UIEtips: Scenarios and Journey Maps Help Designers Become Storytellers

via UIE Brain Sparks http://ift.tt/1hxOHFp

BY JARED M. SPOOL

Originally published: May 07, 2014

“The medium of the designer is behavior.” - Robert Fabricant

As designers, this is what we do. We observe our user behaving in a way that we think we can improve. And then we set out to improve it.

Maybe they aren’t quickly finding the information they’re seeking? Or they can’t fill out the form without receiving error messages? Or we can imagine a more delightful way to help them with an important task?

In that moment, we see the user’s behavior we want to change. We change our design and look to see if that behavior changes as a result.

We don’t directly manipulate the user’s behavior. It’s indirect magic that happens through the designs we create.

Yet, with practice, we become good at it. We can learn how changing pixels, text, images, and controls can change how the user interacts with the design.

Getting the Team Focused on the Same Behaviors

Knowing how to change the users’ behaviors is one thing. Knowing which behaviors to change is another.

There are often many approaches to improving a design. Everyone can think they are working towards a better overall experience, but if each team member chooses a different approach, the design becomes confusing and complex.

When we’re working on a team, getting the entire team to work together from the same approach becomes job one. Smaller teams (such as those with six or less folks) have always had an easier time of this than larger ones. This is because it’s more likely the smaller teams are checking in and talking to each other.

Fortunately, there’s help for larger teams. It comes in a technique that is as old as humanity - storytelling.

Storytelling at the Core of Design Communication

We’ve all experienced that family member who tells the same story at every family get-together. Their story never changes and you could probably recite it verbatim, as if it had happened to you.

That’s the beauty of great storytelling. It brings the listener into the story, helping them live through the described experiences.

This is what makes storytelling ideal for communicating the behaviors we want to design for. We come up with a compelling story for our design and repeat it to help everyone on the team know it as well as we do. That story becomes the guiding force behind the individual design decisions. And stories are more fun, and therefore more effective, than a long, technical design specification.

With this approach, the designer shifts from being the one who makes every design decision, to a type of narrator, that paints the scene and characters for those decisions. The individual members of the team then craft/mold the design to fit the story. Fitting the design to a story brings the team’s discourse to a higher level, giving more power to build great experiences.

The user experience toolbox already provides us with some techniques that make storytelling easy.

Scenarios Provide the Story’s Action

Every screen, dialog box, and form option takes place inside the user’s context. We can design whatthe user does when they interact with those elements. But, that doesn’t explain why they are interacting at that moment.

Scenarios give us the motivation behind the users’ interactions. Conventionally, we’ve used scenarios to help identify how features should work. By returning to the scenario frequently throughout the design process, we can now use them to reiterate the overall story of the design.

Scenarios are stories about the users’ behaviors. These stories don’t say exactly what the screen should look like or what buttons the user will press. They leave those details for the design.

Instead, scenarios showcase the contours of where the design needs to fit in the users’ life. The scenarios describe the steps that brought the user to the moment of using the design and the activities that follow. They put definition around what a successful interaction looks like.

When the designer plays the role of narrator, they need to constantly resurface the project’s scenarios. Using every opportunity, they need to make the scenarios drive the ongoing design discussion. (Techniques, like the Short-form Creative Brief help make this a habit.)

Scenarios Connect the User Stories

Developers manage their backlog by constructing user stories. These simple statements often take the form of “As a <type of user>, I want to <achieve this goal> so that <some reason>.” By blasting through a list of user stories, the developers can quickly assemble the functionality necessary to operate the design.

User stories are a great development tool. However, they work best if the designer can bring back the scenarios from which they emerged. If the developers understand both the user story and the scenario, they’ll know to pay attention to the other functions that come before and after the point in time that the user story takes place.

For example, a team might have a password reset function on their backlog: “As a customer, I want to reset my password so that I can log in when I’ve forgotten it.” This is a complete user story, but it doesn’t tell us why the user came to the site in the first place.

Matching the user story with a scenario could tell us that the customer was responding to a marketing campaign and, after they’ve reset the password, it should return them to the landing page for the campaign. (Or, even better, not require authentication to see the landing page until the user wants to perform an action that warrants the security.)

Journey Maps Provide the Narrative Flow

Mapping the journey of a user provides another storytelling prop for designers. Journey maps are often simple diagrams that show how a user interacts with the design over time. Teams love them because they clearly express where a design becomes frustrating and where it does a great job of delighting its user.

Like any good map, designers can zoom into the user experience at an appropriate level for the problem at hand, then zoom back out to look at the bigger experience. This gives the designer flexibility to tell the story in a way that makes sense for the team’s current objectives.

