Advancing UX in Your Organization (TorCHI Talk - December 12, 2013)

Advancing UX in Your Organization

Kimberley Peter
User Experience Design Lead
IBM Rational Software
Toronto, Ontario
kpeter@ca.ibm.com
@kpeter

Adam Archer
Technical Lead, JazzHub
IBM Rational Software
Toronto, Ontario
agarcher@ca.ibm.com
@agarcher

IBM Rational . TorCHI - December 12, 2013 . Advancing UX in Your Organization, Kim Peter and Adam Archer ©2013!

Our plan in detail
Topic

Duration

Introductions + overview

10 min

Topic 1 : Motivation

15 min

Activity 1

15 min

Topic 2 : Context

15 min

Activity 2

20 min

Topic 3 : Solutions

15 min

Conclusion

5 min

Discussion + wrap!

15 min


2!

Introductions + Overview


3!

About ‘us’

Adam Archer
Software Engineer

Kimberley Peter
Designer


4!

Our plan today …

Motivation
Consider cause or
motivation for change
in your context


5!

Our plan today …

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

Visualize context for
prospective areas to
aﬀect change


6!

Our plan today …

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

aﬀect change

Solutions
Identify potential
solutions for change
to try out in your
context


7!

A few disclaimers

1

Not a prescription


8!

A few disclaimers

1

Not a prescription

2

Not representing
process or
methods in general
at IBM


9!

A few disclaimers

1

Not a prescription

2

Not representing
process or
methods in general
at IBM

3

Not a replay of
existing sources


10!

Topics


11!

Topic #1

Motivation
Consider cause or
in your context


12!

Pattern of practice (for change)

EXPERIMENT

SHARE

PRACTICE


13!


EXPERIMENT

SHARE

PRACTICE

Do it. Don’t sell it.  
– Jeﬀ Patton

Begin anywhere. 
– John Cage


14!


EXPERIMENT

SHARE


Share the value.

– Jeﬀ Patton

Begin anywhere. 
– John Cage

PRACTICE

Promote practices.
Think ‘us’.  
– John Wiegand


15!


EXPERIMENT

SHARE

PRACTICE


Share the value.

Adapt to context.

Promote practices.

Hone your skills.

Think ‘us’. 

Fake it ‘til you 
become it. 

– Jeﬀ Patton

Begin anywhere. 
– John Cage

– John Wiegand

– Ann Cuddy


16!


IZE!
OGN

REC

EXPERIMENT

SHARE

PRACTICE


Share the value.

Adapt to context.

Promote practices.

Hone your skills.

Think ‘us’. 
– John Wiegand

Fake it ‘til you 
become it. 

– Jeﬀ Patton

Begin anywhere. 
– John Cage

– Ann Cuddy


17!

Motivation & ‘inventing on principle’

“Creators need an immediate connection … This principle is so important to
me that when I see a violation of it, I consider it a moral wrong. And I don’t
think ‘opportunity’, but rather ‘responsibility’.”
Source: Bret Victor, Inventing on Principle: Living for a Cause, CUSEC 2012 (http://vimeo.com/36579366)

18!

Larry Tesler – “No Modes”

“… what drove him was the belief that ‘no person should be
trapped in a mode’ … and made it his life’s work to ﬁght against.”
Image source: http://www.designinginteractions.com/interviews/LarryTesler

19!

Motivation in context
•  Bret’s Principle: “Creators need an
immediate connection”
•  Larry’s Principle: “No person should be
trapped in a mode”
•  Your Principle: “…”


20!

Motivations – A designer’s perspective
Eng-driven solutions
Wasted time on unused
designs
Too problem-solving
oriented
Diﬀerent cadences

Distributed teams


21!

Motivations – A developer’s perspective

Late-breaking changes

designs

Too feature oriented

Too problem-solving
oriented

Impractical designs

Diﬀerent cadences

Distributed teams

Distributed teams


22!

Hmmm, these seem familiar

Late-breaking changes

designs

Too feature oriented

Too problem-solving
oriented

Impractical designs

Diﬀerent cadences

Distributed teams

Distributed teams


23!

L

24!

Motivation & ‘designing on principle’

Making software
should be satisfying
for everyone involved
and result in quality outcomes


25!

Activity #1

Motivation
Consider cause or
in your context


26!

Activity #1 – Part 1
•  The Breakup Letter
–  Consider your organization or team to be a ‘person’
you’ve been dating
–  Write that person a breakup letter. What would you
say if you were going to end this relationship?

•  Time: 5 minutes
•  Materials: Pen and paper


27!

•  Share your letter
–  Volunteers?



28!

•  Highlight each issue within your letter
–  This will help later with Activity #2

•  Materials: Pen and paper


29!

Topic #2

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

aﬀect change


30!

Process in context – Model


31!

Process in context – Model


32!

Process in context – Players+Activities


33!

Process in context – Issues


34!

Activity #2

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

aﬀect change


35!

