Center Centre-UIE

Working with Dr. Leslie Jensen-Inman to create a state-of-the-art bricks-and-mortar school for industry-ready UX Designers.

Co-Founder, Co-CEO, Maker of Awesomeness

The annual User Interface Conference brings together the leaders in the user experience world to share their insights with an outstanding audience. 

The 2016 User Interface 21 Conference is in Boston, October 31-November 2.

More details at www.uiconf.com.

Conference Chairperson

UIEtips is a leading newsletter on the current thinking in user experience and usability. You can subscribe for free at www.uie.com/uietips.

Editor in Chief

Founded the company which, for 27 years and 11 months, conducted primary research on how to create great user experiences through delightful products and services. We served thousands of companies, hosting events, workshops, and online webinars on UX design and strategy.

You can find out more about us at http://www.uie.com.

On July 1, 2016, the company merged with its sister company, Center Centre, to become the leader in UX and design education.

CEO/Founding Principal

Working with our partners at 500 Startups, we're producing the Warm Gun Conference. This conference explores the challenges and lessons learned by the top designers in the startup world.

The 2014 Warm Gun Conference will be Thursday, December 4 at the SF Union Square Hilton.

This has been one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. With Karen McGrane, we’ve put together a new type of UX Conference that focuses on strategy. It’s got a new format (all interviews - no powerpoints!) and a killer line up. We’re diving right into how today’s top companies are making UX their competitive advantage. Senior execs from Paypal, Capital One, MasterCard, GE, Fidelity, and many more will each tell their stories of how they’re overcoming huge obstacles.

(It would be awesome if you could join us: June 2 & 3, 2015 in Baltimore. UXAdvantage.com )

UX Advantage Conference Executive producer

United States Digital Service

Consulted on hiring practices and user experience.

Digital Services Expert/Generalist Problem Solver

Tufts University, Gordon Institute

Adjunct Professor

Bachman Information Systems

Worked on the UI Design Team. Did the most usability testing that company ever did.

Senior Software Engineer

Symbolics

A member of Home Office Software Support (HOSS).

Member of Technical Staff (HOSS)

Pro Computing

Designed the UI of the word processing and voice integration components.

Software Engineer

Digital Equipment Corporation

Worked on the design team for the Digital PRO Series.

Me and my team uncover what it takes to drive organizations deliver the best-designed products and services. We also run the foremost school for user experience design.

Specialties: UX Design strategy, Design, User experience, Usability, user interface design, UX design education

UX integrations into Agile processes mostly suffer because nobody (including the product owner) understands who the users are or what they need. 

Any user research is often watered down to pure design validation, which uncovers some real needs too late and others not at all.

Agile at scale (ala SAFe) is even worse. The levels of abstraction that separate real user needs from the work are multiplied. Requirements are often based on fiction and results are measured by counting outputs, not measuring outcomes.

The result is people rush to build things nobody needs. 

#agile #ux #uxleadership

Jared Spool

Is the demand dropping for user researchers? No.
Is the demand dropping for user researchers who can only do simple interviews and basic usability testing? Probably. I hope so.

People keep asking me about the demand for user researchers. I have an unusual take on this. 

I think most user researchers are too tactical in their work, hurting them career-wise. They are not growing into strategic UX researchers, and that's where the demand is.

Anyone can do tactical user research. The people who are supposed to be an organization's top researchers probably shouldn't be doing that work. We can leave that work to everyone else in the organization, even product managers and engineers. (Organizations do not have a "math department" where the only people who know how to do math work.)

That this philosophy will reduce demand for research is a myth created by people trying to gatekeep their job security. And it won't work. 

Having other people learn research techniques does not reduce the demand for researchers. 

Even though many people know how to cook, there's been no downturn in the demand for chefs. And while everyone can do the math, the demand for accountants is still strong.

I believe everyone should learn how to do basic research. There's no reason a product manager or an engineer can't ask great questions and collect astute observations when they find themselves in front of a customer. And it's critical to the organization's success that they find themselves in front of customers far more often than they do today.

And I believe if everyone knew how to do usability testing, we'd see it done far more often in organizations. No organization will ever reach the point of having too many people conducting usability testing or learning about their customers.

However, usability testing is not user research. User research is far more than that. 

The goal of strategic UX research is to make everyone in the organization become the world's foremost experts on:

- Who the users and customers are.
- What those users and customers need.
- What their current experiences are.
- What their future experiences could be.

