User Experience Value: Meticulous implementation of user experience work

Article Description: How do you measure the value of a user experience?

With its innovative user experience, Apple has reshaped many industries around the world; Google is adhering to the "user-centric, everything else" concept to change the way people live; Sina Weibo in the user experience to learn from innovation, become a hot product; Instagram, Kik, Quora, Tumblr These innovative experience products, developed by small businesses with only a few to dozens of employees, can shake the world; even the bottom of the sea has shown a focus on how the user experience can change the traditional industry.

User experience work facing challenges

It is said that the user experience is important, but how important it is and how the value of the user experience is measured is an unavoidable and difficult question to answer. Some people from the qualitative point of view that Apple's ipod, the IPhone, the initial technology, cost and other conditions and competitors are basically equal, and even the brand in the field of competition is slightly inferior to the situation, can overwhelm opponents, relying on the user experience. Apple, after gaining an advantage in the user experience, can in turn overwhelm its opponents in cost and technology.

There are also attempts to quantify the value of the user experience, for example, the Internet products commonly used A/b test, control most of the conditions unchanged, only to change a small number of user experience related conditions, compared to the same indicators before and after the changes in the data change: the user to complete a task requires the operation of the steps/time to reduce? is the success/efficiency of the user accomplishing a task improved? Does the time/frequency of the user's use of the product increase? Has the user conversion/retention rate increased? is the user operating error rate/complaints decreased? Others have created complex mathematical models to analyze the specific value of each user experience contribution point in a quantified product overall. Qualitative good, quantitative but difficult to measure. Because quantitative measurement requires that the object being tested can be separated directly or indirectly, compared with the reference value, thus the measured size is obtained.

However, you can't really control the development of a product all the conditions are unchanged, the separation of user experience work, to quantify its value. To understand and agree with the value of the user experience, the difficulty lies in the existence of two misunderstandings: first, try to separate the contribution of the user experience work from the contribution of all the work; second, "The value of the user experience" is equated with "the value of the user experience person".

The content of the user experience work

Today, the user experience has become an inseparable part of the product development and operation process. Typically, in the early stages of a product, user experience researchers, designers, and product managers gather to analyze user needs, plan, and test product concepts. In the middle of the product, user experience designers and product managers, core research and development engineers to explore, test, determine product design (including interactive design and visual design). In the late part of the product, user experience designers, interface engineers and research and development engineers to implement, optimize the product, user experience researcher with user testing, usability assessment. After the product is released, the user experience researcher, the designer and the product manager, the development engineer follow up the improvement product.

Visual design is often based on the different products, at different points of time to enter: Some in the beginning of the product will begin to participate in product vision and brand planning and design, and some products in the late to participate in product implementation optimization. Among them, in the product prophase and the medium-term user experience work is most important, because at this time the exploration and the verification can reduce the product development process to be possible the mistake and the risk greatly, thus optimizes the research and development process from the overall situation. At the same time, with the emergence of the combination of products and social elements, user experience design and research to assist product managers, operators, marketing personnel in product design into the product operation, marketing elements, so that products, operations, marketing and promote each other, is also becoming a trend.

Moreover, in practice, the boundaries of the various functions are not strictly divided and are not fully equipped with each of the roles mentioned above in each project. At the same time, the actual work does not exist in the so-called standard staffing and division of labor, for example, some people think that product managers should be the soul of product design and the leader, but in the actual work of the senior product managers with the cooperation of the junior designers, there are

The situation where a junior product manager cooperates with a senior designer; Both engineers are good at writing code, and engineers have an idea of the product's global architecture. Product managers, user experience personnel, engineers, operators, marketing personnel, both from their own different point of view of the product requirements, but also need to understand and meet the requirements of their personnel, product overall requirements, only in this way to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding and contradictions, more effective construction of products.

