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To design is to be intentional

about the outcome we want.

About a year ago I read this quote from Julie Zhuo from Facebook. After reading this I had this nagging thought in my mind about outcomes for some time. I think everyone can understand the idea of an outcome in conceptual terms but the reality of things tends to get a fluffy.It seemed like such a simple thing, but I often found myself getting lost in the details and focusing on this more often then not.

I decided to spend some time and […]

Stakeholder alignment with Appreciative Inquiry

A large part of Design leaders role in organisation is communicating. I usually say jokingly that a large part of my job is talking…a lot.

The larger the organisation the larger the network of stakeholders that need to be managed and informed. Trust and relationships needs to be carefully cultivated. Communication is a key part of this.

I have found that approaching stakeholder relationships as a coach is much more effective than anything else. Coaching aims shows people the path to the right answers, not the answers themselves. Few stakeholders want to be […]

Design Assessment Framework

About three years ago I found myself in a situation where I asked myself this same question. I was leader a UX team and was wrestling with trying to increase overall impact in the organisation.

Are we getting the impact from UX that we want? Or do we know what we want?

After a discussion in Sweden and on various Slack groups, I decided to ask a wider group of people and created the European UX impact survey to try to get some better information.

Looking at the results and through all of the conversations […]

Island Hopping

Almost 25 years ago, I found myself sitting on a beach on the east coast of Ireland. I was with my good friend Rick who I studied together with at the University. We both had more or less quit our ‘first real’ jobs in Washington D.C. and decided to to take our savings and hit the road in Europe. Ireland was our first stop.

After consuming a decent portion of a bottle of Paddy’s Irish whisky we started to talk about jobs and the future. Rick studied English and Drama so he always had a flare for […]

Feedback? you’re soaking in it…

We are soaking in an ocean of feedback.

Each year in the United States, every schoolchild will be handed back as many as 300 assignments, papers, and tests. Millions of kids will be assessed as they try out for a team or audition to be cast in a school play. Almost 2 million teenagers will receive SAT scores and face college verdicts. At least 40 million people will be pursuing love online, where 71 percent of them believe they can judge love at first sight. And after we meet one another … 250,000 weddings will be called off, […]

European UX Impact Survey 2016

2016 european ux impact survey from Christopher McCann

A considerable proportion, (72.8 %) of all respondents, were from SME organisations (Definition: less then 250 employees).

•UX impact was highest in small organisations and decreased dramatically as organisation size increased.

•Low impact UX organisations are not involved in user feedback and research.

•High UX […]

Design for the Conversation

About 15 years ago, when the internet was new, I worked directly with the newly appointed CIO of a large Swedish organisation. My role was to facilitate the development of a ‘Internet Strategy’ for the company. No small task, but it was just the internet, how hard could it be ? To assist me, we had enlisted the help of a very large consulting company.

The project was one of my most successful, but not really for the end product but more for the process that was we used. The process comprised of a great deal of interviews with stakeholders, […]

European UX impact survey

Four years ago, I went from being a lead designer in a product company to be a manager of the UX team. I started to divide my time between ‘doing the design’ and everything that went in to that, to making sure and motivating others to ‘do the design’. My role developed into more of a coordinating function.

In addition to this, one had to make sure each designer delivered at a uniform quality level (more or less). The more I thought about this, the more I found myself discussing what the appropriate level of UX quality was for each product and […]

Alive and kicking, in spite of bad UX

I am upset…and sad, and UX is to blame.

Let me explain.

I recently read a blog post How bad UX killed Jenny that described the tale of ‘Jenny’, a young cancer patient undergoing a very toxic type chemotherapy treatment. The treatment was so toxic that she needed to be pre and post hydrated to ensure the the chemicals left her body after each treatment session was done. If this is not the case, certain internal organs will shut down from toxicity.

I read this post intensely, and as I read each line I got a strange feeling deep in […]

Three ways of working with Outcomes

Stakeholder alignment with Appreciative Inquiry

Design Assessment Framework

Island Hopping

Island Hopping

Feedback? you’re soaking in it…

Feedback? you’re soaking in it…

European UX Impact Survey 2016

Design Thinking in 4 Simple Steps that are Complicated.

Design for the Conversation

Design for the Conversation

European UX impact survey

European UX impact survey

Alive and kicking, in spite of bad UX

Alive and kicking, in spite of bad UX