HFI Usability Maturity Survey Findings - 2009

the HFI UX Maturity Survey   2009 Findings  Kath Straub   Mona Patel  Arno Bublitz  Javier Broch  Human Factors Interna<onal, Inc.  Permanent loca<on: www.humanfactors.com/UXMSurvey‐2009 

Introduc<on  User experience is the new differenAator in customer service.  To beYer understand the state of the industry, Human Factors  Just as service is key to customer saAsfacAon in face‐to‐face  InternaAonal has conducted the first survey of UX maturity  environments, customer saAsfacAon in the internet age turns  within organizaAons. Our primary goal was to develop a  on user‐centered design, whether your work faces the  snapshot of the user experience operaAons within usability  customer or the organizaAon’s staff. Providing websites that  aware organizaAons world‐wide. Second, we developed The  customers can easily learn and confidently use leads to  User Experience Maturity Checklist. Taken together, the findings  improved customer saAsfacAon and increased loyalty. Sites,  and checklist help usability/user experience professionals  applicaAons, and tools that are task‐relevant and usable allow  understand where their organizaAon is on the path to maturity,  staff to complete tasks more efficiently and cost effecAvely.  and what to do next.        But how rouAne is usability, really? Do organizaAons have  While Schaffer’s Usability Maturity model, below, idenAfies the  established user experience groups? Or do user experience  hallmarks of a fully mature user experience program, there is no  professionals sAll float through, doing just‐in‐(me work and  single template for any organizaAon to achieve usability  grass roots evangelizing? What do teams look like? How  maturity. As we note in our concluding remarks, interpreAng the  established are the established groups? Do they use a  survey results as part of a larger user experience strategy is a  common method? Published standards? Tools that support  separate step requiring a full assessment of your organizaAon’s  robust research best pracAce design? Training? Do  size, culture, market, and management challenges.  pracAAoners aggregate and share their findings or does each  project team reinvent the wheel each Ame? And who really  does the work?     The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

© 2004: Human Factors InternaAonal  www.humanfactors.com 

What makes a usability group mature?   In his 2004 book, InsAtuAonalizaAon of Usability: A Step‐by‐ Execu<ve Champions   Step Guide, Eric Schaffer describes a roadmap to  An execuAve who has made a clear and visible commitment to  insAtuAonalizaAon within organizaAons. Based on 25 years of  promoAng usability throughout the organizaAon. The execuAve  observaAon, he describes the elements and characterisAcs of  champion’s role is to educate his or her peers, secure funding,  maturing and mature usability pracAces. He defines the stages  and remove organizaAonal obstacles. To be effecAve, the  of maturaAon, and describes the landmines that typically  execuAve champion must be at the SVP or C‐ level of the  thwart progress and the contexts in which they occur.  organizaAon, or equivalent, in order to reach across the “silos”     of parAcular groups and departments.  HFI’s Usability Maturity Model        User Interface Standards  Schaffer indicates that usability operaAons are mature when   Design standards go beyond brand and idenAty to define the  they integrate all of the following components:  underlying look, feel, and flow of websites and applicaAons  within an organizaAon. To be meaningful, User Experience  • An ExecuAve Champion    Standards must be easy to find and easy to use. (Straub, 2004)  • User Interface Standards    • Professional Staff    Professional Staff   • Tools    To be effecAve, usability teams need staff to support both  • Training    tacAcal and strategic iniAaAves. Most esAmates suggest that an  • Showcase Projects    opAmal usability staff would be 1/10th the size of the     development team(s). Further, team members should represent     the range of mulA‐disciplinary skills that define user experience  design in that business sector, including psychologists and  researchers, as well as human factors engineering, interacAon  design, visual design and analyAcs/measurement specialists.  Team members should have formal usability training that is  substanAated by degrees or cerAficaAons.     The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

