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UX Strategy
Cassandra Moore discusses how to develop an experience strategy by aligning user experience activities with organizational goals. She emphasizes understanding the organization's goals, challenges, and value proposition. An experience strategy should include a plan of activities with timelines that address goals by providing data and solving problems. Activities should be selected based on how they contribute to achieving goals and improving the customer experience. The strategy should be communicated simply to stakeholders using visual tools that connect emotionally and tell a story.
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UX Strategy
- 1. CX / UXStrategy Driving Innovation & Making our Work Meaningful Cassandra Moore, PhD UXPA DC July 21, 2016
- 2. Agenda • What makeswork meaningful? • Strategic thinking is unnatural • How to think strategically • Business strategy • Experience strategy
- 3. Satisfying Work • Senseof agency, influence • Involvement in something aspirational • Finding meaning • Flow? @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 4.
- 5. Defining Terms (forthis talk) • Goals – what you want to achieve • Strategy – plan for achieving goals • Tactics – specific activities • Organizations have purpose, goals – Business – Govt agency – Association – Non-profit @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 6. Descriptive of Strategy? Yes •Rationality • Logic • Goals • Intentionality • Reasoning Not so much • Intuition • Emotion • Bias • Good enough • Quick @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 7. Myth of theRational Agent Choices based on • All available information • Probabilities of events • Potential costs & benefits Always maximizes utility in his own interest @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 8. Strategic Thought isnot Natural • Conclusions on few facts • Certain we’re right • Dismiss inconsistent evidence • Use heuristics • Overgeneralize, exhibit bias @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 9. Who we thinkwe are Who we really are @Seymour188cassandramoorephd It’s Counterintuitive…
- 10. • Automatic, effortless,quick • Largely unconscious, difficult/impossible to control • Intuition, expertise, skill • Does most of the work of thinking • Controlled, effortful, slow • Usually conscious • Logically coherent, rule-governed • Lazy • Easily overwhelmed Two Systems of Thinking @Seymour188 System 1 System 2 cassandramoorephd
- 11. Thinking is Hard •Persuasion, sales, voting, even behavior change, appeals to emotions and values • It works because our everyday thought is based on heuristics, intuitions, emotions @Seymour188
- 12.
- 13. Algorithms Engage System2 • Use algorithms • Explicit consideration of each component of a decision • Leads to more rational choices • Important to choose the right criteria @Seymour188
- 14. Surgical Checklist • Surgeryhas become so complicated, expert surgeons can forget a step • Expertise is not enough. It relies on System 1 • Checklists reduce medical errors dramatically • Slows the team, engages System 2 @Seymour188
- 15. Checklist for RegulatoryImpact Analysis • Changing Federal Regulations has broad impact, huge cost if incorrect or incomplete • Instituted by Cass Sunstein (Harvard Law faculty) in the Obama administration • Requires evidentiary support, explicit reflection, and reason- giving • Provides criteria for deciding what to do, what NOT to do RIA (Sample of Questions) Does the RIA include a reasonably detailed description of the need for the regulatory action? Does the RIA include an explanation of how the regulatory action will meet that need? Does the RIA use an appropriate baseline? Is the information in the RIA based on the best reasonably obtainable scientific, technical, and economic information and is it presented in an accurate, clear, complete, and unbiased manner? Does the RIA explain and support a reasoned determination that the benefits of the intended regulation justify its costs (recognizing that some benefits and costs are difficult to quantify)? @Seymour188
- 16. Strategy Before creating anExperience Strategy, we need the right criteria for deciding what to do. Criteria are supplied by business goals. @Seymour188
- 17.
