The document discusses UX maturity models and how to assess the maturity of a UX practice within an organization. It presents several UX maturity models proposed by experts over time, focusing on the model by Jennifer Fraser and Scott Plewes from 2015. Their model measures UX maturity based on three factors: the timing of initial UX work, availability of UX resources, and UX leadership and culture. The document provides examples of assessing UX maturity scores for different organizations at different points in time. It includes an activity where readers assess their own organization's current UX maturity, goals for 18-24 months, and propose tactical and strategic actions to achieve those goals.

1. UX Maturity – how do you
develop the UX practice
in your organisation
Mags Hanley
UX Management and Leadership Coach
15 November 2016

2. Introduction to me
I am a UX Management and Leadership Coach.
I teach and support UX professionals at all levels
to grow in their UX practices.
I bring my expertise of over 20 years in the digital
to create actionable strategy and concrete plans
for delivery of products and services.

3. Setting the scene

4. What is strategic impact of UX
within an organisation?

5. State of UX in 2016- Leah Buley
Lower Impact Higher Impact
Place in the
organisation
Product (low)
IT (lower)
Marketing (lowest)
Customer experience
(highest)
Ratio of developers to
designers
1:20 1:4
Leadership roles UX Manager or below UX Director or above
Process Basic UX processes –
usability testing, flows
and wireframes
Framing the solution,
working across
channels, service design
Measurement of UX
impact
Not measured – not
even usability to ensure
designs were effective
Quantified baseline
against Customer
Satisfaction
Changes connected to
revenue
http://www.creativebloq.com/features/the-state-of-ux-in-2016

6. UX Maturity models

7. What is a UX Maturity model?
A UX Maturity Model is a framework that describes
the different stages of UX within organisations.
Generally they start with ‘Unorganised’ and end
with ‘Leading the organisation’.

8. Jared Spool – 1997 - 2007
Stage Users want UX focuses on Developers focus on
1 Technology
a.k.a.
“Raw Iron”
The basic
capability
Getting the technology
working = The product
works
Technical issues and
delivery
2 Features
(a.k.a.
“Checklist
Battles”)
The best set of
features
Getting the right features Adding features and
fixing bugs
3 Experience
(a.k.a
“Productivit
yWars”)
To get their
work done
better and
faster
Getting the right
experience = Easy to learn,
fast, powerful
Performance support,
reducing technical
support costs
4 Integration
Transparency
Lowest cost Integration into bigger
experiences = The product
is invisible
Reducing costs or
seeking new markets
https://articles.uie.com/market_maturity/

9. Adaptive Path
http://adaptivepath.org/uploads/documents/apr-005_businessvalue.pdf

10. Jacob Nielsen - 2006
UX Maturity Stage Featuring Time to next stage
1: Hostility Developers simply don’t want to hear about
users or their needs
Up to decades
2: Developer - Centred Design team relies on its own intuition 2‐3 years
3: Skunkworks Guerilla user research or external usability
experts
2‐3 years
4: Dedicated Budget Usability is planned for 2‐3 years
5: Managed Someone to think about usability across the
organisation
6‐7 years
6: Systematic Process Tracking user experience quality 6‐7 years
7: Integrated User
Centred Design
Employing usability data to determine what
company should build
~ 20 years
8: User – Driven
Corporation
Usability affects corporate strategy and
activities beyond interface design
~40 years to get from
start
http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-maturity-stages-1-4/

11. Jennifer Fraser and Scott Plewes - 2015
http://www.macadamian.com/2015/08/20/indicators-of-user-experience-maturity/

12. My take
The last model – Frazer and Plewes provides a good model that can be
used to measure UX Maturity thereby describing the level of impact UX
has in the organisation.
I like this model as it provides three metrics to measure the maturity:
 Timing of the initial UX
 Availability of resources
 Leadership and Culture

13. Timing of the initial UX
Timing of the UX is about WHEN the UX is performed in the development
process. It moves from ‘none’ to ‘being an integral part of the strategy
for the organisation’.
To benchmark I consider both:
 When in the development process the first method of UX is done
 Integration of the UX within the whole product lifecycle

14. Availability of resources
Availability of the resources is focused on WHO does the UX within the
organisation. It ranges from ‘no-one’ to ‘a UX team with capabilities
across all the UX sub-disciplines’.
The two elements I use to benchmark are:
 Type and roles of the people in the organisation performing UX
 UX methods being performed

15. Leadership and Culture
As a UX manager and Leader, this is the area that you are responsible for.
The three elements to consider are:
 Influence – Is UX seen as a servant to Product, Development or
Creative; or does it have a seat at the table and is part of the scoping
of products and services?
 People leadership – Management, coaching and development of people
 Design leadership – Are you inspiring, reviewing and improving the UX
design of your team; expected to be doing the UX design, or leading
using your design thinking to shape the organisation?

