COLLABORATION IN THE USER EXPERIENCE DESIGN PROCESS
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PERSONAL STORY
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When I started my career in User Experience Design, I was convinced that the key to my success would be establishing the highest possible role of UX in the organization that I used to work for.
I was eager to fight for the good name of design with the whole developer-driven company. And I did. Unfortunately, the result was far from my expectations.
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I joined the company as the first UX Designer. Devs world was shaken.
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Devs believed that technology is what matters while interfaces are a kind of ornament decorating what for them, either way, was beautiful code.
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THE FIGHT BEGAN
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It took me a couple of months and lots of nervous break-downs to realize that fighting was futile. Endless discussions over the role of design in product development weren’t leading to any reasonable results, because...
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FIGHTING ALWAYS COMES UP AGAINST RESISTANCE
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In a company that wants to create amazing products, constant fights with other departments and specialists are just silly.
Dangerously silly.
They waste time that should be used for developing products to solve the real-life problems of users.
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IS THERE A HOPE?
ANSWER ME!
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WIN TOGETHER
THE GOLDEN RULE
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In collaborative design take no hostages and leave no man behind.
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You won’t take any hostages if you ensure that you convince people that they are needed in the design process even if they are not designers.
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You won’t leave any men behind if you welcome everybody in the process. And yes I actually mean everybody.
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We welcomed everybody (including accountants) to paper prototyping sessions during which all employees had a right to express their design ideas.
PAPER PROTOTYPING REDESIGNED
PAPER PROTOTYPING REDESIGNED
ONE TEAM
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I NEEDED TO OVERCOME MY „DESIGNER’S EGO”
Oh… certainly that was the worst part. Design, which lies at the crossroads of art and science, is an extremely powerful ego booster. When we design, we feel clever and creative at the same time. And we usually feel great responsibility for the final product. Probably because for most people a product equals its design. This gives us a lot of dignity, but at the same time it’s the most dangerous trap you can encounter.
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Enormous design ego is a deadfall that can prevent you from creating a great product, because it will emotionally isolate you from your team.
To cut the story short: people will hate you and that’s not the best foundation for cooperation.
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Collaborative work requires designers to build their self-confidence around the conviction that only the whole team working together can build an excellent product.
UX Designers are needed to make it happen, to share knowledge on human behavior and to enhance collaboration in the team.
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We fight for users. Our design and research techniques are needed in the process to guide the whole team through the meanders of design challenges.
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Strangely enough, when I stopped fighting for the design position in the organization – it improved.
One year after we started to implement collaborative design – I wasn’t the only UX Designer in the company anymore.
I was the UX Manager of a respected UX team of five great designers. Nobody questioned our work anymore and final products were way better than in the past.
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So the lesson for today is simple: even if you create perfect, reasonable and aesthetic design deliverables, work your fingers to the bone thinking through the product – your design may fail, unless you learn how to collaborate and engage your team in the design process.
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6 RULES OF COLLABORATIVEUX DESIGN
1. Start collaboration early in the process and continue it throughout the product development
2. Welcome everybody in the process (leave no man behind)
3. Explain your design techniques in an engaging way (and take no hostages)
4. Be humble and patient: answer with arguments not aggression
5. Accept opinions on every deliverable and research result
6. Never forget your ultimate goal: The creation of stunning products that will solve your users’ problems
READ MORE: http://designmodo.com/collaboration-user-experience-design-process/
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Marcin Treder is a design enthusiast that literally lives for creating the best user experience possible. After years working as a UX Designer and UX Manager he focused on his own start-up UXPin that provides tools for UX Designers all over the world. UXPin tools are used by designers in companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Salesforce. UXPin was recently voted the best start-up in Central and Eastern Europe. Marcin enjoys writing (e.g. for UXMag, DesignModo, SpeckyBoy...), blogging (Blog UXPin, UXAid, Startup Pirate) and tweeting (@uxpin, @marcintreder).