- 18. Seek to Understandthe Organization • Approach with curiosity – What are their goals? Challenges? – What do they offer to customers? – What is the value proposition? – How do they want the customer to interact with them? – How do they differentiate themselves from organizations with similar offerings? @Seymour188
- 19. Business Strategy alaMichael Porter A collection of activities that an organization chooses to undertake to deliver a series of (positive, exceptional) interactions which, when taken together, constitute an (product or service) offering that is superior in some meaningful, hard-to- replicate way; that is unique, distinct & distinguishable from that available from a competitor. • Replace “is” with “the customer believes”. Knowing what the customer thinks is the critical support for the whole strategy • Many products, e.g., Internet service, cable, are essentially the same. The differentiator can be customer experience @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 20. The Elusive BusinessStrategy • Most organizations don’t have an explicit strategy (please write if you find one!) • Org strategies are very difficult to write and to agree upon. Efforts are often abandoned mid-stream • Usually, you will be hunting for clues about the implicit goals of the organization @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 21. Hunting for Org(Business) Strategy • At the organizational level look for – Vision or mission statements – ‘About Us’ description – C-level newsletters, speeches, blogs – Articles about the organization or their mandate • At the department level look for – Department goals, KPIs, success measures – RFP, proposals for the project – Vision & scope of project – Business requirements @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 22. Make Straw ManGoals • Evaluate the evidence gathered • Get input from team members with different perspectives – Developers, designers, project managers • Make a prioritized list of organizational goals • Think about which problem or opportunity each goal addresses • Be willing to be wrong @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 23. Verify the Listwith Stakeholders • Ask stakeholders to evaluate the straw man – Do they agree with the goals? – Do they agree with the prioritization? – Have we left anything out? – Are there constrains or challenges we haven’t considered? • Simply asking “what are your goals?” invites use of the Homer system. @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 24. Listen with Empathy •Try to understand stakeholder’s perspective • Take note of any challenges or dismissals (we can’t do that because…) • Remember who is concerned about what • Note assumptions and opinions about customer behavior (and test them later) • Consider making a list of stakeholders with notes about their concerns @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 25. Revise the GoalsList • Review stakeholder input, note agreement level • Have problems or opportunities been overlooked? • Which are short-term vs. long-term goals? • Consider the broader technology landscape – Are they missing anything, e.g., a CMS or CRM? – Are the solutions they’re considering future friendly? • Goals provide criteria for selecting UX activities @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 26. CREATING AN EXPERIENCESTRATEGY
- 27. Thinking about anExperience Strategy • How can UX help achieve the business goals? • What activities will provide data/evidence? • Which goal does each UX activity address? • How does the activity contribute to the goal? • Is the activity the most efficient way of reaching the goal? • If it doesn’t contribute in a meaningful way, don’t do it @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 28. Planning for theFuture @Seymour188 • Strategic plans should look to the future • Some problems can be solved now, but others must wait (equipment, time, budget, etc.) • What are the future challenges likely to be? • Are today’s solutions readying the organization to meet future challenges? cassandramoorephd
- 29. Formulating the ExperienceStrategy • A plan of activities on a timeline • What each activity will accomplish – data, evidence • Why the accomplishment is important – reason-giving • How you will measure outcomes – Contribution to the customer experience – Contribution to achieving business goals @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 30. Communicating the Strategy •Talk to Homer, not Spock – Keep it simple – Connect on an emotional level – Reference values – Make it fun – Tell a story • Assume people skim text and look at pictures @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 31. Communication Tools • Discussthe plan with your team – Dev, PM, content strategists, product owners, etc. – Be flexible. Remember, it’s a team effort! • Make a poster, put it on the wall – Stakeholders see what you’re doing and when – Promotes a user-centric mindset – Provides a context for the customer story you’ll tell with personas, journey maps, sketches @Seymour188cassandramoorephd
- 32. Circling Back toBusiness Strategy @Seymour188 • User research provides the foundation for an evidence-based strategy • User research can legitimize the value proposition • Communication of the findings is crucial cassandramoorephd
- 33. What can youdo right now? @Seymour188 • Understand the organization, its goals and challenges • Look for problems, pain points • Offer solutions that align with business goals and make the connection explicit cassandramoorephd
- 34. THANK YOU! FIN @Seymour188 Presentation atslideshare.net/SeymourInfoArchitect/ux-strategy-64254598 cassandramoorephd on LinkedIn @Seymour188 on Twitter cassandramoorephd
Editor's Notes
- #4 Taking a more strategic approach to customer/user experience can provide more meaning, enable us to be more influential in our workplaces. Mapping our UX Strategy to larger goals of the organization expands our sphere of influence, demonstrating that strategic customer experience can effect the bottom line.
- #6 I’ll be talking about commercial business, government agencies, and other organizations interchangeably. Most orgs have a purpose for existing and goals they aspire to achieve
- #8 Previously economists thought of people as rational agents that always acted in their own self-interest.
- #9 Two cognitive psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky demonstrated that our choices, including large investments were anything but strategic. Danny Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 based on this work, and the field of behavioral economics has since blossomed.
- #10 These findings are very counterintuitive. We experience ourselves as Spock-like when it comes to decisions, but we’re actually a bit more like Homer Simpson.
