Transform 16: Beyond the UX Tipping Point, Jared Spool
Friday sees the end of the Early Bird discount for the first Web Directions conference of the year, Transform 2017 in Canberra on 29-30 March. Which is a great time to revisit the closing keynote address from last year’s Transform. Jared Spool certainly knows how to deliver a talk.
Beyond the UX Tipping Point
Jared Spool, Founder, User Interface Engineering
Key points
It used to be that delivering a “good” experience was enough. Now, users expect a “great” experience.
The UX Tipping Point is when an organisation no longer compromises on well-designed user experiences, and design has become an embedded part of their culture and DNA.
To go beyond the Tipping Point, an organisation has to change its design culture to commit to experiences that delight users.
The Disney theme parks are an example of evolving a design culture within 10 years from a barely usable website to a wristband that shapes a delightful user experience through the clever use of technology.
Successful UX is built on systems that are designed to be flexible and adapt to changing situations, not processes designed to operate the same way every time.
“A culture of continuous learning provides development of a deep understanding of customer needs.”
Takeaways
People learn UX design by growing from unconscious incompetence (they don’t know what they don’t know) to conscious incompetence (they know what they don’t know), to conscious competence (they know what they know), and finally to unconscious competence (they don’t know what they know).
As people move between those stages they progress from literacy to fluency and finally to mastery.
Organisations need to grow their UX design efforts from UX Design as a Service, to Embedded UX Design, to Infused UX Design.
We need a playbook, filled with plays, that get us to being a design-driven organisation.
“A team’s growth stage is the stage of the most immature infuencer.”
Caveats
To change culture, start telling different stories.
If you feel like you’re not going fast enough, you’re probably moving at the right speed.
Products need to work, meet needs AND delight users.
Creating enhanced user experiences can be expensive, but the returns are proportionate.
Learning something new should be the thing that drives us.
“Uber taught us that creepy can be cool.”
Resources
Tweets
These extracts are taken from Wrap magazine, the free digital magazine we publish after every conference that summarises every presentation (and a bit more). You are welcome to download this and every issue of Wrap. Transform 2016 took place at Old Parliament House in Canberra, 18-19 May 2016.
Great reading, every weekend.
We round up the best writing about the web and send it your way each Friday.
