Making UX Relevant in Tough Times or "Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows"
Presented at CHI*Atlanta by Jim Nieters, Director of User Experience Design, Yahoo! Thursday January 29, 2009 CHI*Atlanta: http://www.chia.org Video: http://chiatlanta.blip.tv Each of us wants to thrive in our careers. During challenging economic times, we all have reason for concern as companies tighten their financial belts and we feel our careers are at risk. The user experience (UX) field is no different from any other field in this respect. But there is hope. How can we survive during difficult economic times? Jim highlights strategies that all of us in the UX community can employ to increase the likelihood of thriving, and thus, emerge better prepared for an economic upturn. He'll talk about ways to make ourselves indispensable, and review examples that show how we can make our UX organizations indispensable. This way, we can protect our jobs, and also ensure that our groups are strategically positioned and valued by our companies. About the Speaker Jim Nieters is Director of User Experience Design for online advertiser products at Yahoo!, including search marketing and the open ad management platform, APT from Yahoo! (apt.yahoo.com). In this role, he works to ensure the user experience (UX) is a strategic differentiator for the business. Before moving to Yahoo!, Jim built and led Cisco¹s central UED group and turned it into an internal consultancy that tracked over $200 million in revenue increases each year based on innovation and design. He has been a UX design practitioner for more than 15 years, and a leader for nine of those years. He specializes in UX organizational leadership, process enhancement, and organizational transformation. He writes a regular column on UX management (www.uxmatters.com), teaches a course about leading innovation workshops, and speaks frequently at conferences and universities on innovation and leading UX organizations.
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Making UX Relevant in Tough Times or "Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows"
- 1. Making UX Relevant in Tough Times Or “Of Ugly Babies and Sacred Cows” Jim Nieters– Director, User Experience Design, YSM and Apt from Yahoo! CHI Atlanta– 29-January-2009
- 4. Most important factor in UX relevance? • It’s the most important factor in business • It’s the most important factor in relaDonships • Yes, it’s Trust • Strong relaDonships and a deep network Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 5. Execs are in a life‐and‐death struggle Let me go find someone I trust (someone who aligns with me and who has a track record of delivering) Senior VP Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 6. Examples Bill Walsh would rather have a • good player he could trust than a • great player he couldn’t trust Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 7. Examples– Keith Ferrazzi: • RelaDonships based in trust form the basis of all business • Employment at higher levels depends on relaDonships • Decisions are made based on relaDonships, not data Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 8. Examples • Donald Trump • Hillary Clinton • George HW Bush • Bernie Madoff (seriously?) Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 9. How to not build trust‐ a word of cauDon 1. Probe for safety, listen, and believe! – Be careful of a reputaDon as the “no” person – Create more than you criDcize – Stand on the hill of principle judiciously 2. Be the trusted advisor, not the arguer Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 10. How do you build trust? 3. Build a compelling vision …use it to create posiDve momentum It sounds easy, but is hard to do 4. Commit and over‐deliver. It is about personal accountability. Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 11. Example– Stumbling into a playground: Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 12. Let’s dissect this. We: 5. considered the larger business problem 6. extended our focus beyond UI for one device 7. built partnerships and coaliDons 8. installed an empowered, intact team Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 14. Ten principles of innovaDon: 1. Create a playground culture! 5. Involve real users! 6. Redefine your business 2. Ideate- be visual, think by problem doing, brainstorm, hijack, mash up, and hack, and think 7. Dedicate time and effort the opposite 8. Realize practical results 3. Create a process that promotes innovation 9. Involve cross-functional teams 4. Create a supportive 10. Conduct Innovation organizational structure Workshops! Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 15. Yahoo Design Labs (YoDeLs) A quick glimpse Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 16. Yahoo YoDeLs… Yahoo Design Labs (YoDeLs) are: an intensive week of ideaDon, design, iteraDon, and user tesDng, where designers, engineers, product managers, and researchers work together on a focused challenge. Results: wireframes that have been tested and refined Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 17. InnovaDon workshop components: 1. Creative ideation 2. Filter ideas using the innovation funnel 3. Collaborative design with stakeholders 4. Rapid user feedback and iteration 5. Consensus to drive innovative product to market Jim Nieters, Gesche Joost, Heather Cassano
- 18. The Basic Idea: Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 19. Call for parDcipaDon‐ CHI Panel scenarios • Panelists present “one thing” for UX relevance • Audience (you) present real challenges • Panelist evaluate which “one thing” is best • Define the best context for each “one thing” Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 20. http://riander.blogspot.com/ Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 21. Thank you! Jim Nieters– Director, User Experience Design, YSM and Apt from Yahoo! jnieters @yahoo-inc.com, jnieters@mac.com, www.jimnieters.com
- 22. YoDeL mock‐ups & bake‐off presentaDons Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 23. YoDeL mock‐ups & bake‐off presentaDons Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 24. YoDeL‐ Brand Pyramid Example for Audi What do I offer you? Brand Promise Smart, German, What (who) am I like? Engineer, Energetic, Personality Youthful How do I present Sophisticated, Elegant, Tone/Expression myself? Bullet-Proof, Leading-Edge What Technological Safety Design Premium defines Goals Progress Quality me? Core Values
- 25. YoDeL‐ Group voDng Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 26. YoDeL‐ TesDng the paper prototypes One or two rounds of usability tesDng and refinement Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 27. Week aoer YoDeL‐ complete taxonomy Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009
- 28. Week aoer YoDeL‐ NavigaDon OpDons Jim Nieters, Atlanta CHI, © January 2009