User experience consultant David Juhlin talks UX strategies for businesses and the multiple levels to consider when planning your strategy. Should your company aim to be an industry pioneer in UX? Or should you replicate the successful strategies of other UX leaders? If you decided to be an industry leader, what organizational structures and capabilities would be beneficial? This presentation from the "5 Levels of UX Strategy" webinar answers these questions and provides a high-level framework that can be used when considering UX strategies. David is a User Experience Consultant at Bentley University. He provides consulting services to clients all over the globe and oversees his own company called GoUsability. He also teaches Online UX Research at Bentley University, and last year, contributed a section about tree testing to Elizabeth Rosenzweig’s book Successful User Experience. Read the Q&As from the webinar on our blog at http://blog.trymyui.com/2016/07/levels-of-ux-strategy-qa/, or watch the full video recording of David's presentation at http://trymyui.com/webinar/levels-of-ux-strategy

1. 5 Levels of UX Strategy
David Juhlin
User Experience Consultant
djuhlin@bentley.edu
781-891-3142

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www.Bentley.edu/uxc @davidjuhlin www.davidjuhlin.com
David Juhlin
www.DavidJuhlin.com

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www.Bentley.edu/uxc @davidjuhlin www.davidjuhlin.com
Strategy and tactics
CEO
“We are the low cost airline”
“We need to keep expenses down”
CMO
VP of marketing
“We need to generate word of mouth marketing”
Director of Marketing
“We need to create a great user experience”
Marketing Manager
“We need to understand our customers”

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Levels of UX strategy
Global
UX Division
Company
Industry
Project

5. Global

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Industry analysis- Porters 5 Forces
New entrances
Substitutes
Suppliers Buyers
Rivals/
Competitors
Source: https://hbr.org/2008/01/the-five-competitive-forces-that-shape-strategy

7. Industry

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Cost or differentiation strategy
Cost Differentiation
Broad
Market
Focused
Market
BMW
Ferrari
Hyundai
Smart car
Source: “Competitive Advantage” by Michael E. Porter

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Southwest Vs. traditional airline
Traditional airline
Factors of competition
Offerings
Southwest
Source: https://hbr.org/2002/06/charting-your-companys-future

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Price premium of CX/UX
Source: The Price Premium Of Customer Experience, Forrester Research, September 4, 2015

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Industry CX Dynamics
Source: Customer Experiences Drives Revenue Growth 2016, Forrester Research, June 21, 2016

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Importance of CX/UX
Source: Customer Experiences Drives Revenue Growth 2016, Forrester Research, June 21, 2016

13. Company

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Contract out Vs. building up internally
Contract
Contract
In-house
In-house
Backend
Frontend
Online retailSearch engine
Parking fine Off-shore dev.

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UX organizational structure & SWOT analysis
Fully Centralized Centralized with
assignments
Matrixed (BU
funded)
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Centralized funding and
reporting
Standards,
governance
Company-wide
UX vision
Shared expertise
If BUs hire UX
outside central
org, competition
arisesCross-product
insights/innovation
Career progression
More work to align
with BUs
May work in
isolation
Standards,
governance
Career progression
Domain expertise
Governance
takes more work
BUs may lose
resources if
priorities shift
Company-wide
UX vision
Cross-product
insights/innovation
If BUs hire UX
outside central
org, competition
arises
Works well with
agile/scrum
Performance tied to
product success
Domain expertise
Governance is difficult
Little cross-product
collaboration
Within-product
innovation
Efficient product
time-to-market
Fewer career
growth
opportunities
BU priorities may
win out over UX’s
user advocacy
Can’t reallocate
resources if
priorities shift
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Centralized funding and reporting,:
A central team assigns resources to
BUs
BU funds resources, who are
centrally managed (matrixed
org); solid & dotted-lines
Source: Nancy Dickinson & Christian Rohrer

