Talk given at DXN (dxnevent.com) on the 10th May 2017. As creators of the web, our teams aim to understand challenges, opportunities and requirements, and translate these into technical solutions to build. But what happens when we start looking beyond this, using the website itself as a starting point rather than as the end of our journey? Websites are often a great barometer for wider underlying issues, and by exploring common problems and root causes we can seek to spark fundamental change that can ultimately feed back into our longer-term success. Using a set of practical examples and case studies we’ll pull at some potential threads of failure, looking at how to create more sustainably for the future.

1. Websites are a symptom,
not the cause
DXN. 10th May 2017
Sally Jenkinson
@sjenkinson
recordssoundthesame.com

2. Hello!
@sjenkinson

3. “HealthCare.gov, the $630 million online
insurance marketplace, was a disaster after
it went live…”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/us/politics/inside-the-race-to-rescue-a-health-site-and-obama.html
New York Times

4. “The rollout of Healthcare.gov in 2013 under
former President Barack Obama, to name a
related example, was a disaster.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/141203/trumpcare-already-dead
New Republic

5. “Even Obamacare supporters had their faith
shaken by Obama’s broken promises about
keeping existing plans, premiums declining
by $2,500, and the disastrous website roll-
out.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2017/01/is-obamacare-just-a-branding-problem/512936/
The Atlantic

6. “The first step is to get rid of Obamacare,
which was a total disaster," Gianti said. "It
was designed to fail, and taxpayers had to
waste money on that failed healthcare.gov
website.”
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/trump-inauguration-attendees-cheer-failed-socialist-experiment
TPM

7. When websites
have problems,
people remember.

8. When your web project
becomes synonymous with failure

10. “Bad impressions and bad stereotypes
are quicker to form and more
resistant to disconfirmation
than good ones.”
Roy F. Baumeister, Ellen Bratslavsky, Catrin Finkenauer, Kathleen D. Vohs
BAD IS STRONGER THAN GOOD

11. Turn this focus to your advantage

12. Don’t just make websites.
Use websites to point you in the direction of
everything that could be better.
Use web technologies to start thinking outside
of limited approaches.

13. Identifying issues01
02
03
04
Why do any problems exist?
How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
How do we make things better?

14. Identifying issues
1 Uncovering everything that could be better

15. @sjenkinson
Sally Jenkinson

16. Technical discovery

17. There are so
many factors
to consider
on any
project
recordssoundthesame.com/wp-content/uploads/
2013/04/startingpoints-FINAL.pdf

18. Digital transformation

19. Using a website as a lens

20. “The system that got implemented was far
too inflexible, so we’ve had to either stay be
limited by it or come up with workarounds.”

21. “We have to go back to our agency’s
developers for every little change. This is
expensive and takes forever.”

22. “The site launched, but it’s incredibly slow
compared to our old one and people are
starting to complain.”

23. “We’re not sure why but our analytics have
shown that we’ve lost 80% of our traffic
since the launch.”

24. Extending expert reviews

25. Performance Accessibility Code review
Responsive
approach
Third party
integrations
Analytics
General
attention to
detail
Extending expert reviews
Usability SEO Content

26. gist.github.com/greywillfade/20f48ba67d799784040e

29. Everyone is different

32. Why do any problems exist?
2 Understanding root causes

33. Root cause analysis

34. Sakichi Toyoda
& The 5 Whys

36. Fishbone/
Ishikawa diagram
Visualise cause and effect

37. People, processes,
technology, & strategy

38. People

39. Technology

40. Strategy

42. Process

45. 3 How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
Using digital to transform more widely

46. Root causes to
make sites
better
Web thinking
to make other
things better

47. Web thinking
to make other
things better
Root causes to
make sites
better

48. Being more proactive

50. “The sooner we can order parts,
the sooner they come in, the
sooner we’ll see a performance
increase”

51. 1. Help the team to have a faster car, through more efficient processes.
2. Save time and money.
3. Provide staff with better tools and processes, removing frustrations
(and helping them to get home on time!)
4. Be more sustainable into the future.
5. Better use technology to gain advantages on other teams.

52. 1. Help the team to have a faster website, through more efficient
processes.
2. Save time and money.
3. Provide staff with better tools and processes, removing frustrations
(and helping them to get home on time!)
4. Be more sustainable into the future.
5. Better use technology to gain advantages on competitors.

55. Use the web and digital
principles to bring benefits to
the wider business.

56. [insert Paul’s talk here]

57. Building for the future 🚀

59. Making change happen4How do we make things better?

60. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t just
do
Get the right
team
Stay open

63. Give people an easy way to
understand why something
matters.

64. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t just
do
Get the right
team
Stay open

68. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t just
do
Get the right
team
Stay open

69. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t just
do
Get the right
team
Stay open

70. Communicate
improvements
Standards and
principles
Teach, don’t just
do
Get the right
team
Stay open

71. ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/free-faster

72. Identifying issues
Why do any problems exist?
How can we apply our web thinking elsewhere?
How do we make things better?

73. Credits:
flickr.com/photos/ideonexus/3776943478
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lenteconv_3.svg
Kepler 16-b courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech
Sally Jenkinson
@sjenkinson
sally@recordssoundthesame.com
recordssoundthesame.com
sallyjenkinson.co.uk
Thank you!