1.
Get Strategic: A Hands-On, Collabora8ve
Workshop For Crea8ng A UX Strategic Plan
Paul Sherman
ShermanUX
Kent State University

2.
The Problem
Good user experience research and design are no longer
“nice to have”…they are essential.
But most organizations don’t know how to effectively
integrate UX practices into existing practices and
processes.
2

3.
They’re Looking To You For UX Leadership!
3
And if they’re not, you need to start acting like they are.

4.
Goals Of This Workshop
We’ll be learning about and discussing
these topics together:
How to identify and cultivate UX
champions.
How to leverage small tactical UX
wins to drive toward a strategic
UX approach.
How to get the right UX activities
embedded into the right places in
your organization’s product life
cycle.
4
UX

5.
Agenda
5
Topic
Format
Timing
Introductions
- -
05 - 15
Setting context
Presentation
15 - 45
Small group breakout
- -
45 –50
Assignment 1
Group work
50 - 80
Selling UX
Presentation
80 - 90
Stretch & bio break
- -
90 - 100
Assignment 2
Group work
100 - 120
Discussion
Interaction
120 – 170
Wrap-up & going forward
Discussion
170 – 180

6.
Introduc8ons
Name
Role
Organization (optional)
UX challenge you’re facing
30 seconds max!
“I’m Paul Sherman. I’m a user
experience manager at BigSoft.
My UX challenge is that BigSoft
wants ‘Apple-like’ user
experiences for our products,
but won’t give me budget or
headcount to achieve this.”
6

7.
Who Am I?
PhD in Human Factors Psychology
Practicing user experience for 18 years
Internal:
External:
Teaching since 2001
7
+ a few defunct agencies…

8.
Who Am I?
I’ve built small UX
teams and large multi-
location teams.
Today, I…
Provide user
experience research
and design consulting.
Teach, mentor
students and develop
courses for Kent
State’s UXD program.
8

9.
Before All That…
I worked in aviation human factors.
I studied how pilots’ communication and behavior affected flight safety.
Why?
Because 2/3 of aviation accidents involved perfectly functioning aircraft.
“Pilot error” was usually the given cause.
But what did that actually mean?
9

10.
The Human Factor
My advisor and his collaborators
learned that certain behaviors were
associated with safer flight:
Verbalizing one’s own actions and
assumptions about flight status.
Cross-checking each other’s
actions.
Be willing to question each other’s
decisions, even the captain’s
decisions, without judgment.
So they began working with airline
training organizations to incorporate
these “soft” skills into regular flight
training.
10

11.
Obstacles To Implemen8ng Safety Processes
They encountered resistance
from all sides:
Airlines’ upper
management
“Check pilots” – trainee
evaluators
Air traffic control
The FAA
International agencies
11

12.
What Was Happening?
They had bumped up against culture-based impediments:
Organizational culture
Training and evaluation processes
Cultures in different fleets (aircraft types)
Regulatory culture
12

13.
Some Defini8ons
Culture:
The set of attitudes, values,
beliefs, and behaviors shared
by a group of people, but
different for each individual,
communicated from one
generation to the next.
Organizational culture:
“The way we work around
here.”
13Matsumoto, D. (1996) Culture and Psychology. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
https://hbr.org/2013/05/what-is-organizational-culture

14.
Cultures Overlap, Influence And Affect Each Other
14
National
Culture
Organizational
Culture
Professional
Culture
Formal
Processes
Informal
Processes
Training
Regional
Culture
Organizational
Subcultures
Organizational
Subcultures

15.
A Systems Approach
The researchers realized that in order to make progress, they needed to adopt
a systems approach and act as change agents in each part of an organization.
15
Professional
Culture
Teach pilots the
safety value of communication,
coordination,
cross-checking, and
questioning.
Formal
Processes
Informal
Processes
Training
Organizational
Subcultures
Train the trainers.
Modify the curricula.
Standardize soft
skill training across
fleets.
Ensure safety behaviors are
part of standard operating
procedures.
Reinforce safety
behaviors through
behavioral norms
and values.

