UX’s Untapped PotentialNavigating threats to UX and seizing on the opportunities

Markus Smet

VP Product at Spreadshirt

Presented at:

20th November 2012

2008 = €26 million2013 = €100 million

Who do I work for?

2016 = €250 million

• Global Experience Director, Tyche (large gaming co.)

• Head of UX, Sky Broadcasting

• Client and agency side:Yell, Tesco, RBS, Microsoft

My experience

Markus Smet

I graduated in 1994

I trained in this… what is it?

Yes, I trained as a Marketer

But this is what I signed up for

Being the people other people turned to about customer took time

UX need some serious overtaking maneuvers to change that!

UX

It’s do-able though…

I saw the light in 2003. Yes, Jason again.

Future is hard to, UX is well suited to this kind of challenge

UX enables innovation

McKinsey Global Survey (2010)

Innovation is a big opportunity for UX

UX is perfectly suited to driving and calibrating ambition

UX is more than wireframes

UX can make this go away

All good until now…

But UX dials up ambition too quickly…

Which can leave stakeholders behind

Too much ambition, too fast = risk for stakeholders

And out come the defensive UX umbrellas: “Stakeholders don’t understand UX…”

Yet UX is perfect to calibrate ambition beyond wireframes into strategy – right?

So why hasn’t UX shimmied up the greasy pole into the boardroom?

Challenge 1

The people that matter don’t know what we’re capable of

Challenge 2

We have some major competition

Challenge 3

Product Management is boxing us in

Product Management

Product Managers lack the tools to do this alone

So how does UX make it more like this?

Challenge 4

Changing UX’s role is a huge problem

Response 1

A great case study

So where can UX go to worship?

UX industry bodies need to emulate the CIM and get into the IoD

Response 2

UX need to talk the language of our senior colleagues

Response 3

Patience

So what can we do, now?

UX Coach

This is a real job!

UX Designer

Starts to break free of the wireframe box!

Coach, not consult

Consultancy isn’t the right tool for this

Consultants are great idea magpies

Coach, not consult

But coaches should be there for ever a while

UX Coaches specialise in calibrating ambition across teams and departments…

UX Coaches shouldn’t be heros…

More a trusted partner… (free hugs anyone?)

You need to get past difficult product managers

Some UX Coaching tips

Know what your colleagues know about customers

Customers Developers

Bring customer and developer together

Points of pain

Moments of uplift

Understand where colleagues are and the journey you want to take them on

Mirror feedback – it’s a good sales technique; you’re selling their idea back to them

Turn everything into a question and use “five why’s?”

Embrace the learning experience and be prepared to change as well…

Become an excellent workshop facilitator, it’s crucial to decoding complexity

You do the fun stuff that creates an environment without fear of failure…

Church Coach Calibrate

Push these 3 things ahead to help UX unlock its untapped potential. Good luck!

Thanks.

Markus Smet

@behumanshaped

msmet at spreadshirt dot net