10 Observations from 10+ years in the Corporate UX Trenches
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Presentation at InfoCamp Seattle 2011 where I talk about 10 things I've learned from 10+ years doing UX work at large companies.
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10 Observations from 10+ years in the Corporate UX Trenches
- 1. 10 Observations from 10+ years in the Corporate UX Trenches @ario #InfoCampSeattle Oct 9 2011
- 2. Hi, I’m Ario... I’ve done UX-y things at these places since 2001. PictureIt!, MSN Photos RealArcade and here starting tomorrow! Toolbar, Sidewiki, Priority Inbox, Calendar, YouTube, G+ HCI Masters Cloud Drive
- 3. First observation... 1. Identify “What you can’t say” 1
- 4. The Conformist Test “Do you have any opinions that you would be reluctant to express in front of a group of your peers?” -P. Graham What are those things in your organization? 1
- 5. An example of something you might see in an internal document... “The manager in charge of each engagement shall prepare at its conclusion a brief report.” -- Some Mind Numbing IBM Employee Manual 1
- 6. Every organization has some version of this, what Freed & Broadhead coined as... “Sacred Texts” • Sets organizational norms • Protects in legal situations • Confines discourse (i.e. a spec template you might find in a big company) 1
- 7. What can’t you say & why? • Look to your company’s sacred texts & cultural norms. Risks of pointing out taboo topics... • Bruised egos • May entail scrapping a lot of hard work • May piss off someone higher up • Fear of a “bad review” 1
- 8. • How are the important things that aren’t getting talked about in your org impacting morale & effectiveness? • Is that silence helping or hurting? • Think about how you can raise sensitive issues in a smart way 1
- 9. 2. Big companies good, Small companies good 2
- 10. Why work at a big company? • Scale - reach millions • Learn - tons of smart people / projects • Visibility - see how a huge undertaking gets off the ground • Stability - assurance your job will be there 2
- 11. And why go to a small one? • Nimble - run as fast as you can • Agile - little penalty for changing course • Variability - wear many hats vs deep specialization for eternity 2
- 12. Big company outcomes • Dominate forever - CocaCola • Slow painful/fade out - Yahoo • Maintain & play it safe - Microsoft? • Go under/become subsumed - Friendster/ MySpace • Google / Apple / Amazon /Facebook? - TBD 2
- 13. Small company outcomes 1. IPO - LinkedIn 2. Acquisition - Skype 3. Lifestyle business - Instapaper 4. Call it quits - 99% of everyone who tries 2
- 14. Determining what’s right for you comes down to... What do you want, RIGHT NOW? • Consider where you’ll thrive and learn the most • Find something that aligns with both your personal and professional goals • If you’re considering to pursue a new gig, don’t be afraid of burning bridges (as long as you leave in the right way) 2
- 15. 3. Leadership isn’t just vision, it’s get-shit- done-ability 3
- 16. Steve Jobs has always been lauded for his design vision... 3
- 17. But it’s not his ability to imagine the iPad that made him great. Here’s Kubrick & Clarke’s vision of the same device from 1969 in the film, “2001” 3
- 18. Steve’s genius was the ability to motivate and align a large team under a cohesive vision. 3
- 19. Steve also understood the importance of an “ecosystem” 3
- 20. Competitor tablets, phones, & mp3 players don’t have the entire ecosystem that Apple has created and it’s that ecosystem that leads to great user experiences. Examples of their ecosystem... • iTunes • App Store • Sync across devices • Mobile / Desktop / TV all accounted for 3
- 21. Is your organization thinking... • about the ecosystem? If not, someone’s going to squeeze through the gaps and bite you! • long-term? Are you slaves to quarterly earnings? Big things take time! • If not, work hard at painting a convincing picture for the vision you have in mind. UX work is sales work! 3
- 22. 4. Know your org-chart 4
- 23. It’s important to understand what kind of hierarchical structure exists in your organization. Knowing who the real decision makers are is key. 4
- 24. Most big companies utilize some form of... Command & Control “The exercise of authority & direction by a properly designated commander over assigned & attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission... 4
- 25. ... Functions are performed through an arrangement of personnel, equipment, communications, facilities, and procedures employed by a commander in planning, directing, coordinating, and controlling forces and operations in the accomplishment of the mission.” 4
- 26. Who’s commanding & controlling your organization? • Identify ALL stakeholders, no, seriously, all of them. • Figure out who’s going to care about what. Tailor your communication/deliverables to them. • Make sure they’re looped in at the right time 4
