Building Buy-In: Internally Positioning UX for Executive Impact

Building Buy-In:  
Internally Positioning UX  
for Executive Impact
Psychology + User Experience + InnovationBrilliant Experience
John Whalen, PhD

Brilliant Experience Psychology + User Experience + Innovation
bit.ly/ux-impact #uxpa2016@johnwhalen

Brilliant Experience Psychology + Innovation + Design

UXers are a wonderful bunch!
‣ We are people pleasers
‣ We want the world to be a better place
‣ We foresee how the world could be
‣ We empathize with all sorts of folks

So why are our ideas not always
welcomed with open arms???

Let’s start our journey by studying  
our empathy patterns for our colleagues

C-Suite Executive
When we interact with…

(Pompous Assholius)
C-Suite Executive
Some might think…

Product Owner

(Randomnous Decisionasaurus)
Product Owner
Some might think…

VP Marketing

(Delusionus of Grandeuronomus)
VP Marketing
Some might think…

Developer

(No-can-do-opod and/or 
condescending-smurkasaurus)
Developer
Some might think…

We need to use those same UX superpowers 
to empathize with our colleagues!!!

If we want to move from…
‣ Usability tester to insight generator
‣ Informing product to informing product roadmaps
‣ Utility player to strategic advisor

We need to use a roadmap for building buy in:
1. Demonstrate Value
2. Empathize and Evangelize
3. Get Embedded in the System
4. Become Strategic Partner

Why should you listen to me?
‣ Years of experience
‣ Time with executives
‣ Distilling recent successes

Step 1. Demonstrate Value  
(with Usability Testing)

1a. Create Usability Seal team
‣ Access the situation
‣ Adapt quickly
‣ Get the data
‣ Get out

1b. Have light footprint, big impact
‣ Move fast (4 day turnaround)
‣ Provide “aspirations”, not “recommendations”
‣ Pick your battles (2/10)
‣ Measure impact

1c. Overshare
‣ Share everything (Notes, Videos, etc.)
‣ Email 4 takeaways
‣ Share up

“We already knew it,  
but you Humanized it”
bit.ly/ux-impact #uxpa2016@johnwhalenbit.ly/ux-impact #uxpa2016@johnwhalen

1d. Grow need for UX
‣ Say YES to project requests
‣ Invite new teams to join in
‣ Sneak in some synthesis:  
Go deeper than asked

Step 1. Demonstrate Value (with Usability)
a. Create Usability Seal team
b. Have light footprint, big impact
c. Overshare
d. Grow need for UX

Step 2. Empathize and Evangelize

2a. Understand your Organization’s Psychology
‣ Who rules the kingdom?
‣ What is measured?
‣ How are bonuses paid out?
‣ What has failed recently?

2b. Teach
‣ “Reality” Show
‣ How UX fits into Agile
‣ Why data from 5 people matters
‣ How UX can make product better

2b. Teach (cont.)
‣ How to UX research is done
- Building rapport
- Forming questions
- Letting participants answer
‣ How to engage UX team

How UX & Agile development might be integrated…

We are aware of your concerns…
SITE SAFETY
Deaths resulting
from lack of spec
document0

2c. Translate findings
‣ Why it matters
‣ Immersion rooms
‣ Video clips
‣ Not enough….Take people into the field…

Why it matters

Sample Translation
ROI Issue Quantity Impact Value
Increased Sales 3% Increase
Total Sales:  
$75,000,000
$2,250,000
Decreased  
Support Costs
10% Decrese $90/incident * 14,000 $126,000
Late Design
Changes
10
4x multiple x $175/hr 
x 40 hrs
$280,000
Total $2.656M

a. Understand your Org’s Psychology
b. Teach
c. Translate findings

Step 3. Get Embedded in the System

3a. Build leader-leader relationships
‣ What decision are you going to make?
‣ When do you need to make it?
‣ What is the risk if you don’t have the data?
‣ What we CAN do in the budget and time.

3b. Embed UXers into product teams
‣ Collaborate on scope
‣ Provide regular stakeholder progress check-ins
‣ Co-own findings and decisions
‣ Did you notice the deceptively clever part of the above???

3b. Embed UXers into product teams (cont.)
‣ Outcome:
- Understand pain points
- Provide speed
- Learn development plans 
‣ Pro tip: Embed, but still own in UX

“I want my UX team to be
independent and able to tell  
anyone the cold hard facts.”

3c. Provide Design Principles
‣ Distill knowledge from multiple studies into pragmatic guide
‣ Encourage decisions based on: (a) principles, or (b) evidence

3d. Build Dataset
‣ Satisfy the quants
‣ Show change over time
‣ Pro-tip: Always ask questions other
teams love:
- Indifferent / Must Have / Delighter?
- Why our product? What is best part?
- How important is this feature to you?

a. Build leader-leader relationships
b. Embed UXers into product teams
c. Provide Design Principles
d. Build Dataset

Step 4. Become Strategic Partner

When UXers say:
Delight
Empathy
Disrupt
Synthesis
Prototype
Opportunity Mapping
Usability Testing
Heuristic review
Strategy
Iterative Design
Information Architecture
Feedback
Design-Thinking
Experience Journey

Executives hear:
Delight
Empathy
Disrupt
Synthesis
Experience Journey
Prototype
Design-Thinking
Opportunity Mapping
Usability Testing
Heuristic review
Strategy
Iterative Design
Information Architecture
Feedback
$$$
COST OVERUN
BONUS RECINDED
MISSED METRICS
3 MORE MONTHS

4a. Immerse Executives
‣ Design as competitive advantage
‣ Numbers moved, efficiencies gained
‣ Opportunity: Research leads to
Insights, Product Innovation

“Anyone who has read the HBR  
gets the importance of UX,  
but that may not translate  
into what it takes to do that.”

4b. Make the Shift to Strategic Partner
‣ Bring together multiple data sources
‣ Inform product, but also strategy
‣ Management training: Design Thinking

4c. Offer Insights for Sales and Marketing
‣ Quotes
‣ Emotions
‣ Buyers/users’ mental model

4d. Reduce Operational Efficiencies
‣ Calculate opportunity
‣ Iteratively test and improve

a. Immerse Executives
b. Make the Shift to Strategic Partner
c. Offer Insights to Sales and Marketing
d. Reduce Operational Efficiencies

Steps to Building Executive Buy-In:
bit.ly/ux-impact http://linkedin.com/in/johnwhalenjw@brilliantexperience.com
Step 1. Demonstrate Value
a. Create Usability Seal team
b. Light footprint, big impact
c. Overshare
d. Grow need for UX
a. Understand your Org’s Psychology
b. Teach
c. Translate findings
a. Build leader-leader relationships
b. Embed UXers into product teams
c. Provide Design Principles
d. Build Dataset
a. Immerse Executives
b. Make the Shift to Strategic Partner
c. Offer Insights to Sales and Marketing
d. Reduce Operational Inefficiencies

John Whalen
jw@brilliantexperience.com
linkedin.com/in/johnwhalen
Psychology + Innovation + DesignBrilliant Experience
Thank you!

Building Buy-In: Internally Positioning UX for Executive Impact

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