- #11 Kahneman proposed a two systems approach – two general families or categories of thinking. Which is not to say that you have two little homunculi in your head – but naming them makes it easier to think about their characteristics System 1 is the older system, perfected for escaping predation, surviving in the Serengeti, still the default. “Anything orange is dangerous” enables you to act quickly when a tiger may be present, but you may also run from a few giraffes. System 2 – is the rational system, it does math in restaurants. When we talk about cognitive strain we’re referring to System 2.
- #12 Not that we can’t think rationally, it’s just that thinking is effortful we have to engage System 2
- #14 So how do we engage System 2 in order to think strategically? Goal is to have a successful army. Strategy is to identify recruits who exhibit certain traits. Criteria for selection, Measure predictive value of those criteria
- #15 To Err is Human – enormous number of medical errors, even by experts Goal is fewer medical errors Strategy is checklist; consideration of each component slows the team down, engages the rational thinking of System 2
- #16 Cass Sunstein, a law professor at Harvard and past member of President Obama’s administration instituted a similar procedure. Before making changes to federal regulations, regulators used this checklist to engage System 2 and make more strategic decisions. Criteria for deciding what to do, what NOT to do Evidentiary support, reflection, reason-giving “Deliberative Democracy” “Evidence-based Medicine” Cass Sunstein, 2009, Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/inforeg/regpol/RIA_Checklist.pdf
- #19 Value proposition – that is why the organization believes a customer would want what they’re offering. What benefit do they believe they’re providing to the customer? Valuable customer experience. Goals – why does this org exist? Created by congressional act? Challenges can be competition, regulations, mandates
- #20 An experience strategy is that collection of activities that an organization chooses to undertake to deliver a series of (positive, exceptional) interactions which, when taken together, constitute an (product or service) offering that is superior in some meaningful, hard-to-replicate way; that is unique, distinct & distinguishable from that available from a competitor. What we propose to do should be based upon the goals and strategy of the organization Commoditization – product offered by different sellers does not differ (e.g., corn) Differentiation – an offer that is superior in some meaningful
- #23 Will collect lots of evidence from artifacts, review it, evaluate it, look for themes, constraints Note differences of opinion and check those out with stakeholders
- #24 Your list will help stakeholders think through the question. You’re engaging them in reasoning, asking them to be Spock for a few minutes. Consider asking why the goals are important or why they prioritized as they did. Note that you’re verifying the criteria you’ve selected Be on the lookout for revelations about problems, e.g., we can’t do anything about it because… Consider a list of stakeholders and their concerns Simply asking “what are your goals?” invites use of the Homer system. Quick answers, no reflection, heuristics, over-confidence.
- #25 Your list will help stakeholders think through the question. You’re engaging them in reasoning, asking them to be Spock for a few minutes. Consider asking why the goals are important or why they prioritized as they did. Note that you’re verifying the criteria you’ve selected Be on the lookout for revelations about problems, e.g., we can’t do anything about it because… Consider a list of stakeholders and their concerns Simply asking “what are your goals?” invites use of the Homer system. Quick answers, no reflection, heuristics, over-confidence.
- #28 Align the experience strategy with the business strategy.
- #29 Strategic plans should look to the future Are you doing research that will evidence for decision making next year?
- #30 As you think through each of these, you’re engaging your Spock System, you are thinking strategically. Suggesting innovative ways of solving business problems. Examining the meaningfulness of each thing you’re proposing. Flow state is quite possible
- #32 Discussion provides an opportunity for creating a shared vision Alerts you to time and/or budget constraints Is your user experience an expression of your brand values (and vice versa)? Is your vision for user experience consistently understood and supported across your business?
- #33 Without research it’s a war of opinions. But data must be reliable, findings should be replicable. The story you tell needs to resonate with stakeholders in the organization. For example, video of customer responses has a big impact. Do users see the value you see in your product?
- #34 Not everyone can leave here and become a strategist, but I hope we’ve provided some tools for thinking strategically. Look for the problems, find solutions When you offer solutions that resonate, you’re more likely to influence the work you’re assigned, find it more meaningful, and may even be invited to the strategy table
- #35 Not everyone can leave here and become a strategist, but I hope we’ve provided some tools for thinking strategically. Look for the problems, find solutions When you offer solutions that resonate, you’re more likely to influence the work you’re assigned, and may even be invited to the strategy table http://www.slideshare.net/SeymourInfoArchitect/ux-strategy-64254598