Prototyping 3: What is a prototype, part 2 other dimensions

In Part 1 of what is a prototype we discussed many dimensions of what a prototype is, but this covers only part of the story, actually half there are many more layers of complexity and if you do not understand them, instead of controlling a prototype, the prototype will control you or worse victimize you. So let’s begin with some prototyping characteristics, for lack of a better term.

Prototyping characteristics

Prototypes have many more important characteristics than just content and fidelity. Knowing what these characteristics are will also help you plan and execute the prototype to the right level of effort. Too numerous to name them all here, here are just a few examples:
Longevity -- what is the lifecycle of the prototype. Is it something to be presented and thrown away, or is it part of an evolutionary prototyping design cycle? How long a prototype will continue to haunt you, should effect how much effort you are willing to put into it.
Stage -- what stage of development is the product? Usually, the more mature the more detailed the prototype should be.
Speed -- how much time do you have? If you have one week, it probably isn’t enough time to make as thorough a prototype as you would like, you may have to adjust your content-fidelity ambitions based on how fast you must work.
Style -- will the prototype be narrative (e.g. demo’d) or interactive (e.g. used). Interactive prototypes are more difficult and time consuming than narrative ones.
Medium -- will the prototype be in a digital media or physical, if digital will it be on the web, mobile or a desktop application, etc.
Being aware of the characteristics of a prototype, empower you to make much more professional judgement as to what kind of prototype you can make.

Defined audience (s)

Audience -- who is the the prototype for? Unlike the end product which is meant for an end user a prototype is meant for certain stakeholders, which may or may not include end users. The prototype should be designed to communicate clearly with the stakeholders. For example, this usually means that a prototype meant for the CEO of the company, will probably look different than a prototype meant for a domain expert

Prototyping tool(s)

Prototyping tools are like tools of the trade, the more you know the better. Likewise for many the simplest software tools suffice for most purposes.
There is no one single prototyping tool that can do everything. Prototyping tools are as varied as there are types of prototypes. Prototypes can just as easily be made in Excel, Powerpoint, Visio, even Word as they can be made in Axure, Dreamweaver, Visual Studio etc.
The point is to match 2 things: First, match the prototyping characteristics with the right toolset. Secondly, of those tools, use the tools you know best. Chances are, your talents in software you know well will outstrip the added functionality of other software tools.
Personally, I no longer use a single tool, but quickly jump between Graphics editors, html editors, scripting tools, layout tools, and yes the occasional prototyping tool.
...but having said that there are some types of tools

• dedicated prototyping tools
  
• Programming tools with prototyping capabilities
  
• graphical tools
  
• layout tools
  
• presentation tools
  

Dedicated prototyping tools, tools that are only for the creation of prototypes not working software or any other purpose. Examples:

• Axure
  
• Denim
  
• Balsamiq
  

Programming tools with prototyping capabilities -- tools that can create full functioning software, but due to their efficient interfaces can allow users to also create prototypes. The theory, or rather myth is if a designer uses one of these tools, a programmer can take over the design and implement it without recreating it. This is rarely true as the html code, or programming code used by a designer (focusing on visualizing something) is completely different in nature to that of a programmer (focusing on implementing something). Examples:

• Dreamweaver
  
• Visual studio
  
• Flash
  

Graphical tools -- tools that help you create the visuals of an interface, ideal for wireframes. Sometimes these tools can also mimic interaction making them suitable for a variety of prototypes. Examples:

• Photoshop
  
• Fireworks
  
• Paintshop pro
  

Layout tools -- tools that help you layout content. Sometimes these tools include interactivity such as hyperlinks or programming scripts that help create a variety of prototypes.

• Word
  
• Pages
  
• Excel
  
• Numbers
  
• Visio
  

Presentation tools -- tools that have some built in narrative capabilities that make it particularly (though not exclusively) suited for narrative prototypes.