16.
Results?
It worked.
16

17.
17

18.
It Wasn’t Easy
It required change at many levels in each organization.
18

19.
What’s A Product Organiza8onal Culture Like?
Here’s one model. Do you recognize your organization?
19

20.
20
Might never have had a UX team
or a designer on staff.
Products are created from
interesting technology.
Territorial about the UI.
Confident that they can anticipate
what users will want in the future.
View design as a creative, not
functional endeavor.
May focus on designs that other
designers like and respect.
Represented by powerful people
who know the loudest buyers...
but who don’t know the actual
users or their workflows and
processes.
Collect lots of survey-based and
market-level data.
Tendency to deem a product
usable if it is merely possible to do
the task.
Rely heavily on their own
experience when designing.
Feel they are doing the right thing
for the customer, even if they don’t
have evidence.
Often define the user experience
in terms of aesthetics rather than
satisfying workflow needs.
Rely heavily on their own instincts
about users.
Focus only on data that confirms
their viewpoints.
Rely heavily on buyers’ feedback
and random customer
suggestions to drive feature
prioritization.
Often overconfident in their ability
to know what the customer needs.
Challenges
Characteristics
Engineer Centric
Design Centric
Sales & Marketing Centric

21.
21
Might never have had a UX team
or a designer on staff.
Products are created from
interesting technology.
Territorial about the UI.
Confident that they can anticipate
what users will want in the future.
View design as a creative, not
functional endeavor.
May focus on designs that other
designers like and respect.
Represented by powerful people
who know the loudest buyers...
but who don’t know the actual
users or their workflows and
processes.
Collect lots of survey-based and
market-level data.
Tendency to deem a product
usable if it is merely possible to do
the task.
Rely heavily on their own
experience when designing.
Feel they are doing the right thing
for the customer, even if they don’t
have evidence.
Often define the user experience
in terms of aesthetics rather than
satisfying workflow needs.
Rely heavily on their own instincts
about users.
Focus only on data that confirms
their viewpoints.
Rely heavily on buyers’ feedback
and random customer
suggestions to drive feature
prioritization.
Often overconfident in their ability
to know what the customer needs.
Challenges
Characteristics
Engineer Centric
Design Centric
Sales & Marketing Centric

22.
22
Might never have had a UX team
or a designer on staff.
Products are created from
interesting technology.
Territorial about the UI.
Confident that they can anticipate
what users will want in the future.
View design as a creative, not
functional endeavor.
May focus on designs that other
designers like and respect.
Represented by powerful people
who know the loudest buyers...
but who don’t know the actual
users or their workflows and
processes.
Collect lots of survey-based and
market-level data.
Tendency to deem a product
usable if it is merely possible to do
the task.
Rely heavily on their own
experience when designing.
Feel they are doing the right thing
for the customer, even if they don’t
have evidence.
Often define the user experience
in terms of aesthetics rather than
satisfying workflow needs.
Rely heavily on their own instincts
about users.
Focus only on data that confirms
their viewpoints.
Rely heavily on buyers’ feedback
and random customer
suggestions to drive feature
prioritization.
Often overconfident in their ability
to know what the customer needs.
Challenges
Characteristics
Engineer Centric
Design Centric
Sales & Marketing Centric
Hanson, K. & Castleman, W. (2006). Tracking Ease-of-Use Metrics: A Tried and True Method for Driving Adoption of UCD in Different Corporate Cultures. Usability
Success Stories, Ashgate/Gower.