Designers can start design discussions by taking a moment and saying, “here’s where we are,” pointing to the place in the map where the interaction will take place. The team can construct what the zoomed in section looks like now and draw out how they think the new behaviors might change it.

Aspirational Journeys Make a Design Vision

Most frequently, we see journey maps representing what the current users’ experience is. It shows the highs and lows as users interact with the design today.

But we’ve been seeing more teams overlaying that experience with an aspirational journey, which shows the journey the team is aiming to create. They imagine the behaviors they want to see from their design revisions and put those thoughts on the map, next to the current journey.

The space on the map between the current users’ experience and the aspirational journey becomes a vision of what the design could be. By sharing both journeys throughout the design process, the designer can help the team better see where they are going. Individual team members can ask, as they face important decisions, if what they are planning will get them closer or farther away from that vision.

As the design is changed, the team can plot its progress on the map, showing how close to the aspiration they’ve gotten so far. As user research tells them more about what their users want and need, they can also add that information to the aspirational journey.

As teams develop a richer sense of design, keeping them on the same page will be the designer’s biggest challenge. Infusing the design culture with a rich sense of storytelling, and using the tools in the UX toolbox to help tell those stories, will reduce that challenge substantially.

About the Author

Jared M. Spool is the founder of User Interface Engineering. He spends his time working with the research teams at the company and helps clients understand how to solve their design problems. You can follow Jared on Twitter @jmspool.

Build an Ecommerce Content Marketing Strategy for 2014

via Practical Ecommerce http://ift.tt/1ejGOTe

JANUARY 7, 2014 • ARMANDO ROGGIO

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Content marketing provides customers with genuinely useful information that can solve problems, aid decision making, or simply answer questions — all in the hope that shoppers are more likely to buy from helpful or entertaining retailers.

Some marketers believe that content can be used to build long-term customer relationships, attract new customers, provide better customer service, upsell customers, and build or reinforce a retail brand.

If these outcomes are not enough, many and recent changes to search engine algorithms imply that small businesses would be better served focusing on content marketing than on tactical, keyword-driven search engine optimization.

Writing on Search Engine Watch, search engine consultant Eric Enge reported about several recently implemented Google changes that collectively have the effect of making tactical SEO techniques less impactful.

“The focus now,” Enge wrote, “ is on understanding your target users, producing great content, establishing your authority and visibility, and providing a great experience for the users of your site. Properly architecting your site so that the search engines can understand it, including using schema and related markup, addressing local search (if that is relevant to you), and work of this type still matters, too.

“But, the obsession with tactical items like PageRank and keywords is going to fade away. As Google tweaks the way their service operates, and look for ways to capture new signals, they do things that naturally push you in that direction.”

Have Real Goals

An ecommerce content marketing strategy, like any ecommerce marketing campaign, must start with real and measurable goals. Know what your content marketing should achieve and how quickly it should achieve it.

Common goals could be to increase sales, get additional registered users, or increase gross margin.

Content marketing may be able to address each of these.

For example, an online retailer wanting to sell beekeeping supplies, could increase sales by publishing a series of blog posts or videos that show basic beekeeping techniques. Folks interested in keeping bees in the backyard might read or watch this material. They would see the hives or hive components that the merchant sells show in the video or described in the blog post, and when it is time to order, why wouldn’t they order from a familiar source?

The same beekeeping content might generate visits from Google or Bing or even local beekeeping associations who might link to this great content.

Finally, this great beekeeping content might move some customers from the most basic hive to a premium hive, potentially boosting the gross margin.

Document your ecommerce goals before planning your content marketing. It is the logic first step.

Understand your Audience

The first step toward a successful ecommerce content marketing strategy is to understand your audience and identify what sort of content will be useful for them.

Extending the beekeeping example from above a bit further, try to understand what a person just becoming interested in backyard beekeeping might find helpful. As an example, does the customer’s state require bee registration? Or how does someone order bees? What time of year should you start a new hive? How do bees survive in winter? What equipment do you need to get started? Why are bee suits white? Will a new beekeeper get stung? Videos, podcasts, blog posts, or articles that answered these questions might all be helpful content that could help a seller achieve some marketing goal.

Know your Communication Channels

Content marketing strategies should consider many and varied communication or distribution channels, and then select those channels that are the most effective at helping the intended audience access and use the content.

Consider making a list of all of the ways that you might distribute content. Include channels like your site, a blog, social media sites, video sites, contributed articles, podcasts, radio broadcasts, book or ebooks, research documents, free online courses, or mobile applications.

