Experience Visions: A Case Study

Experience visions: a case study Fred Randell UX Australia 2009

Coming up...
A bit about me
The part with the definition
The case study
Wrap-up
Questions

1997-2004: Senior information architect at Red Square
Panasonic Australia / P&O Nedlloyd / YHA Australia
2004-now: Director of Boomworks
web.experience.design
Telstra / wotnews / ING Australia
Previous presentations by Fred Randell
1999: “The exciting, emerging technology, WAP: fully utilising the16k limit, and unleashing the power of monochrome graphics.”
About me

What is an experience vision?
“ It is the future you see.”
Yoda, Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Jared Spool
“ The flag in the sand”
“ Because the flag is clearly visible, the team knows if every step they take brings them closer or farther away”

Steve Baty
“ An experience strategy is that collection of activities that an organization chooses to undertake to deliver a series of (positive, exceptional) interactions which, when taken together, constitute an (product or service) offering that is superior in some meaningful, hard-to-replicate way; that is unique, distinct & distinguishable from that available from a competitor.”

My take
An experience vision is a tangible artefact that can be used as a reference point for current activities such that they align to or progress toward an ideal future state .

The case study: Telstra.com “ Now, you've got a corpse in a car, minus a head, in a garage. Take me to it.” Winston Wolf, Pulp Fiction

The project
Telstra’s Transformation
“ Create a world of 1 click, 1 touch, 1 button, 1 screen, 1 step solutions that are simple, easy and valued.”
Team of experts assembled to deliver the online user experience
Boomworks / PTG / Eclipse

The mission
Develop a seamless customer experience across all self-service channels…
… that adheres to the company-wide One Click, One Touch, One Button, One Screen, One Step Product Design Principles and Guidelines…
...and accommodates Telstra’s high level business objectives.

The crucial first step...
...come up with an awesome team name

The awesome team name
Contenders
CE (Customer Experience) team
Boomlipse Global
My personal favourite:
X-team
The disappointing winner:
UI Team

And then?
“ You enter, you go ‘Hi’, and I go, ‘Hello.’
Now.. we need something here...”
Jerry Seinfeld, The Cheever Letters

Establish experience principles
1. Customer focussed
2. Personalised
3. Unified
4. Standardised
5. Compelling
6. Forward looking

Establish experience principles
Apply them to key interactions
User Interface & Interaction
Navigation and Way-finding
Identity Management
Customisation / Personalisation
Search Help Promotions Notifications
Shopping Cart & Checkout
Online Bill
Product Information

Make one of them...
Principles = useful
Company = large
Timeframe = long/phased
Now.... go!

Now... go!
“ The catch is, a boat this big doesn't exactly stop on a dime”
Seaman Jones, The Hunt for Red October

The challenges
Huge undertaking to devise entirely new interface for all online properties
Fragmented experience
Size of company / complex nature of requirements
Confusion
Long timeframe / numerous drops
Loss of focus

The solution
A tangible manifestation of the UI team principles

Introducing the End State Vision (ESV)
A visual and descriptive presentation of the future transformed Telstra customer experience...
...providing a reference point for which all channels can ultimately aim.

The how
Similar approach to a regular project...
Requirements review
Audience identification
Stakeholder engagement
Best practice review
Project cross-stream requirements

The what “ If you build what, who will come?” Annie Kinsella, Field of Dreams

The what
Domain name strategy
Established a consistent and easy to follow policy on which elements sit inside the telstra.com domain and which do not.
Information architecture
We undertook user interviews, card sorting sessions and benchmark tested the current site and competitor sites, and arrived at an end-state IA.
High-level wireframes of key interactions
60+ wireframes illustrating: home / product browse / shopping cart & purchase / login & register / view and manage account / bill payment
Interactive prototype
Undertook a round of initial paper prototype testing, which we refined and iterated on. We built an interactive HTML prototype and undertook 3 rounds of testing x 12 users each round. Iterations and refinements between rounds
Conceptual visual design
Allowed us to show an alignment to a single template and brand style – not reflected in the site at the time – across channels. Also provides a means of saying – looks similar / uses common technology platform.

What then?
“ We’ve got the vision,
now let’s have some fun.”
MGMT, Time to Pretend

Sharing the vision
Jared Spool says:
“ Having the vision exist only in the head of one or two people doesn’t help the team know how to make important decisions. The vision must be shared throughout the organization.”
Artefacts distilled into a presentation
We distilled all of our work (wireframes/designs/principles) into a single story which we took on the road.
Key stakeholders were targeted for roadshow
Started at the top – seeking buy in from senior management. Easy to get them excited and get endorsement by showing them what the site could be / the full potential of the transformation vision.
Sign-off sought
In total, over 60 different presentations across the business resulting in sign-off.

What did we achieve
Stakeholder buy-in
Common reference point for all streams
Baseline for first phase of transformation UI roll-out
Artefacts still in use today

Subsequent activities
Global page templates / pattern library
Interface specifications for individual transformation activities
Transformation continues.... the desire to make a better experience is still at the forefront – the ESV is providing a target for these activities

Recent chapters
ESV used as reference for Account, Shop, Registration projects
New home page and IA based on ESV deployed in very short time frame
Earlier this year a new home page and an interim IA, which were based heavily on the ESV were deployed. In A/B testing with the old home page and IA as the control, the new solution significantly outperformed the old one and fulfilment figures continues to grow.
Pattern library still in use
Standardising new interactions across all of Telstra’s properties.

Experience visions: a summary “ Hmm. Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.” Homer Simpson, Mountain of Madness

Using an experience vision
Can be crucial on large-scale / long-timeframe projects
Experience Visions do not have to be employed just at a corporate scale (they can be crucial in that context though)
Also effective on small scale / self-contained projects
We’ve successfully employed an experience visions approach on smaller and self-contained projects (social tagging, product acquisition process)

Benefits
Clear, defined direction all parties can subscribe to
Not constrained by technology, ingrained business mentality, existing roadblocks
Inspirational

References
User Interface Engineering:
The 3 Steps for Creating an Experience Vision Jared M. Spool
Knowledge Navigator Deconstructed: Building an Envisionment Jared M. Spool
JOHNNY HOLLAND MAGAZINE:
What is an Experience Strategy? Steve Baty
Joel on Software:
Fruity treats, customization, and supersonics: FogBugz 7 is here Joel Spolsky
Adaptive Path:
Aurora: Concept Video Part 1 Jesse James Garrett

Questions?
Here are some I prepared earlier
I love everything you said, just one question: what’s an Experience Vision?
As an industry how should we refer to ourselves? (“X-team” isn’t taken yet )
My scarf is faulty/black/too warm, where can I get another one?

Fred Randell
Experience Visions: A Case Study
UX Australia 2009
www.boomworks.com.au
@fredrandell

Experience Visions: A Case Study

by Fred Randell on Sep 06, 2009

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