Evangelizing User Experience Design
UX
Dustin DiTommaso
Dustin@BostonDesignCouncil.com

“Good Design
is Good
Business.
”
- Thomas Watson, IBM
1950 (around)

“The Customer
Experience is the
Next Competitive
Battleground.
”
- erry Gregoire, Dell
J

“The Customer
Experience is the
Next Competitive
Battleground.
”
- erry Gregoire, Dell
J
1999

What the F UX?

Why are we still defending
Experience Design?

What is User Experience
Design?

A DEFINITION:
User Experience is the Perceived
Sum of All interactions, both
positive and negative, that a
customer / user has with a
product or service (brand).

UX Happens with or without
User Experience Design.

UX Happens with or without
User Experience Design.
To ensure a (mostly) positive
outcome, the experience must
be crafted strategically and with
intent.

Who is Responsible for the
User Experience?

EVERYONE
User Experience Architect / Interaction Designer / Developer / Visual Designer / Program
Manager / CEO / Usability Analyst / Information Architect / Technical Support / Copywriter /
Animator / Web Producer / Human Factors Engineer / User Experience Specialist / Customer
Support Personnel / Design Research / Cognitive Psychologist / User Centered Designer /
Executive Management / Help Desk / Marketing / Chief Internet Officer / UX Designer / Director
of Technology / Regional Manager / Interface Usability Specialist / Chief Creative Officer / User
Experience Planner / Digital Art Director / Interaction Specialist / Web Designer / UI Designer /
Interactive Services / Human Factors Analyst / Interactive Developer / HCI Engineer / Marketing
Manager / UCD Engineer / HR Manager / Usability Researcher / VP Marketing / Accessibility
Professional / Marketing Director / Web UI Designer / Digital Producer / HCI Analyst / Director
of Account Services / Usability Engineer / Interactive Producer / User Experience Researcher /
Project Manager / GUI Designer / Director of Account Services / User Experience Strategist /
Product Innovation Specialist / Interactive Marketer / CXO / Information Designer / Creative
Director / Software Engineer / Business Analyst / Testing Coordinator / UX Practitioner/

Titles Donʼt Matter

Titles Donʼt Matter
The UX Vision must be shared
across the Entire Organization.

What if weʼre not there?

Strategies to Elevate and
Integrate User Experience
Design within your
Organization

Strategies to Elevate and
Integrate User Experience
Design within your
Organization
(& your clientsʼ)

01
Know Your Culture
Culture Matters
…

“
… Until I came to IBM, I probably
would have told you that culture was
just one among several important
elements in any organizationʼs
makeup and success, along with
vision, strategy, financials,… I came to
see that culture isnʼt just one aspect
of the game – it is the game.
”
- ou Gerstner in “Who says Elephants Can’t Dance?”
L
(2oo2, p. 182)

ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE DEFINED:
+ System of shared meaning held by
members
+ The way they do things
- ow they make decisions & who makes them
H
- ow and with whom they interact
H
- hat they measure, reward and punish
W
- here they allocate resources
W
- ow they work; their pace, standards, etc.
H

LEVELS OF CULTURE
Observables
- hat is seen, heard, done, etc…
W
Values, Assumptions, Beliefs
- hat we believe is important and true
W
- hat we take for granted
W

VALUES / ASSUMPTIONS / BELIEFS
Espoused Values / Beliefs
- alues / Beliefs that the organization claims to follow
V
- ontained in Annual Reports, Landing Pages, etc.
C
Enacted Values / Beliefs (Values in Use)
- he Values/Beliefs that can be inferred from behavior
T
i.e., the values that explain the organizationʼs actions
+ ESPOUSED VALUES ARE EXPLICIT (STATED)
+ ENACTED VALUES ARE IMPLICIT (INTERPRETED)

CULTURES VARY
“ At GM, if you see a snake, the first
thing you do is hire a consultant on
snakes. Then you get a committee on
snakes, and discuss it for a couple
years… At EDS, the first guy who sees
the snake kills it.
R ”
- oss Perot
on how the culture of General Motors differed from
EDS, which he founded.

SOME DIFFERENCES IN VALUES / BELIEFS
- ur success depends on the customer OR customers are to be tolerated.
O
- mployees deserve respect OR employees are disposable.
E
- ll employees can make major contributions OR ideas come from the top.
A
- esults matter most OR the process matters most.
R
- est work comes from individuals OR from teams.
B
- t is better to take risks and have some fail OR always play it safe.
I
- o stay alive, we need to keep changing OR maintain the status quo.
T
- nly excellence is OK OR OK is OK
O
- etʼs do today what could be done tomorrow OR letʼs do tomorrow what
L
could be done today.