Narrow the list based on capabilities, budget, or experience.

Put It Together

Once you know what content should be produced and which channels it will be published in or distributed through, and what goals your content marketing will be achieving, put together a comprehensive calendar, describing what content will be produced, when it will be produced, and how it will be distributed. It may even make sense to go as far as adding everything to a Google calendar and sharing it with involved parties.

Document your Content Marketing Strategy

You will want to make certain that everything in your content marketing strategy is documented.

There should be a list of specific goals, a description of how each bit of content or series of content will impact those goals, and an explanation of how the content is useful for the target audience.

The document strategy should include information about related budgets, for example, how much is being spent to hire writers or develop a mobile app.

Ultimately, this documented ecommerce content strategy will keep you on track, help you ensure that you stick with your plan, and make you feel better about your content marketing efforts as you go along.

10 Commandments of UX Strategy

via UXmatters http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/01/10-commandments-of-ux-strategy.php

By Ronnie Battista

Published: January 13, 2014

“I set out to frame what I have been observing in the UX strategy industry and hearing in conversations with others in the field. My hope was to capture the core, essential elements of UX strategy….”

When considering my topic for the presentation that I gave at the UX STRAT conference in Atlanta, in October 2013—knowing that I would be speaking to an audience of respected peers and industry leaders in the emerging field of UX strategy—it was challenging to add something new or novel to the conversation. So I set out to frame what I have been observing in the UX strategy industry and hearing in conversations with others in the field. My hope was to capture the core, essential elements of UX strategy while, at the same time, not missing anything important. This article is based on that presentation.

My interest in this topic came from a few places, including the following:

• The failed effort to create a UXPA International Certification program, which I undertook during my three years as Director of Certification for the UXPA. That was quite an eye-opening experience, given the strong and vocal opinions both for and against certification.
• Emerging professional trends, both within and outside of user experience, that emphasize speed to market—for example Lean, agile, and “fail forward fast.”
• The competitive challenges that we face teaching user experience at Rutgers—for example MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), programs like General Assembly, and the increasing number of 1- to 3-day UX intensive workshops. Is it me or are they multiplying like rabbits?
• The continuing confusion over what user experience is and isn’t versus other UX-related disciplines that are not called user experience, such as customer experience (CX), information architecture (IA), service design (SD), and experience design (XD).
• Getting a bit existential about what UX strategy means for us—and selfishly, for my next 20 plus working years—and for our future UX leaders.

I purloined the idea to frame this as 10 Commandments from another list of 10 that I coauthored a few years ago at my previous company—where, to better market what we did to external audiences, we created the “10 Immutable Truths of Experience Design.”

Here are some questions that I asked myself and the UX STRAT audience, which I’d like you to consider before we get to the Commandments.

• Do you believe that UX strategy is inherently different from other UX/CX/IA/SD/XD research, design, and evaluation work? Or is it a combination of all of these? Or perhaps an umbrella that covers all of them?
• What about service design (SD) and experience design (XD)? Are they identical to UX strategy?
• Beyond our self-styled professional titles, do you believe there is—or should be—some criteria that qualify someone as a UX Strategist?
• Have you worked on a UX-strategy project that did not involve a digital interface?
• Are there deliverables that UX Strategists should employ rather than people in other roles—for example, customer journey mapping?
• And, if this field is indeed emerging, for those at the start of their careers looking for the color of their parachute, what type of people are better suited for UX strategy? Right-brainers or left-brainers? Whole-minders?

“The 10 Commandments of UX Strategy are key areas of our profession that I think all UX Strategists must strive toward and, to the best extent possible, should try to infuse in their professional practice.”

Ultimately, the two questions that I’m constantly asking myself are:

• How can I be the best in an emerging field that is still defining itself?
• How can we help build this profession to grow and support those who come after us?

Three final points about the title of this article lest anyone think that I’ve used the word Commandments to mean anything prophetic or irrefutably conclusive:

