Strategic UX Design

Recently, I've been thinking quite a bit about strategic UX design. I'm sure there are many ways to think about this, but here's my cut:

• Tactical UX Design is about using specific tools and techniques to design a particular user experience.  UX matters provides a nicely organized list of UX techniques and work products in their 5 Competencies of UX Design diagram (see below).

Nicely organized list of Tactical UX Design skills and work products from UX matters

• Strategic UX Design is where an organization decides how to apply its limited resources to achieve some effect.  This should be a measurable effect (i.e., key performance indicator) such as an impact on sales, improved user satisfaction, reduced training, improved throughput/task completion, error reduction, etc.  I think Leisa Reichelt's diagram (see below) does a nice job of describing the relationship between business strategy, UX strategy and UX tactical execution.

A model of the relationship between business strategy and UX from Strategic UX.

From my perspective, the key UX strategy activities include the following:

1. Setting the Scope and Objectives: It's worthwhile to spend a little time thinking about who the "Strategic UX Thinker" is reporting to (CEO, CTO, Project Manager, Product Manager, etc.), what their goals are, and how they and their goals relate to the rest of the organization.  UX is often housed in the development department, but it requires input and has an impact on other parts of the business including sales, marketing and other products.
2. Understanding the Customers and their Contexts: This step identifies the "big picture" of the software experience.  What kind of situations are the users in when they are using the software?  How are they feeling and how do we want them to feel? What challenges are they facing and how can we help? Here is where you should be able to identify "big picture" issues and opportunities that a company can address.  Contextual Design, Personas, and Value Maps are three key techniques for capturing and communicating this information.
3. Teamwork and Process: I've been in enough organizations to know that UX can work in just about any kind of team and software development process.  Key strategic UX issues include:
1. How are the UX objectives prioritized relative to other product objectives and are there sufficient resources to meet the short-term and long-term UX objectives?
2. What is the organizational structure and development process and how do they evolve over time to meet new needs?
3. How is organizational knowledge of the customer captured, communicated and utilized within the organization?

Well, that's it for this post.  If you're interested in reading more, here's a nice list of other resources on the topic of Strategic UX Design:

• Strategic User Experience
• 3 Keys to Aligning UX with Business Strategy
• The S.M.A.R.T. User Experience Strategy
• Startup Metrics for Pirates
• The Next Wave: Experience Strategy