A talk I gave at UX Cambridge 2011 about my experiences of embedding UX in a large, public sector organisation.

1. Winning hearts and
minds: how to embed
UX from scratch in a
large organisation
Michele Ide-Smith
UX Cambridge, November 2011

2. “As their usability approach matures,
organisations typically progress
through the same sequence of stages,
from initial hostility to widespread
reliance on user research.”
Jakob Nielsen

3. A bit of background
Photo by Kaptain Kobold http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5359290323

4. About me
Head of
Information
Interactive
Architecture
Production
Started MSc in
Web HCI
Web developer
accessibility
UX Specialist
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Web Strategy
Project Manager & Manager
Information
Architect Observed user
testing
Graduated with
MSc in HCI

5. A revelation can become a passion

6. The organisation I worked for had to
save £160 million in the next 5 years

7. Costs per transaction
• Face-to-face £8.23
• Telephone £3.21
• Website £0.39
Source: SOCITM (Society for IT Managers), 2009

8. Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989)

9. Making Council web services useful
and usable saves public money

10. We came a long way in 5 years…
2006 2011
Occasional usability Dedicated UX Architect
survey UX techniques and skills embedded

11. UX Maturity Model diagram from an article by @rfeijo http://johnnyholland.org/2010/04/16/planning-your-ux-strategy/
We got to here

12. How did we get started?
Photo by Sarah and Mike …probably http://www.flickr.com/photos/sarahandmikeprobably/4266668689/

13. UX techniques are not hard to pick up

14. But knowing when and why to use
them takes experience

15. Lesson learnt #1

16. Start with small but
perfectly formed projects
Research
Improve Design
Evaluate Prototype

17. Demonstrate the value of using UX
methods, however small the project

18. Lesson learnt #2

19. Some stakeholders have strong opinions

20. Data can speak volumes

21. Use data to tell a story about your users
User testing / interviews Customer feedback
Call centre stats Analytics

22. Lesson learnt #3

23. Highlighting poor design and content
requires tact and diplomacy

24. Always point out something
positive as well as the negatives
Use familiar language e.g. ‘customer
focus’, ‘customer experience’
Photo by hatalmas http://www.flickr.com/photos/hatalmas/6094281702

25. Lesson learnt #4

26. Find a UX Champion who can gain
organisational support and resources
UX rocks!!
Photo by Dunechaser http://www.flickr.com/photos/dunechaser/3538429942/

27. Lesson learnt #5

28. If you have budget available and
decide to use external expertise

29. Find a supplier who’ll work collaboratively
Work collaboratively
And help transfer skills to in-house teams
Photo by Lollyman: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lollyman/4424552903

30. Lesson learnt #6

31. The whole team can learn UX skills

32. Everyone in the team could use
Analytics data or do an expert review
Photo by Oblong http://www.flickr.com/photos/oblongpictures/5250948891

33. Anyone can have design ideas

34. The person who created these
sketches had no prior UX experience

35. Developers appreciate design input
when it makes their lives easier

36. Lesson learnt #7

37. Regular user testing is an invaluable
way to get early feedback on designs
Photo by Kaptain Kobold http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5181464194

38. Recruiting users can be time
consuming and expensive

39. Maximise opportunities to recruit
users e.g. add a check box on
customer surveys / feedback forms, or
a question to the call centre scripts

40. Lesson learnt #8

41. It’s your job to sell the value of UX

42. Set targets and evaluate and
benchmark using consistent metrics

43. Lesson learnt #9

44. UX people should influence all areas of
the business that impact on customers

45. Procurement decisions are often only
based on cost and business requirements

46. Bad UX costs the business through
increased calls to customer support
Photo by ntr23 http://www.flickr.com/photos/ntr23/4435476085

47. Integrate usability evaluations and
accessibility audits into procurement

48. Speak to customer support to
understand customer problems

49. Lesson learnt #10

50. Standardising processes and templates
saves time and helps with a UX roll out

51. We integrated UX processes into Agile
(Scrum) processes

52. Creating method cards helped develop
UX knowledge and summarise when
and how to use UX techniques

53. Method cards courtesy of http://nform.com/tradingcards/

54. Leave room to experiment with new
techniques – don’t be too prescriptive

55. Lesson learnt #11

56. UX can become a full time job

57. It’s often only a small percentage
of your job role

58. After 4 years we created a
dedicated UX Architect role

59. Developing UX skills, retaining talent
and recruiting is hard work

60. Lesson learnt #12

61. Do you know who your users are?
Photo by Joe Shablotnik http://www.flickr.com/photos/joeshlabotnik/305410323/

62. Work with data experts¹ to segment
customers and help create personas,
to enable everyone in the organisation
to know their users
1. Data experts could be market researchers or data analysts

63. Use personas to bring your user data to life
Photo by Canned Tuna http://www.flickr.com/photos/cannedtuna/4852756417/

64. We created personas with quantitative
data (demographic and transactional)
as well as qualitative data

65. Personas inform service design, not
just website and application design

66. UX was being considered at each point
in a customer journey

67. A team which collaborates
and learns together can
achieve great things
Photo by Rob Young http://www.flickr.com/photos/rob-young/2835825416

68. UX adoption / maturity survey
• Based on Human Factors International
checklist (developed after 2009 survey)
• 65 respondents, sourced from UX networks
and groups (London IA, LinkedIn, Twitter)

69. Sectors

70. Organisation size

71. 46%
Have executive support
30%
At senior executive level (V or C level)

72. 8%
Have UX governance

73. 24% strategy
Have a published UX
or vision statement
13% 19%
Review or update State that UX is an
it regularly organisational
success driver

74. Most popular UX techniques

75. Most effective techniques

76. 16%standardised
Use the same shared /
UX methods within the organisation
22% 11%
UX research is a Have a published
required step UX standard

77. 41% values and
Said their organisation
recognises UX successes

78. 25%
Define measurable success criteria
and performance metrics for every
website or application they develop
8%
Measure and report ROI

79. 36% part of
Said UX skills are a recognised
their job description
38% 22%
Have staff Provide training /
dedicated to UX education for non-
100% of the time UX staff

80. Challenges
• Resources - limited resources and budget
• Communication / education - lack of
understanding of what UX is
• Strategy – lack of UX vision; lack of mandate;
de-centralisation leads to departmental silos;
no centralised UX plan; UX as a ‘bolt on’
• Change – fear of change

81. Top tips
• Sell the benefits and value
• Gain buy in and engage others e.g. observing
user testing, sketching and ideation sessions
• Go undercover
• But at some point you’ll need to embed and
formalise the process

82. In conclusion

83. “No matter how impassioned your
approach, it’s impossible to take a
company straight from UX indifference to
UX maturity. The demands are too
disruptive. Focus, as the undercover
manifesto suggests, on big change
through small victories, slowly winning
the hearts and minds and convincing your
team of the need for UX approaches .”
Cennydd Bowles, James Box

84. Thanks for listening!
Photo by brieuc_s http://www.flickr.com/photos/brieuc/4225881624/

85. Get in touch
Michele Ide-Smith
User Experience Specialist
Red Gate Software
michele.ide-smith@red-gate.com
@micheleidesmith
www.ide-smith.co.uk
www.linkedin.com/in/micheleidesmith