June 5, 2012

Building Out a User Experience Team: Making UX Relevant Companywide

Christopher LaRoche (Moderator) Amy Cueva Bob Thomas Jennifer Fabrizi Amy Kidd Chauncey Wilson

June 5, 2012

Panelists

Building out a user experience (UX) team requires collaboration, establishing best practices, recruiting talent, finding advocates, and creating an infrastructure to support UX. Our panelists share their experience of creating and managing small and large UX teams. How do you make UX relevant, and an integral part of your organization?

Amy Cueva, Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Mad*Pow Bob Thomas, Manager of User Experience, Liberty Mutual Jennifer Fabrizi, Lead of User Experience and Design, MassMutual Amy Kidd, Usability Manager, MathWorks Chauncey Wilson, Senior Manager of AEC User Research,

Autodesk

June 5, 2012

Amy CuevaFounder and Chief Experience Officer, Mad*Pow

Political & Organizational Roadblocks

Work with the business, not against it. Speak their language. What does your company value? Align. Measure. Evangelize success.

Identify shared objectives with other teams. Unite. Coordinate, collaborate, communicate across silos. Every day.

Make the current state clear. Make the vision clear and the steps that can be taken to get there.

June 5, 2012

Bob ThomasManager of User Experience, Liberty Mutual

Building out a user experience team and making UX relevant companywide require buy-in from management and understanding the key business objectives of the organization. I’ve found these key points helpful:

Evangelizing UX to company executives is overrated. If they don’t get it, you’re in the wrong company.

Get UX into the product development lifecycle as soon as possible.

Hire qualified UX practitioners who can collaborate and are passionate about our profession.

June 5, 2012

Jennifer FabriziLead of User Experience and Design, MassMutual

Building out a user experience team and making UX relevant companywide require:

Excellent talent/skillsets

Executive sponsorship• $$$ • Advocacy at senior levels• Understanding and the ability to articulate business

value

Open, collaborative teamwork

June 5, 2012

Amy KiddUsability Manager, MathWorks

We all agree that having a champion or executive-level buy-in is important. Once you have that, what else do you need for a successful UX team? Two things are essential:

Hiring• Without the right people, a UX team cannot be

successful. You need people with the right blend of UX skills, experience, and passion who also fit your company culture.

Support Structures• UX teams need a framework that helps individuals

support each other through knowledge sharing, design reviews, and coaching. This is critical to helping your team perform well and stay satisfied.

June 5, 2012

Chauncey WilsonSenior Manager of AEC User Research, Autodesk

After three decades of building and participating in the development of UX teams, I think that social psychological factors are more critical than technological expertise.

Social psychology is often more important for teams than technological prowess.

Public relations is critical for UX team success.

“Continuous improvement” should not be an idle slogan.