CULTURE: SUMMARY
+ It Matters
+ It Controls
+ It Varies
+ Itʼs Stable
+ Itʼs the Enacted Beliefs and Values

02
Create a Unified UX Vision
& Take Over the World
…

There are many methodologies
for User Experience Design yet
they all have one thing in
common… Usersʼ interests are
at the center of all Activities.

PIANO, PIANO
+ Change is Slow
- rganizations are slow to change and
O
methodologies are slow to get adopted /
implemented.
+ Start Slow
- ry to fit your methodology in and around
T
existing methods.
- onʼt be afraid to scale down your approach at
D
first. UCD is not “One size fits All.”

ENLIGHTEN WITHOUT LOSING YOUR FRIENDS
01 Know your sh!t craft and be credible. Continually improve. Read
books / blogs. Join professional groups, Go to conferences, etc.
02 Make your (already) read books available for colleagues to skim
or borrow. Print out valuable articles & white papers as well.
03 Make your work visible (pen / pencil sketches, whiteboards)
04 Make allies at any level in any department. Champion UX together.
05 Educate and Explain. Donʼt dictate.
06 When giving feedback complement things done well, in addition
to making suggestions for improvement. …

ENLIGHTEN WITHOUT LOSING YOUR FRIENDS
07 Set-up monthly multidisciplinary workshops (UX, proj. mgmt.,
communication) Invite all departments to host.
08 Get everyone involved in testing, brainstorming, evaluating (IDEO)
09 Strive to get involved in projects as soon as possible.
10 Pick projects you can have the most impact on (if possible).
11 Just do it! Fix UX problems (at least on paper). Offer up the the
“discovery” as a “looking for feedback” request.
12 Seize Every Opportunity AND Know when to Quit.

Focus on the User and All
Else Will Follow.

Focus on the User and All
Else Will Follow.
If this is true, then whatʼs the Problem?

03
Barriers to a Unified UX Vision
& How to Break them Down
…

COMMON BARRIERS & RESISTANCE
01 No Support with Top Level Management
02 Developers See UX as an obstacle that eats into
development time
03 Visual Designers see it as a creative restraint
(& eat into “design time”)
04 Marketing feels threatened by research overlap
05 No understanding of what User Experience Design is
& why it matters

SHOWING VALUE TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT
- mprove In-House Tools & Processes.
I
+intranets, budget tools, forms, daily workflows, tasks, etc.
= increase worker productivity & satisfaction
- ngage executive level in UX activities. Ask for opinions.
E
(even if you throw them away).
- nderstand companiesʼ strategic logic and link UX activities to
U
Business Objectives

However, trying to focus on
$ alone is a risky endeavor.

SHOWING VALUE TO SENIOR MANAGEMENT
- Instead, show how UX fits into the overall Corporate value chain
- isk Management: Avoids costly errors
R
- mprove Stock Value: Better products lead to greater market
I
share
- educed support, training and maintenance costs.
R
- X contributes to longer product shelf life
U
- eeting user goals helps differentiate product
M
- X reduces testing and quality assurance costs
U

SHOWING VALUE TO DEVELOPMENT TEAM
- elp to Define Interaction Frameworks and Patterns
H
+ Allows for Reuse of Code
+ Shorter Development Cycle
- X activities and web analytic data can work together
U
to tell the whole story (WA = “what” // UX = “why”)
-Increased product quality reduces maintenance and post launch
bug fix work

SHOWING VALUE TO DESIGN TEAM
- X Research allows for Informed Decisions & Less Revisions
U
+ It Rhymes!

SHOWING VALUE TO MARKETING TEAM
- hare your Research Work
S
+ Deliverables like Personas & Use Cases can be shared and
refined to benefit both marketing and UX practitioners.
- arketing and UX can work together to develop a firmʼs Product
M
Offer so that the *Net Delivered Customer Value is maximized for
the firmʼs targeted market segments.
*Net Delivered Customer Value (NDCV)
= Perceived Benefits – Perceived Costs
= (Value of Product Use + Service + Image + Personal Interaction)
- (Financial + Time + Energy + Psychic COSTS)

WRAP UP
01 Understand Company Business Concept and Culture
02 Develop an Experience Strategy to support it
03 Collaborate with all departments in your
organization
04 Share knowledge & resources as a means to
communicate the UX vision
05 Deliver amazing user experiences to your customers

// fin
Dustin DiTommaso
Interaction Design | Design Management
Dustin@BostonDesignCouncil.com
Twitter: @DU5TB1N