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Full Hybrid/Federation Fully Distributed
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Central group and BU groups,
reporting separately into
central leadership and BUs,
respectively (no dotted lines)
Strengths Weaknesses
Opportunities Threats
Embedded UX teams in BUs. No
central org
Shared & domain
expertise
Permits cross-product
insights and in-depth
product innovation
Governance is difficult
Competition between
central and BU UX
orgs may arise
Works well with
agile/scrum
Efficient product
time-to-market
Lack of cohesion
between groups may
mean less influence
over company-wide
UX
Lack of cohesion
between groups may
mean less influence
over company-wide
UX
No possibility for
standards/governance
Domain expertise
Works well with
agile/scrum
Very few career
growth/devel oppys
Efficient product
time-to-market
UX organizational structure & SWOT analysis
Source: Nancy Dickinson & Christian Rohrer

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Comparison of UX organizational structures
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Fully Centralized Centralized with
assignments
Matrixed (BU Funded) Full
Hybrid/Federation
Fully distributed
Description Funding and UX
reporting are
centralized
Central UX group
assigns resources to
Bus. All central funding.
BU-funded teams report
into central UX or BU
with dotted line to the
other.
Central team and BU-
funded teams. No
dotted line reporting.
BU-funded teams
only. No central UX
org.
Permits global UX
strategy/vision ● ● ◐ ○ ○
Permits standards
development and
governance
● ● ◐ ○ ○
Fosters domain
knowledge ○ ◐ ● ● ●
Works well with
agile/scrum ○ ◐ ● ● ●
Can shift resources
quickly
● ● ○ ○ ○
Provides career
devel/growth ● ● ◐ ◐ ○
Ensures alignment
with BU/product
priorities
○ ○ ● ● ●
Source: Nancy Dickinson & Christian Rohrer

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Mixed/Matrixed structure
CentralizedDistributed
• Specialized competency
• Host specific functionalities
• Drive innovation
• Educate (organization & UX staff)
• Assist during peaks
• Domain expertise
• Great for agile
• UX influence start to finish

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Mixed/Matrixed structure
External
• Peak load
• Outside perspective
CentralizedDistributed
• Specialized competency
• Host specific functionalities
• Drive innovation
• Educate (organization & UX staff)
• Assist during peaks
• Domain expertise
• Great for agile
• UX influence start to finish

20. UX Division

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Inside-out and outside-in
Global
UX Division
Company
Industry
Project

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The “Great” Vs. “Good Enough” Experience
Best
Average
Worst
Great (Industry leader)
• Higher customer satisfaction
• Higher costs
Good enough
• Reasonable customer satisfaction
• Low costs

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CX/UX Potential
Source: The Revenue Impact Of Customer Experience, Forrester Research, August 11, 2015

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Strategy – UX Division
Current state
Offerings
Desired state
High
Low

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Capabilities analysis
Staff
EquipmentUsers
Processes

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Process analysis – “good enough” UX
Competitor A
Competitor B
Competitor C
Design A
Design B
Design C Design D

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Process analysis – “innovation” UX
Design B
Design A
Idea1
Idea 2
Idea 3
Idea 4
Concept A
Concept B
Concept C
Concept D
Design C
Design D
Design E
Design F
Design G
Design H
Design I
Competitor A
Competitor B
Competitor C
Design J
Design K
Design L

28. Project

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Iterative projects
Business Goals
Customer Goals
Other Units
(Marketing, Sales,
etc.)
UX division

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Goals
Organizational
Goals
User
Group 1
User
Goal 1
User
Group 2
User
Group 3
User
Goal 2
User
Goal 3
User
Goal 4
User
Goal 5

31. Thank you!
Bentley Univ. User Experience
Center
www.Bentley.edu/uxc
@BentleyUXC
Linked in group- Bentley UXC
David Juhlin
User Experience Consultant
djuhlin@Bentley.edu
@davidjuhlin
www.davidjuhlin.com