[Sigia-l] [IxDA Discuss] User Experience Strategy

[Ziya Oz]

prady:

[Not sure what the genesis of this thread is, but...]

> These desciplene may feed into User Experience Strategy, but the question
> remains how do you arrive at this strategy?

This is true.

As I keep saying there are two kinds of designers: those who accept strategy
handed down to them, which they then execute/implement and those who try to
shape that strategy up the food chain.

> The other problem is in implying UX strategy is always directly linked
> for innovation for future prospects.

You mean: " Innovate as a last resort"? :-)

> This notion assumes that UX drives the business strategy.

Erroneous, as you note.

> IMHO, it may be a case for Google, Apple and few others,

UX is not the driver of business strategy at Apple. Business is the driver
of business strategy. (This is a common misunderstanding about Apple.)

> but largely UX Strategy is a micro strategy for business/marketing/IT
> strategy.

I wouldn't necessarily place UX as subservient to marketing/IT/etc. Rather
than thinking of a vertically hierarchical relation, think of horizontal
integration: Apple's secret.
 
> This is important because strategy is derived from business needs, not from
> make-belief-notions of "experience".

When I start a new project, which almost always involves millions of
dollars, many people and perhaps their careers, I never ever start talking
about UX matters. Ever. I delay that as much as possible until I understand
the business rationale that brought me there *and* until the management
believes I understand their problem. Things get much easier after that *and*
I'm allowed much greater leeway and risks on the UX front because there's
been trust established with owners/managers.

There's, however, a counter argument here. A lot of Web 2.0 companies, as it
were, sometimes channeling the dotcom era, focus almost entirely on UX,
hoping to get traction and volume, which then, the theory goes, will create
its own business strategy. Fortunately, for *some* of these companies, this
has worked out rather nicely. It would be naïve to think that these people
are completely devoid of any business strategy. It's more like calibration
of an overall strategy that meshes business, technology, design and
community, etc., in different portion throughout the lifecycle of the
company. 

Key concepts: business as design strategy, design as business strategy,
strategy as design, design as strategy...

--
Ziya

"Every problem comes from a solution."