buidling the user experience community at sdl

Building the UX Community at SDLBest Practices and RecommendationsPhilipp Engel, UX Director, SDL

This presentation describes how we built an in-house user experience community at SDL. We started small, with the

literal UX team of one, but grew and expanded the team and the discipline over the last 6 years.

In this presentation, we summarize what worked for us and share experiences and best practices. Not only to inspire other

user experience teams, but any discipline in a large scale software development organization that intends to grow from a handful of disconnected experts into a strong internal

community.

Our Journey

Establish the Community

Enable Collaboration

Nurture Community

Formulate a Mission Statement

Set up a Communication Plan

Define a Default Process

Provide a Digital Space for Collaboration

Provide a Physical Space for Collaboration

Provide a Space to Hang Out Together

Visit Conferences and Meetups

Join the Larger Professional CommunityDefine Your Values

Create a Culture

Establish a Vision

Identify Members

Define Your Discipline

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1) Establish the Community



Nurture Community









Create a Culture

Establish a Vision

Identify Members


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External Definitions for Your Discipline…

What we learned:There is no point in arguing what is the right definition for your discipline. Create one that works for you and your organization.

Create Your Own Definition

UX at SDL in 2010

Establish an Maturity & Growth Model

UX at SDL in 2010

Identify Members

Look for “go-to persons”, trusted thought leaders for a specific discipline

Identify a Community Leader

UXI

Find folks that care about your discipline or area of expertise and get them together. At SDL we started the UX community with a mixed group of

technical writers, UI developers, product managers, and testers.

Identify and Invite Members

UXI

Customer Support Product Manager UX Designer Technical Writer Developer

SDL UX Community 2015

Catalin TimoftiUX Designer, Cluj

Nikki VeldhuisUX Designer, Amsterdam

Adela MuresanUX Designer, Cluj

Elske SchrauwenUX Designer, Amsterdam

Peter BoersmaUX Strategist, Amsterdam

Ariel VargasUX Designer, Amsterdam

Fernando QuirosUX & Visual Designer, Amsterdam

Philipp EngelUX Director, Amsterdam

Arne de BooijUX Strategist, Amsterdam

Hristo SpasuninVisual Designer & Developer, Sofia

Riccardo RussomannoVisual Designer, Amsterdam

Carrie KimUX Strategist, Seattle

Joao LopesUX Strategist, Mechelen

Scott DarcyUX Designer, Wakefield

Brian ShurtleffUX Designer, Cluj/LA

Jaap Jan van den BoschUX Designer, Amsterdam

Sander ViegersUX Strategist, Amsterdam

Today the UX Community at SDL is comprised of UX strategists, user researchers, interaction designers, and visual UI designers.

Establish a Vision

What is happening out There?

We researched trends and developments disrupting our industry.

The Social Enterprise People, not files, are the center of activity

Touch & Gesture Interaction

as a primary input method

Generation CConnected all the time

Consumerization & Software as a Service

Mobile ComputingThe rise of mobile PCs over desktop PCs

Develop a Vision and Tell a Story

We demonstrated opportunities those trends and developments hold for us if mapped to our products and services…

Make Your Vision Concrete

2Username 3

2Username 3

Community

Social Media

Targeting

Online Campaigns

Mailings

38

Workflow Tasks

Welcome

UsernameDomain\username

9

Customer Engagement

User Preferences

Audience

Web Sites

Web Content

Content Management

Multimedia Content

245

Engage your community, spread ownership, take them on a journey!

Cross Silos and Build Bridges in the Organization

SDL Customer Ecosystem Design Strategy & Touchpoints

SDL Channels

Campaign & Microsites Social Media

Apps

DISCOVER

SDL.com(Corporate Web

Site)

Translationzone(Market specific

Web Site)

Language Cloud (Offering specific

Web Site)

Online Store(embedded)

EXPLORE & BUY

Support & Training

Developer Space

Documentation

Video Channel

Blogs, Forums, Groups, Ideas

ASK & ENGAGE

App Marketplace

SINGLE ID

My SDL ID Account

Data, Analytics, Insights

Carbon 2.0 Product UI GuidelinesLucia Navigation, Screen Templates, Catalina Controls

“Espresso” Web Design GuidelinesPage types for Landing pages, content pages, etc.

