3/14 11:00 5 Steps to bulletproof UX strategy

@rhjr

robert@rhjr.net

rhjr.net

#rhjr_ux5

At end: Got applause. Sign of a good presentation.

Also making notes

Troy Grosfield - Wordpress @troygrosfield

http://jenniferconley.posterous.com/5-steps-to-bulletproof-ux-strategy-sxswi-2011

• You need a user experience strategy. If you don’t have one, whatever you’re doing is a fun guess.
• Backwards, like people actually adopt it
• Step 2 is the most important, and will take the most time.
• Companies start noticing that people aren’t using sites. Realize they need UX
• Point of stagnation: You’ve done a lot of work and don’t know how to get to the next level.
• Goal: Increase revenue to profitability
• Metrics can tell us fascinating things, like what people are actually doing on a site. What they’re clicking on. Triangulate issues within a design.
• Discoveries at a startup client (Looked at Google analytics for 5:00)

• 75%Most users were coming in via search engine
• 95% to content page (not home page)
• 73% bounce rate
• 1:05 time on site
• Nobody was going anywhere. No clicking around

• Goal for the project: Increase pageviews (increase ads)
• One client decided they could change those numbers themselves, so they went into prodution mode.

• They released every Friday. No design work. Didn’t define their problems, picked best contenders.
• They used a photoshop expert.
• Building something from concept to screen, things can change A LOT in the code.
• Everyone used the product every day.
• Solution was to redesign everything with wireframes. “Now, we have a plan!” ← Good idea.
• Client created full designs and prototypes. They realized they stank ahead of time.
• They hired a usability expert. So they hired “me”. They handed their wireframes and prototypes to usability expert. He then aspoused all the reasons why any human couldn’t use that web app. You need to figure out how they will use their design decisions.
• Product was for library patrons. They never talked to library patrons. They only talked to library staff.
• They only talked to people who bought the software, not who used it.
• Tiny fixes to big problems don’t fix problems.
• “We think it’s time to step back” - what every client of a UX Expert says.
• “Why do you care about this product?” CEO response: (nothing the design team had done was supporting his idea) [CEO statement not made?]
• 4 years of consulting, 11 years in web design, ONE client got the design/one sheet right.
• Their mission statement was painted on the wall in their common areas. Every employee
• “Our Mission: To put people into the right fit positions so that they can maximize their potential and live more fulfilling lives.”

• Collaborative
• Accountable
• Passionate

STEPS

5. Measure

        1. Aquisition - How are you getting customers/ visitors

        2. Conversion - How you are turning those visitors into customers

        3. How are you keeping people around

        4. How do you know people like you? Are you keeping them around?

        5. Are your changes working? (Tweak it until it’s perfect, then leave it alone)

4. Implement - Build the thing out

• Get to know the people who are executing. Get to know them. Feel their pain.
• When you implement changes without design work, your designs suck, and don’t solve prolems.
• You accept problems without doing something with them from a design standpoint, they will kick your ass.
• (Inventing is easier than reinventing)
• Spending time on the design, spending time on it saves time in the long run.

3. Plan - Design things

• Define the problems
• Find the constraints

• How many people
• how much time available
• technical constraints

• Most time consuming process
• DESIGN THE END GOAL
• Ask questions:

• How will people use this?
• How will this affect users?

• Get your current design into a perfect design.
• The correct feedback is from end users, not buyers.
• The moment when you realize it’s time to step back is the point where everything starts to make sense.
• Questions:

• “Why do you do what you do?”
• “What are you trying to achieve?”
• “Why does it matter?”
• “Why do you care about this?”

• Do companies only do things to make money? Why THIS product? Why THIS problem? Why does THIS thing matter to you?