To do that, we'll need more than just usability testing. We'll need a large variety of in-depth, "deep hanging out" research that will focus on the experiences of the users, not only their use of specific product functionality.

Demand for researchers who can do this is growing as more organizations realize this deep research is their ticket to market leadership and innovation.

So, is the demand for researchers dropping? No.
Is the demand for researchers who can only do simple interviews and basic usability testing dropping? Probably.

If you're not investing in UX, you're investing in luck.

Good user experiences rarely happen by accident.
Poor user experiences are what you get when you leave things up to chance.

A product or service with a poor user experience misses customers' expectations and doesn't meet their needs. It's the natural result of not paying attention to those things. That's because the odds are against you accidentally meeting their expectations and needs.

However, discovering what your customers and users expect and need isn't hard. It's what you get from investing in UX research.

And missing expectations and needs turn out to be expensive. You lose market share, increase support and training costs, and hurt your organization's reputation. These are the investments you make when your luck runs out.

So, are you investing in UX research? Or are you investing in luck?

Research or luck? I know which one I'd invest in more.

I find myself recommending Jen Cardello’s presentation frequently. Her approach to scaling user research is a great model for organizations looking to make their user research practices more proactive. In this video, she explores how to listen, diagnose, and put in place key initiatives to navigate and deliver value amidst tremendous change.

Watch here: https://lnkd.in/gA5cd_74

🎦Gut Feeling vs UX Research: A Case for Both. 78 minutes

User research is an ideal tool for improving the accuracy of our gut feelings.

UX leaders cringe when their stakeholders claim, “I know what our users need.” There’s been no research, yet the stakeholder feels right in their gut.

Here’s the thing: They might be. (Even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every so often.) Gut feelings can help us make intelligent decisions, and we must learn to work with them.

In this eye-opening recorded session, I explored how we work with confident stakeholders who don’t think we need to do research (or choose to ignore the research we’ve done). I shared how focusing on assessing and reporting confidence can improve the results when we need to rely on our guts for important decisions.

Watch Gut Feeling vs UX Research: A Case for Both here: https://cstu.io/70cb78

It’s common, when the new year rolls around, for teams to think about their goals. What can we hope to accomplish over the next year that will show growth and improvement over the previous year’s efforts?

There are several ways to come up with goals. For example, the leadership of a UX team might pick goals for increasing what their team accomplished during the previous year. They could count their team’s activities, such as the usability tests they conducted or wireframes they delivered. Their new 12-month goal would be to accomplish more of those activities.

However, when a team measures their goals using activities, they are focusing on the outputs of UX research and design efforts. Outputs are necessary, but they are not the end of the game.

Read the rest of the article on “Shifting Our Team Goals to be UX Outcomes”: https://cstu.io/e8c869

Let's be honest. The UX job market is a mess right now.

It seems every posting gets hundreds of applications immediately. Getting an invitation to a first interview is almost impossible. Hearing "I'm sorry, we're moving forward with another candidate" is downright depressing.

You'll need the right tactics to get that next job. You'll need to take advantage of the network you've built. You'll need to get the attention of the hiring manager. Plus, you'll need your ability to do the job to catch that manager's attention.

That's why our video series, the Essentials of Finding Your Next UX Job, is for people actively seeking their next UX job. It explores how the job market has changed in the last few years and the new tactics you'll need to land that ideal opportunity.

Uncover how you'll…

… Get on the radar of hiring managers who have positions you could be highly qualified for, prioritizing your consideration above other applicants.

… Prepare your portfolio to tell the story of your comparable experience, even when starting your UX career.

… Build up your networking practice to get promising interviews without applying to hundreds of positions.

Watch the Essentials of Finding Your Next UX Job series now: https://lnkd.in/e4Abvssu

John Cutler writes people often distinguish between problem-solving and problem-definition. 

“The product manager’s responsibility is to define the problem to be solved. The team's responsibility is to solve the problem.”

Cutler doesn’t believe the distinction is as helpful as we think. He provides a few tips on how to get the most out of your problem analysis and what to watch out for in the process: https://lnkd.in/dSJMYpw4

It’s unusual to think of a corporate vision statement as a powerful UX tool — possibly because it’s unusual to think about the corporate vision statement at all.

These written-by-committee generic statements of where the organization might go in the future feel like an easy thing for everyone to ignore. And most people do. But, maybe we shouldn’t.

Vision statements are often drafted by an organization’s senior leadership. They use the statement to signal to customers, investors, analysts, and others where they think the organization will go. The senior leadership wants to give others a reason to choose their organization beyond just what exists today. The vision statement is the promise of tomorrow.