- 27. If you rarely see or interact with the exec(s) responsible for your project, that’s no good. Find out what it will take to get them more directly involved with your team. Your exec’s face here 4
- 28. 5. It’s not the tech that’s hard, it’s the communication dummy! 5
- 29. Team problem solving exercises like Synergy’s “PowerBall” will give your team the visceral feeling of the importance of communication. 5
- 30. What activities like these will prove to you • Communication is everything when tackling a tightly constrained problem • Being physically proximate to your team helps tremendously • Have mid-mortems not postmortems... 5
- 31. Mid-mortems • Postmortems happen too late • Mainly involve finger pointing • Mid-mortems should happen when there’s still a big chunk of time left to make changes • Don’t have scary people there. People should feel comfortable speaking up • Bring in a neutral moderator 5
- 32. 6. Software teams need “the triangle” 6
- 33. It takes several different roles to get a large software project off the ground, but there are 3 roles in particular that must be in place if the project is to move forward in a positive direction... 6
- 34. Big projects should have... • A strong designer • A strong technical lead • A strong project manager • Don’t have these or try to combine roles... proceed at your own risk! (and try to escalate the problem to someone who can help) 6
- 35. 7. The most innovative teams are diverse teams Not what I mean exactly... 7
- 36. Why is diversity good? • Different skill sets = different viewpoints = new approaches • Someone who’s an outsider may revisit good ideas that were previously discarded • Companies should hire a mix of seasoned vets & newbs (both serve important roles) 7
- 37. Know the team’s personality colors • Blue: relationship builders • Gold: practical, like structure • Green: tinkerers, puzzle solvers • Orange: prototypers, brainstormers 7
- 38. Applying colors • Everyone has a primary and a secondary color • Aim to have everyone’s tasks match what they’re good at 7
- 39. Sidenote on a paradox of design work... • Every team will have opinionated people who don’t have “designer” anywhere in their job title. • All of them can and will chime in on the UX • While engineers can give their opinions on UX, rarely can non-engineers chime in on their code • Accept this imbalance and embrace it (or start beefing up on your codin’ skills!) 7
- 40. 8. Pick the right kind of pain points 8
- 41. What do these experiences have in common? • Marathons • Advanced degrees • Yard of the Month awards • Publishing your first novel 8
- 42. They’re satisfying because hard work went into them • But not everything that requires hard work feels satisfying • Find experiences where there’s a mismatch and there’s an area ripe for innovation 8
- 43. • DMV • Voting • Taxes • Banking • Home buying • Dating • Bulk photo editing • The list is long! 8
- 44. 9. Secrecy: friend or foe? 9
- 45. Is secrecy in your organization leading to better products / services? • Internal secrecy around new projects seems to be on the rise within big companies (perhaps trying to follow Apple’s lead) • Also due to increased fear of leaks which ties into competitive advantage • It’s harder for companies to keep secrets as they get bigger and bigger 9
- 46. Consequences of secrecy • Employee morale on teams can be negatively effected if details of important projects are kept hidden from them (especially if they find out the details anyway through the grapevine) • Feedback is harder to come by and getting feedback early and often (especially on something unproven) is key 9
- 47. Is it worth it? • Pros/cons around secrecy decisions should be weighed very carefully • Cultures where teams are discouraged from interacting/collaborating with other teams create toxic working environments • What are some examples of projects that were great successes in the market because they were kept secret for long periods of time? 9
- 48. 10. Performance reviews need a redesign 10
- 49. Universally loathed by all • Takes an inordinate amount of time/energy away from employees • Causes tons of unnecessary stress • Happen far too infrequently • Evaluations usually done against outdated goals • Take very little consideration of how brains work... 10
- 50. Must-watch: David Rock • Managers should be hyper-aware of how their feedback can effect their direct reports • Pain caused by criticism can be alleviated with Aspirin! (same pain receptors at work in the brain) 10
- 51. A better way? • Make sure feedback comes not only from managers, but from peers as well • Perhaps a system of averaged micro-reviews that happen bi-weekly / monthly could replace the gargantuan annual review 10
- 52. Thanks for reading! -@ario
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