• Powerpoint
  
• Keynote
  
• Acrobat
  

Method

Prototyping is much more than just wireframes or a ‘dumbed down’ version of real software. The Methods are many, and in addition to the methods below, there are all sorts of hybrid methods which combine features of other methods. Just to give you a flavor here are some examples of some of my favorite methods:

• Wireframe Prototyping -- A wireframe is a narrative prototype, usually created in the beginning of the design process. This prototype shows high-level sketches, visualizing conceptual assumptions about the product structure and general interaction.


• Storyboard Prototyping -- A storyboard is a narrative prototype, usually created in the early stages of the software-making process to articulate business and marketing requirements in the form of a usage scenario or story. These stories narrate the user actions needed to perform tasks as specified by marketplace, customer, and user requirements.


• Paper Prototyping -- A paper prototype is an interactive prototype that consists of a paper mockup of the user interface. The interface is usually fully functional, even if all the functionality is mocked up on paper. Paper prototypes allow you to test a design with many different stakeholders, including end users.


• Digital Prototyping -- A digital prototype is an interactive prototype that consists of a digital mockup of the user interface. The interface is usually partially functional, even if the functionality is implemented by hyperlinking, screen switching and other methods of mocking up actual interaction. Digital prototypes like paper prototypes allow you to test a design with many different stakeholders, including end users. Unlike paper prototypes, digital prototypes can be tested remotely.


• Blank Model Prototyping -- Blank models are low-fidelity prototypes produced quickly by user study participants using readily available arts and crafts materials to represent their notions about what an intended hardware/software design could be like. This method is used in the early stages of product design to elicit user perceptions and mental models about hardware form factors and interaction controls in conjunction with a software user interface.

And with the prototyping methods that covers the definition of a prototype. Now was that so painful? Now you understand at least to some degree the richness of prototyping. Instead of being victimized by these dimensions you should be wielding them like a weapon. So hopefully know you can understand the basic concepts of effective prototyping: that a prototype is:

• purpose
  
• content
  
• content fidelity
  
• requirements and assumption
  
• prototyping characteristics
  
• defined audience (s)
  
• toolset
  
• method
  

If any of these concepts are still not clear, I can discuss them in subsequent postings. Next week I will discuss the so-called benefits of prototyping, which probably could better be labelled: the myths of prototyping.

Prototyping 2: What is a prototype, part 1

In my last post I discussed what a prototype does. Now here comes a far trickier question: what is a prototype. A prototype turns out to be quite complex, and rightly so. Because to get the benefits of prototyping (the subject of my next post), a prototyper must understand these vital concepts, otherwise you are just shooting arrow into the air.

A prototype is deservedly complex since it is by definition the coming together of many different disciplines. Whether you like it or not every prototype has an either implied or explicit:

• visual design
  
• interaction design
  
• technical implementation
  
• information design
  
• editorial content
  
• and my personal favorite: a reason to exist

But those are all vague terms and do not really help you get control of your prototype. And getting control is the point of the definition of a prototype that I want to discuss. This definition will provide you with everything you need to control your prototype, so it does not control you. Likewise, for you non-prototypers, this will also give you enough information to fight what I call the razzle-dazzle effect: a prototyper who over-delivers a slick prototype and uses the wow factor to cover up a paucity of good ideas.

To begin, we need a prototype definition that covers what are the parts that make up a prototype and not what a prototype does (that was covered in the last post).

The Effective Prototyping definition of a prototype

A prototype is a model of a design that is:

• utilized for a specific planned purpose
  
• illustrating specific content and fidelity
  
• articulating defined requirements and assumption
  
• specified with prototyping characteristics
  
• customized for a specific audience(s)
  
• created with a specific tool
  
• performed in a specific method

Here is a less verbose but more specific version of the same definition:
A prototype is a model of a design with:

• purpose
  
• content
  
• content fidelity
  
• requirements and assumption
  
• prototyping characteristics
  
• defined audience (s)
  
• toolset
  
• method

Below we will discuss them briefly, for more thorough details, you can always consult the full book, Effective Prototyping for Software Makers .

Purpose

A prototype will be created for a specific purpose. Whether it is a proof of concept, or a demonstration of a product’s interaction or a visual direction, it is important to know what the purpose(s) is (are).

