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Show and Sell UX
I firmly believe that showing measurable results can convince any organization to invest in design. Here is a story of how I expanded a sole design team to 14+ member team ( 9 designers, a researcher, a copywriter, an ADA Analyst, and Ops)
This approach is truly inspired from Costco's free sampling strategy - it may seem like a favor, but there is a solid strategy behind it.
Simple format to sell UX values
By doing _____________, it will solve the problem of _______________ to do this we need to _________ and it will result in___________
How was it structured?
The FinTech company's core digital products (online application form, online portal) were designed by an external agency five years back. All further updates were managed by the solo designer under the supervision of product owners from cross-functional teams and engineers.
Stage 1 - Go with the flow
I joined as a design consultant to replace the previous solo designer. The product owners come with a solution in mind without describing the problem to the designer. Initially, I planned to go with the current process and deliver what was requested for all the tasks I received. Also, I continued to persuade on UX values.
This is the stage to familiarize with people, products, processes, resources, and tools. This will help to strategize local
Stage 2 - Show UX Values with available resources
Asking for a user research/usability test may seem lavish, so I utilized other avenues which have direct touch points with users like VOC feedback, customer service agents' feedback, analytics tools, internal employees, etc.
I used available metrics and analytics to calculate the return on efforts, which helped to gain stakeholders' interest and support to execute my way. I introduced a user-driven approach by engaging stakeholders and cross-functional teams. This enabled and empowered them to solve the problem as a group. This slowly became a practice and has proven to yield targetted results.
At this stage, educating the stakeholders on UX process and methods is essential. Persuade the effectiveness of having dedicated roles for required skills.
Stage 3 - Sell UX Values
Continuous proven results helped to gain leadership attention. With key decision makers' support and buy-in, I presented a design-led strategic vision for the business and evangelized User Experience throughout the organization. This led to securing program funding for UX, and eventually, we quickly grew to 14+ (researchers, designers, UX writers, ADA Analysts, and Ops)
Reflections
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Playing with available resources may require enacting a mono drama (researcher, facilitator, copywriter, Ops, Designer, and everything), but it's only until results are proven. Later you will get actual artists to play respective roles.
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See this as return on effort (for UX benefit), and it's worth it!
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It's vital to capture the efforts spent, tasks assigned, who assigns the task, dependencies, Issues, and iterations. This will help to measure the impact.
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Gaining stakeholders/influencers' buy-in is crucial to establishing a reliable connection with top management.
Tip: This strategy may not work for the team who enjoy's mono drama and are good with free samples. You must know when to stop the show! 😵💫