• Similar to the biblical 10 Commandments, which are a mix of the practical and the emotional—don’t kill people—and those that are a bit more cerebral in nature—don’t covet your neighbor’s ass, my UX-strategy commandments cover a broad scope.
• Religious affiliations aside, I’d submit that, like the biblical 10 Commandments that Moses received, some of these UX strategy commandments are a bit easier to follow than others. Considering the same examples from the previous bullet point, few would dispute that “Thou shalt not kill” is not an easy commandment to check off. But not coveting your neighbor’s stuff is not so easy. (You should see the massive home-brew setup my boss has in his basement, I covet the hell out of it!) The 10 Commandments of UX Strategy are key areas of our profession that I think all UX Strategists must strive toward and, to the best extent possible, should try to infuse in their professional practice.
• I like the definition of a Commandment: “noun—a statement of what to do that must be obeyed by those concerned.” The 10 Commandments of UX Strategy is far a catchier title than “10 Things We Must Obey,” right?
• Commandments are nuanced. Arguably, “Thou Shalt Not Kill” should notapply to a soldier fighting in defense of his or her country.
• And finally, as I said to the UX STRAT audience, which comprised folks who could speak to any of these commandments better than I can, I know I’m preaching to the choir. I don’t expect these commandments to strike many of you as eye-opening revelations. So, in reading this article, please consider this as my attempt at trend analysis or aggregation rather than as anything resembling thought leadership.

The 10 Commandments of UX Strategy

• THOU SHALT FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE
• HONOR YOUR COMPANY AND CUSTOMER, BUT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S ASS
• THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THY EMPLOYEE’S HUMANITY
• REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE CONTEXT
• THOU SHALT NOT KILL THY CAREER
• THOU SHALT NOT BEAR SPECULATIVE WITNESS
• THOU SHALT STAY FAITHFUL TO UX GOVERNANCE
• THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK UX IN TONGUES
• THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP DIGITAL ONLY
• THOU SHALT PRACTICE UX WITH HUMAN-CENTRIC INTEGRITY

I. THOU SHALT FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE

“UX strategy requires a solid understanding of business goals, vision, and drivers. There willalways be strategic UX initiatives and projects, but those with the greatest chance of providing long-term sustainable business value are UX solutions that stay framed in the big picture.”

UX strategy requires a solid understanding of business goals, vision, and drivers. There will always be strategic UX initiatives and projects, but those with the greatest chance of providing long-term sustainable business value are UX solutions that stay framed in the big picture. As the title of Harley Manning and Kerry Bodine’s excellent book Outside Insuggests, we need to help our companies look outside in. Seek the UX strategy behind even the most tactical engagement. There will always be tactical engagements, and chances are that you’ll be doing a lot more of them in your career than the game-changing, C-level enterprise transformations. But you must ensure that you do everything that you do, no matter how small it may seem, with an eye toward and a focus on the bigger picture—creating the holistic experiences that we all should seek to create.

Within this big picture is an implicit understanding of value. UX Strategists have a great understanding of the human impact of business decisions, and it’s important to recognize and be prepared to articulate that human impact, as well as the value that businesses are trying to create for themselves, customers, and shareholders.

II. HONOR YOUR COMPANY AND CUSTOMER, BUT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S ASS

What are the specific business levers that enable your company to win over competitors, and how can the user experience that you create directly impact them? You should not speak the name of UX strategyunless you can articulate the competition, the company, and the customer. So, in contrast to the Biblical commandment, you should covet your neighbor’s ass if he’s making money on it. Find out why, and continually look ahead and behind you. I give the full copyright to this commandment to Paul Bryan and his UXmatters column “3 Keys to Aligning UX with Business Strategy.” He nails it.

III. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THY EMPLOYEE’S HUMANITY

“For the up-and-coming generations, especially Generation C, the brightest … will take their skills to companies that create the work experience and environment that they have come to expect.”

There are at least two sides to every interaction, and often, both are human. You must pay attention to the mutual success of these interactions. There are optimal paths for both to be successful. As Frederick Reichheld wrote in The Loyalty Effect, “If you wonder what getting and keeping the right employees has to do with getting and keeping the right customers, the answer is everything.” This is fast becoming a need-to-have for the up-and-coming generations, especiallyGeneration C, the brightest of which will take their skills to companies that create the work experience and environment that they have come to expect.

IV. REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE CONTEXT

Unfortunately, our global supply of true ‘genius design’ potential—for example, Steve Jobs—is inversely proportional to that for well-intended senior executives, Product Owners, and creative designers who get gut feelings that are unencumbered by facts. Of course, we need to know the context of interactions before we can hope to create an optimal product or service. However, I have yet to meet anyone in this field who, for even a few years, hasn’t had to compromise doing needed context-based research to meet a budget, deadline, or executive demand. And we make these decisions fully aware of the potential negative—or, if we’re lucky, just less-positive—impacts on the audience who ultimately inherits our design solutions? It is incumbent upon the UX Strategist to advocate strongly that UX research be part of any attempt to create or redefine a user experience. But pick your battles because you likely won’t win all of them. Still, fight hard to get research included in your projects.

V. THOU SHALT NOT KILL THY CAREER

“For every tried-and-true technique, tool, methodology, or belief system that we employ in user experience, there seems to be an exponential number of new and exciting ways to advance our shared cause.”