Content

Based on what the purpose of the prototype is, you will want to prioritize the content in the prototype.
A prototype consists chiefly of 4 different types of content:

• Interaction -- how a user will interact with it
  
• Visual design -- how the prototype will visually appear
  
• Editorial content -- what information will be on the prototype
  
• Information Design/Architecture -- what will be the structure of the information

Fidelity

Generally, only in late stages do you want the content all at a high fidelity. Consequently, a prototyper will strategically set the fidelity of any given content higher or lower depending on what they want the prototype to focus on. The higher the fidelity, the more prominent the content. The lower the fidelity, the more the content will fade into the background.
Setting the wrong level of fidelity is the most common error. It results in discussions getting bogged down on visual design, when in fact the interaction design was the only intended goal of the prototype.
Contrary to what most prototyping texts state you can play with fidelity within a content type. For example you can raise the fidelity on the visual design for the chrome of an application and lower the fidelity of the content in order to discuss the visual structure of a given. You can also de-emphasize a content type completely, for example by showing all text in greeked text format you for your audience to concentrate on the visuals or interactions instead of trying to read editorial content which usually grabs their attention.
However, the issue is more nuanced than it appears. For example, let’s say you want to test the interaction design. Then, if you set the visual design level to lowest and editorial content to lowest fidelity, it will be impossible to really test the interaction: you need just enough editorial and visual design content to test the interaction. Likewise, say for example, the visual design is already finished and agreed on by stakeholders, then there is no real reason not to use a high fidelity visual design.
In general, the rule is, lower the fidelity of the content you are both less sure of and do not want to evaluate. At any rate a professional prototyper should be able to justify their choices.

requirements and assumption

The whole point of a prototype, when used as part of a digital product or service creation process is to validate requirements, or rather separate the requirements from the assumptions. Requirements are some function or feature that is necessary for the success of the product or service. An assumption is something that is presupposed to be a requirement, but has never actually been proven or tested. A prototype usually consists of proven requirements, requirements to be validated in the current iteration and assumptions. In general, the higher the assumptions the more risky a prototype is. Whether something is a requirement or an assumption will help prioritize content and set its fidelity.
I see know the post is over 1,000 words, so let’s stop here and resume with prototyping characteristics next week.

Prototyping 1: What does a prototype do

A series on prototyping
In the 4 years since our book on prototyping first came on the scene there was precious little written about the professional way to prototype. Today prototyping seems to be the hot topic, unfortunately most of the current stuff available on the internet only give an isolated tip or trick. What is especially harmful is that most of these articles rush into how to prototype without really understanding what it is. These works are rife with unquestioned assumptions and and uncritical approach to prototyping.

The book I co-wrote with Michael Arent and Nevin Berger remains still the only thorough attempt to understand prototyping. In the coming series of posts on prototyping, I want to make a compact discussion of what a prototype is and how it works from our book Effective Prototyping for Software Makers . This post will it a little more approachable and if you want the full details, by all means you can buy the book

In this series of posts I want to address 3 broad topics:

1. What does a prototype do
2. What is a prototype
3. Raising the bar in prototyping

In this first post I want to discuss what a prototype does. For that I want to use a definition of prototyping that restricts itself to what it does not what it is. For that I turn to a definition from the book “Universal Design Principles” by William Lidwell and others:

A prototype is “The use of simplified and incomplete models of a design to explore ideas, elaborate requirements, refine specifications, and test functionality.”

For ease of discussion, I will break this definition down into its components. First, I will throw out the models business because that goes into what a prototype is, which will be the subject of the next post. That leaves us with the following uses of a prototype:

• to explore ideas
• to elaborate requirements
• to refine specifications
• to test functionality

All prototypes attempt to do at least one of the above purposes and usually more than one simultaneously, often without the prototyper even being aware of it. What is essential to know is that the prototype is first and foremost a communication medium. A prototype communicates the above 4 concepts.