“Espresso” Web Design GuidelinesPage types for My SDL & Community

“Espresso” Web Design Guidelines (less strict)General page layouts, footer

USE

Products

Plans

Trials

Public/PrivateJob Marketplace

Collaboration

CXC/LC -‐ ENTERPRISES

USE

Collaboration Public Job Marketplace

Trials

Plans

Products

LC -‐ TRANSLATORS & LSP’s

Embed your vision in a larger context.

Formulate a Mission StatementAt SDL we create user experiences that are:

UnifiedSDL product suite with a unified user interface and a harmonized user experience

IntegratedSDL products are integrated in a way in that they share common components, enrich each other by providing functionality in-context, have optimized flows between applications

PersonalizedKey elements of the user interface can be personalized such as notifications, view settings, information dashboards, and navigation

CollaborativeEmbedded social features allow users to connect, stay informed, communicate, and by these means collaborate

RelevantBring relevant functionality and information to the user when she needs them and avoid information overload

Context awareOptimized for the context (online/offline, location, etc.) and the device the user is using, including desktop, tablet, and mobile devices

Touch enabledSDL products are optimized for touch input as well as traditional input methods such as keyboard and pointing devices. User can use these methods in combination, based on personal preference or individually based on device capabilities

Define Your Values

Communication, sharing, transparency

Team over the individual

Focus on goals and results, not just process

Curious open minds driving change and innovation

Diversity, equality, respect in the community

Ambitions to make the world a better place

What We Value in SDL’s UX Community

Create a Culture

We are a democracy, not a dictatorship• We have multiple distributed teams

• It is all about teams iterating together and sharing information

• Design decisions are de-centralized

• Independent product UX teams for each product/development project

• Centralized UX group for coordinating design decisions, vision and strategy development

We agree on the same values and goals• We create transparency, we share

our work, and collaborate

We share UX concepts, designs, research results, and final deliverables with the internal UX community• We collaborate across the

organization, work closely together with other product teams

• We aim to understand what other teams did and why they did it like this

• We provide regular design workshops, give demos, and seek for feedback

• We ensure improved and updated designs are properly documented and communicated to all teams allowing them to adopt new designs across teams there too

We get together and collaborate• When new projects start – we get

multiple relevant product UX teams together in ”design war rooms" and discuss the design direction (What design patterns, screens, controls, etc. are available in other products that can be reused?)

• We only leave the room with a common understanding of the design direction forward

• We test our assumptions and iterate

Some Principles

UX Community Culture

Who we are17 Designers, 9 Nationalities

Diverse global group of design researchers, data nerds, user

advocates, micro-‐interaction lovers & pixel-‐perfect UI designers

Hungry for innovation, creative processes, strive for intuitive

interactions & beautiful interfaces

Our focus on service experience make us connect, collaborate, bridge teams, and connect with individuals throughout SDL,

always with the customer in mind.

What we doUser Experience Strategy

Research, innovation, experience architecture, service design, design

process

User Experience GuidelinesDesign guideline development, documentation, distribution

User Experience DesignInteraction design, prototyping,

UI design & guidelines, UI controls& documentation, and usability

testing with product/project focus.

How we work5 Timezones, 7 Offices

• UX Community Meeting (Weekly)

• UX Strategy Meetings (Weekly)

• UI Alignment Meetings (tbd.)

• UX Summit (Yearly)

• “UX Walls” in Team Spaces

• All Designs on UX WIKI

• UX Facebook Hangout

• Dribbble Space

2) Enable Collaboration



Nurture Community









Create a Culture

Establish a Vision

Identify Members


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UX Community Call (Weekly)

UX Strategy Meeting (Weekly)

UX Summit (Yearly)

Product Line Meetings (On-demand)

Individual One2Ones (Bi-Weekly)

Design Deep Dives (SDL focus, on-demand)

Design Critique Sessions (Outside world focus, on-demand)

SDL UX Communication Plan

Weekly UX Community Calls

What we learned:Don’t do standup meetings… better have someone present their current work every week. Keeps meetings interesting and encourages sharing and regular feedback.