23.
And That’s Only A Uni-Dimensional Characteriza8on!
There’s also…
Pre-existing individual relationships
Traditional power bases
Incentive structures
Can you think of other aspects?
23

24.
Key Point
Doing UX happens in a multi-layered environment.
24

25.
So how do you do strategic UX?
25

26.
Strategy
“A long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.”
“Strategy is differentiated from tactics or immediate actions by its orientation
on affecting future, not immediate conditions.”
26<Lazy>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategy</>

27.
Strategy vs. Tac8cs
27

28.
Strategy vs. Tac8cs
28
Strategic plan:
Go from airport to hotel
Tactics:
Accelerate
Make some turns
Slow down
Stop

29.
Tactics are good practice…
But only if you know where you’re going.
Do you?
29

30.
How Do You Do Strategic UX?
Give yourself a new job: change agent.
30
UX
UX

31.
Change Agent
A person who leads a business initiative by:
Defining and researching the problem
Planning the intervention
Building business support for the intervention
Enlisting others to help drive change
“Change agents must have the conviction to state the facts based on data,
even if the consequences are associated with unpleasantness.”
31
Six Sigma - http://Isixsigma.com/dictionary/change-agent/
UXmatters - The User Experience Practitioner As Change Agent – http://bit.ly/a2Xwux

32.
UX Prac88oner As Change Agent
To be a change agent, you must focus
on strategic goals.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive
for short-term wins.
But they should be in the service of a
long-term strategy.
32
UX

33.
So how do you do strategic UX?
33

34.
Strategic Planning
It sounds mysterious. It’s not.
You first need to identify:
34
Your current state
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points

35.
Strategic Planning
35
Your current state
What services do you
currently provide?
What areas of UX do you
currently cover?
At what stages of product
processes is UX work
being done?
How much of the overall
product experience does
UX own?
Where does UX report to
now?
[Anything else to
characterize UX?)
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points

36.
Strategic Planning
36
Your current state
What services do you
currently provide?
What areas of UX do you
currently cover?
At what stages of product
processes is UX work
being done?
How much of the overall
product experience does
UX own?
How is UX performance
measured?
Where does UX report to
now?
(Anything else to
characterize UX?)
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points
What services do you
want to provide?
What areas of UX do you
want to cover?
At what stages do you
want more (or less) UX
representation?
How much of the product
experience do you want
UX to own?
How do you want UX to
be measured?
Do you want UX to stay
where it is or move? To
where?
(Anything else?)

37.
Strategic Planning
37
Your current state
What services do you
currently provide?
What areas of UX do you
currently cover?
At what stages of product
processes is UX work
being done?
How much of the overall
product experience does
UX own?
How is UX performance
measured?
Where does UX report to
now?
(Anything else to
characterize UX?)
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points
What services do you
want to provide?
What areas of UX do you
want to cover?
At what stages do you
want more (or less) UX
representation?
How much of the product
experience do you want
UX to own?
How do you want UX to
be measured?
Do you want UX to stay
where it is or move? To
where?
(Anything else?)
What obstacles do you
foresee having to
overcome before you get
to your desired state?
• Organizational
• Budgetary
• Resource
• Interpersonal
• Etc.

38.
Strategic Planning
38
Your current state
What services do you
currently provide?
What areas of UX do you
currently cover?
At what stages of product
processes is UX work
being done?
How much of the overall
product experience does
UX own?
How is UX performance
measured?
Where does UX report to
now?
(Anything else to
characterize UX?)
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points
What services do you
want to provide?
What areas of UX do you
want to cover?
At what stages do you
want more (or less) UX
representation?
How much of the product
experience do you want
UX to own?
How do you want UX to
be measured?
Do you want UX to stay
where it is or move? To
where?
(Anything else?)
What obstacles do you
foresee having to
overcome before you get
to your desired state?
• Organizational
• Budgetary
• Resource
• Interpersonal
• Etc.
What business-critical
problems is UX uniquely
positioned to solve?
Who can you ask for a
chance to tackle these
problems?
What high-level support
can you cultivate?
What keeps the business
leaders up at night? Can
UX help in these areas?
Anything else?

