Saturday, 10:30am, Continental Ballroom
Strategies abound for enabling User eXperience (UX) to play a more strategic role within companies. But they are usually presented as prescriptions for success as if they are applicable in all situations. Are they?
Consider, for example, the strategy advocated by many of ”just say ‘no’” — of refusing to work on projects that aren’t strategic or that won’t help to move UX into a more strategic role. Some people have tried that strategy and have been told they aren’t permitted to say “no.” Some people who have successfully enabled UX to play a strategic role in their workplace have never said “no” and think it inappropriate to do so. What would happen if you tried to employ this strategy where you work? Would it be beneficial, or might you risk losing your job? Are there preconditions to the appropriateness of this strategy? Is there another strategy that you should consider instead?
“Just say ‘no’” is one of several advocated strategies that small groups of attendees will be asked to evaluate, one at a time (though possibly in combination as the session progresses), as to their applicability to attendees’ workplaces. Attendees will also be asked to share additional strategies that they would like to have evaluated. Small group facilitators will then share with the larger group the conclusions their small groups reached regarding strategy applicability. Attendees will depart better able to assess the applicability of any such strategies and better able to formulate a strategy that might be best for their own situation.
Target Audience
This session is intended for attendees seeking to enable UX to play a more strategic role where they work.
Why this session should be interest, and qualifications of the session leaders
In spite of increased awareness of the increasing importance of UX and design to business success, UX personnel still often find themselves struggling to move UX and design “upstream,” enabling them to adequately contribute to the development of business strategy. Evidence aplenty can be found in online discussions (e.g., via the IA Institute’s UX Management discussion group) and the increased popularity of events (e.g., Adaptive Path’s Mx conference) and courses (e.g., Richard’s “User Experience Managers and Executives Speak” and ”Managing User Experience Groups” courses) during which this topic receives a great deal of attention.
Developing, learning of others’, and guiding the development of strategies for enabling UX to play a more strategic role in business is a big part of what Richard does as a consultant and teacher, and has done in various management roles. Such strategies are among the issues Richard ensures receive the attention of articles in interactions magazine and are also a big part of the content of
Richard’s blog. Within that blog is an entry about a presentation by Craig about a strategy he has helped clients leverage in various ways: reducing the many sources of noise and confusion which stress cross-discipline, cross-organizational relationships and prevent UX from playing a strategic role.
A sampling of praise for past offerings of Richard’s at least somewhat akin to the proposed session can be found in the following blog entry:
http://riander.blogspot.com/2007/10/another-short-notice-workshop-this-time.html. Praise for
Craig’s work of this nature has included a recommendation by Wells
Fargo’s SVP of Internet Channel Strategy from the stage of the Mx 2008 conference that all companies should hire Craig to guide the development of UX process and impact.
INSTRUCTORS
Richard I. Anderson
Richard Anderson is a “user experience” practice, management, and organizational strategy consultant with international management, cross-organizational development, and more than 20 years of experience. He started and directed the Experience Center at Viant, as well as the User Research & Experience Strategy discipline at Studio Archetype and Sapient, and has held and supported other management roles in an assortment of companies. Via various consulting, advisory, and employment roles, and his workshops, courses, conference programs, and more, he has assisted numerous companies with the development of strategy regarding their
“user experience” practice, management, and organization. Richard received
SIGCHI’s Lifetime Service Award in 2007, and is now Co-Editor-in-Chief of interactions magazine.
Craig Peters
Craig Peters is a “user experience” practice, management, and organizational strategy consultant with more than 10 years of experience. He co-founded, and is now on the Board of Advisors of, Bolt | Peters User Experience, a research firm based in San Francisco, and he founded, and now oversees the work at, Awasu Design. In recent years, he has immersed himself in enterprise process challenges to enable user experience personnel to be more effective and impactful. Craig has a passion for business facilitation and coaching, grounded in his earlier profession: teaching.