The user is concerned about the effect of eventually reaching their user experience, rather than who has made a good user experience in which product segment. This involves all aspects of product design and implementation, although the user experience is a full-time job for the user experience, but if the product manager is not sticking to the most critical user experience point in order to balance the project parties, the engineer is not performing in accordance with the product design in order to be technically easy to implement, Operations and marketing personnel to operate to promote the effect of harm to the user experience, any aspect of the problems will lead to the product in the user experience out of control. The whole team can only work together, everyone to achieve the ultimate user experience effect and strive to really create a good product. Therefore, the user experience of the work is fully integrated into the product development and operation of the whole process, and need to participate in all team members.

To realize the value of the user experience the contribution of the user experience work cannot be separated from the contribution of the whole work, the value of the user experience is not equal to the value of the user experience person. It is precisely because the user experience and product development, operation is inseparable, making it impossible to distinguish which part is the contribution of the engineer, which part is the contribution of the Product manager, which part is the user experience staff contribution. From a qualitative point of view, each aspect of the contribution is very important, from a quantitative point of view, but can not calculate the proportion of each contribution. In fact, many functions have similar disputes, and have a long history, such as production and sales, products and operations. However, the dispute is disputed, who can really distinguish? Rather than dwell on the need to quantify the value of who is specific, it is better to first recognize the value of the user experience, maximize the user experience and other functions of each other to stimulate the energy.

In addition, we see that most of today's successful High-tech enterprises are founded by engineers, and the user experience of the founder or joint founder is rare. In a sense, this is a very important reason that the value of the user experience cannot be recognized in a larger context.

Engineers have the ability to write programs to implement their own ideas, which is a great natural advantage, because even if the original product is not good to use, but as long as someone to use, there will be a chance to continuously improve, and eventually become a successful product. Although the user experience people have great ideas, but they do not write programs, you can only use the power of the programmer to realize the idea.

So in reality, the role of the user experience personnel is more positioned in the role of "helping others, working together", using their own attention and insight to the users, as well as the advantages of creative thinking and expression, to help the team more efficient research and development of products, so that the team less detours, easier to achieve success.

But at the same time, also see more and more user experience by improving their own comprehensive quality, has been or is becoming a good product, excellent research and development team creators and agents, such as in the world to see more and more designers to create a successful company; see more and more user experience personnel as Founder's pioneering team in innovation workshop To see the user experience/design VP in a growing number of companies.

After a breakthrough in comprehensive ability, their unique advantages in user experience thinking and methods can be vividly played out, in product innovation, team building are out of a different road. Their achievements are not only their own, but other people set an example and confidence, as a driving force for the user experience.

Meticulous implementation of the user experience work

User experience needs to be driven from top to bottom, this is not an attitude, but also requires specific work:

1. Change the organization of the enterprise, establish the user Experience team, attract and train the user to experience the talented person, let the user experience personnel have the say at the enterprise decision-making level;

2. Change the process of the enterprise, let the user experience work become part of the plan, and evaluate the effect of the user experience work;

3. Change the environment of the enterprise, encourage creative thinking and exploration, let the team collaborate more and smoother development;

4. Change the incentive mechanism of the enterprise, let the user experience the staff to obtain the equal treatment with the engineer staff, lets the user experience staff who work across the team to obtain the Fair team reward;

5. Change the enterprise atmosphere, so that everyone for the ultimate user experience to consider, cultivate their correct user experience thinking methods. These changes are easy, others are difficult.

But these changes are not only worthwhile, but necessary, compared to the enormous gains that can be made by making changes and the growing challenges of not making changes. At the same time, user experience personnel also need to be more proactive to improve their comprehensive ability to gain greater influence, for product research and development to make greater contributions.

Acceptance of the user experience is like a belief. Only developers really believe it, in the user's point of view, to get the benefits of it, if the developer does not really put it as a product development of the faith, then will not understand it, and can not get the benefits it brings.

If the user experience can not be implanted into the enterprise's core values and culture, the user experience can only be as dispensable icing on the cake.

Will you choose this belief that will bring great changes and great benefits to you?

The author of this article is: Innovation Workshop user Experience Director Wu Zhohao, has created Google in China's user Experience Team