Flow of Competence in UX Design Practice
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The document examines the integration of UX design practices within corporate environments, highlighting the challenges faced by UX practitioners in gaining acceptance and demonstrating value. It discusses the evolution of UX competencies over time, emphasizing the need for effective communication, organizational culture adaptability, and educational outreach to stakeholders. Through case studies, the authors illustrate how individual and organizational beliefs about UX can shift and the strategies required for successful UX adoption.
![“[UX designer] roles are often misunderstood and our adjacent
disciplines such as product management and development see their
work as unnecessary or in some cases are threatened by them. [...]
We find that the culture of the company we are trying to deploy UX
resources into isn’t ready to accept them and we find that our role
becomes more that of a change manager than a user experience
manager. We have a vision for what the future processes of the company
can look like but we find it hard to communicate that vision…. ”
(Thompson, Anderson, Au, Ratzlaff, & Zada, 2010)](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-4-320.jpg)
![INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY
individual
PERFORMS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters company
practice
company
practices
CHANGE
“I could either leave or I could make the best of it.
[...] Looking back at it now, it seems kind of ballsy,
‘cause now that I’m at this point in my career, it
looks like I had a chip on my shoulder. The key to
doing things like this is always to be tactful.”
JOEL
“When you used to talk about UX, I
thought you were full of shit. But now I
actually believe what you do is valuable.”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-21-320.jpg)
![INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters individual
practice
beliefs
enable
PERFORMANCE
“…the responsibility is on the designer to fit
themselves with the business, rather than the business
trying to fit a designer, and find one that fits them”
“[stop] asking those questions and rely on a little bit
more faith. Whether it’s right or wrong really isn’t in my
control. I had to let go of that.”
MARTIN](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-23-320.jpg)
![INDIVIDUAL
ESPOUSED
INDIVIDUAL
IN USE
GROUP
ESPOUSED
GROUP
IN USE
A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL
individual
ALTERS
her beliefs
PERFORMANCE
alters individual
practice
beliefs
enable
PERFORMANCE
Engages in side projects, “work[ing] on things in the
way he thinks it is appropriate.”
PETER](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-24-320.jpg)
![“When I came out of school, my realistic competence level should
have been [lower], and I was way up here [higher] […] and I pissed
people off. I’d get into these conversations with people and really
push the envelope, saying ‘you know what, we aren’t meeting the
needs that the users have’ and all of the things that you know are
true. […] competence comes in when you understand why
it’s not possible.”
PETER](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-26-320.jpg)
![persistence of individuals + larger organizational forces
BUILDING A DESIGN CULTURE
REQUIRES LEADERSHIP
[AND LUCK]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/graytoombsgrosschi2015flowofcompetence-150421194156-conversion-gate01/85/Flow-of-Competence-in-UX-Design-Practice-27-320.jpg)
Flow of Competence in UX Design Practice
- 1. flow of competence in UX DESIGN PRACTICE COLIN M. GRAY AUSTIN L. TOOMBS & SHAD D. GROSS Iowa State University Indiana University
- 3. Little attention has been paid to the implementation of UX practices within a corporate context, particularly in what value it can (or should be able to) bring to the organization
- 4. “[UX designer] roles are often misunderstood and our adjacent disciplines such as product management and development see their work as unnecessary or in some cases are threatened by them. [...] We find that the culture of the company we are trying to deploy UX resources into isn’t ready to accept them and we find that our role becomes more that of a change manager than a user experience manager. We have a vision for what the future processes of the company can look like but we find it hard to communicate that vision…. ” (Thompson, Anderson, Au, Ratzlaff, & Zada, 2010)
- 5. Documenting elements of competence in UX practice Mapping the flow or movement of competence between UX practitioners and companies courtesy of Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/7797009214
- 6. Identity-centric view of UX competence (Gray, 2014) T-shaped design thinkers (Guest,1991; Futt & Rasid, 2011) Design leadership, or “being in service” (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012) courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4325067780
- 7. FROM STATIC TO DYNAMIC Moving from identifying a static set of UX competencies to understanding how competencies are built and evolve over time
- 8. FROM STATIC TO DYNAMIC Moving from identifying a static set of UX competencies to understanding how competencies are built and evolve over time Training of UX designers UX impact on organizations Organizational reaction to UX adoption
- 9. DATA COLLECTION • One hour interview with six practitioners in a range of design disciplines • Working definition of competence in relation to their practice and professional experience ANALYSIS • Emergent thematic analysis in two phases • Creation of a preliminary schema OUR APPROACH