2. Define the vision (Failing point to UX Strategy)

• Clarify what you’re doing, and why it matters, and what belief is based on.
• This needs to come before all the other decisions
• Purpose is not derived from products. Products are developed as a result of the purpose. The clearer the purpose, the better the products.
• @simonsinek - BOok: “Start with ‘Why?’”
• Read the book, or believe that he’s right
• Hosts usability process.
• You have to have a user experience vision.
• A successful ux is built on a strong vision (plan) executed well
• Having a higher purpose keeps the whole team focused on what matters without sacrificing adaptibility.
• A target gives everyone something to point at. “That’s why this problem matters”
• When you know where you’re going and why, the decisions become very easy.
• Companies who do this: Apple, Google, Zappos. Founded on clear, bold ideas.

• Think different
• Organize the world’s information
• Deliver Happiness
• They do everything they do based on those ideas.

1. Story

• Synthesize the story. Define the “Why”
• Figure out what this thing is. Why does it matter to people. What is the problem they’re trying to solve.
• You’ll hear the same things over and over.

• We believe X,Y,Z
• When you see the patters, that’s where you story is.
• Consolidate the stories into a sentance if possible, or a paragraph.

• Put that story into a vision onesheet (front and back)
• All the information about your strategy into a single document.
• http://rhjr.net/s/onesheet/ ← Template
• Why is it short? Specifications suck and nobody reads them.
• Strategy one sheets get read all the time.
• It’s easy to read. Low barrier to entry.
• Increases the odds that everyone will read the vision doc. Why this application matters.
• Elements to One Sheet

• Statment
• Situation - Who is using it, why are they using it? Who/What/When/Where/Why - Bulletpoints
• Design Criteria section

• Get into how the user experience should feel
• Define what you wan the users to experience while they’re using your application
• “You can’t design an experience, you can only influence it.”
• You can aim for something.

• This is what I would “like” my user to feel.

• Spend time on this. Think carefully. Base them on data, research, vision statement, vet them, get the right things across. Make sure everyone knows what they mean.

• Metrics Section

• What are the success metrics?

• “We want to increase our conversion rate from 6% to 10% in the next three months

• List the things that will tell you if you’ve done your job.

• Design criteria: rules for design

• Make it feel fast, entertaining
• Design criteria: based on research

• Which notes to hit in your use experience
• Google “Creating Great Design Principles”

• How to make them specific to what you’re working on and not generic.
• It has to be specific to your application
• It has to validate the things that you’re doing, that they’re working and they’re good principles.
• He has a delicious list

• “Jared Spool Published Design Criteria”
• List of companies who have published their design principles. They are open about these.

• After you’ve done your one sheet: TELL EVERYBODY.

• Make sure that everyone is on the same page.
• This is the north star of product design. Reminds people why they’re doing this.
• People get pumped about mission statements. Gives people direction. They know what they’re after. It’s why people got up and went to work and everyone wanted to do a great job.
• http://www.snagajob.com/about-us/word-from-ceo.aspx

1. Audit

• Take Inventory
• Compare to the competition
• BE RUTHLESS

• What are all the problems?
• What are all the roadblocks?

• “Worlds easiest way to critique a design” - Article: http://www.eleganthack.com/?p=2868

• “What is the one thing that the buisness wants this product to do? ”

• This is where to start with existing products.

Start at the beginning:

1. Audit
2. Design
3. Plan
4. Implement
5. Mission

All decisions should be defined by a UX vision.

Do this in the right order, and everything will work.

If you start at step 5, you’ll waste a lot of time getting back to step 1.

Book: Designing the obvious. $30. Chapter 2 is this talk. There are 9 others.

Should be at the book store. 3:50.

Course on learnable.com:

User Experience Tools, Tricks & Techniques: $19 as opposed to $40.

Q&A:

• When to revise the vision?

• If you have a vision, you can always revise it

• Is a product more important than a company vision?

• They are different.
• A product and company vision can be the same thing.

• When to start?

• NOW! YESTERDAY!

• A company founder should be a UX person.

• Start with a vision
• Manage the vision
• Start now

• Starting with step 2 is ok.
• Reinforce: Why your product and vision matter.
• Establish a vision statemenet to EVERY feature and individual projects

• Why does this thing matter?
• Should it be front and center? Should it be buried?
• Over time you can track the successes.

• Build credibility.

• People will trust you more. This will branch out.