For every tried-and-true technique, tool, methodology, or belief system that we employ in user experience, there seems to be an exponential number of new and exciting ways to advance our shared cause. This is to be expected as more and more people enter the field of user experience from different industries, cultures, and educational backgrounds. As with many other professions, there are new products, tools, and methods to help UX professionals do their jobs better. Although, there are some who believe that it’s all the same stuff, just with different packaging or more efficient delivery systems.

We must resist the dogma of UX philosophy and practice that some in our field espouse. Some UX professionals are unwilling to embrace the evolution of UX design and strategy practice, which has changed and continues to change the way we conceive and deliver UX design solutions. While one need not accept every newfangled advance as gospel, UX Strategists must keep their minds open to understanding current software user experiences, processes, and services. According to NY Times columnist and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Thomas Friedman, we must always be learning. And our field has no shortage of opportunities to better ourselves and our business results.

VI. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR SPECULATIVE WITNESS

“Big data will always require UX strategy, because we askwhy something happened, interpret the data to glean valuable insights, and turn big data into big-impact solutions.”

Relying solely on either anecdotal, observed behavior or set, targeted metrics is better than having no evidence, but a true UX strategy understands, embraces, and employs both.

For those who are qualitatively minded: There are scant few in our field who would forsake direct, interactive research with people. We need our companies to understand that they need to connect with real human beings, even if we think—or they think—we already know the answers. AsWill Evans so perfectly captured the need: “If you don’t talk to your customers, how will you know how to talk to your customers?”

For the quantitatively minded: Companies like Amazon and Netflix have created game-changing customer experiences with their strong focus on analyzing user behavior through big data. The use of Web analytics will only increase in the coming years. The growing deluge of data provides infinite ways to assess, predict, and report on key insights into consumer behavior. But big data will always require UX strategy, because we askwhy something happened, interpret the data to glean valuable insights, and turn big data into big-impact solutions.

VII. THOU SHALT STAY FAITHFUL TO UX GOVERNANCE

“An ongoing UX governance program that measures and optimizes the user experience is vital to the long-term viability of a UX strategy.”

I believe governance remains one of the most talked about yet underserved and undelivered elements of UX strategy. Experience is fluid, with periods of evolution and revolution. An ongoing UX governance program that measures and optimizes the user experience is vital to the long-term viability of a UX strategy. Regrettably, companies are littered with great UX strategy work that ended with a shiny deliverable, a slap on the back, and UX projects that died on the vine. Too often, business conditions—which are too numerous to list—cause great ideas to wither or be abandoned altogether as soon as a project gets deployed in production.

One of the most popular and fastest emerging UX strategy tools is the customer experience journey map; but this tool can take you only so far. As I’ve personally experienced, intricate customer journey maps can offer tremendous business value. They can track conversion metrics, decipher strengths and weakness in acquisition and retention, provide core insights to business investment in systems, people, and processes—the list goes on. But our use of this tool is powerful only to the extent that our work is actually integrated into business execution. Without an ongoing UX governance program to measure and optimize the user experience, a journey map is likely just a cool-looking diagram that someone has put up in his cube.

Whenever possible, avoid embarking on strategic UX efforts until you can get clarity and commitment on how your team will iterate, maintain, report, and prioritize the work. We need to infuse this approach into the company’s program or portfolio management infrastructure. That’s where business leaders manage their investment. When businesses give the same respect and authority to an Experience Management Office as to the Project Management Office (PMO), UX strategy will have reached an important evolutionary milestone.

VIII. THOU SHALT NOT SPEAK UX IN TONGUES

“The business intent gets lost in translation because executives who weren’t involved in the generation of journey maps have neither the time nor the inclination to figure out what they’re supposed to do with them.”

At heart, a UX Strategist understands that user experience and the practice of user experience are ultimately matters of communication. This communication can take a few different forms:

• advocacy for the human audience by an empathetic translator or proxy
• communication of the utility and inherent value of products and services through our design work
• and last but not least, the ability to convey to business leaders the experience implications of why to choose or not choose a particular path—and the value of ongoing investment and growth in user experience

Ironically, we continue to struggle on this last one. It’s certainly been a work in progress for a while now.

For example, consider the communication challenges of the aforementioned journey map. Oftentimes, UX teams create elegant, intricately detailed maps that do a great job of convincing those who view them that a lot of thought and research went into their creation. But the business intent gets lost in translation because executives who weren’t involved in the generation of journey maps have neither the time nor the inclination to figure out what they’re supposed to do with them. A journey map—which might perhaps be better named a business destination map—that you intend to speak for itself can quickly become a dead-end if you’re not conveying its value in a way that businesses can digest and act on.

