UX Strategy is the Only Glue Holding Your Digital Product Together
The technologies we use today require more than speed and convenience—they replace a myriad of human interactions that used to happen offline. Think about how much has changed in a relatively short period of time. The first iPhone, which was released in 2007, didn’t have third party apps or GPS. But its release was a turning point. Around this time, many websites were comparatively simple. While the field of human-computer interaction was not new, the user experience was not emphasized the way it is now because companies weren’t competing on the user experience (UX) the way they are now. And, because the technology was so new (remember when not everyone had a website?) and the interactions were so simple, they could get it away with it.
It’s not 2007 anymore—the complex digital products we build today need a UX strategy
It’s not that previous technologies didn’t need a UX strategy. But, with what we’re asking today’s technology to do, you simply can’t get away with shipping something that’s new and cool and simply hope the user experience falls into place. Today, smartphones are hand-held computers that infiltrate every part of our professional and social lives. Nearly every activity, from grocery shopping to finding your future mate, can be accomplished using a smartphone. With this added complexity of interactions comes complexity in designing and developing the products.
With the capabilities of new technologies there are more options for programming languages, plug-ins, cloud hosting solutions, and more. Not surprisingly, the people who build websites and software often have highly-specialized roles: UX researcher, UX designer, UX writer, cloud architect, developers who specialize in a coding language, database developer, data scientist, just to name a few.
Both the technology and the teams who build it are more complex and require something to hold the product together—a glue that binds people from different disciplines and establishes a common ground.. That glue is the product’s UX strategy and the shared artifacts created from it. In fact, those artifacts—personas, scenarios, user journeys, and UX strategy documents, for example—are the roadmap for a successful digital product.
Not having a UX strategy results in projects that take longer, are more expensive, and have a poor user experience
Let’s start by talking about the teams that lack this “glue.” There either isn’t any UX strategy or someone has this information but it’s not shared with the entire team. This may sound familiar to you. First, team members often have conflicting priorities and tend to communicate inefficiently. As a result:
Tradeoffs are made with the user experience, resulting in UX debt that compounds over time.
User experience decisions are made based on personal preferences or what the highest paid person dictates—not on what’s best for the end user.
Projects take longer than expected due to lack of clarity, indecision or extra revisions.
Projects go over budget as a result of extending the project schedule, scope creep, and unanticipated revisions.
Team members are frustrated with the project and are not proud of the final output.
Approaching a project with no UX strategy in place affects everyone: the end user who is left with a poor user experience, the team members who launched and now have to maintain the product they resent, as well as the business who will eventually be faced with paying the UX debt—with interest.
UX strategy minimizes waste while maximizing opportunity
Without a UX strategy, you shouldn't have a product to begin with. UX strategy defines who users are, aligns user goals with business goals, and provides a framework for what needs to be built. Teams that take the time upfront to develop a UX strategy and involve the user in the UX design process actually save time and money in the long run and ensure the product doesn’t rack up unwieldy UX debt. In fact, teams that embrace a UX strategy:
Swiftly solve arguments about the user experience when the team refers back to the UX artifacts that outline users’ goals, motivations, and behaviors. They make decisions based on research—not someone’s personal preferences.
Despite taking the time up front to establish a UX strategy, are more likely to stick to the overall schedule. Their over-arching plan better defines the project scope and helps them make UX decisions efficiently.
Because a UX-focused process emphasizes constantly validating assumptions, these teams reduce the wasted resources involved in creating products or features no one wants.
The process also provides clarity on what products and features would be most valuable to the target audience, so the team knows exactly what to build and why.
Team members work collaboratively towards a shared end goal of improving the experience for the user.
The product, which has been validated throughout the design and development process, is far more likely to be successful—boosting team morale and providing the organization with a return on investment.
We’ve all be part of projects that were shipped late, went over budget, and still ended up being disappointing. While the projects may have eventually launched, the product team is left to pick up the pieces. Establishing a UX process, with a UX strategy in place, helps the team tackle unknowns, resolve disagreements quickly, and establish a path for moving forward—clarity that is essential for on-time and on-budget products that have a great user experiences.