A 180 minute talk at OmniBridge, Pune on 23rd May, 2014. Summary: It takes some thinking and action towards the growth from being a Software Developer to a Product Owner. Everyone in the organization taking the ownership is the most effective way to make the overall growth a reality. UCD, Design Thinking or Agile are methodologies and they need to evolve and be tweaked to suit a particular workplace. The path to adopting these proven methods highlights a lot of practical problems and genuinely puts a culture at test. But if everyone involved start fixing the problems starting with themselves, the journey could become more enjoyable and will face less obstacles.

1. Devising UCD
for Organizational Growth

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Take a moment
Which one describes you better?
Product Owner Product Builder
Software DeveloperSoftware Engineer

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Agenda
● Ecosystem Problems
– Software Developer
– Customers and End-users
– Business owners
● Product suffers – everybody suffers
● A Proven Solution
● The right approach
● An Ultimate Growth Opportunity

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Ecosystem Problems
Software Developer
● Business knowledge
● User understanding
● Adequate technical exposure
● Changing requirements
● Processes
● Time pressure

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Ecosystem Problems
Customers and End-users
● Customers: Seem happy
– Requirement changes
are accommodated
– Product Customization
● End-users: Hardly usable solution
– What was the need?
– Giving requirements means
suggesting features

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Ecosystem Problems
Business Owners
● Time pressure, matching the competition
● People motivation, commitment issues
● Product seems accepted (aka successful)
● Failing development processes
● Maintenance issues

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Why worry?
Understanding a simple fact
The binding element between
the Business, its People (us) and its Customers is
The Product
Product suffers – everybody suffers

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A Successful Product
● High user experience
(not necessarily, Usability)
● Maximum profits
(not annual turnover)
● Committed people
(not the head-count)

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Magic Potion
Business
Users Technology

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Usability and
User Experience
Everyone knows it
Nobody really understands

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The best interface is no interface
“The real problem with the interface is that it is an
interface. Interfaces get in the way. I don't want to focus
my energies on an interface. I want to focus on my job... I
don't want to think of myself as using a computer, I want
to think of myself as doing my job.”
- Donald Norman

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Usability
The extent to which a product can be used by
specified users to achieve specified goals with
effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a
specified context of use.
- In simple words -
Ease of use and learnability of a human-made object

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Sample Case Study
Ref: http://www.nngroup.com/articles/optimizing-a-screen-for-mobile-use/

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Usability
● Learnability: How easy is it for users to accomplish basic
tasks the first time they encounter the design?
● Efficiency: Once users have learned the design, how quickly
can they perform tasks?
● Memorability: When users return to the design after a period
of not using it, how easily can they re-establish proficiency?
● Errors: How many errors do users make, how severe are
these errors, and how easily can they recover from the
errors?
● Satisfaction: How pleasant is it to use the design?

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User Experience
A person's perceptions and responses
that result from the use or anticipated use
of a product, system or service

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(Overall) User Experience
Single experiences influence the overall user experience:
the experience of a key click affects the experience of
typing a text message, the experience of typing a message
affects the experience of text messaging, and the
experience of text messaging affects the overall user
experience with the phone. The overall user experience is
not simply a sum of smaller interaction experiences,
because some experiences are more salient than others.
Overall user experience is also influenced by factors
outside the actual interaction episode: brand, pricing,
friends' opinions, reports in media, etc.

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Influences on User Experience
Many factors can influence a user's experience with a
system. To address the variety, factors influencing user
experience have been classified into three main categories:
● user's state and previous experience
● system properties, and
● the usage context (situation)
Studying typical users, contexts, interactions and resulting
emotions help in designing the system.

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Designing Usability
Yes – Usability Engineering
UCD, Design Thinking etc.

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Designing User Experience
?

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Hassenzahl's Model for UX

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You can design for better User Experience
But you cannot design User Experience
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/15/why-user-experience-cannot-be-designed/

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Categorization of Product Attributes
Manipulation Identification
EvocationStimulation

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Manipulation

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Identification

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Stimulation
Gmail
Google

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Evocation

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What kind of experience is this?
Perceptions

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User-Centered Design
Process
As a formula
for building better products

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Usability - Engineering
● Early focus on users and tasks (Analyze)
● Empirical measurement (Test)
● Iterative design (Fix and Enhance)
User Centered Design
● The design is based upon an explicit understanding of users, tasks and
environments.
● Users are involved throughout design and development.
● The design is driven and refined by user-centered evaluation.
● The process is iterative.
● The design addresses the whole user experience.
● The design team includes multidisciplinary skills and perspectives.

