[IxDA Discuss] Selling the Value of UX to Mgmt

[Katie Albers]

Yep, I used to do that. I'm told that others have had
success with it. I've found that all of that
comforting language provides an excuse for the
management to do nothing. The interpretation on their
side seems to be that (1) if it got us this far, then
why put all the effort and money into changing
something we know works and (2) at least we don't have
problems. We'll improve later...and save time and
money now.

Whenever I've had a problem with a client in this
regard it's stemmed from forgetting the overwhelming
hold of inertia on management. In general, the higher
you go in an organization, the more inertia you have.

I'm particularly addicted to the word "problem"
because if they don't perceive one, they won't change
and it tends to move groups who won't move for
opportunities which may or may not pan out.

In any case, that's what's worked for me. Call a spade
a spade and get them to see that they have the
opportunity (if they solve their problems) of staying
in business.

Katie

Katie Albers
User Experience Consultant
katie at firstthought.com


--- gmb at asi-az.com wrote:

> What if you take the approach: The current model has
> taken us to this 
> point, what is it going to take to get to the next
> level in order to 
> stay ahead of the competition. Then instead of
> referring to issues as 
> a problems, refer to them as "opportunities for
> improvement." Prior 
> to this event, you have worked with
> engineering/analysts, etc to gain 
> a better understanding of their "lessons learned"
> and "opportunities 
> for improvement." You then credit them for that
> effort during the presentation.
> 
> 
> At 02:55 PM 5/22/2007, Katie Albers wrote:
> 
> >On the one hand I agree that one wants to avoid all
> >the bad side effects Lisa enumerates. On the other
> >hand, I have found that If you give management the
> >"good news," about their current products they stop
> >listening. A "see, we knew it was all okay! It's
> the
> >users' problem/UX staff making stuff up!" or
> similar,
> >takes over and you lose what could have been a
> >"teachable moment."
> >
> >In my experience, the approach that works best is
> to
> >say "Let's start with the problems and my
> >recommendations on how to improve the interaction."
> I
> >go through the problems I've found [prioritized in
> >case I lose them at some point] and my suggestions
> for
> >improvement and I get buy off on every item on it
> >before I give them their ice cream for being good
> >children...I tell them what's working and why and
> what
> >it indicates that it's working (that way, if
> nothing
> >else happens, at least they have some skeletal
> >understanding of what to look for).
> >
> >Katie
> >=================
> >Katie Albers
> >User Experience Consultant
> >katie at firstthought.com
> >
> >--- Michael Tuminello <mt at motiontek.com> wrote:
> >
> > > I would say Lisa's point is important and often
> > > overlooked, or at
> > > least given short shrift in these discussions. 
> Talk
> > > about how to
> > > make things better as opposed how bad they
> currently
> > > are.  Oftentimes
> > > engineering can be an important ally in these
> > > discussions with
> > > management, and you may unwittingly alienate
> them by
> > > taking the easy
> > > road and bashing the existing design
> shortcomings of
> > > their "baby".
> > > As a usability/design person you can critique
> > > yourself into a corner
> > > using the all-too-common "isn't this stupid"
> > > approach.  Some of the
> > > classic books in our field (design of everyday
> > > things comes to mind)
> > > have taken this approach, which has IMO led to
> its
> > > being very common
> > > in usability discussions and articles.
> > >
> > > Michael
> > >
> > > PS:  I still think design of everyday things is
> a
> > > great book - no
> > > slam intended.
> > >
> > > >  You definitely want to
> > > > collect the good too so that 1. you can
> preserve
> > > those features and
> > > > 2. show
> > > > that you're not arrogant and 3. not make mgmt
> feel
> > > like the product
> > > > they've
> > > > based part of their company on is all bad.
> > >
> > >
>
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