- 10. DATA COLLECTION • One hour interview with three additional UX practitioners • Competence in interaction design, their design process, and relevant flow patterns to explore their change in competence over time ANALYSIS • Three case studies, showing a wide range of variation ESTABLISHING GENERATIVE VALUE
- 11. SCHEMA Ultimate purpose is generative insights, not a precise modeling of reality (Nelson & Stolterman, 2012)
- 13. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE INDIVIDUAL GROUP INUSE ESPOUSED a
- 14. CASE STUDIES PETER SENIOR INTERACTION DESIGNER 5 1/2 years experience working for an educational software company NASCENT TO DEVELOPED DESIGN CULTURE JOEL UX MANAGER 5 1/2 years experience working for a software company PUSHING DESIGN CULTURE FORWARD MARTIN INTERACTIVE DESIGN ENGINEER 1 year experience working for a large technology company DESIGNING IN AN ENGINEERING CULTURE
- 15. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE PERFORM your beliefs as a UX designer ALTER your beliefs based on your performance REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE
- 16. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE PERFORM your beliefs as a UX designer ALTER your beliefs based on your performance REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE INDIVIDUAL Taking part in non-company design activities to maintain a “contemporary process” Reading widely and regularly Engaging in formal or informal community building within the organization PETER, MARTIN, & JOEL
- 17. the organization PERFORMS its beliefs the organization ALTERS its beliefs GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE
- 18. the organization PERFORMS its beliefs the organization ALTERS its beliefs GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE REFLECTIVE DIALECTIC OF THE ORGANIZATION Company hired executives sympathetic to design PETER & JOEL “There are a lot of career, highly decorated engineers that now have to deal with people telling them how to design their product, and it’s challenging" MARTIN
- 19. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY individual PERFORMS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters company practice company practices CHANGE INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE
- 20. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY individual PERFORMS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters company practice company practices CHANGE “…we know we need you, but we also need you to teach us what you do and we need you to teach us how to facilitate what you do. It’s a lot of education to stakeholders about what it is you do because no one here really knows about it.” MARTIN
- 21. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE AN INDIVIDUAL ALTERING THE COMPANY individual PERFORMS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters company practice company practices CHANGE “I could either leave or I could make the best of it. [...] Looking back at it now, it seems kind of ballsy, ‘cause now that I’m at this point in my career, it looks like I had a chip on my shoulder. The key to doing things like this is always to be tactful.” JOEL “When you used to talk about UX, I thought you were full of shit. But now I actually believe what you do is valuable.”
- 22. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL individual ALTERS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters individual practice beliefs enable PERFORMANCE INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE
- 23. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL individual ALTERS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters individual practice beliefs enable PERFORMANCE “…the responsibility is on the designer to fit themselves with the business, rather than the business trying to fit a designer, and find one that fits them” “[stop] asking those questions and rely on a little bit more faith. Whether it’s right or wrong really isn’t in my control. I had to let go of that.” MARTIN
- 24. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE A COMPANY CHANGING THE INDIVIDUAL individual ALTERS her beliefs PERFORMANCE alters individual practice beliefs enable PERFORMANCE Engages in side projects, “work[ing] on things in the way he thinks it is appropriate.” PETER
- 25. INDIVIDUAL ESPOUSED INDIVIDUAL IN USE GROUP ESPOUSED GROUP IN USE INDIVIDUAL GROUP INUSE ESPOUSED
- 26. “When I came out of school, my realistic competence level should have been [lower], and I was way up here [higher] […] and I pissed people off. I’d get into these conversations with people and really push the envelope, saying ‘you know what, we aren’t meeting the needs that the users have’ and all of the things that you know are true. […] competence comes in when you understand why it’s not possible.” PETER
- 27. persistence of individuals + larger organizational forces BUILDING A DESIGN CULTURE REQUIRES LEADERSHIP [AND LUCK]
- 28. STRATEGIES FOR UX ADOPTION EVANGELIZING UX practices to stakeholders TEACHING UX practices to colleagues Educating both colleagues and the stakeholders about the capabilities of UX, and building competencies for delivery and sustainment of UX principles appears to be key to a culture of UX taking hold.
- 29. Exploring the tensions and additional states that may exist over time between espoused and in use frames Additional attention should be paid to UX adoption strategies, both within practice and in UX education courtesy of Nathanael Koyne: https://www.flickr.com/photos/purecaffeine/4328394839