What I learned from 200 projects (IDC Prague)

What I learned from oh, I don’t know, around 200 projects Peter Boersma (@pboersma) Interaction Design Director at Blast Radius Interactive Design Conference April 4-5, 2014, Prague 1

20 years at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - General Design 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 2012 - 2012 - freelance 2012 - present - Blast Radius 3

around 200 projects 1995 - 2000 - General Design 70 10 2000 - 2002 - Satama Interactive 20 10 2002 - 2005 - EzGov 15 5 2005 - 2006 - User Intelligence 10 20 2006 - 2010 - Info.nl 20 5 2010 - 2012 - Adaptive Path 5 2.5 2012 - 2012 - freelance 5 10 2012 - present - Blast Radius 55 40 Total 200 10 #proj /year 4

scope, teams, skills, org charts, deliverables 5

the scope of our projects has expanded from one-way webdesign to service design for networked brands 6

http://www.abnamro.nl 8

640px 480px 9

! SOCIAL CONTENT MOBILE CONTENT STORES CRM PR CSR ALWAYS-ON CONNECTED PLATFORMS Starbucks.com 13

our teams have had different types of people in them 15

my roles at interactive agencies 1995 - 2000 - UI Designer 2000 - 2002 - Consultant User-Understanding 2002 - 2005 - Senior Information Architect 2005 - 2006 - UX Consultant & Partner 2006 - 2010 - Senior Interaction Designer 2010 - 2012 - Experience Designer 2012 - 2012 - Freelance (Process) Designer 2012 - present - Interaction Design Director 20

we had different skills, starting at Computer Science, HCI and Design leading to User Experience 21

HCICS Des 22

HCICS DesIxDIA Mar Com Info Des Copy Usab 23

User Experience HCICS DesIxDIA Info Des Mar Com Copy Usab 24

shallow knowledge User Experience deep knowledge business knowledge 25

since 1995, we have been looking for the right place of UX in the organization 28

what we call our work, our deliverables, changed too... 40

“Here is how we work: Step 1: we send you a contract Step 2: we design your site and you approve the design Step 3: we build your site, and you approve the design Step 4: we send you an invoice” 41

Design ResearchEvaluation Prototype Test SketchDetailed Design Concept Personas Interviews 42

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Pitch Scenarios Position Roadmap Service Design Prototype RequirementsReview Test Scope Optimize Estimate Beta SketchDetailed Design Concept Personas Competition Process Roles Steps Interviews 43

GOOD BAD per company 45

1995-2000 - General Design Company proﬁle: - Dutch startup that grew from 3-30 people - made interactive sites for small & large brands My responsibilities: - in the beginning: everything - from interface design - via software programming - to sales and project management 53

• A conference is more than the proceedings • Also: it’s not that hard to get on stage! 59

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Prototype RequirementsReview Estimate SketchDetailed Design Competition Process Scope 60

Br Br eaking ead share late-night pizza with developers have lunch with clients go for drinks with colleagues 35 35 62

General Design GOOD BAD * gave me broad experience * mix of academic research and practical focus * time to discover what I like (not project management) * being project manager & UI designer on 10 projects * leading to a short, 4-week burnout 63

2000-2002 - Satama Company profile: - Finnish web-and-mobile agency going global - General Design turned into Amsterdam office My responsibilities: - Consultant User-Understanding - concept design, IA, IxD, usability tests - for the first time: process designer 65

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Position Requirements Scope Estimate Detailed Design Concept Competition Process Roles Steps Interviews 77

Satama Interactive GOOD BAD * mobile experience: designed WAP sites, and created a mobile portal evaluation tool. * process focus: I managed a 2-year program to document the Satama Uniﬁed Process. * I wasn’t considered a good ﬁt for consultant team * leading to a long, 8-month burnout 78

2002-2005 - EzGov Company proﬁle: - software & consultancy for online transactions - between governments and citizens/businesses My responsibilities: - Information Architect - Also: Usability Engineer - And: Process Designer 80

3 Phases 5 Disciplines System Analysis Information Architecture & Interaction Design Usability & Accessibility Testing Content Design Visual Design & Information Design Elaboration ConstructionInception EzGov’s Standards for UXEzGov’s Standards for UX 94

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Service Design Prototype RequirementsReview Test Scope Estimate Detailed Design Personas Process Roles Steps Interviews 100

EzGov GOOD BAD * good cooperation with Development and PM * spent time defining design process (StUX) * developed in-house screenflow tool (J-flow) * styleguides made visual design work boring * org. overhead made our work expensive 101

2005-2006 - User Intelligence Company proﬁle: - small usability company that expanded into design - founder was looking for a business partner My responsibilities: - User Experience Consultant and Manager Design 103

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Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage RequirementsReview Test Scope Optimize Estimate Detailed Design Concept Personas Competition Process Interviews Pitch 109

User Intelligence * we deﬁned the basis for good team & good company * got to think about corporate strategies * unprepared for partner talks with founder * our communication styles made cooperation hard * had to leave, shortly after bringing in friends 110

