THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
OF UX STRATEGY!
Ronnie Battista
UXSTRAT Conference
September 11th, 2013
@RonnieBattista
www.linkedin.com/in/ronniebattista

Source: blog.nus.edu.sg
“We make our technologies, and they, in turn, shape us.
So, of every technology we must ask, Does it serve our
human purposes? …
… a question that causes us to consider what these
purposes are. Technologies, in every generation, present
opportunity to reflect on our values and direction”
- Sherri Turkle, Alone Together
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THANK YOU
PAUL
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3 CHAPTERS
•! Genesis
•! The 10 Commandments of UX Strategy
•! Revelations
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GENESIS
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IN THE BEGINNING . . .
•! UXPA Certification
•! Emerging professional trends in (and out) of UX
•! The “What is UX” substantive / semantic arguments
•! 10 Immutable Truths of Experience Design
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Source ‘www.xdtruths.com’ – Use
and references during presentation with
permission from MISI / NTT Data Company
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•!QUESTION TIME
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http://www.tmz.com/videos/0_5nm25qd9/

Who is best suited for UX Strategy? Right-brainers?Left-brainers? Or, the ever-popular “It Depends?”
Is UX Strategy ‘different’ than UX Research and
Design? Is it a just a more strategic-focused version?
How can I be the best in an
emerging field that’s still defining
itself?
Are there specific UX Strategist deliverables?
CONTEMPLATING UX STRATEGY
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http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/-em-breaking-bad-em-could-walter-white-really-kill-jesse-pinkman/279252/

Is there (or should there even
be) base criteria that makes
someone a UX Strategist?
THE BIG QUESTION:
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OR IS UX STRATEGY A BIT MORE LIKE PORN?
“I shall not today attempt
further to define the kinds of
material I understand to be
embraced within that
shorthand description; and
perhaps I could never
succeed in intelligibly doing
so. But I know it when I see
it, and the motion picture
involved in this case is not
that.” —Justice Potter Stewart, Jacobellis v. Ohio
378 U.S. 184 (1964), regarding possible obscenity in The Lovers
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OH, THE DESPAIR.
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. . . that we can agree on?
Are there at least a few. . .
Heuristics Rules of Thumb Guiding Principles
Immutable Truths
Rules of Thumb
Fundamentals
Commandments
Tenets
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The 10 Commandments (Moses Version)
•! 1. Thou Shalt Have No Gods Before Me
•! 2. Thou Shalt Not Make Graven Images
•! 3. Thou Shalt Not Take the Lord's Name in Vain
•! 4. Remember to Keep Holy the Sabbath
•! 5. Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother
•! 6. Thou Shalt Not Kill
•! 7. Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery
•! 8. Thou Shalt Not Steal
•! 9. Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness
•! 10. Thou Shalt Not Covet
Commandment (noun) a statement of what to do that must be
obeyed by those concerned
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@ronniebattista #UXSTRAT
Have a go.
Don’t cost
nothin…
AND THE HEAVENS ANSWERED:

•! I am the Lord of the UX Strategy and Planning group on
LinkedIn. You shall have no other UX LinkedIn groups
besides me.
•! Do not speak your UX Strategy title in vain with horribly
narcissistic words like “Guru” “Demigod” “Sherpa” and
“Visionary” that just make us (but, really, mostly you) look like
an asshole.
•! I am the Lord your God, and even I don’t think I’m
so prescient to mental-vomit 30+ tweets/day. I don’t
care what you had for breakfast. No one does. If thine are not
a terse comedian or at a conference… think ‘curate’.
REJECTED COMMANDMENTS
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PREACHING TO THE CHOIR
Credit: http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/Church-sign-reads-Preaching-
to-the-Choir-Since-1846-New-Yorker-Cartoon-Prints_i8480038_.htm
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I.!
Thou shalt focus on
the big picture!
II. !
HONOR your company
and customer, But
covet your neighbor’s
ass. !
III.!
ThOU SHALT NOT STEAL
THY Employee’S
HUMANITY!
IV.!
Remember to Keep Holy
the Context!
V.!
THOU SHALT NOT KILL
(THY CAREER)!
VI.!
THOU SHALT NOT BEAR
SPECULATIVE WITNESS!
VII.!
THOU SHALT STAY
FAITHFUL TO UX
GOVERNANCE!
VIII.!
Thou not Speak UX IN
TONGUES!
IX.!
THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP
DIGITAL ONLY!
X.!
THOU shalt practice UX
WITH HUMAN-CENTRIC
INTEGRITY !
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The 10 Commandments
of UX Strategy