What makes a usability group mature?   Tools All individuals who are tasked with interface design  Showcase Projects Mature user experience programs  should have open access to a common set of resources to  understand that usability awareness begins with exposure.  educate and support best pracAces in research processes and  Showcase projects are high‐visibility projects that receive  interface design. The toolset should include reusable arAfacts  support and recogniAon throughout the project Ameline across  that pracAAoners can employ to streamline their work. The  the organizaAon. Mature programs create and distribute case  tools should be customized to reflect the user interface and  studies to recognize, validate, and disseminate the successes of  branding standards. As with standards, to be useful, tools  the usability group.   must be easy to find and easy to use.        Training Different individuals at different levels within  organizaAons need to understand different informaAon about  usability. PracAAoners need ongoing, advanced training on  emerging methods, evolving best pracAces, and current  trends across industries. Developers need to understand how  to apply best pracAces and where/how to look for addiAonal  guidance or tools. ExecuAves must be able to calculate return  on investment (ROI)—whether in improved revenues,  enhanced customer saAsfacAon, or any other criteria specific  to that organizaAon— without necessarily knowing the  mechanics of usability or the current best pracAces in user  experience design. Mature organizaAons offer ongoing,  regular, level‐appropriate training opportuniAes to individuals  across the organizaAon.     The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

What makes a usability group mature?   The maturity components that Schaffer defined in 2004 sAll  Enterprise Knowledge Management The usability knowledge  hold today. However, since the publicaAon of his book,  management system should be the single, central repository for  Schaffer has added two addiAonal components to the  all resources and arAfacts related to usability and the pracAce of  definiAon of maturity:  usability within an organizaAon. Usability groups aggregate and  share their charter, strategy, standards, reusable research, and  • Enterprise Knowledge Management    design arAfacts (e.g., personas, graphics library) in a common  • Digital UX Strategy    locaAon. Mature usability groups also share and cross‐reference  reports and observaAons, streamlining the research process, and  creaAng cost efficiencies. When key learnings can be efficiently  accessed and applied, organizaAons do not have to “start from  scratch” with every subsequent project.     Digital UX Strategy Mature usability organizaAons have a clear,  acAonable Digital UX Strategy that idenAfies touch points and  synergies of usability across the inward and outward‐facing  customer communicaAon systems. The Digital UX Strategy  prioriAzes user experience as an organizaAonal success driver by  creaAng accountability for measurable success criteria which are  reported to an execuAve governance commiYee at regular  intervals.     Building these elements and resources takes leadership, Ame,  and effort. But the first step is awareness. If you parAcipated in  the survey, at least one person at your organizaAon is aware.  Read on to find out how your organizaAon’s usability maturity  compares with that of usability‐aware organizaAons around the  globe.   The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

The Survey  The Survey     HFI developed the User Experience PracAce Maturity Survey  An important note to readers …  to capture a comparaAve snapshot of the maturity of usability  operaAons around the world. The components of maturity  The data reported here offers a prac<<oner level analysis of UX  were derived primarily from Schaffer (2004). These  maturity.  It answers the quesAon : What proporAon of  components were augmented by HFI’s subsequent field  (responding) pracAAoners feel they work in a mature usability  research/consulAng observing the sequence for emergence of  pracAce?  key success components within developing usability pracAces.        This study is NOT an organizaAonal level analysis. That its, it  Survey respondents were recruited through HFI mailing lists  does not answer the ques<on: What percentage organiza<ons  and various affiliated social networking channels. Some  have mature usability prac<ces?   evidence of viral responding was observed. The survey was  presented in 3 languages (English, Spanish and German).  This is because within the current analysis, mulAple respondents  Individuals could respond from 1 April 2009 through 15 April  from the same organizaAon are counted. Individual  2009. In all, 1836 individuals iniAated the survey. 1123  organizaAons are represented more than once.  respondents completed the enAre survey.         When you are thinking about the implicaAons of this survey in  The summaries presented here reflect completed surveys. In  relaAon to your organizaAon, please be mindful of that  return for their effort, parAcipants were entered into a  disAncAon.   drawing to receive a free 1 hour strategic consulAng session  with Dr. Eric Schaffer, Founder and CEO of HFI, and author of  InsAtuAonalizaAon of Usability: A Step‐by‐Step Guide.        The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Organiza<on Type  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

