clients don't suck (resolving common blockers that stifle ux)

Clients don't suck

EVGENIA (JENNY) GRINBLO / #NUX4

The client-as-a-nightmare cliché

@GRINBLO \ #NUX4INTRODUCTION / ON CLIENTS

CLIENTSFROMHELL.NET

This is serious business

@GRINBLO \ #NUX4INTRODUCTION / ON CLIENTS

The ideal scenario

Our expertise

Our clients’ expertise

@GRINBLO \ #NUX4INTRODUCTION / ON CLIENTS

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Pick one method to try for yourself

BUT FIRST, SOME HOMEWORK:

@GRINBLO \ #NUX4INTRODUCTION / ON CLIENTS

Prevention is the best medicine

@GRINBLO \ #NUX4INTRODUCTION / ON CLIENTS

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/

Condition #1

Image from page 218 of "Rider's Washington; a guide book for travelers, with 3 maps and 22 plans" (1922)

Symptoms ReasonsRepeating the same process and tool they’re used to using in another context

“I am the user”

Opinions drive design decisions

Stakeholders disagree

Surprise features

CONDITION 1 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Shift the conversation from ‘making decisions’ to designing for real people

Try this

CONDITION 1 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Guerrilla user testing

Put assumptions about users on paper

Bring users’ voices into the boardroom

Grandfather Telling a StoryAlbert Anker (1884)

Bring users’ voices into the boardroom

Guerrilla user testing

Put assumptions about users on paper

Grandfather Telling a StoryAlbert Anker (1884)

My biggest complaint coming to an event like this…

Bring users’ voices into the boardroom

Bring users’ voices into the boardroom

Guerrilla user testing

Put assumptions about users on paper

Bring them closer to the user research

CUSTOMER PROFILE VOLUNTEERS

GAINS

PAINS

Put assumptions about users on paper

Method source: Value Proposition Design by Strategyzer

Give users a seat in the boardroom

CONDITION 1 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Condition #2

Image from page 976 of "Dr. Evans' How to keep well;" (1917)

Symptoms ReasonsComfortable with how but not with what or why

Spending time on details right away

Big portions of budget spent on small “wow elements”

Not being able to summarize the product or who it’s for

CONDITION 2 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Zoom out of the detail and the interface

Try this

CONDITION 2 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Storyboard Ruthless prioritization

Which business goal is this for?

https://www.ted.com/talks/mick_mountz_the_hidden_world_of_box_packing#t-186129

MICK MOUNTZ (TED) / What happens inside those massive warehouses?

CONDITION 2 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

CONDITION 2 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Storyboard Ruthless prioritization

Which business goal is this for?

Ruthless prioritization

Feature 78

Feature 92

Feature 3

Feature 203

Feature 78

Feature 31

Feature 3

Feature 92

Storyboard Ruthless prioritization

Which business goal is this for?

Refer to tangible things that show the vision for the product

CONDITION 2 @GRINBLO \ #NUX4

Image from page 456 of "Practical physics" (1922)https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/

Condition #3

Image taken from page 394 of 'Memoirs of Bartholomew Fair ... Fourth edition'

Symptoms ReasonsConfusion about the value of UX and what we can do to help

“Can you just spruce this up?”

Asking for a high-fidelity design to communicate an idea

Involving UX last

CONDITION 3

Empower your clients to participate, not just judge

Try this

Clients aren't there with you, so they only see the last step in a long chain of thinking

Ask difficult questions

Expose your decision-making

Scare them

Ask difficult questions

Expose your decision-making

How will you know if the project is successful?

How will this app make money?

What kind of customer is most important to your business and why?

Scare them

Ask difficult questions

Expose your decision-making

How will you know if the project is successful?

How will this app make money?

What kind of customer is most important to your business and why?

Scare them

Talk to me in benefits

CONDITION 3 / EXAMPLE

Back Article Bookmark

Can you read this? Doctor with 'world's messiest handwriting' baffles patient

Read the PDF

E-mail me the PDF

he handwriting of doctors and teachers has long since been ridiculed by the rest of the working world.

But some doctors are worse than others, as this incredible image shared on Imgur shows.

In a post entitled: " Why your prescription isn't ready in 15 minutes ", there appear to be a series of squiggles and bumps more resembling a heart monitor's output than actual written english

Benefit

Benefit

Clients aren't there with you, so they only see the last step in a long chain of thinking

Ask difficult questions

Expose your decision-making

Scare them

Explain the consequences of getting UX right in your client’s terms

CONDITION 3 / EXAMPLE

1/5 of apps are abandoned after 1 use

Re-working code = x100 the cost

15% of software projects are abandoned

The ROI of User Experience http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94kYyzqvTc http://info.localytics.com/blog/app-retention-improves

Storyboard Ruthless prioritization Which business goal is this for?

Ask difficult questions

Scare them (educate about value / risks of UX work)

Expose your decision-making

Bring user voices into the boardroom Guerrilla user testing Put assumptions about

users on paper

Create your diagonosis and methods toolkit

CONCLUSION / LAST WORDS

Client dragging you down

My Work

Client propping you up

Client knowledge, expertise, support

Ideas we create together

My work

+

+

vs. My work’s potential in

a world with no clients

CONCLUSION / LAST WORDS

My reminder that my work isn’t just on screens >

CONCLUSION / LAST WORDS

@grinblojenny@futureworkshops.com

(+Send me your homework)Thank you! :)