Collaboration in the User Experience Design Process

COLLABORATION IN THE USER
EXPERIENCE DESIGN PROCESS

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PERSONAL STORY

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When I started my career in User
Experience Design, I was convinced that
the key to my success would be
establishing the highest possible role of
UX in the organization that I used to
work for.

I was eager to ﬁght for the good name of
design with the whole developer-driven
company. And I did. Unfortunately, the
result was far from my expectations.

Photo by
Esther
Gibbons

I joined the company as the ﬁrst UX Designer.
Devs world was shaken.


Devs believed that technology
is what matters while interfaces
are a kind of ornament
decorating what for them, either
way, was beautiful code.

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THE FIGHT BEGAN

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It took me a couple of months and lots of nervous break-downs to realize
that ﬁghting was futile. Endless discussions over the role of design in
product development weren’t leading to any reasonable results, because...


FIGHTING ALWAYS COMES
UP AGAINST RESISTANCE
Photo by Ian Sane

In a company that wants to create amazing products, constant ﬁghts with
other departments and specialists are just silly.

Dangerously silly.

They waste time that should be used for developing products to solve the
real-life problems of users.


IS THERE
A HOPE?

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ANSWER ME!

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COLLABORATIVE
UX DESIGN!


WIN TOGETHER

THE GOLDEN RULE
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In collaborative design take no
hostages and leave no man behind.


You won’t take any
hostages if you ensure
that you convince people
that they are needed in
the design process even if
they are not designers.


You won’t leave any men
behind if you welcome
everybody in the process.
And yes I actually mean
everybody.

Photo by The U.S. Army


We welcomed everybody (including accountants) to paper
prototyping sessions during which all employees had a right
to express their design ideas.

ONE TEAM
Photo by Gavin Llewellyn

I NEEDED TO OVERCOME MY „DESIGNER’S EGO”

Oh… certainly that was the worst part. Design, which lies at
the crossroads of art and science, is an extremely
powerful ego booster. When we design, we feel clever
and creative at the same time. And we usually feel great
responsibility for the ﬁnal product. Probably because for
most people a product equals its design. This gives us a
lot of dignity, but at the same time it’s the most dangerous
trap you can encounter.

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Enormous design ego is a deadfall that can prevent you from
creating a great product, because it will emotionally isolate
you from your team.

To cut the story short: people will hate you and that’s not the
best foundation for cooperation.


Collaborative work
requires designers to build
their self-conﬁdence
around the conviction that
only the whole team
working together can
build an excellent product.

UX Designers are needed
to make it happen, to
share knowledge on
human behavior and to
enhance collaboration in
the team.

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We ﬁght for users. Our design and research
techniques are needed in the process to
guide the whole team through the meanders
of design challenges.


THE RESULT?


Strangely enough, when I
stopped fighting for the design
position in the organization – it
improved.

One year after we started to
implement collaborative design
– I wasn’t the only UX Designer
in the company anymore.

I was the UX Manager of a
respected UX team of five great
designers. Nobody questioned
our work anymore and final
products were way better than
in the past.

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So the lesson for today is simple: even if you create perfect, reasonable
and aesthetic design deliverables, work your ﬁngers to the bone thinking
through the product – your design may fail, unless you learn how to
collaborate and engage your team in the design process.


6 RULES OF
COLLABORATIVE
UX DESIGN

Photo by JD Hancock

1. Start collaboration early in the process and
continue it throughout the product development

2. Welcome everybody in the process (leave no
man behind)

3. Explain your design techniques in an engaging
way (and take no hostages)

4. Be humble and patient: answer with arguments
not aggression

5. Accept opinions on every deliverable and research
result

6. Never forget your ultimate goal: The creation of
stunning products that will solve your users’ problems

READ MORE: http://designmodo.com/collaboration-
user-experience-design-process/

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Marcin Treder is a design enthusiast that
literally lives for creating the best user
experience possible. After years working as
a UX Designer and UX Manager he focused
on his own start-up UXPin that provides
tools for UX Designers all over the world.
UXPin tools are used by designers in
companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft,
IBM, Salesforce. UXPin was recently voted
the best start-up in Central and Eastern
Europe. Marcin enjoys writing (e.g. for
UXMag, DesignModo, SpeckyBoy...),
blogging (Blog UXPin, UXAid, Startup Pirate)
and tweeting (@uxpin, @marcintreder).

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Collaboration in the User Experience Design Process

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