2006-2010 - Info.nl Company proﬁle: - very Dutch agency ("normal is crazy enough") - founded in1994 and still going strong My responsibilities: - senior interaction designer - Also: restructured department & renamed job titles - Also: attempted to document design process info.nl!FULL!SERVICE!INTERNET!AGENCY!! 112

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Life Play Learn Buy 116

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Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Pitch Scenarios Position Roadmap Requirements Test Scope Estimate Detailed Design Concept Personas Competition Process 119

Info.nl GOOD BAD * cooperation with developers * sales reached out to sell UX * management lacked vision about process * sales deﬁned projects: teams designed to budget 120

2010-2012 - Adaptive Path Company proﬁle: - famous San Francisco agency came to Amsterdam - deﬁned User Experience as we know it - Adaptive Path is run by designers My responsibilities: - Experience Designer - design, lead projects, sell projects - teach workshops, host UX Week 122

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the elements of user experience Henning Fischer Director, Adaptive Path Amsterdam henning@adaptivepath.com @henningﬁscher Peter Boersma Designer, Adaptive Path Amsterdam peter.boersma@adaptivepath.com @pboersma 129

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First deliverable: Narrative As a result of initial conversations with the client, our designer-led sales team would create a Narrative. A Narrative consists of: - key business needs - project summary and team overview - phase-by-phase description of activities and outcomes - examples of expected deliverables - timeline and budget 132

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What happens to it? Designers’ proposals were translated by Sales into a Statement of Work with a lot of legalese. We had to go back to the original proposal to kick off projects with the team. 135

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Scenarios Position Roadmap Service Design RequirementsReview Test Scope Estimate Sketch Concept Personas Competition Process Interviews 136

Adaptive Path GOOD BAD * designers lead projects from sales to delivery * many internal discussions about the ﬁeld * time to teach back to community * 13 hour workdays due to time zones * European sales handed over to America 137

2012-2012 - Freelance Company proﬁle: - me :-) - interaction designer & design process consultant My responsibilities: - set up the business, pay tax, do sales & PM - deﬁne processes and design concepts for clients 139

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MOBILE APP MUSIC PLAYER IN BAR out ofscope MUSIC MATCH 146

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Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Roadmap Prototype RequirementsReview Scope Estimate Sketch Concept Process Roles Steps 151

Freelance GOOD BAD * freedom in deciding when to work * freedom in deciding how much to work * freedom in deciding for whom to work * ofﬁce/tax/legal stuff is hard! * no team = no feedback * no idea if I was at good at freelancing 152

2012-present - Blast Radius Company profile: - “agency for the connected world” (= Marketing) - owned by global digital agency network Wunderman My responsibilities: - Interaction Design Director in Amsterdam office - design concepts and prototypes (with freelancers) - manage a Business Analyst - support offices in Hamburg, London and Paris 154

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Small ± 9 x 6 cm! Galaxy S2/S3/S4, iPhone, HTC One ! ! Medium ± 11 x 16 cm! Nexus 7, iPad mini, Kindle 7! ! Large ± 21 x 14 cm! Nexus 10, iPad (1, 2, Air), Tab 10.1, Kindle 8.9! Small Medium Large 166

small portrait small landscape medium landscape & large portrait small medium large medium portrait large landscape desktop (large & non–touch) 640 px? 1024 px? %#@&* iPad Mini! 167

Business Design ResearchEvaluation StrategyManage Pitch Scenarios Position Roadmap Service Design Prototype RequirementsReview Test Scope Optimize Estimate SketchDetailed Design Concept Personas Competition Process Interviews 168

Blast Radius * international work environment * working for small number of big accounts * allows for tracking of success of designs * project were never ran by UX (often by Developers or Art Directors) * limited input in early stages of projects 169

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Best team? 172

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Jesse James Garre Peter Merholz Jeﬀ Veen Janice Fraser Dan Saﬀer Lane Becker Indi Young 174

Best place for UX? 175

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Best deliverable? 177

Narrative As a result of initial conversations with the client, our designer-led sales team would create a Narrative. A Narrative consists of: - key business needs - project summary and team overview - phase-by-phase description of activities and outcomes - examples of expected deliverables - timeline and budget 179

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MOBILE APP MUSIC PLAYER IN BAR out ofscope MUSIC MATCH 182

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Best process? 184

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SUP wasn’t used, and SUP-Light was created to ﬁx that 186

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Best process? your process 200

user reseach concept design detailed design prototype & evaluate Persona SITEMAP wireframesrequire- ments usability test Screen FLOW prototype design principles 201

Best client 202

the elements of user experience Henning Fischer Director, Adaptive Path Amsterdam henning@adaptivepath.com @henningﬁscher Peter Boersma Designer, Adaptive Path Amsterdam peter.boersma@adaptivepath.com @pboersma 203

Government of Jamaica 204

Best business lesson? 205

Ofﬁce Managers manage the company ofﬁce managers run the agency 206

don’t postpone talking about money don’t be afraid to talk about money 207

it takes A LOT of work to get work done 208

Thank you! 210

What I learned from oh, I don’t know, around 200 projects Peter Boersma (@pboersma) Interaction Design Director at Blast Radius Interactive Design Conference April 4-5, 2014, Prague 211