Empathy in the enterprise

EMPATHY IN THE ENTERPRISE: understanding the role humans and

organizations play in big website problems

Dani NordinDirector, Digital User Experience, Pegasystems

@danigrrl | #EnterpriseEmpathy

Shameless self-promotion


There’s a few more in here somewhere


My User Experience tattoo


WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO LISTEN, GREAT UX CAN NOT HAPPEN


EMPATHY IN THE ENTERPRISE

The Google Design Sprint process (Source: Google)

IDEO’s design thinking framework


BUSINESS TO BUSINESS

BUSINESS TO CONSUMER

OR

ETHNOGRAPHY EMPATHY MAPS DESIGN SPRINTS

CREATING A NEW PRODUCT

When we talk about design thinking, we usually mean…

USABILITY TESTING


BUSINESS TO BUSINESS

BUSINESS TO CONSUMER

BUSINESS TO PRACTITIONER

INTEGRATING WITH LEGACY BACKEND SYSTEMS

DESIGNING FOR COMPLEX AUTHENTICATION AND CONTENT ACCESS RULES

Enterprise designers have to live HERE:

OPTIMIZING EXISTING FUNCTIONALITY

REDESIGNING AN EXISTING PRODUCT

CREATING A NEW PRODUCT


WHAT DO WE MEAN BY EMPATHY?

“Understanding user pain points” isn’t enough.

END USERS

ORGANIZATIONS COLLEAGUES AND DECISION MAKERS


UNDERSTAND THE TYPE OF CULTURE YOU’RE DEALING WITH AND HOW THEY COMMUNICATE

LISTEN TO THE ORGANIZATION


COMPETING VALUES FRAMEWORK

Cameron, K. S., & Quinn, R. E. (2005). Diagnosing and changing organizational culture: Based on the competing values framework. John Wiley & Sons.

Flexibility

Control

Internal Focus

External Focus

Clan • Focus on collaboration and consensus • Many people feel they need to be informed/

involved in decisions • Can feel like it takes forever to get anything

done

Adhocracy • Focus on creating new and innovative things • Stakeholders resist too much “process” and

prioritize conversation + rapid prototyping • Can feel disorganized and chaotic

Hierarchy • Focus on top-down leadership • Moving work forward often requires buy-in

from senior leadership • Can feel like priorities constantly shift or that

work gets derailed by executive whims

Market • Focus on market share, metrics and competition • Stakeholders may require data and more data to

back up decisions, and measure repeatedly • Can feel like qualitative data (usability testing,

interviews, etc.) isn’t taken seriously


NOT SO FAST.ENTERPRISES ARE HIERARCHICAL AND STARTUPS ARE ADHOCRACIES, RIGHT?


50%

50%

EXAMPLE 1


Flexibility

Control

Internal Focus

External Focus



done










EXAMPLE 2

75%

25%


Flexibility

Control

Internal Focus

External Focus



done










STAKEHOLDER GROUP 3

EXAMPLE 3

STAKEHOLDER GROUP 1

STAKEHOLDER GROUP 2


Flexibility

Control

Internal Focus

External Focus



done







back up decisions, and measure repeatedly Can feel like qualitative data (usability testing, interviews, etc.) isn’t taken seriously


LISTEN TO UNDERSTAND, NOT JUST TO ANSWER

LISTEN TO YOUR COWORKERS

@danigrrl | #EnterpriseEmpathyhttps://www.jisc.ac.uk/podcasts/the-role-of-the-independent-developer-in-edtech-4-jan-2016

We need to talk about scope creep.


Highest Paid Person with an Opinion™


NOPE.


ACTIVE LISTENING

Practice empathy with your coworkers

▸ Listen for their goals

▸ Understand how they’re measured

▸ Find ways to demonstrate how user-centered design will help them achieve those goals

▸ Remember that listening doesn’t mean agreement; find ways to push back thoughtfully


GET DATA FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES AND MAKE IT VISIBLE TO YOUR COLLEAGUES

LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE YOUR PRODUCTS SERVE


USER RESEARCH

Have a broad research toolkit▸ Moderated usability testing

▸ Remote testing (UserZoom, TryMyUI, Validately, etc.)

