At FATHOM_ we often have retrospectives on our projects about what we can do better... the next time round. In this lightning talk, Jonah McLachlan explains the value of User Experience which is vital to have as your 'true north' for every project.

1. Belfast Digital Meetup
UX IS HARD

3. “Thinking about design is hard,
but not thinking about it
can be disastrous”
Ralph Caplan

4. Finding the secret sauce
At Fathom we regularly have retrospectives about
our digital projects. If we could do it again… what
would we do different?
So many variables
● budget
● client ux maturity
● skills of the team
● access to users (the right ones) and research data
● the willingness for product owners to change
● developers and product team sprint deadlines

5. Constant efforts to challenge
+
Regular curiosity
+
Digging deeper

6. Constant efforts to challenge
+
Regular curiosity
+
Digging deeper
=
TIME WELL SPENT

7. Always bear in mind
the value of UX

8. Improving the UX boosts
the revenue
“If you think good design is expensive, you should
look at the cost of bad design”
Dr. Ralf Steph
Some good examples
● UX can cut development time by 50%
● Focusing on UX can increase KPIs by 83%
● User-centered design reduces support costs by up to 90%

9. Improving the UX boosts
the revenue
“If you think good design is expensive, you should
look at the cost of bad design”
Dr. Ralf Steph
Some good examples
● UX can cut development time by 50%
● Focusing on UX can increase KPIs by 83%
● User-centered design reduces support costs by up to 90%

10. Don’t just redesign
“Periodic website redesigns means that most of
a website’s life is spent operating below peak
efficiency.”
Paul Boag
Best example
● Amazon doesn’t do ‘redesigns’
● They monitor, hypothesise, adapt and measure

11. Always bear in mind the value of UX

12. Develop the product, don’t
define it.
Everyone is a designer, but always let the
user inform all design decisions. We call them
end-users for a reason.

13. Your user could be a pirate
When UX doesn’t consider ALL users, shouldn’t
it be known as “SOME User Experience” or…
SUX?”
Billy Gregory, Senior Accessibility Engineer
Not just ‘wheelchair’ users
● Distracted by a parrot
● Difficulty walking
● Only one hand
● Eyepatch covering an eye
● etc

14. User Experience is
never ‘complete’
“One who makes no mistakes makes
nothing at all”
Giacomo Casanova
How to keep going
● Stay humble and stay focused
● The moment you think you’re done…
● Reassess performance and try again
● Commit to continuous improvement

16. UX IS HARD