UX processes into Agile (Scrum) processes

Creating method cards helped develop UX knowledge and summarise when and how to use UX techniques

Method cards courtesy of http://nform.com/tradingcards/

Leave room to experiment with new techniques – don’t be too prescriptive

Lesson learnt #11

UX can become a full time job

It’s often only a small percentageof your job role

After 4 years we created adedicated UX Architect role

Developing UX skills, retaining talent and recruiting is hard work

Lesson learnt #12

Do you know who your users are?

Photo by Joe Shablotnik http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/

Work with data experts¹ to segment customers and help create personas, to enable everyone in the organisation to know their

users

1. Data experts could be market researchers or data analysts

Use personas to bring your user data to life

Photo by Canned Tuna http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannedtuna/4852756417/

We created personas with quantitative data (demographic and transactional) as well as qualitative data

Personas inform service design, not just website and application design

UX was being considered at each point in a customer journey

A team which collaborates and learns together can

achieve great things

Photo by Rob Young http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob-young/2835825416

UX adoption / maturity survey

• Based on Human Factors International checklist (developed after 2009 survey)

• 65 respondents, sourced from UX networks and groups (London IA, LinkedIn, Twitter)

Sectors

Organisation size

Have executive support

46%

At senior executive level (V or C level)

30%

Have UX governance

8%

Have a published UX strategyor vision statement

24%

Review or update it regularly

13%State that UX is an

organisational success driver

19%

Most popular UX techniques

Most effective techniques

Use the same shared / standardised UX methods within the organisation

16%

UX research is a required step

22%Have a published

UX standard

11%

Said their organisation values and recognises UX successes

41%

Define measurable success criteria and performance metrics for every website or application they develop

25%

Measure and report ROI

8%

Said UX skills are a recognised part of their job description

36%

Have staff dedicated to UX

100% of the time

38%Provide training /

education for non-UX staff

22%

Challenges

• Resources - limited resources and budget• Communication / education - lack of

understanding of what UX is• Strategy – lack of UX vision; lack of mandate;

de-centralisation leads to departmental silos; no centralised UX plan; UX as a ‘bolt on’

• Change – fear of change

Top tips

• Sell the benefits and value• Gain buy in and engage others e.g. observing

user testing, sketching and ideation sessions• Go undercover• But at some point you’ll need to embed and

formalise the process

In conclusion

“No matter how impassioned your approach, it’s impossible to take a company straight from UX indifference to UX maturity. The demands are too disruptive. Focus, as the undercover manifesto suggests, on big change through small victories, slowly winning the hearts and minds and convincing your team of the need for UX approaches .”

Cennydd Bowles, James Box

Thanks for listening!

Photo by brieuc_s http://www.flickr.com/photos/brieuc/4225881624/

Get in touch

Michele Ide-SmithUser Experience SpecialistRed Gate Softwaremichele.ide-smith@red-gate.com@micheleidesmithwww.ide-smith.co.ukwww.linkedin.com/in/micheleidesmith