Typically, the corporate vision authors work to keep their statement vague. It needs to explain how the organization is different from any competitors. Yet, tomorrow is a long way away, and leadership doesn’t want to make promises they can’t keep. That’s why making it vague works to their advantage.

Fortunately, it’s the inherent ambiguity that works in our favor, too.

Read my article on “The Corporate Vision as a Seed for Our Experience Vision”: https://lnkd.in/ekAu_dyi

Tomorrow, join me live to talk about The Critical Move from Process-First to Vision-First

September 16 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT)

Many UX leaders don’t realize that a UX vision is far more potent than a well-defined UX process to motivate organizational change. Their push to implement a process harms their efforts, driving away the people they need most because they haven’t defined a compelling end goal.

When you start with an inspirational, well-crafted UX vision, you immediately inspire your development and product team peers, along with your critical stakeholders, to embrace what you want to accomplish. They now see why the organization needs to change and welcome your process changes.

In this not-to-be-missed session, I will explore how a Vision-first approach raises the importance of involving UX earlier in the product-delivery process. You’ll discover the essential techniques for faster adoption of human-centered design practices across your organization, with substantially reduced resistance from your stakeholders and peers.

Uncover how you’ll …

👉 Inspire everyone to adopt the necessary process changes when you start by sharing your vision of great UX for your customers and users.

👉 Identify the most compelling attributes of your UX vision to gain the essential buy-in from stakeholders and peers.

👉 Leverage your storytelling skills to get everyone excited about integrating a human-centered approach into every decision they face.

RSVP and get the connection details in our Leaders of Awesomeness community: https://cstu.io/e2d31c

(It’s free to join and attend. We ask people to register to keep spammers out.)

It takes practice and persistence to become skilled in research. In this article, Tom Kerwin talks about how to hit the “sweet spot” in researching by building research habits and emotional resilience. It’s okay to find out we are wrong, that's the thrill of research.

Read here: https://lnkd.in/ePN55SdA

Tomorrow, join me live to talk about Setting Big, Hairy, Audacious UX Goals for Your Organization

September 9 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT)

Your team can’t reach its destination if they don’t know where it is. Get a seat at the table and influence critical UX decisions.

Big, hairy, audacious UX goals position your team to make decisions about your organization’s direction. They demonstrate how better UX will get everyone’s attention — the executives, key stakeholders, the sales team, and the customers.

Your UX Goals will position your products and services based on the quality of their experience instead of being the cheapest amongst similar competitors. And they drive decision-making throughout the organization so that everyone knows what they’re delivering and why they’re delivering it.

In this perspective-changing session, I will explore how you can convert your expertise and knowledge of users’ needs into goals that inspire your entire organization. You’ll discover how to motivate your development, product peers, and key stakeholders to deliver industry-leading products and services.

Uncover how you’ll …

👉 Identify UX goals that will inspire your teams because of the improvements you’ll be making for the lives of your users and customers.

👉 Persuade executives and senior stakeholders to adopt your big, hairy, audacious UX goals and align them with the organization’s objectives.

👉 Influence the product roadmap by breaking the overarching goals into small, bite-sized, attainable pieces that show substantial progress every quarter.

RSVP and get the connection details in our Leaders of Awesomeness community: https://cstu.io/3ecaaf

(It’s free to join and attend. We ask people to register to keep spammers out.)

Join me for our next Talk UX Strategy live discussion:

The Critical Move from Process-First to Vision-First

September 16 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT)

Many UX leaders don’t realize that a UX vision is far more potent than a well-defined UX process to motivate organizational change. Their push to implement a process harms their efforts, driving away the people they need most because they haven’t defined a compelling end goal.

When you start with an inspirational, well-crafted UX vision, you immediately inspire your development and product team peers, along with your critical stakeholders, to embrace what you want to accomplish. They now see why the organization needs to change and welcome your process changes.

In this not-to-be-missed session, I will explore how a Vision-first approach raises the importance of involving UX earlier in the product-delivery process. You’ll discover the essential techniques for faster adoption of human-centered design practices across your organization, with substantially reduced resistance from your stakeholders and peers.

Uncover how you’ll …

👉 Inspire everyone to adopt the necessary process changes when you start by sharing your vision of great UX for your customers and users.

👉 Identify the most compelling attributes of your UX vision to gain the essential buy-in from stakeholders and peers.

👉 Leverage your storytelling skills to get everyone excited about integrating a human-centered approach into every decision they face.