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User Centered Design
All about Users
● Who are they?
● What are their tasks and goals?
● What is their past experience levels?
● What functions do they need?
● What prior information and training would they need?
● How do they expect the system to behave?
● What are the extreme environments?
● Is the user multitasking?
● Does the interface utilize different inputs modes such as touching, spoken,
gestures, or orientation?

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Design thinking
An alternative approach for problem-solving
Research
Define
Ideation
Prototype
Choose
Implement
Learn

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Practical UCD Process
Business
Users Technology

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... but we already have a process
Problem #1

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40. 40Excellent collection of articles on: http://www.uxmatters.com/topics/agile-ucd/

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Other practical problems
● Customer???
● No developer-customer links.
● No direct access to users
●
Company vision not properly
understood
● Business model behind the
Product is unknown
● Too specific requirements
● Non-existent prototyping stage
Company Culture

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In search of a solution
Too many problems. Where to start?
Creeping never helps
You can keep complaining your whole life
and stay where you are
-or-
Start fixing yourself
and go places

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Few things that can work
● Very first thing – ask for information, that's your right
● Keep questioning what works
● Be a risk taker and take chances
● Always be open to making changes in response to what people say and to
what happens
● Create shared plans and agendas
● Be fully present and engaged
● Keep moving forward
● Focus on the good of the whole
● Let yourself lose control
● Self organize

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Growth
Seeking Opportunity in the Problem

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Elements for overall evolution
● Continuous learning
● Develop trust
● Help others
● Believe in yourself
● Stay high on productivity
Communication

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Communication is the key
● Its a process of transferring signals/messages
● Courage – say it
● Practice
– Body language & eye contact
– Tone and pitch of your voice
– Language skills
– Crucial conversations
● Be a good listener

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At Crucial Conversations
We either run away, or fight.
Instead,
Handle them better
● Watch yourself. Don't react. Act.
● Make it safe, explain motive, gain trust.
● Share facts & each other's stories. Find a mutual purpose.
● Genuinely explore options. Compare. Keep a open mind.
● Act on it. Decide how you'll decide. Roles. Follow-up.

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Being Best at anything is not possible
Unless you're first Good at being a Human

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Something to read
Books
● How to win friends and influence people
- Dale Carnegie
● Crucial Conversations
- Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny
● The art of explanation
- Lee LeFever
● Lead with a story
- Paul Smith
● The art of thinking clearly
- Rolf Dobelli
● Becoming a technical leader
- Gerald Weinberg
● Don't make me think
- Steve Krug
● Design of Everyday Things
- Don Norman
● Rework
- Jason Fried and David Hansson
Links on Usability, User Experience and UCD
● http://www.nngroup.com/articles/
● http://www.uxmatters.com/
● http://www.smashingmagazine.com/usability-and-user-experience/
● http://uxmag.com/
● http://www.uxbooth.com/
● http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/06/the-three-faces-of-about-face.html
● http://www.allaboutux.org/ux-definitions
● http://hcibib.org/
● http://www-01.ibm.com/software/ucd/designconcepts/whatisUXD.html
● http://www.interaction-design.org/encyclopedia/interaction_design.html
● http://uxi-ams-2010.adaptivepath.com/
● http://mxconference.com/2012/videos/
● http://ux.stackexchange.com/
● https://www.coursera.org/course/hci
● http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF4A01617834A0FB6

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Summary
● Problem
Product suffers,
Everyone suffers
● Solution
UCD/Design Thinking
with Agile
● Approach
No team – No process.
Improve the team culture,
Start with ourselves
Opportunity for Growth

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kumarbhot@yahoo.com
http://www.kumarbhot.com
http://www.quora.com/Kumar-Bhot/answers
http://www.linkedin.com/in/kumarbhot
@UsableBytes