Explores ideas

Here the accent is on if the idea is desirable. Prototypes are at their best when they explore abstract concepts or ideas and makes them concrete. It is easy enough for a group of technocrats to discuss their new idea for a killer document registration, yet being able to both rapidly and interactively visualize with a prototype makes the idea come alive and often inspires and informs the whole ideation process. Any software idea can be visualized with a prototype. But here are just a few examples (a fuller list comes in a future post discussing prototyping content):

• Interactions design
• Application functionality
• Visual design
• Information design/architecture
• Rough concepts and ideas

Among the many means of using prototyping to explore are:

• a single prototyper visualizes the idea
• a group prototypes through participatory design practices
• members of a group each sketch out their ideas as a group
• a group brainstorms a prototype with a designer as facilitator

Elaborates requirements

Here the accent is on, whether the prototype is possible. A prototype elaborates requirements by often illustrating what is necessary to actually put an idea into action. For example, and idea of having a running total in web interface when illustrated will make a developer realizes they need Web 2.0 technology. Or it could make the business analyst realize that discounts or other items that effect the total also need to be known upfront or somehow communicated to the end user. Once an idea is explored, software makers often look at a prototype differently. Among the types of requirements that are elaborated by a prototype include:

• Business
• Organizational
• Functional
• Technical
• End user

Refines specifications

Here the accent is on, whether the prototype is feasible and if so how. One the idea is desirable and deemed possible, then the detailed design comes in. A prototype is often a superior form of specification than a large paper document with lots of verbiage where the requirements are difficult to ascertain let alone visualize. Furthermore, the prototype speaks in the visual language of the product itself and cross cultural and language concerns are not so big an issue with today’s global development teams.
A prototype can be stand alone documentation if it is a totally complete model. Otherwise, often some form of annotation or some lightweight document is needed to accompany it.

Tests functionality

Here the accent is on evaluattion, for example whether the prototyped design is usable for the end user.
A working prototype (paper, digital or whatever form) can be shown to stakeholders and they can test it to see if they can work with it. If it works the way it should or they way it needs to. This way corrections to the design will cost no redevelopment costs.

Summary

So in a nutshell, this covers what a prototype does. In essence it communicates four things:

1. to explore ideas -- is it desirable?
2. to elaborate requirements -- is it possible?
3. to refine specifications -- how do we do it?
4. to test functionality -- does it work?

How and what it communicates will be discussed in my next post on what a prototype is. In that post I will discuss the characteristic parts of a prototype. Understanding these characteristic parts allows you to control how your prototype will come across to your audience.

UX Strategy III: The UX Declaration of Independence from Engineering

(Co-written by Thomas Jefferson, I hope my non-American friends will indulge an American metaphor of the declaration of independence.)

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one profession (UXD) to dissolve the bonds which have connected them with another profession (Software Engineering), and to assume their own powers, separate and equal from other professions to which the Laws of Nature entitle them. A decent respect to the opinions of software engineering requires that User Experience should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all products are endowed by their creators with user experiences with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are usability, satisfaction, and business feasibility. Furthermore the user has a right to a user experience which is derived from the entire company/organization not just what is technically feasible at a given moment.

That to secure these rights, User Experience professionals are engaged by companies and businesses. These professionals derive their just powers from a professional integrity that must not be compromised, otherwise the User Experience design loses whatever rights they have to exist.

Software Engineering as a process has had a tyrannical effect on the User Experience professional, forcing them to shorter and shorter deadlines with less and less available resources that the point is reached that UX Professionals often find themselves going through motions rather than truly designing professional products the way they are truly capable of creating them.

The history of Software Engineering processes are a history of repeated injuries and usurpations of UX terrain, all having in direct effect the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over this profession. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world:

• Development methods are continually shortening their design process and their delivery deadlines