IX. THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP ALL THINGS DIGITAL

“Keep real people in mind when designing digital products and services. However, as UX Strategists, our work should and must extend far beyond what, for some, is slavish, fetishized devotion to all things digital.”

UX professionals have played a significant role in making digital user interfaces and technology easy to use, accessible, and for some, seemingly irreplaceable. We can and should continue to keep real people in mind when designing digital products and services. However, as UX Strategists, our work should and must extend far beyond what, for some, is slavish, fetishized devotion to all things digital.

The majority of UX professionals make their living doing work specifically for digital user interfaces and devices, so I’m not suggesting that anyone stop doing anything they’re doing or that digital is in any way bad. However, in conversations with colleagues and peers, I’m not alone in thinking that the human element of interaction—absent devices and technology—is an area that, ironically, is underserved. We must remain mindful of the lives and interactions that we experience offline in the services our companies and clients deliver—not to mention cities, museums, non-profits, and a host of other entities that could use our help. The emergent Service Design is a welcome profession that we should look to for guidance and techniques in approaching our work.

Venturing into somewhat murkier moral waters, this isn’t simply about looking at physical connections and services through a wider lens. As UX Strategists, we should try to take on the voice of a human advocate when considering the impacts and consequences of the digital world that we’ve helped to create, as well as how we can help shepherd the inevitable move toward a more digital existence. If you haven’t read Nic Carr’s The Shallows or Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together, read them. Both present quite detailed and fascinating studies on the seismic impacts technology is having on our brain’s structure, our ability to process information, and our basic emotional connections and relationships.

X. THOU SHALT PRACTICE UX WITH HUMAN-CENTRIC INTEGRITY

“As a UX Strategist, I believe that we have a moral and ethical imperative to ensure that what we create, both within and outside our profession, should ideally improve the lives of others—and at the very least, do no harm”

This last commandment is perhaps an extension of the previous one. (In fairness, coveting stuff got stretched out to two commandments in the Bible.) What I’m talking about here is something akin to taking the Hippocratic Oath. As a UX Strategist, I believe that we have a moral and ethical imperative to ensure that what we create, both within and outside our profession, should ideally improve the lives of others—and at the very least, do no harm. Here’s the point: as strategic UX advisors, we are in the vanguard of the technological revolution that has already irrevocably changed human interactions over the last two decades. Possessing the tools and skills to capitalize on human behavior in particular contexts is a powerful thing. We translate business and technology for the human condition, and this noble charge begets great responsibility. The emergence of methods and tools to support these ideals are numerous and growing. For example, the promise of big data is a force multiplier that we’ve only just begun to crack. Targeted neuromarketing is as exciting a concept as it is frightening.

I strongly believe that the field of user experience continues to be a beacon of integrity. We’ve helped provide countless examples of positive human advancement—especially in areas like accessibility and third-world product solutions. But I’m also aware that, as UX professionals, we need to make a living, and when it comes to business, things get more complicated.
In commerce, there’s nothing morally wrong with up-selling or cross-selling products, featuring your product over a better one on an end-cap in a supermarket, and so on.

But things like the institutionalization of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) as business strategy concern me. For example, a colleague and friend of mine quit her job at a firm in part because she was asked to create cartoon storyboards to convince teen-aged young women who wore glasses that they were not pretty, and that popularity was reserved for those who wore contact lenses. That’s just wrong. We must adhere to our core principles of helping others as best we can and have the courage and moral integrity to push back on businesses when there is clear intent to cause harm, in any form, to elicit a purchase or transaction.

Conclusion

“How can we build this profession to ensure that it grows to support those who come after us?”

So, what do you think? Did I get these commandments right? What shouldn’t be here? What did I miss? And back to my original point, help me to answer these questions:

• How can I be the best in an emerging field that’s still defining itself?
• How can we build this profession to ensure that it grows to support those who come after us?
• Do we, as UX professionals, think we should provide more concrete criteria for success in living up to these commandments?
• Agile has its “Manifesto.” Is there or should there be one for UX strategy?

I’ll end with a quote from Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together that has stuck with me. I used it as a touchstone when considering these 10 Commandments of UX Strategy:

“Technology reshapes the landscape of our emotional lives, but is it offering us the lives we want to lead? … What are the responsibilities here? … What do we have, now that we have what we say we want—now that we have what technology makes easy. This is the time to begin these conversations, together. It is too late to leave the future to the futurists.”

