My session @ UXcamp Switzerland, Zürich, May 23, 2014. I'm looking at the UX job landscape in Switzerland and am asking, where those jobs are that allow you to strategically influence the product or service you're defining the UX for.

1. @MGNL_UX 1
UX jobs
Where are thou?
UXcamp CH, Zürich
http://uxcamp.ch/
May 24, 2014

2. @MGNL_UX 2
What haunts me
Experience: UX work is strategic
Reality:
only few UX jobs still
only very few strategic UX jobs
Q: why is this?
Want to look at you at the UX job market in Switzerland
believe UX work is most powerful if it is strategic

3. @MGNL_UX 3
Rant?
Flak?
Ramblings!
Plea?

4. @MGNL_UX 4
Rant?
Flak?
Ramblings!
Plea?
No offense meant
Might all be just a problem of perception
Am simply uninformed? stubborn?

5. @MGNL_UX 5
Andreas Weder
engineer by training
designer at heart
love to build worlds
digital architecture, merge design & engineering
14yrs of Java dev, some yrs of iOS dev

6. @MGNL_UX 6
Andreas Weder
Head of User Experience
the perfect topic: been developing UIs for such a long time now

7. @MGNL_UX 7
Andreas Weder
Head of User Experience

8. ®

9. ®
Magnolia CMS
Basel, Switzerland
10+yrs start-up on growing path

10. @MGNL_UX 10
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Was hired to rework their existing UI and UX.

11. @MGNL_UX 11
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Here’s the UI of 4.5.

12. @MGNL_UX 12
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13. @MGNL_UX 13
<images of previous version>

14. @MGNL_UX 14
<images of previous version>
And here’s the new UI, an intermediate step of the upcoming 5.3 version.

15. @MGNL_UX 15
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Apps screen: App-based, task-oriented UI with central springboard
2.5yrs of research, design, development
14-10 devs
Launched June 2013
!

16. @MGNL_UX 16
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An app for managing and editing content (contacts, as an example)

17. @MGNL_UX 17
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Forms on tabs

18. @MGNL_UX 18
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A page tree for more page-oriented sites

19. @MGNL_UX 19
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The visual page editor

20. @MGNL_UX 20
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A full-screen preview feature supporting personas (personalization)

21. @MGNL_UX 21
<images of previous version>
Works also on tablets

22. @MGNL_UX 22
echo $ENV
Design is essential piece
Participate in strategic discussions
Held responsible for decisions taken
UX, Tech, Biz are equals
Fight for resources
Major (new) features are RnD by UX
My current environment
Essential: for product, for good experience, as USP
Strategic: member in Product Mgmt, at least consulted for major decisions
Work at the edge: branding (product’s, company’s), some ID for site, techn. doc

23. @MGNL_UX 23
How I work
Agile: focus on deliverables
!

24. @MGNL_UX 24
How I work
+ Visual designers
+ UX team
UX Team of One (plus a handful of devs)
Visual design: external graphic designers (atelier MUY)
!

25. @MGNL_UX 25
In the game
During development
• Design and Architecture are equals
• Consulting, Reviews, QA on tech and design levels

26. @MGNL_UX 26
UX
is strategic
Believe that full UX work must be strategic
Why? I give you some examples.

27. @MGNL_UX 27
UX is strategic
Attitude.
! (process || step in (process))
UX uses UCD
Change of attitude towards your customers
Directional change, is a strategic decision

28. @MGNL_UX 28
UX is strategic
Part of a company’s
business knowledge
If users==customers, then knowing you users means knowing your customers means knowing your business.
Allows for informed decisions regarding your product / service.

29. @MGNL_UX 29
UX is strategic
Has many touch points
in a company
marketing/sales, business, tech
Should be involved in an strategic planning

30. @MGNL_UX 30
UX is strategic
Requires persistence
and continued nurturing
Persistence: to design, implement an experience, especially if complex
Nurturing: realign, extend, verify experience
Requires strategic attention (investment of time & resources)

31. @MGNL_UX 31
UX is strategic
May show urge to
transform a business
Lots of good things coming out of UXD
Creates many opportunities

32. ®
The Trinity icons - influenced our entire way to communicate

33. @MGNL_UX 33
UX is strategic
Attitude
Business knowledge
Many touch points
Long-term engagement
Transforms a business

34. @MGNL_UX 34
UX is strategic
Critical jobs look at long-term problems
and priorities. They are strategic.

35. @MGNL_UX 35
http://is.gd/1ibi02
User Experience is more than design - It’s strategy!
by Christopher Grant Ward
UXmatters, August 5, 2013
http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2013/08/user-experience-is-more-than-designits-strategy.php

36. @MGNL_UX 36
Positions?
So where are all these jobs: UX jobs; UX jobs w strategic decision taking

37. @MGNL_UX 37
! Positions
UI/Interaction designer
Usability expert
Web designer

38. @MGNL_UX 38
Positions !
• not many UX jobs
• only few with strategic role
• most are with agencies and
IT solution providers
agencies: project-oriented, just different
!
rocketjobs.ch: 0, 1 ID
designerdock: 1 UX director (not much strategic involvement)
monster.ch: 1 ID, 1 UX Praktikant
jobs.ch: 3 ID, 4 UX designers, 1 UXwS (World economic forum (own success/failure)), 2 ProdMgmt (w a bit of UX resp. (CSS, Ricardo)), 1 MarkAss

39. @MGNL_UX 39
The End
My session stopped here, the following
slides were never shown.
!
I leave them in for completeness’ sake.

40. @MGNL_UX 40
Fail!
Below the radar
Wrong places
Bad searches
Only few
Could be my problem entirely

41. @MGNL_UX 41
No demand
We don’t do UX.
Either through ignorance or because there’s really no need for it
Ok.

42. @MGNL_UX 42
We only need some
The usability / ID trap
You focus on usability. Or UI design.
Fine, but you don’t do UX. And don’t expect anything holistic.
It’s like I hire an architect, but only let him do the outside appearance, or traffic flow, or toilets.

43. @MGNL_UX 43
We buy UX
Is this sustainable?
Is this effective?
You buy a full-care service.
You buy just some elements: a usability review, recommendations, interaction design.
You typically buy limited „strategic“ decisions
Is it really going to benefit your product / service on the long run?
How comes you can outsource your core business knowledge?
SBB: business knowledge in-house (and they build a UX team), programming outsourced

44. @MGNL_UX 44
We actually hire…
A product manager.
A business analyst.
!
A whatever-you-call-it.
UX is not strategic or is too late in the game, sth else already is.
I’m ok with that.
For me, it’s complementary to product mgmt: it adds the user or customer view.
Should I refocus, but secretly continue with UX.

45. @MGNL_UX 45
Designers!!
They hardly think conceptional.
How should they ever be able
to think strategically?
More like a funny side note really :-)
Then there’s prejudice: Feels so 90s, 00s.
But ok, you’re probably not my culture.
Why I don’t like to call myself a designer (ok: also lower wages)

46. @MGNL_UX 46
UX 707 - - delayed
Has it still not landed here?
We don’t understand what this is all about.
Maybe I’m just getting impatient. Are good examples missing?
I’ve been trying to get a foothold in this area for years now.

47. @MGNL_UX 47
So…. WDYT?
Is UX still UX if non-strategic?
Are there enough, good jobs?
Iff not, why is that?

48. @MGNL_UX 48
And what about u?
Do you do UX? Do you care?
If you do, why don’t you fight
for more influence?

49. @MGNL_UX 49
Thanks
Andreas Weder
!
andreas.weder@magnolia-cms.com
muxdxum.me | ma-ui.blogspot.ch