39.
Strategic Planning
Armed with this information,
you can direct your actions
toward strategic goals…
Rack up some tactical wins…
And embed UX practices and
process more deeply into your
organization.
39

40.
Assignment 1
Break into groups of 4.
Using the paper provided (or your
own digital resource), start
discussing and documenting:
Your current state
Your desired state
Obstacles you face
Leverage points
You will find yourself cycling back
between the areas as you listen to
your group members.
30 minutes
40

41.
Assignment 1 - Strategic Planning Ques8ons
41
Your current state
What services do you
currently provide?
What areas of UX do you
currently cover?
At what stages of product
processes is UX work
being done?
How much of the overall
product experience does
UX own?
How is UX performance
measured?
Where does UX report to
now?
(Anything else to
characterize UX?)
Your desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points
What services do you
want to provide?
What areas of UX do you
want to cover?
At what stages do you
want more (or less) UX
representation?
How much of the product
experience do you want
UX to own?
How do you want UX to
be measured?
Do you want UX to stay
where it is or move? To
where?
(Anything else?)
What obstacles do you
foresee having to
overcome before you get
to your desired state?
• Organizational
• Budgetary
• Resource
• Interpersonal
• Etc.
What business-critical
problems is UX uniquely
positioned to solve?
Who can you ask for a
chance to tackle these
problems?
What high-level support
can you cultivate?
What keeps the business
leaders up at night? Can
UX help in these areas?
Anything else?

42.
Assignment 1
Time’s up!
42

43.
Agenda
43
Topic
Format
Timing
Introductions
- -
05 - 15
Setting context
Presentation
15 - 45
Small group breakout
- -
45 –50
Assignment 1
Group work
50 - 80
Selling UX
Presentation
80 - 90
Stretch & bio break
- -
90 - 100
Assignment 2
Group work
100 - 120
Discussion
Interaction
120 – 170
Wrap-up & going forward
Discussion
170 – 180

44.
“Selling” UX
Selling UX in your organization means
aligning with the true needs of the business.
Ask yourself these questions:
What are the critical needs of the
business?
How does UX solve the problems of the
business?
How does UX impact the bottom line?
44

45.
Marke8ng 101 for UX’ers
AIDA - Attention, Interest, Desire, Action
Capture their attention. Appeal to emotion, not logic.
Hold their attention. Maintain their interest!
Understand what they desire. Show the benefits.
Move them to take the intended action.
45

46.
Tac8cs For Selling UX
Just a few tactics:
Show your work. Leave it up!
Conduct lessons learned
sessions after projects.
Point to the intranet UX page in
your signature.
Assist the help desk and
customer service department.
Run free training sessions and
brown bag luncheons.
What else has worked for you?
46

47.
What Doesn’t Sell
Being inflexible
Being too academic
Jargon: UCD, IXD, HCI
ROI-based justifications
47

48.
A Word On Jargon
At a former company, we referred to contextual inquiry by two acronyms…
FMO
FMH
Any guesses?
48

49.
A Word On Jargon
“Follow Me to the Office”
“Follow Me Home”
Use words that resonate with
your organization.
49
This is just an adorable picture. It’s
not jargon-related.

50.
10 Minute Break
50

51.
Agenda
51
Topic
Format
Timing
Introductions
- -
05 - 15
Setting context
Presentation
15 - 45
Small group breakout
- -
45 –50
Assignment 1
Group work
50 - 80
Selling UX
Presentation
80 - 90
Stretch & bio break
- -
90 - 100
Assignment 2
Group work
100 - 120
Discussion
Interaction
120 – 170
Wrap-up & going forward
Discussion
170 – 180

52.
Assignment 2
Break into groups of 4.
Review your work from
assignment 1.
Based on this information, make
some reasonable assumptions
about where you want to be in 1
year.
Make a 30-60-90 day plan that
moves you toward your 1 year
goals (and your desired state).
20 minutes
52

53.
Assignment 2
Time’s up!
53

54.
Discussion and Feedback
You’ve made your 1-30-60-90
plans.
One person from each group
volunteer to share:
Current state
Desired state
Obstacles
Leverage points
1-30-60-90 plan
Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
54

55.
Wrap-Up
Let’s continue the conversation.
I’ll send you invites to
strategicux.slack.com
Any other questions?
55

56.
Paul Sherman
paul@shermanux.com
+1.512.917.1942
QUESTIONS AND CONTACT