How interface design ﬁts….?  Website Builders: We design/build  websites (including web‐based  applicaAons).  Applica<on/So[ware Builder: We  design/build/sell oﬀ‐the‐shelf and/or  customized sooware products.  Applica<on/Website Users: We buy  or build applicaAons or websites to  run our business, but our customers  typically don't see them.  eCommerce Business: We do most or  all of our customer‐facing business  via the web.  Website Designers: We design  websites and/or applicaAons, but we  don't build them.  Product Designer: We design physical  products.  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Where were the  ArgenAna  Germany  Romania  respondents from?  Australia  Hong Kong  Russian FederaAon  Austria  India  Serbia  Belgium  Ireland  Singapore  Bolivia  Israel  Slovenia  Brazil  Italy  South Africa  Bulgaria  Lithuania  Spain  Canada  Malaysia  Sweden  China  Mexico  Switzerland  Colombia  Netherlands  Taiwan  Costa Rica  New Zealand  Turkey  Country  Norway  United Arab Emirates  Czech Republic  Pakistan  United Kingdom  Denmark  Panama  United States  > 100 respondents  Egypt  Peru  Uruguay      40 ‐ 99 respondents  Estonia  Philippines      10 ‐ 39 respondents  Finland  Poland  > 10 respondents  France  Portugal  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Execu<ve sponsorship ‐ Champion  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Execu<ve sponsorship ‐ Level  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Interface standards  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Interface standards – Ongoing audit process  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Common method  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

UX methods ‐ Required  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

UX methods – Required ac<vi<es  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Knowledge management: Shared tools  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Knowledge Management: Shared learnings  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Professional Staﬀ – Recognizing UX   The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Professional staﬀ – Full <me prac<<oners  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Professional staﬀ – Cer<ﬁed prac<<oners  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Training – Advanced training (Prac<<oners)  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Training – Outreach and awareness  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Showcase projects – Recognizing achievement  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Digital Strategy – Governance commiiee  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Digital Strategy – Repor<ng outcomes  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

Conclusions  If you eavesdrop in elevators, you will hear that usability has  No Real Execu<ve Champion Over half of respondents indicated  transformed from a business differenAator to a rouAne  that their usability efforts lacked a true execuAve champion.  component of business pracAce. To some extent this is true.  Because of the lack of organizaAonal recogniAon and, by  HFI’s UX Maturity Survey indicates that stable, visible, internal  extension, funding, these teams are constantly in “triage” mode.  usability and user experience groups with execuAve support  They do great work – but it is just‐in‐Ame. Because they are just  have become significantly more prevalent since Schaffer  keeping up, the group rarely has Ame to develop – much less  (2004) outlined the elements of a mature usability/user  disseminate – the foundaAonal research or tools that could be  experience pracAce. But having a presence is not the same as  benefit the organizaAon as a whole. Over Ame, teams in this  having a pracAce.  situaAon lose their momentum. Team members are reabsorbed     into roles that sound like usability roles (e.g., Business Analyst)  The most common challenges faced by developing Usability  or related components of the organizaAon. CulAvaAng a true  PracAces today are:  execuAve champion is the necessary next step for usability  pracAces at this stage.   • No real execuAve champion    • No centralized funcAon    No Centralized Func<on OrganizaAons – even those with  • Energy and ExecuAve support, but no Strategy    usability awareness – can fail to recognize the importance of a  • A team that reinvents the wheel     visible, centralized funcAon. Free‐floaAng talent improves user     experience, but in a spoYy way. Usability pracAAoners tend to     find themselves doing other types of work (e.g., coding.) Further,  the lack of visible recogniAon that usability/user experience  represents a discrete skill set reinforces the myth that usability is  just common sense. Individuals without a usability background  conAnue to “do usability.” Even with a real champion, distributed  professionals can rarely achieve the momentum necessary to  build the resources that mark a mature pracAce. (Those who do,  find themselves part of a centralized group.) CreaAng a  centralized pracAce or funcAon is the next step for organizaAons  at this stage.   The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings    

