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I ❤ Clients
or, how I learnt to not tell clients the wrong thing at the wrong time
                                                     @silverfoxyboy      1
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6165071206/




 What are consultants for?
 What value can we bring as outsiders?
 Why should anyone listen to us?
                                                   The experience of working
                                                   with in-house UX teams and
                                                   the things I’ve learnt from
                                                   putting my foot in it with
                                                   them prompted these
                                                   questions.




                                                                                 2
Boosting resource
  Telling you new stuff
Saying unpalatable things
                  Consultants only really do
                  three simple things... How
                  hard can it be?




                                               3
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6164516245/

    A story of design decisions
    that became taboo in the
    organisation that made
    them.




 ‘Taboo decisions’

                                                   4
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aisforangie/10641940/

    Evaluate the holistic user
    experience of a new website.

    Up to that point the usability
    of the sites content, features
    and functionality had only
    been tested in isolation

    Would it work as a complete
    site?




 ‘Evaluate the UX’

                                                     5
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scarty/448574138/

    Yes, the features were usable
    but the users didn’t need
    them and couldn’t have used
    them even if they’d wanted
    to.




 Unpalatable truths

                                                 6
http://www.flickr.com/photos/spam/3999645772/

    The site had taken 2.5 years
    to get to this point. The
    legacies of this development
    time were taboo decisions
    that couldn’t simply be
    undone.

    Key stakeholders positions
    would be severely
    undermined.




 Trouble

                                                7
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadiapriestley/177264274/

    For the stakeholders change
    was not an option despite
    the flaws in the sites UX.

    How can you talk about and
    achieve change when there is
    ambivalence to change?




 Flawed

                                                         8
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23001753@N07/3502752406/

    My wife’s a Doctor.

    She talks to people who’re
    ambivalent to change
    everyday.

    They’re addicts. They’re
    rarely open to change to
    start with.




 Addiction

                                                        9
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexisnyalphotography/5298367033/

    Motivational inter viewing
    techniques allow us to talk
    constructively to people about
    their ambivalence to change.

    1. Engagement: open
    questions, reflective listening
    and summarising what you
    hear. Basic UX research
    techniques




 MI - Engagement

                                                                 10
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nvbr11/5643604921/



  MI - Selective guiding:
  Selectively            eliciting questions
  Selectively            reflecting what a client says
  Selectively            elaborating what a client says
  Selectively            summarising what a client says
  Selectively            affirming what a client says
                                                  2. Selectively guiding
                                                  a conversation:
                                                  elicitation, reflecting,
                                                  elaborating,
                                                  summarising and
                                                  affirmation


                                                                             11
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dabdiputs/424621519/

    3. Evoking change talk.

    Move the clients conversation
    away from the satus quo
    toward change talk.




 MI - Evoking

                                                    12
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leoglenn_g/7353535184/

    4. Planning affirming the
    change by making plans for
    change.

    LInk to MI Article




http://www.stephenrollnick.com/index.php/all-commentary/69-motivational-
interviewing-article-published-in-the-british-medical-journal



 MI - Planning

                                                                           13
Design like change is the
product of dialogue. Neither
can be done in isolation.


         Boosting resource
For the client design and
development in isolation had
resulted in taboo decisions

        Telling you new stuff
that couldn’t be questioned.



     Saying unpalatable things

            But never in isolation,
            only during dialogue
                                      14
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maxkiesler/2256119157/

    A new story superficially
    about boosting resource.

    But really about how the
    uncomfortable politics that
    result when unpalatable
    comments are made




 Boosting the team

                                                      15
http://www.flickr.com/photos/binaryape/62517866/

    What can go wrong if you’re
    talking about UX problems
    where an internal team is
    answerable to multiple
    stakeholders?

    Simple surely...




 Impartiality

                                                   16
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bradfordcoy/3192034327/

    The result is tricky questions like
    these for the internal UX team:

    Why didn’t we think of that earlier?
    Didn’t we try that idea last year?
    What’s wrong with our UX team?




 Politics

                                                       17
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadiapriestley/177264274/

    This is what i heard...

    ‘Walt... can you stop making
    recommendations.’




 Facts not insights

                                                         18
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alainalele/5043787909/

    Just like the first story,
    isolation breaks the UX flow.

    No dialogue creates poor
    decisions

    Data and insights in isolation
    from the context will be
    ignored or have no meaning.




 Facts not insights

                                                      19
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6165053376/

    Old fashioned management
    consulting shows how to avoid
    these problems.