I. THOU SHALT FOCUS ON THE BIG PICTURE
•! Strategic UX initiatives and projects will always be
here; those with the greatest chance of long-term
business value stay framed in the big picture.
•! Seek the strategy behind even the most tactical
engagement. No matter how tactical, you should
always seek to root you engagement in the big
picture.
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II. HONOR YOUR COMPANY AND CUSTOMER, BUT
COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR’S ASS.
•! What are the specific business levers that enable
your company to win out over competitors, and how
can UX directly impact them?
•! Understand the Company
•! Understand the Competition
•! Understand the Customer
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III. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL THY EMPLOYEES
HUMANITY
•! When humans are on both
sides of an interaction,
attention must be made to
their mutual success
“If you wonder what getting and keeping the right employees
has to do with getting and keeping the right customers, the
answer is everything” -Frederick Reichheld, The Loyalty Effect
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•! But it’s not just the “right thing to do” anymore

IV. REMEMBER TO KEEP HOLY THE CONTEXT
•! The UX Strategist must strongly advocate the
need for context in any attempt to create or
redefine an experience.
•! Unfortunately, our global supply of true ‘genius
design’ potential (e.g. Steve Jobs) is inversely
proportional to well-intended senior executive
‘gut feelings’ that are “unencumbered by facts”.
http://www.adexchanger.com/comic-strip/adexchanger-context-matters/
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V. THOU SHALT NOT KILL (THY CAREER)
•! It is becoming increasingly clear that business (and the UX
profession) is fast-moving. Prepare for lifelong learning.
•! A UX Strategist must keep the door open to understanding
current UX software, processes and services.
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VI. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR SPECULATIVE
WITNESS (WITHOUT BOTH QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE
EVIDENCE)
•! UX Strategy embraces BOTH qualitative user research or
set / targeted metrics.
•! For the Quals: No one here will argue against user
research. But we need our clients to understand our
need to connect with real human beings, even if we think
(or they think) we know the answer.
•! For the Quants: Big Data needs UX Strategy. We ask
why something happened, interpret the data into valuable
insights, and turn Big Data into Big Impact solutions.
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•! Experience is fluid with periods of evolution and
revolution
•! An ongoing UX governance program to measure and
optimize the experience is vital to long-term viability
•! A UX Strategist should strongly advocate Experience
Management infusion into the company’s program/
portfolio management infrastructure.
•! A journey map can only take you so far…
VII. THOU SHALT STAY FAITHFUL TO UX
GOVERNANCE
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VII. THOU SHALT STAY FAITHFUL TO UX
GOVERNANCE
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GOVERNANCE
SLIDESHARE VERSION REDACTED IMAGE AS CLIENT
CONFIDENTIAL – IMAGINE AN ENORMOUSLY COMPLEX, HARD
TO READ JOURNEY MAP. JOURNEY MAPS ARE GREAT.
http://http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/09/
images/EffectiveUIJourneyMapExample.jpg
Hey, here’s a cool Journey Map
from Effective UI that I found on UX
Matters
/archives/2011/09/

VII. THOU SHALT STAY FAITHFUL TO UX
GOVERNANCE
! also by channel:
Telesales, Web,
Mobile, Affliliate
etc.
Marketing Service Product Line 1 Product Line 2 !
GOVERNANCE
EMO Infrastructure and Tools
EMO Portfolio and Program Management Processes
Experience Business Intelligence and Analytics
Communications and Change Management
Experience Governance Models
etc.
End-to-End Experience Mapping & Guiding Principles
Experience
Management Office
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also by channel:
THIS THING HERE ISFOR ILLUSTRATIVEPORPOISES ONLY!YOU DIG?

VIII. THOU NOT SPEAK IN TONGUES:
•! A UX Strategist at heart understands that UX and the
practice of UX is ultimately one of communication . . .
•! … As an empathetic translator / proxy
advocate for the human audience…
•! … In the products and services we design,
which communicate utility and inherent value…
•! … And in the ability to convey to business
leaders the experience implications of why a
path should or should not be chosen and the
value of ongoing investment and growth in UX.
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IX. THOU SHALT NOT WORSHIP DIGITAL ONLY
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X. THOU SHALT PRACTICE UX WITH HUMAN-
CENTRIC INTEGRITY
•! As translators of business and technology to the
human condition, UX is at the vanguard of a
technological revolution that has already irrevocably
changed base human interaction over the last two
decades.
•! Possessing the tools and skills to capitalize on
human behavior in context is powerful.
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http://serenelyrapt.wordpress.com/2013/05/19/hippocratic-oath/
If not us, who?
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REVELATIONS
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CONTEMPLATING UX STRATEGY
How can I be the best in anemerging field that’s still
defining itself?
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How can WE help build this
profession to grow and support
those that come after us?

“Technology reshapes the
landscape of our emotional lives,
but is it offering us the lives we
want to lead? …. What are the
responsibilities here? … What do
we have, now that we have what
we say we want – now that we
have what technology makes easy.
This is the time to begin these
conversations, together. It is too
late to leave the future to the
futurists”. - Sherri Turkle
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www.retailminions.com
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Thank YOU!
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Can you see it from here?