• This makes it impossible to do a thorough and adequate design process, forcing us to take all kinds of irresponsible and inappropriate short cuts.
• Specifically, Agile development processes attempt to preclude any upfront design or research as good UX processes demand
• Development do not use UX metrics as a measure for their success
• Consequently there is no business case for following UX best practices
• Development keeps the UX bar purposefully low so that UX accountability is
• non-existent -- even when it is clear that products are failing because of their poor user experiences
• an afterthought -- the product is a success or failure and after the fact UX is blamed or ignored
• an anecdote -- the arbitrary story or urban legend of use becomes definitional for the user experience
• unprofessional -- as long as the bar is low, poor UX design will yield equal results making the establishment of UX best practices very difficult
• Development’s near fetish-like fascination with a release puts artificial blinders on the UX processes, resulting in:
• assuring structurally sub-optimal results
• cutting corners when it really is not necessary
• giving undue credence to an artificial argument against UX additional processes
• obscuring the value of user experience design by forcing it into the release focus of software engineering.
• UX quality is now reliant on the kindness of strangers, that will say the extent to which a Software Engineering team is or is not enlightened to the value and processes of User Experience Design.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united User Experience Designers hold that instead of working under the hegemony of engineering, User Experience activities should work in coordination, not in tandem with Software Engineering.

Among the ongoing process which User Experience should be working on independent of Software Engineering include (partial list for the longer list of UX processes see the previous post in this blog):

• User Research
• Design Research
• Requirements gathering (SE’s are needed for technical requirements but that is only one part of the whole requirements picture
• Product design
• Conceptual design which may cover multiple products/channels and multiple releases.

Places where software engineers and user experience should closely together is

• translating a conceptual design to a specific product release cycle
• product definition
• product detailed design
• product design reviews and iterations
• mentoring developers through a product release
• evaluating software engineer work for fidelity to UX concept using appropriate UX metrics
• release planning

Software engineering in turn should act as mentors in the UX processes assuring technical feasibility for short and medium term are tracked and noted. In this way Software Engineering, Product Management and User Experience are truly equal partners in the creation of great products and product experiences.

Signed 2 March 2010

UX Strategy II: About the iterative diagram: What is it?

In the second part of this Strategy discussion, I will concentrate on the Strategy diagram from the previous post. This post will cover what the diagram is and who is it for. There are more issues than that to be complete, but I can always add an additional post if there is a desire to read more detailed information about it. [Note this post, like all my posts are revised based on user comments or feedback.]

Just to review from my previous presentation (see post below): this diagram is a way of anchoring the design process to key strategic activities thereby assuring both a true design process as well as a strategic execution of this User Experience design process. The alternatives that are in vogue now are either

• seeing the User Experience as a bolt-on to engineering processes
• 'Bolt-on' being American for: just embedding a UX process in to a software engineering process
• A software engineering process which is already cumbersome and unpredictable
• In general adding design process to software engineering process is like forcing the square peg into a round hole.
• or at best its own independent process that mimics a software engineering process

Where the UX process eventually turns into something that looks like some variation of

• a waterfall
• incremental design
• Some other variation of the straightest line between two points approach

The above points coupled with my belief that software engineering process is a contradiction in terms pleads for the necessity of this new diagram.

Figure 1: the UX STrategy Iteration Diagram

In general terms you can think of the diagram as a planning tool one can talk over with a program manager or client or even all key stakeholders during a workshop. You can also think of it like a hula hoop, somewhere, anywhere in the hoop you can cut it flatten out and make a project manager or software engineer happy to see a simplified overview of what activities you are going to do for the current cycle.
These diagrams can be stacked on top of each other and connected at key points to plan multiple user experiences among different channels, products or services. This would allow planning and illustrating hos a mobile product project can inform a web application project. Likewise a strategy iteration can inform a tactical one, etc.
The strategy diagram and the planned activities should be revisited after each activity and see if it assumptions are still valid or if it is time to iterate the activities. In this way the very strategy is iterative just as the User Experience. But before going into too much details, I want to discuss two points here:

• What is the diagram
• Who is the diagram for

What is this diagram

This diagram is an attempt to create a model for User Experience Strategy and in so doing create also an instrument for both:

• understanding User Experience Strategy
• planning an User Experience project for your
• company organization
• or heaven forbid for a client if you are one of those charlatan UX consultants like me.

The diagram consists of the following (names are provisional):

• Circles
• Elements
• Activity
• Properties

Circles

The circles represent iteration cycles. But iterations are centered on an element or two or more, but they have iterative effects also on its neighboring elements and then even ripple effects through the entire UX element landscape (see below). Even when an iteration confirms an already existing UX element it still strengthens that element and thereby changing it. The circles show the interdependent nature of the User Experience as an expression of a series of elements.