•  Find a partner

•  Welcome to My World
–  Take the issues you identiﬁed in the breakup letter and
sketch out the interactions around these issues (e.g.,
what, when, who) – include full context and non-friction
points
–  Use the post-its and shapes (circles, boxes, arrows) to
make a ﬂow diagram with annotations
–  Add new information if you think of it

•  Materials: Post-its, sharpies, large paper

36!

•  Share and elaborate on your world
–  Share your sketch with your partner
–  Clarify and discuss areas of ease, challenge and
interactions with others
–  Elaborate your drawings

–  5 minutes to share / 5 minutes to discuss
–  You can share in succession, or share then clarify
each person in turn


37!

Topic #3

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

aﬀect change

Solutions
Identify potential
to try out in your
context


38!

Being a PROBLEM SOLVER is a good thing.


39!

Being a PROBLEMRight?
is a good thing.
SOLVER


40!

Reframing from the design perspective


41!


Problem 
Solving


42!


Problem 
Finding

Problem
Understanding

Problem 
Solving


43!

Recognizing areas for change


44!

Shifting emphasis

WHAT

HOW


45!

Shifting emphasis
WHAT
Planning content

HOW
Planning activities


46!

Shifting emphasis
WHAT

HOW

Planning content

Planning activities

Problem solving

Problem ﬁnding and
understanding


47!

Shifting emphasis
WHAT

HOW

Planning content

Planning activities

Problem solving

understanding

Independent design

Co-making


48!

Shifting emphasis – Examples
WHAT

HOW

Planning content

Planning activities

Problem solving

understanding

Independent design

Co-making


49!

Planning activities
EXAMPLES

1.  Story mapping an holistic user-centric picture
2.  Shared team rhythm


50!

1. Story mapping
Activity
Time

Release 1

Task
Sub-task

Release 2

Great sources for learning more: Jeﬀ Patton and Winnipeg Agilist


51!

1. Story mapping – Example


52!

1. Story mapping – Our first experiment

A messy start


53!

1. Story mapping – Remote (template)


54!

2. Shared team rhythm


55!

WHAT

HOW

Planning content

Planning activities

Problem solving

understanding

Independent design

Co-making


56!

Problem finding & understanding
EXAMPLE

1.  Using hypothesis-driven exploration


57!

1. Hypothesis-driven exploration


58!

WHAT

HOW

Planning content

Planning activities

Problem solving

understanding

Independent design

Co-making


59!

Co-making (and co-learning)
EXAMPLE

1.  Team book club
2.  Design studio method


60!

1. Team Book Club

1

2

3


61!

2. Design studio method
Follows a pattern

Understand
THE PROBLEM

Sketch
A SOLUTION

Present
THE IDEAS

Critique
THE IDEAS

Great sources for learning more: Will Evans, Nathan Curtis and Todd Zaki Warfel


62!

Beneﬁts
•  Collaborate to understand together


63!

Beneﬁts
•  Generate ideas from diﬀerent perspectives


64!

Beneﬁts
•  Solidify ideas via sharable artifacts


65!

Beneﬁts
•  Create shared ownership


66!

Beneﬁts
•  Allow for open and honest critique


67!

Beneﬁts
•  Allow for open and honest critique
•  Force participants to defend concepts


68!

2. Design studio method – Remote

+
Audio/teleconference
Screen sharing software
Social software
Sketching tools


69!

2. Design studio method – Remote


70!

Activity #3 – Homework J

Motivation

Context

Consider cause or
in your context

aﬀect change

Solutions
Identify potential
to try out in your
context


71!

•  Brainstorm solutions from a distance
–  You now have some perspective on your partner’s
challenges and context
–  As someone at a distance, reﬂect on possible
solutions to your partner’s challenges
–  Use post-its to write down all the possibilities you can
think of
–  Place post-its on your partner’s world maps/sketches

•  Materials: Post-its, sharpies, your world
maps/sketches

72!

•  Discuss solutions
–  Take turns sharing your solution ideas with your partner

•  Time:
–  10 minutes: 5 minutes each to share  
(we will signal at 5 minutes)


73!

Conclusion


74!

How are we doing?

Is making software
satisfying for everyone involved
and resulting in quality outcomes?


75!

How are we doing?

J

people


76!

How are we doing?

J

people

design


77!

How are we doing?

J

people

design

quality


78!

How are we doing?

J

people
It’s a

design
quality
work in progress


79!

A few last take aways …
1.  Change takes time – a lot of time


80!

Timeline example
Increased
emphasis
on design

Change
project
teams

Book club

Lead design studios

Review + periodically collaborate w/ individual devs

Engage dev peers in synthesis activities

Lead cross-functional feature teams

Partner w/ tech leads to inﬂuence dev plans

2009

2010

2011

Plan w/ PM + tech leads

2012

2013


2014

81!

2.  Relationships matter – both bottom-up
and top-down


82!

2.  Relationships matter – both bottom-up and
top-down
3.  Small changes keep you motivated
 
To keep your momentum and motivation up, get in the
habit of accomplishing small victories along the way. 
– Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson


83!

Thank You!
Kimberley Peter
kpeter@ca.ibm.com
@kpeter

Adam Archer
agarcher@ca.ibm.com
@agarcher


84!