Conclusions  Energy and Execu<ve Support, but No Strategy An  Having a presence is not the same as having a prac<ce  unanAcipated number of organizaAons have established  usability groups which operate with no clear charter,  As many survey parAcipants (and readers) know, having a talent  governance, or accountability. Within this configuraAon,  and passion for usability is not enough. For a team to be truly  usability groups can drive substanAal and valuable  successful, senior leadership must parAcipate acAvely.  improvements to user experience. But these improvements  UlAmately, each of these scenarios reflects a failure of execuAve  are not opAmally linked to the current business strategy or  leadership to understand and commit the necessary energy,  prioriAes.  support and resources to realize the full promise of usability.  As such, Ame‐sensiAve opportuniAes can ooen be missed.  Engaging the execuAve suite to create a vision & direcAon  document and engage in strategy is the next step for  organizaAons at this stage.         A Team that Reinvents the Wheel OrganizaAons – including  those with mature Usability pracAces – systemaAcally fail to  recognize the value in reusable work. Reports are generated  but rarely collected and categorized for future use. Without a  central repository to gather findings and an infrastructure that  supports meta‐tagging and access, organizaAons may gather  the same insights over and over. The insights are there – if you  know the right person to ask. LongAme team members can  become a “warehouse” for insights on a given consumer  group or product. The perceived contribuAons and value‐to‐ cost raAo of usability groups in this situaAon is limited.  OrganizaAons in this situaAon need to create a system to  archive and tag their output that encourages findability, use,  and reuse.      The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

What’s next …  Where do you stand?     Human Factors InternaAonal conducted this survey to develop a  HFI’s long‐standing relaAonship with numerous Fortune 500  snapshot of the user experience operaAons within usability‐aware  companies – half of the Fortune 50, in fact – enables us to  organizaAons around the world. Then we developed the User  perform ongoing research on the synergisAc benefits that long‐ Experience Maturity Checklist (see Appendix A). The checklist  term insAtuAonalizaAon of user experience, supported by  evaluates your own organizaAon’s usability maturity and acts as a  conAnuous execuAve championship, is providing successful  next‐step guide. Even with Schaffer’s usability maturity criteria,  enterprise organizaAons. Usability maturity is by definiAon long‐ however, there is no one‐size‐fits‐all approach to usability maturity.  term rather than a quick fix, and our analysis consistently reveals  In the final analysis, the set of usability challenges your  increasingly deep levels of benefit that accrue to the  organizaAon faces is unique. The size, structure, market and culture  organizaAon.   of your organizaAon all determine the path it needs to take to     usability maturity, in addiAon to its present level of user‐centricity  and the types of management “syndromes” that must be  overcome. For some organizaAons, the results of this survey will  clearly suggest a user experience strategy that will move it towards  the insAtuAonalizaAon of usability. For many, however, working  with the experienced user experience strategists at Human Factors  InternaAonal will be the most effecAve way to interpret and apply  the survey data from this survey to their present level of usability  maturity.  The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

References  Schaﬀer, E. (2004), The InsAtuAonalizaAon of Usability: A step‐ by‐step guide. Addison Wesley: New York.     Straub, K. (2004), On the Meta‐Usability of User Interface  Standards (or If the developer can't use it, the standard is not  there). User Interface Design Update newsleYer, available from  www.humanfactors.com/downloads/aug04.asp.     The HFI UX Maturity Survey – 2009 / Findings 

19 June 2009 

HFI Usability Maturity Survey Findings - 2009

by Kath Straub

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