Elements

The elements are a major area of the User Experience, usually with one or more associated deliverables. In order to qualify as a major element in the User experience it must meet the following criteria”

1. Plays an essential role in UX products, services, and other expressions (brochures, ads, etc.).
2. Major risk to the resulting product and/or organization if this element is not ready.

With this definition it speaks for itself that each project/company/organization may have a slightly different diagram, but complete coverage is essential.

We (my colleagues at Stroomt and the helpful people who kindly mailed in their suggestions) identified a generic set of UX elements, namely:

• Mission Statement
• Vision
• Goals and principles
• Channels
• Brand design
• Business Case
• Business Plan
• Requirements
• Define product/service(s)
• Conceptual Design
• Detailed Iterative Design
• Evaluate and refine design
• Release product and plan for next iteration

Each of these elements must have a sufficient level of maturity and stability in order to release a product or service to the world. The User Experience Strategist is obliged to review the state of each of these elements. It is not the job of the User Experience Strategist to be the person who delivers or executes on these elements, UX is by nature multi, or I would say macro-discplinary. The UX Strategist is a facilitator first and foremost.
Figure 2 UX Strategy Diagram with activities

Activities

If these elements are not in an acceptable state then activities should be planned to bring them up to the appropriate level. It is not the User Experience Strategists job to perform all of these activities, or even any of these activities. Like the elements, the activities also require many different disciplines. The UX Strategist may be able to assist and find and support the right people to perform the activities. However the strategist is primarily concerned that all the information is available, up to date, stable and mature.

Properties

Both activities and elements have properties, these depend on the need of the organization, but can include things such as:

• Staffing
• Resources
• Start and end dates
• Deliverable requirements
• Budgets
• Etc.

Who is this for: Multi-disciplinary vs Macro-disciplinary

Last topic for this week: Who is this diagram for?
Well definitely not for the faint of heart.
The User Experience Strategist, Designer, Project Sponsors, Program Manager, Project Manager are those most to gain from getting this overview as well as wanting to be able to plan on a macro level. But the fact is, this is one way of getting all of the multi, or rather Macro-disciplinary team literally on the same page about who is doing what and how it all fits together.
I use the term Macro-disciplinary because unfortunately too often the word multi-disciplinary is bandied about to mean multiple disciplines without recognizing that these are mostly separate people. Most UI multi-disciplinary projects means the designer--or whoever the UI one man band is called-- is up late at night and weekends. They are also often caught talking to themselves in a desperate attempt to bring in another disciplines or perspective into their work. By Macro-disciplinary I want to show that it is impossible not to include many talented people with many complementary, but more often contradictory perspectives.
This last concept: contradictory perspectives is essential to every successful design project I have ever worked on. This diagram allows these contradictory perspectives to elegantly be laid plain in a map. It also allows you to plan activities for incorporating those perspectives back into the larger UX iteration so contradiction are resolved rather than brushed under the carpet.

Next week the UX Declaration of Engineering Independence.

UX Strategy is different than UI strategy Part I

[Note: First of three parts.
Next post Part II, a detailed discussion of the diagram below.
Part III. the UX Declaration of Independence from Engineering.]

Here is some big news: UX strategy is not UI strategy. This must be big news since the two seem identical in how they are practiced. There seems to be a fundamental flaw in our ability to make a difference between UX practice and UI practice. However, there does not seem to be a shortage of differences between defining the two that is covered and almost written to death (so I won’t cover it here if you are interested in that wikipedia is a fun to place to start). Yet when the rubber meets the road, most strategists, designers, usability engineers and other nefarious UX practitioners like me, explain a process that looks awfully similar to UI design best practices anno 1989.

So here is some other big news, amazing news for everyone in the UX business: design is not engineering. What? You knew that already? That is strange since I am yet to see a single UX strategy or UI process that is actually iterative let alone independent of a development cycle. Oh I am sure they are out there, its just the secret sauce of a chosen few who really get it right? Not likely. It seems to me that most people who claim to be UX designers are in fact UI designers.