Sources for methods (adapted)
Activity 1 : The Breakup Letter
•  Hanington, B., Martin, B.,
Universal Methods of Design: 100 Ways to Research Complex Problems, Develop Innovative Ideas, and Design Eﬀective Solutions, Rockport
Publishers (2012)

Activity 2 : Welcome to My World
•  Gray, D., Brown, S., Macanufo, J., Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Changemakers, O’Reilly Media, 1st Edition (2010)

Activity 3 : Getting Distance (not used in this version of the workshop)
•  Heath, C., Heath, D., Decisive: How to Make Better Decisions in Life and Work, Random House Canada (2013)


85!

Sources for further learning (1 of 3)
Agile / Lean UX Methods
•  Gothelf, J., Seiden, J. (editor), Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience, O'Reilly Media (2013)
•  Ramsey, A., Designing with Agile Workshop: Fast, Eﬀective Methods that Work (Anders Ramsey – Blog, 2011) 
http://www.andersramsay.com/2011/10/06/designing-with-agile-workshop/

Design Principles
•  Hess, W., Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX (Slideshare, 2011) 
http://www.slideshare.net/whitneyhess/design-principles-the-philosophy-of-ux

Design Studio Method
•  Curtis, N., Sketching for Understanding (UIE Webinar, 2013) 
http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/sketching_understanding/

•  Zaki Warfel, T., The Design Studio Method (Agile UX NYC 2012 – Vimeo, 2012) 
http://vimeo.com/37861987
•  Evan, W., (no longer available at UXMag – try Semantic Foundry (http://www.semanticfoundry.com) for possible updates):
–  Evans, W., Introduction to Design Studio Methodology (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) 
http://uxmag.com/articles/introduction-to-design-studio-methodology
–  Evans, W., The Design of Design Studio (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) 
http://uxmag.com/articles/the-design-of-design-studio
–  Evans, W., Design Studio and Agile UX: Process and Pitfalls (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) 
http://uxmag.com/articles/design-studio-and-agile-ux-process-and-pitfalls

Feature Teams
•  Larman, C., Vodde, B., Feature Team Primer (PDF, 2010) 
http://featureteamprimer.org/feature_team_primer12.pdf


86!

General Theory, Practice, and Inspiration
•  Brown, T., Change By Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation, Harper Business, 1st Edition
(2009)
•  Buxton, B., Sketching User Experiences: Getting the Design Right and the Right Design, Morgan Kaufmann, 1st Edition (2007)
•  Cuddy, A., Your body language shapes who you are, TED Talk (2012) 
http://www.ted.com/talks/amy_cuddy_your_body_language_shapes_who_you_are.html
•  Fried, J., Heinemeier Hansson, D., Rework, Crown Business (2010)
•  Merholz, P., Wilkens, T., Schauer, B., Verba, D.,
Subject To Change: Creating Great Products & Services for an Uncertain World: Adaptive Path on Design, O'Reilly Media (2008)
•  Victor, B., Inventing on Principle: Living for a Cause (Canadian University Software Engineering Conference, CUSEC 2012 – Vimeo,
2012) http://vimeo.com/36579366
•  Wellings, P., Gray, C., Turning a Developer-driven Organization into a UX Company (UX Week – Vimeo, 2010) 
http://vimeo.com/15136913

Remote Collaboration Methods
•  Curtis, N., Efficient Sketching Studios With Remote Participants (EightShapes – Blog, 2011) 
http://www.eightshapes.com/blog/2011/10/13/efficient-sketching-studios-with-remote-participants/
•  Gothelf, J., Designing with remote teams (Jeff Gothelf – Blog, 2013) 
http://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/designing-with-remote-teams/


87!

Strategy and Planning Methods
•  Milan, M., Ladner, S., Backcasting: How I learned to stop predicting and help my clients (IA Summit – Slideshare with audio, 2007) 
http://www.slideshare.net/mmilan/backcasting-ia-summit-2007-session-presentation
•  Milan, M., Backcasting 101: Collaborative Strategy Development for Information Architects (IA Summit – Slideshare, 2008) 
http://www.slideshare.net/mmilan/backcasting-101-ﬁnal-public
•  Patton, J., The new user story baclog is a map (Agile Product Design – Blog, 2008) 
http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/the_new_backlog.html
•  Patton, J., Story mapping for UX Practitioners: Tying Agile and UX together (UIE Podcast, 2011) 
http://www.uie.com/brainsparks/2011/10/07/jeﬀ-patton-story-mapping-for-ux-practitioners-tying-agile-and-ux-together/
Synthesis Theory and Methods
•  Kolko, J., Exposing the Magic of Design: A Practitioners Guide to the Methods and Theories of Synthesis, Oxford University Press
(2011)


88!

Advancing UX in Your Organization (TorCHI Talk - December 12, 2013)

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Advancing UX in Your Organization (TorCHI Talk - December 12, 2013)

Similar to Advancing UX in Your Organization (TorCHI Talk - December 12, 2013) (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Advancing UX in Your Organization (TorCHI Talk - December 12, 2013)