▸ Analytics and heat mapping

▸ User interviews (remote and in-person)

▸ Ethnography

▸ Surveys and polls

▸ Card sorts and tree tests

▸ Knowledge share with other departments


USER RESEARCH

Create a knowledge base of user understanding▸ Work with event coordinators to organize research at company/user group conferences and meet ups

▸ Sit with customer service reps to understand the types of questions they get most frequently

▸ Ask department heads and event coordinators to forward recruitment emails and surveys

▸ Talk to market researchers to understand how the company segments its customers

▸ Document findings in a publicly available area (wiki, shared drive, etc.)



CREATE BEHAVIORAL PERSONAS TO DRIVE DESIGN DECISIONS

BEHAVIORAL PERSONAS


BEHAVIORAL PERSONAS

Marketing segments

▸ Tells you what people are likely to need/buy and why

▸ Helpful for determining what products/content to offer

▸ Doesn’t tell you anything about how they actually interact with your site, content or product

OPERATIONS DIRECTORS IT PROFESSIONALS

CEOsSALES/

IMPLEMENTATION PARTNERS

EXAMPLES


BEHAVIORAL PERSONAS

Behavioral segments

▸ Tells you how people interact with your site, content or product

▸ Focuses on specific behaviors or philosophies

▸ More likely to inform new features or functionality

HARRIED EXECUTIVE

EAGER APPRENTICE

HYPER SELF-CONSCIOUS

SHOW, DON’T TELL

EXAMPLES


“THE KEY IS TO RECOGNIZE THAT THERE ARE DIFFERENT CASTS OF CHARACTERS INVOLVED WITH THE VARIOUS SERVICES YOUR ORGANIZATION HAS TO OFFER.”

Indi Young

FOCUS ON BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTS

http://uxmas.com/2013/squabble-over-personas


UNDERSTAND THE JOBS PEOPLE NEED TO GET DONE

JOB STORIES


AS A USER, I WANT A SET OF QUICK LINKS TO FILES I NEED FREQUENTLY SO I CAN READILY ACCESS THEM.

Every user story ever

SCENARIOS AND JOB STORIES


WHEN [SITUATION], I NEED [THING TO HAPPEN] SO THAT [OUTCOME].

Clayton Christensens’ “Jobs to be done” framework


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f84LymEs67Y



Example job stories

▸ When my colleagues and I have to work through a proposal, we need to have all the template files in one place so we can work more efficiently.

▸ When I'm starting out on an engagement with a client, I need to find the resources and paperwork I need to get up and running as quickly as possible so I can feel confident that I'm adding value.

▸ As I'm working on a client engagement, I need easy access to key forms that I have to fill out to report progress on the project so I can spend less time doing paperwork and more time getting my work done.

https://medium.com/the-job-to-be-done/replacing-the-user-story-with-the-job-story-af7cdee10c27#.5e3loa3vv


A PROCESS THAT ALLOWS US TO CREATE THOUGHTFUL DESIGN AT SPEED AND SCALE

OUR NORTH STAR:


ESTABLISH CLEAR DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND UX KPIS


DESIGN PRINCIPLES & KPIS

Design principles▸ A set of agreements between you and your users

▸ Used when discussing design with stakeholders and team members

▸ Focused on the relationship your users want to have with your product

▸ Examples:

▸ Make it easy for me to find my own answer

▸ Help me feel like I’m in control of my experience

▸ Design for my needs, not your organizational structure


DESIGN PRINCIPLES & KPIS

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)

▸ Provide a benchmark metric to demonstrate success

▸ Can be tracked over time (month over month, test over test, etc.)

▸ Use no more than 3 to help focus decision making

▸ Examples:

▸ NPS (Net Promoter Score)

▸ SUS (System Usability Scale)

▸ SUPR-Q (System Usability Percentile Rank)

▸ Before/After usability testing - task success, time on task

▸ Analytics/Goal/Conversion tracking


ESTABLISH A DESIGN BRIEF FOR EVERY PROJECT


DESIGN BRIEFS

Elements of a good brief

▸ Overview of design problem (1-2 paragraphs)

▸ Bulleted list of:

▸ Objectives and Key Results

▸ Technical or business constraints

▸ Key personas (2-3)

▸ Key scenarios (2-3)

▸ Key design principles (2-3)



DEVELOP A COMPONENT-DRIVEN DESIGN SYSTEM


DESIGN BRIEFS

Benefits of a component-driven design system

▸ Consolidate front-end code, improving site performance

▸ Make design more efficient and consistent, while maintaining flexibility

▸ Make the transition from wireframe or sketch to HTML prototype faster

▸ Impress your coworkers and executives

▸ Win fabulous prizes





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMTYs2LeyEQ