16. Examples

17. Argus Associates – 1999-2001
Maturity Measures Grade
Timing of the initial UX Stage 3: starting IA/UX activities for customers at the
beginning of projects
Availability of resources Stage 3: Strong IA with increasing expertise in Usability
Leadership and Culture Stage 3: Strong leadership
Stage at start: Stage 3
Stage to aim for: Stage 4-5
Context
 I moved to the US to be a Project Manager at Argus Associates – one of the first IA/UX
Consultancies in the world
 There was a team of 10 IAs, 3 project managers and a usability specialist.
 The aim was to grow the Consulting business – hiring more people, doing leading edge
work and developing tools that created the cornerstone of the practice.
Tactical: Hire staff to do the work we were winning
Strategic: Develop processes to be able to replicate methods; enabling leading teams to
create world class, leading edge IA.

18. BBC – Setting up an IA practice - 2002
Maturity Measures Grade
Timing of the initial UX Stage 2: No IA, limited UX
Availability of resources Stage 2: No IAs, but some visual
designers and usability professionals
Leadership and Culture Stage 2: Emerging UX leadership, no
IA leadership
Stage at start: Stage 2
Stage to aim for: Stage 3
Context
I was hired at the BBC to start an IA practice, in particular to describe and model the
content so it could be used in CMS for multi-platform publishing.
Tactical: Work on a English Regions CMS implementation to prove value and develop
the skills set
Strategic: Realised that there would always be multiple CMS, so create a content
model that could be used across the organisation. Develop relationships across the
organisation to increase influence

19. WTG – Shore up a UX practice – 2005-2011
Maturity Measures Grade
Timing of the initial UX Stage 3: Simple UX process in most projects
Availability of resources Stage 2: One visual designer
Leadership and Culture Stage 1: No UX leadership
Stage at start: Stage 2
Stage to aim for: Stage 3
Context
WTG already had a UX practice with a designer, contract UXers and a front-end
coder, but the work and the team were patchy - some good projects, mostly bad.
Tactical: Lead by example, develop better proposals for work and win the work
Strategic: Hire amazing core team of people who could handle any project; find
UX-only projects, lead major projects with UX (like Census 2011) and develop
services for the Public Sector

20. Now over to you…

21. Activity
Alone using the hand out
 Mark where your organisation is:
 According the maturity model
 The existing level of impact you have in the organisation
 Identify what your end state is in the next 18-24 months
 Write one tactical action to be completed within the next 6 months
 Write one strategic action to be completed within 12 months
For each action:
 How it will achieve your goals
 Identify people and resources needed to do it
 Your allies
 Potential roadblocks

22. Activity (continued)
In a group
 Review the hand out
 Quiz the person on why that particular action
 Identify one other tactical and strategic action that could
be taken
REMEMBER – this is workshop has a cone of silence
Anything shared in this workshop cannot be talked about
outside of the classroom without express permission.

23. Questions and comments ?

24. Thank you
Mags Hanley
Email: magshanley@gmail.com
Twitter: @magshanley
LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/magshanley

25. Jennifer Fraser and Scott Plewes - 2015
http://www.macadamian.com/2015/08/20/indicators-of-user-experience-maturity/

26. Measure Current position 18-24 months
UX Maturity
• Timing
• Resources
• Leadership
Strategic Impact
UX Maturity Scorecard

27. Questions Current position
What is your tactical action?
How it will achieve your goals?
Who do you need ( people and
resources) to do it?
Who are your allies?
What are the potential
roadblocks?
How will you measure success?
Other options
Tactical action

28. Questions Current position
What is your strategic action?
How it will achieve your goals?
Who do you need ( people and
resources) to do it?
Who are your allies?
What are the potential
roadblocks?
How will you measure success?
Other options
Strategic action