Sherry Turkle’s prescience in delivering this challenge makes it seem that she was speaking to UX Strategists. We are well-positioned to tackle this challenge. I’d love to be part of the conversation about how we can do this together—for both ourselves and the next generation who will take this profession forward.

- See more at: http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2014/01/10-commandments-of-ux-strategy.php#sthash.1r082bbN.dpuf

The Habits Of Successful New Web Professionals

• By Jeremy Girard
• November 14th, 2013
 
• Business, Communication
• 44 Comments

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Starting a position in an organization, especially if it is your first in the industry, can be as nerve-wracking as it is exciting. Practices that seem like common sense to those of us who have been in the Web industry for some time might not be as obvious to designers and developers without the benefit of our experience.

Part of our responsibility as veterans in this industry is to mentor new team members and share with them the knowledge that we know they will need to succeed.

As President Rutherford B. Hayes once said, “The expert in anything was once a beginner.” (Image source: opensourceway)

I recently published an article here on Smashing Magazine titled “Lessons Learned in Leading New Web Professionals.” As a follow-up to that piece, this one looks at the other side of the team leader-new employee dynamic. We’ll cover the practices that I have found are consistently followed by employees who excel in their new role and grow in this industry.

Embrace The Company’s Culture

Every company is different — with policies, procedures and a culture unique to it. While much attention is given to ensuring that new employees understand these policies and procedures, understanding and embracing the company’s culture is just as important to long-term success. One way to embrace a company’s culture is to get involved — both in and outside the office.

If your company is holding an event or activity for employees, make it a point to attend. It could be a full-blown company party or a small after-hours get-together of only a few employees. Either way, it provides an opportunity to socialize with your new colleagues and begin to build relationships with the people you work alongside.

In the office, look for projects that interest you and that you feel you can contribute positively to. These could be normal client engagements or even side projects driven by small teams in the organization. By asking to be included in these projects, you’ll get time to work hands on with your colleagues and show them the value you bring to the team.

Now, the challenge to participating in these activities is that new employees often feel like outsiders, and many are reluctant to join in on the company’s planned events. The irony, though, is that participating in these company events is one of the best ways to feel like part of the team and to break down that outsider status.

Respect The Client

Complaining about clients is a practice that has been around as long as clients themselves, but it has no place in the Web industry, whether you are a new professional or a seasoned veteran.

Clients can be challenging, but remember that when they stop calling you with questions or with work to be done, that is the day you no longer have a job. We are here because of our clients, not in spite of them.

Does this mean that the client is always right and that you should take whatever they dish out at you with a smile and a nod? Of course not. No one should ever suffer a client who disrespects them professionally or personally, but an abusive client who must be fired is very different from one who simply asks a lot of questions because they recognize that you are the expert. Yes, clients make poor decisions at times, and some of their questions will seem obvious or silly to you, but your answers and advice are why they hired you in the first place.

Respect clients — they keep you employed — and refrain from the bouts of unnecessary complaining that others in the organization might engage in. If others are complaining and trying to rope you in, politely excuse yourself. Nothing good will come of those negative conversations.

Ask Questions

As a new employee, you will undoubtedly have questions — a lot, in fact. That is OK. In fact, it is expected. You might feel like you are bothering others, but asking questions is how you learn and how “tribal knowledge” is passed from veterans in an organization to newcomers.

When you join, a company will likely give you some kind of orientation and show you the ropes, but only so much information can be conveyed in an orientation or in training. So much of what you will need to know is picked up on the job, by actually doing the work itself. When you hit a roadblock, look to others on the team for help. They will often have encountered the issue before and have set a precedent for dealing with it — the aforementioned tribal knowledge. Gaining that knowledge through experience and by asking questions is how you will grow in the organization.

Asking questions enables you to learn and acquire team knowledge, but try to solve problems for yourself first. (Image source: Tim O’Brien)

Now, there is a balance to be struck. Throwing your hands in the air and yelling “Mayday!” every time you hit a bump in the road is too much. Try to solve a problem for yourself first, so that when you ask for help, you can show the person what you’ve tried so far. Over time, you will find the balance between exploring solutions on your own and asking for a hand.

Teach Me Something

I am constantly reading articles with new tips, techniques and best practices in our industry, and I spend many nights and weekends outside of normal office hours working to master these new techniques. When I discover an article or idea that I think is valuable, I always share it with the rest of my team. And I love it when others on the team return the favor.

When a new employee shares a worthwhile article or an approach that I had not considered, they demonstrate their passion and their dedication to growing in the industry. It also shows that they are willing not only to learn,but also to teach others.

