Presentation for LavaCon 2014 on the convergence of user experience design and Technical Communication.

1. Convergence of UX and Technical
Communication
Pam Noreault
Twitter @pnoreault
LavaCon 2014

2. • ACI Worldwide
• Sr. Mgr Information Development
• 22+ years experience
• Gadget geek
• People watcher
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3. 1. Why?
2. Start Here
3. When/how to Engage
4. Overall Strategy
5. Content Strategy based on Customer
Engagement Results
6. Success Measures
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4. 4

5. If customers rule, companies must
converge user experience designers
(UXD) and technical writers under the user
experience (UX) umbrella
Trainers and UI designers belong as well
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6. How many of you work for companies that
have done this convergence?
• Yes, we have converged
• No, not happened
• No UXD where I work
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7. • Who talks to customers?
• Listen, learn, apply – REPEAT
• It’s not about asking what your
customers want, it’s about understanding
how they work
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8. • Listen
• Observe
• Interview
• Contextual interviews
• Usability tests
• Card sorts
• Surveys
• Consumer
communities, partner
programs, focus
groups
• Prototyping
• Task analysis
(observe users doing
tasks)
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9. • Collaborate with those who talk to
customers
• Social media
– Review LinkedIn and other forums related to
your company’s line of business
– Monitor your customers on Twitter
– Monitor your own company’s tweets
– Find Facebook chatter
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10. • Mine from social networking sites
• Join LinkedIn groups and ask questions
and post surveys
• Seek input from people who represent
the same personas as your users
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11. Are you engaging with your customers
directly prior to starting a project?
• Yes
• No
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12. Engagement
Types
Schedule
Determine How
to Use Info
Keep the
Conversation
Going
Measure Success
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13. Two major releases this year, I am going to:
Step 1 – Engagement types
• Complete five customer interviews
• Observe same five customers using our product
• Pull the user assistance-related support cases
that have been opened in the past year
Step 2 - Schedule
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14. Step 3 – Information Use
• Improve my deliverables
• Create different deliverables that better meet
customer needs
Step 4 – Measuring Success
• Complete validating testing with customers
Step 5 – Keep conversation going
• Share the improvements made and new
deliverables with these five customers
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15. • Measure “time on task”
• Measure the reduction in support calls
around issues you addressed
• Ask customers to tout the positive
experience
(case studies, testimonials, email/call to
your manager or support mgr, tweet,
comments in company or social media
forums, etc.)
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16. 1. Online Help
2. Content Uplift
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17. • Decreased activity time
• Increased customer satisfaction with
your deliverables
• Reduced support calls around the issues
you addressed
• Positive PR from customers (What’s
better than positive PR!)
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18. How many of you are validating project
deliverables with customers?
• I’ve thought about doing this
• Yes, I do this
• No, who has time for validation
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19. Engagement
Types
Schedule
Determine How
to Use Info
Keep the
Conversation
Going
Measure Success
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20. • UX convergence is happening
• Customer engagement is not a fad
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21. • Obtain a UX certificate or degree
• Take online classes that focus on user
research, measuring customer satisfaction,
or accessing customer needs
• Attend free webinars on intelligent content,
user research, measuring customer
satisfaction, or accessing customer needs
• Network and partner with UX professionals
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22. 1. Why?
2. Start Here
3. When/how to Engage
4. Overall Strategy
5. Content Strategy based on Customer
Engagement Results
6. Success Measures
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23. 23

24. Pam Noreault – Sr. Mgr Information
Development
• pamela.noreault@aciworldwide.com
• pamnoreault@gmail.com
• Twitter – @pnoreault
• LinkedIn – Pam Noreault
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25. • Goodman, Elizabeth; Kuniavsky, Mike; and Moed, Andrea.
Observing the User Experience, Second Edition: A Practitioner’s
Guide to User Research. Waltham: Elsevier, 2012.
• Gothelf, Jeff. Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User
Experience. Sebastopol: O’Reilly, 2013.
• Lea, Wendy. “The New Rules of Customer Engagement,”
Inc.com. Inc Magazine, 5 April 2012, accessed 16 February
2014.
• “User Research Basics,” Usability.gov. US Department of Health
& Human Services, 6 June 2013, accessed 16 February 2014.
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