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On the Role "User Experience" Plays in Your Business

What is meant by "user experience" where you work?

Multiple definitions exist, from the very narrow, focused on a person's experience of use of a digital product or service, to the very broad, focused on the total of a person's experience with anything from or associated with a business. Some people use the term to refer to certain personnel, often of multiple disciplines, involved in some way in designing (for user experience).

Others know "user experience," however defined, as something that plays, or can play, a critical role in business success.

What role does "user experience" play in your business?

Many companies struggle to address user experience effectively, to enable user experience to play the kind of role it can play in business success. Indeed, the obstacles are numerous, since successfully addressing user experience usually involves people of multiple disciplines working (together) in ways to which they are not often accustomed and for which they are not often well-incented.

Addressing or just getting to the point of addressing user experience effectively often involves (among other things):

• building a multi-disciplinary user experience group and practice;
• educating many about user experience and the role it can play;
• developing an appropriate vision and goals for user experience and user experience personnel;
• making changes to your product or service conceptualization, design, and development process;
• involving multiple stakeholders in the new process in the best way;
• figuring out how to position the user experience group organizationally and geographically;
• attending to cultural differences, increasingly in multiple countries;
• developing different relationships with and among many others in the business, including product managers, executives, marketing personnel, and engineers;
• figuring out how to best assess user experience value;
• figuring out how to extend the reach of your user experience resources;
• making changes to organizational culture.

Has your business attended to all of the above adequately?

Is "user experience" playing the role it should be playing in your business?

Riander services include:

• building or helping to build your user experience group or practice;

• managing or helping to manage your user experience personnel;

• enhancing the ability of your user experience (management) personnel to work effectively;

• enhancing the ability of other (management) personnel to benefit from and work effectively with your user experience personnel;

• helping to enable user experience to play a strategic role in your business;

• developing educational experiences or workshops for your company on user experience;

• addressing or helping to address any of the additional needs identified at left.