That fact is so few people understand UI design that no one really notices when it goes by another name, especially one that sounds more expensive like UX design does. The reality is UI designers have nothing to be ashamed of: it is one of the most difficult and nuanced professions due to its inherent multi-disciplinary focus. The inclusion of Interaction Design, Information Architecture, Graphic Design, User Research etc is all classical UI design not User Experience design. Because of this confusion, too many people are spinning their wheels in UX design when they are really discussing the important and essential issues around UI design. Here I would like to discuss my take on the practice of User Experience design.

Here is the good news: there is a solution
I recently gave a talk in Utrecht UX Strategy. I include the slides with this post.

UX Strategy as told by the paintings of Jan Steen

View more presentations from Jonathan Arnowitz.

I think my most important point in that talk is a real iterative UX Strategy that is based on Design practice not software engineering practice. A subsidiary thesis to that talk could be: if you are fixated on how UX fits in a development method (e.g. Agile, RUP, Waterfall, etc.) than you are not a User Experience Designer at all but a UI Designer. There is no shame in doing UI design but then let’s not muddy the UX waters with it.
Moreover a real UX strategy should not only not resemble an engineering process, but should also be independent of it. To not accept this reality, is to concede the hegemony of engineering in both process and decision making on UX. That hegemony is not the reality except in engineering driven companies. UX is inherently strategic, whereas UI design is inherently tactical requiring a close association with engineering toward realization. Perhaps it bears noting that not all User Experiences have UI’s or have UI’s as their most important component. UI Design is in fact the place where Engineering and UX meet but UI design is not the end of the UX strategy, it is rather one of its many expressions.
The presentation above identified 3 goals of UX Strategy, they are not the three goals rather just the three I am concerned about:
1. Keep the client/business/organization focused on their business goals
2. Keep the Design and Technical teams focused on the Conceptual Design
3. Provide a predictable repeatable process
4. Maintain a UX reality check that is at once iterative, open-ended, and reliant on solid analysis (some may call this trusting one's gut) as any good design process should.

A good UX strategy is therefore better represented by a loop, as it is in the slide presentation above. A loop unlike any engineering process. A loop with no beginning, because we invariable enter at some arbitrary moment: when we contracted, when we were hired, etc. It reflects reality that we start anywhere in the process and it also reflects the interdependent nature that one step will invariably influence the other, if not for this product than maybe the next. Moreover there maybe multiple simultaneous iterations occuring at the same time.
A much improved version of the image from the presentation would look like the image below. This is what looks like a ferris wheel approach. Each node on the wheel below represents a common analytical element of a User Experience. This is a 1.0 release so hopefully some helpful comments will come forward and allow me to iterate on it.
This image recognizes the interconnectivity of an organization to the user experience and the ripple effect of one UX element will have on the rest. One error in the drawing is that everything appears to be the same weight and magnitude, which is not true. A gear like metaphor would be better. Each element, mission, goals, etc. could be represented as a gear that turns the larger iteration gear. A gear, whose size could change with each of the UX elements could have a bigger or smaller gear depending on the character of the company or organization.

Each element can have a series of activities associated with them. These activities will help continue the iteration cycle. The activity can vary with organization, its needs and (the weak link in the chain) the talents of whom they hired to iterate the User Experience.
Another important aspect to the drawing is the iteration cycle does not end. There is no ultimate goal with which life starts and then ends. The reality is relases/successes are temporary and no sooner is one goal achieved than the next goal must take over, the next quarter’s numbers must be met, the next new thing must be created to stay ahead, etc. In this way the UX evolves throughout the life of the organization.
A few examples of a chart completely filled in are given below. The first example is a complete cycle refresh. The next one is a product oriented iteration. The last one an organizational iteration with a proof of concept product at the end of the iteration cycle.
After the images below i welcome your comments. I will refine the presentation and the drawing (maybe a good visual designer would volunteer?). The the drawing will start to live, and will it ever be finished? I hope not, or we will be out of a job.
UX Strategy wheel template


UX Strategy wheel completely filled out



UX Strategy wheel completely filled out for a product oriented iteration


UX Strategy wheel completely filled out for a company iteration with a proof of concept product or service