RSVP for the session for connection details in our Leaders of Awesomeness community: https://cstu.io/1232a6

(It’s free to join the community. We ask people to register to keep spammers out.)

How do we stop the never-ending tension between giving UX research the time it needs and stakeholders’ wanting to move too quickly?

Unfortunately, stakeholders don’t want to wait for research, even though their most important decisions need that support.

💸Delaying a critical decision costs money.

So you get pushback and never get to do the research that would significantly influence vital decisions. These decisions determine what your organization delivers, how long you’ll have to build it, and, ironically, whether there will be enough time for research.

Continuous UX research breaks this cycle. With ongoing UX research, you strategically influence your stakeholder’s critical decisions when they need to make them.

0️⃣These decisions get made in no time — in zero days — because you’ve already answered the most critical questions.

During this thirty-five-minute recorded session, Achieving “Zero-Day Decisions” With Continuous UX Research, I explored how you’ll build up your continuous UX research program. You’ll discover how to provide answers to questions stakeholders just realized they had.

▶️Uncover how to influence your stakeholder’s critical decisions strategically:
https://cstu.io/1c044f

I’m excited for our upcoming Talk UX Strategy discussions on:

🌟The Critical Move from Process-First to Vision-First
Monday, September 16 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT)

🌟 Changing How UX is Seen in Your Organization
Monday, September 23 at 2pm ET (18.00 GMT)

Join the discussion live in our Leaders of Awesomeness community. https://cstu.io/b152b0

It is free to join and attend the events. (We ask people to register to keep spammers out.)

In the recorded session, Making UX Research A Strategic Imperative In Your Organization, I explored how to make a case for more strategic UX research.

🎥Watch and discover how you’ll mitigate huge risks and speed up delivery time when you upgrade the research your team provides. Over forty-four minutes, uncover how you’ll…

… Identify powerful champions who desperately want to stop guessing and will provide the support your UX research efforts require.

… Shift everyone’s thinking on research’s role, moving from being a “validation of designs” to an “inspiration for innovation.”

… Reduce the amount of guesswork and increase the confidence your executives have when making strategic decisions.

▶️Making UX Research A Strategic Imperative In Your Organization: https://cstu.io/0affae

“The tech world often uses the term evangelism but you should avoid it. No one likes to be on the receiving end of evangelism. The self-righteousness inherent in deciding ahead of time to convert other people to your views without knowing anything about them has a dubious history and is often self-defeating. The first lesson is to use a wiser approach.” Scott Berkun 

Berkun provides 10 lessons for evangelizing good design: https://lnkd.in/dGrkrp4A

We just wrapped up our Strategic Approaches to UX Research Intensive.

If you couldn't join us live, no worries. You can catch our five-part Advanced Strategic UX Research recorded video series and their notes on:

⭐ Session 1 - Win Influence with a Strategic UX Research Approach
⭐ Session 2 - Deliver Better-Designed Products with a Research-Driven Roadmap
⭐ Session 3 - Increase Innovation with Continuous Research
⭐ Session 4 - Scale Your Organization’s Research Capabilities
⭐ Session 5 - Convince Stakeholders of the Full Value of UX

As well as the Strategic UX Research Leadership Guide. Each part of our Advanced Strategic UX Research Essentials includes the latest concepts, materials, and thoughts on developing a strategic UX Research plan in your organization.

Access to all materials for 90 days at $147.

Strategic UX Research is changing organizations. Use it to change yours.

Click on this link to learn more: https://cstu.io/826548

In this article, Matthew Godfrey discusses the concept of research frameworks using it as part of your overall UX strategy to better prioritize your teams’ research efforts. Matthew gives a detailed explanation of the Research Funnel and applies it to their current business model. 

Read Matthew’s research on frameworks: https://lnkd.in/eWuvTCZz

It’s common, when the new year rolls around, for teams to think about their goals. What can we hope to accomplish over the next year that will show growth and improvement over the previous year’s efforts?

There are several ways to come up with goals. For example, the leadership of a UX team might pick goals for increasing what their team accomplished during the previous year. They could count their team’s activities, such as the usability tests they conducted or wireframes they delivered. Their new 12-month goal would be to accomplish more of those activities.

However, when a team measures their goals using activities, they are focusing on the outputs of UX research and design efforts. Outputs are necessary, but they are not the end of the game.

Read the rest of the article on “Shifting Our Team Goals to be UX Outcomes”: https://cstu.io/527390

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