Check Your Work

I appreciate when a team member completes a task quickly, but speed doesn’t trump accuracy. Too often, in an attempt to impress their manager, new team members will race through a task to show how efficient they are. They submit work before really going over it to make sure that all of the tasks have been completed correctly.

Checking your work before submitting it to a manager for review probably sounds like common sense, but it’s one of the biggest problems I hear about from other team leaders and managers. Work that is missing key elements or that has little errors (spelling mistakes are common) or whose functionality hasn’t been fully tested (broken links, forms that do not submit properly, etc.) are major headaches for many team leaders. A manager would rather the person finish the task a bit more slowly if the bulk of the errors could have been caught by a more thorough review.

Before you submit work as being complete, give it a once over to make sure that everything works as intended.

Mind The Clock

Web design is not a 9:00 to 5:00 job. Sometimes, inspiration or a breakthrough strikes at the end of the day. If you punch the clock exactly at 5:00, you could lose any momentum or spark of creativity you may have had, when instead you should nurture the moment. Other times, a deadline is looming that requires extra hours in the office. You need to accept that the day doesn’t always end at 5:00.

It goes both ways, though. An employee who is willing to stay late and put in extra effort when needed will be recognized and appreciated, but don’t stay at your desk 12 hours a day, only to go home and do more work there.

Minding the clock means not working late every night. (Image source: abdallahh)

Minding the clock means balancing your professional and personal time. Don’t burn yourself out by trying to be a superhero who does nothing but work. The most successful colleagues I have worked with over the years have found and maintained a work-life balance.

Work On Your Communication Skills

Responding to questions and requests from clients can be a full-time job. In fact, on some days I feel like all I’ve done is answer emails. Managers want to be able to offload some communication responsibilities to others on the team — but they need to know that the communication will not suffer from a lack of skill.

Whether you are answering questions from clients, presenting design concepts in a meeting or brainstorming with colleagues, communicating your ideas in a way that meets your company’s expectations is important.This skill will increase your value to the team and set you up to take on more responsibility.

Join The Community

The Web community is amazing, and you can participate in it in a number of ways. Depending on where you live, you might have access to meetups, networking events, conferences and other gatherings. We all have opportunities to share our experience, knowledge and passion for this industry.

Participating in these events will make you feel like a part of the Web community, help you make connections with peers and reflect well on your company. With limited time to attend such events, leaders appreciate when other team members take the initiative to get out in the community and represent the company.

Stay Positive

This tip might sound easy to follow, but keeping a positive attitude and demeanor is more challenging than it seems.

As a new team member, you will undoubtedly have times when you are unsure of what to work on next or of how you are performing. This uncertainly can be stressful, and stress can eventually lead to a negative attitude. Fight the urge to give into that negativity — stay positive.

Saying that everything is easier with a positive attitude might sound like an oversimplification, but it’s not. A positive attitude makes challenges easier to face, and it encourages others to come to your aid. After all, no one is excited to work with someone with a negative attitude.

Have Fun

Many years ago, I had an employer who, whenever my job got stressful or challenging, would say, “Well, that’s why we pay you to be here. If it was fun, it wouldn’t be work!”

I don’t agree with this sentiment. Yes, most of us wouldn’t show up for work every day if a pay check wasn’t waiting for us at the end of the week. However, just because we have to work doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy where we work.

The most successful employees I have had the pleasure of working alongside over the years have enjoyed their job and where they work. Life is too short for anything else. So, have fun at your job — and if you can’t, consider getting another.

Staying positive and having fun at your job are two overlooked yet incredibly important elements of success. (Image source: opensourceway)

In Summary

Joining an organization can be stressful. Hopefully, the tips presented here will help you make the most of the opportunity and relieve a bit of the stress. Here are the do’s and don’ts we’ve covered:

• Do embrace the culture, and participate in company events.
• Do not let the feeling of being a newbie keep you from participating in events.
• Do not engage in pointless complaining about clients.
• Do respect your clients and recognize that they are the reason you have a job.
• Do not be afraid to ask questions; that’s how you learn.
• Do try to solve problems on your own before asking for help.
• Do share helpful or interesting articles that you come across.
• Do not submit work before having checked it for accuracy.
• Do strike a balance between your professional and personal time.
• Do work on your communication skills, and understand what the company expects from your communication with clients.
• Do look for opportunities to participate in your local Web community.
• Do stay positive, even when you feel uncertain or stressed out.
• Do have fun at your job and enjoy where you work.

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

What habits of successful new team members would you add to the list? Feel free to share in the comments below.

(al, ea, il)

via Smashing Magazine Feed http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/11/14/habits-successful-new-web-professionals/