Traditionally there has been an uneasy tension between design agencies and clients. Agency Client Services representatives would conduct awkward meetings with clients to uncover what the business thinks the user needs from their digital product. In an effort to keep the client happy, compromises are sometimes made before the design team have been briefed. Designers would be kept at arm’s length and expected to come up with the “killer concept” on first attempt. The advent of Agile project management has played a major part in changing the nature of this relationship between clients and designers. Design agencies are becoming more like consultants, being invited to co-locate with client project teams. This may be a relatively new approach for design agencies, however it has long been the way IT and Accounting agencies have worked. Bringing a UX consultant into the team doesn’t automatically mean the project will user-centric or design-driven. You may end just importing the client/designer friction into your team. The Agile process may have brought UX Designers into the project team, but projects can still have a tendency to be led by the agendas of IT Business Analysts or Product Owners. The vision of IT BAs may be limited by the tech stack they have to work with. Whilst Product Owners can be more focused on hitting the KPIs of a feature list. The concept of a UX Business Analyst is still foreign to most projects. Considering the “user story” is at the core of what drives the Agile process from ideation to final user accept testing, it makes sense this should written from the User Experience. Drawing upon 20 years of experience designing websites and apps, Dale Thornton will reference case studies to illustrate how blurring the line between agencies and clients can benefit both large corporates as well as small start-ups.

1. clients | agencies
UX Australia | Melbourne
12 May 2017
Blurring the line between

2. Founder | Lead UX Designer
Dale Thornton
thefriendlyagency.com
Blurring the line between clients | agencies

3. Blurring the line between clients | agencies

4. Blurring the line between clients | agencies

5. It doesn’t have to be this way
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Us versus Them
Agile project management has helped blur this line

6. Not just for your users
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Practice empathy
Agencies need to understand what makes their clients tick

7. As a…
I want to…
So I can…
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
User stories
Foundation of the Agile process

8. Results:
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Google: “IT BA”
Tens of thousands of job listings

9. Results:
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Google: “UX BA”
“UX vs BA: The Great Debate”
“What should a BA know about the UX Profession?”
“UX + BA: How to Work Together in Harmony”

10. As a… Pet Owner,
I want to… Find a Pet Sitter in my area,
So I can… Make a booking time for a that suits me.
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
When written well
User stories drive a project from ideation to go-live

11. As a… Programmer,
I want to… Fix the database,
So I can… Get the search function working again.
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Developer stories
Not very user-centric

12. The new norm, not quite yet
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Design thinking
We still have a long way to go

13. The very nature of Agile is unpredictable
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Fixed Price versus Day Rate
Protect your design team from “pivots”, “minimal viable products” and “failing fast”

14. Don’t get too embedded
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Agency days
Some distance and perspective can be a good thing, for everyone

15. Blurring the line between clients | agencies
• Don’t be afraid to co-locate
• Adopt Agile ways of working
• Challenge existing roles
Blur the line

16. madpa.ws/friendlyux
Blurring the line between clients | agencies
Part of the family
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17. Any questions?
Thank you
thefriendlyagency.com
Blurring the line between clients | agencies