    As consultants the contract                       Directive consulting
    has to be clear... what have
    qwe been asked to do and why                    You propose guidelines,
                                                   persuade or direct in the
                                                   problem solving process


   Non-directive consulting
   Raises questions for reflection



                                                                               20
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6165053376/

    Make sure you and the client
    are operating in the same
    space before you start.

                                                   Directive consultant
                                                      I was over here




         They were over here

   Non-directive consultant


                                                                          21
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visentico/260490492/

    These are the types of
    questions I like to include
    in the opening
    conversations to avoid the
    skirmishes that can occur
    later on.




 What is it you need recommendations or observations for?

 Why do you need them?

 Who’ll see the report apart from you?

 Who’ll be watching the final presentation?

 What decisions are you going to be making based on this study?

                                                                  22
There’ll be more than one
agenda affected when you
mention unpalatable
things. Make sure you
understand the context

         Boosting resource
you’re in.



        Telling you new stuff
     Saying unpalatable things

   But understand the context

                                 23
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6165050684/

    Two quick stories about
    organisational culture and
    why organisations ignore
    you’re research




 Culture 2 - Users 0

                                                    24
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kvitsh/33287776/

    In large organisations the
    cultures prioritises the
    delivery of a project over the
    ongoing success of the project.




 Don’t make life difficult for me

                                                25
http://www.flickr.com/photos/killbox/528962244/

    In other cultures the emphasis
    is on being seen to be doing
    something. Activity is the
    priority even when the
    direction is fruitless




 We won’t do that

                                                  26
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mymollypop/2686219775/

    What was I doing wrong?

    What could I do differently?

    I’d stuck my foot in it because
    I hadn’t grasped t wo things
    that in combination created
    problems.




 Was it something I said?

                                                      27
http://www.flickr.com/photos/aisforangie/10641940/

    1. both sites were lead
    generating / mind-share sites.
    Not impossible to measure, but
    hard to measure in meaningful
    terms to commercial
    businesses.




 Difficult to measure success

                                                     28
An organisational value
                                                                           matrix. The language the
                                                                           company uses can help you
                                                                           place them on the matrix
                                                                          Humans the language
                                                                           and gauge
Aspirational     Becoming           Future                                                 Man is
  values
                                                     Competitive         dominate respond to them in
                                                                           needed to
                  is best         orientated                                             born good
                                                                           a way that will be listened to
                                                                          nature
                                                                           them


                                                                         Humans in   Man is born
Static values             “I
                 Just being    just Present be Collectivist
                                    has to                              harmony with neither good
                   is best        orientated
                         finished on time”                                  nature      nor bad


                                      “We can only go                     Nature
                Being active          Past                                                 Man is
Conservative
  values
                                           forward”
                                               Hierarchical              dominates
                   is best        orientated                                              born bad
                                                                          humans


                   Activity       Time orientation   Social relations   Human to Nature   Human Nature




                                                                                                            29
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islandralm/2221214088/

    Understand the agenda of the
    person who’s leading the project.
    What will make them look good.
    How can that be allied to UX.

    Introduce techniques that
    reflect the organisational
    values. if they find design hard
    introduce something like 6-up
    sketching to make it easier for
    them to be involved.




 Change of approach

                                                      30
We must understand the culture
we’re working with. We must
have compassion for the culture
we’re working with.


         Boosting resource
       Telling you new stuff
     Saying unpalatable things

   Compassion for the culture

                                  31
http://www.flickr.com/photos/harshaz/6165071206/




 ‘It’s a chance for them [clients] to
 work with sharp minds from outside
 their teams, who will forward their
                                                   Are we any nearer
 agenda.’ - David Jarvis                           knowing what
                                                   consultants are good for
                                                   in a world full of internal
   www.slideshare.net/dcjarvis/                    UX teams?
    what-its-like-being-a-client                   Let’s ask a client...



                                                                                 32
http://www.flickr.com/photos/illegalcartoon/17231479/

    There’s something else we, as
    external consultants, should
    know...




 What about the UX teams?

                                                        33
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ladyrivermouse/3588704511/

    The lanscape of competitors has
    changed too.

    Who, now, is your biggest
    competitor?

    The guy down the road?

    Or, in the next city?




 Your biggest competitor ?

                                                          34
Your biggest        Your client faces three
competitor is now
your client.        options: using your service,
                    not doing it at all, or doing it
                    themselves.

                    In many cases, then, your
                    biggest competitors are not
                    your competitors.

                    They are your clients.

                    Harry Beckwith
                                                   35
Thank you

Walt Buchan
    walt.buchan@cxpartners.co.uk

    @silverfoxyboy

    +44 (0) 7980 344 310




                                   36

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How I learnt to not tell clients the wrong thing...