UX Paradise: Draining the UX Swamp

Huxley and his team have accomplished great UX results. He knows that the results are worthless if no one takes notice. To get the results noticed and increase the UX maturity, Huxley communicates the results repeatedly, consistently and in plain language, using examples.
 

Short summary: This talk describes how Huxley, a new hire at Delta Market—a fictitious chain of more than 500 medium-to-large, high-end grocery stores—boosted the organization’s competitiveness by raising Delta’s UX maturity from low to high. The journey, which required nine steps that any organization could easily pursue, took them from 2012 to 2019.

Length: 30 to 45 minutes.

Summary: A good UX strategy is important to ensure the success of UX in an organization. It is hard for people who want to create a good UX strategy to move forward because few published examples of good UX strategies are currently available. Available advice about UX strategies mostly comes in the form of general guidelines. This talk provides practical guidelines in a realistic context.

Based on my personal experience and insights from colleagues, this talk follows Huxley and Delta Market on their journey from low UX maturity — The UX Swamp — to a high UX maturity level. The nine specific steps that Huxley helped Delta Market to take toward UX maturity are inspired by John Kotter’s Model of Change, which I have adapted for UX purposes.

The nine steps toward UX maturity at Delta Market were:
1   Understand your stakeholders and business goals.
2   Create a sense of urgency and show the importance of User Experience.
3   Generate quick wins.
4   Create a vision for change.
5   Form a powerful coalition of stakeholders and UX staff.
6   Communicate the UX vision.
7   Empower action and remove obstacles.
8   Build on the change and don’t let up.
9   Anchor the changes in the organizational culture and make them stick.

Target group: The talk is aimed at UX professionals who are interested in UX strategy.

More information: The talk is based on two articles:

Related talk: UX Paradise: A Day in UX Paradise

See also: Increasing the UX maturity of your organization