Yearly UX Summit

What we learned:Get distributed teams together in a room at least ones a year (for 2-3 days) is invaluable. Face time and actually getting to know each other is is the foundation for remote collaboration.

Yearly UX Summit

What we learned:Circulate offices. Hosting a UX Summit and gathering the entire community helped increasing visibility for the UX discipline in several offices.

Yearly UX Summit

What we learned:Get stuff on the walls! Make it physical and tangible. Post-it’s rock! Invite related disciplines too (we invited other designers from Marketing which improved collaboration across departments).

Yearly UX Summit

What we learned:Organize workshops (e.g. around design thinking and service design) and avoid long presentations. People get to know each other when working in groups, and get inspired when solving design problems together.

Design Critique Sessions (Outside World Focus)

What we learned:Collect and bring awesome product and service design examples and explain what you love about them. Fosters discussions about design quality and recent trends.

Design Deep-Dives (SDL Focus)

What we learned:Print major screens and get them all on the wall. Helps aligning interaction flows and visual UI design details.

Product Management(PM’s, PO’s, Business Analysts,

Market Researchers)

Engineering(Architects, Developers,

Testers, Ops)

User Experience(User Researchers, Designers,

Design Strategists)

Bring Disciplines Together

Business(viability)

Technology(feasibility)

People(desirability)

InnovationHappens Here!

Define Overall Process Customer Ecosystem

Product Line

Product LineProduct Line

Product LineProduct Line

Product LineProduct Line DevOps Leadership

Experience Design & Guidelines TeamsFocus on Design, Details, Execution, Guidelines,

Documentation, Distribution

SCRUM Teams (Dev/Doc/QA)Code, Consistency, Efficiency (Reusability) &

Compliancy

Experience Strategy TeamFocus on Research, Innovation, Data, Strategy

Product Management TeamFocus on Market, Direction & Roadmaps

Define Actors, Actions, and Deliverables

Action

Deliverable

Actor

Feedback

Experience Stra

tegist

Product M

anager

Input

User & M

arket

Research

Docu

men

t

Docu

men

t

Research D

ata and In

sights

Product B

rief,

Goals, Epics

Product R

oadmap

UX Strate

gy

UX Strate

gy

Review

UX Strate

gy Dra

ft

Reject

Experience Stra

tegist

Product M

anager

UX Strate

gy

(Perso

nas, Scenario

s, Goals,

Functional

Specificatio

n, Pro

toty

pes)

Present

Update

Do

cum

ent In

tera

ction &

UI D

esign

(per s

tory

)Revie

w

(per s

tory

)

Inte

ractio

n & U

I Desig

n Dra

ft

Inte

ractio

n & V

isual UI D

esign

(Pro

duct specific

Screens,

UI Contro

ls &

UI Contro

l Lib

rary

Contro

ls, D

ocumenta

tion)

Start Project

Experience D

esigner

Experience Stra

tegist

Product O

wner / U

I Develo

per

Reject

Present

Update

Do

cum

ent

Experience G

uidelin

es

Imple

menta

tion

(per s

tory

)

Functional &

Usability

Testing

(per s

tory

)

Imple

mente

d Story

Approved Sto

ry

Approve Approve

UI Develo

per

Tester

Experience D

esigner

Reject

Demo

Imp

lem

ent

Update / Fix

Align Actors & Actions

Product S

trate

gy /

Product R

oadmaps

Experience

Strate

gyExperie

nce

Design

UI Develo

pment /

Testing

§ Product Objectives (Business Goals, Success Metrics)

§ Functional Specification(Prioritized list of requirements)

§ User Needs (Research, Personas, Journeys, Service Blueprints, etc.)

§ UX Strategy (Goals, Experience Metrics, IA, Design Concepts, Prototypes)

§ Interaction Design (Conceptual Models, Metaphors, Flows)

§ Interface Design (Wireframes)

§ Visual Design (Colors, Icons, Typography, Grids, etc.)

§ Design Guidelines(Screen Templates, UI Controls, Rules, Documentation)

§ UI Controls & Example Code(Catalina Controls, Reusable Code, Documentation)

PM / UX / Architects UX / PO / DEV

Prior to Project During Project

Experience

Guidelin

es

Integrate with Existing Processes (e.g. UX & SCRUM)

Input SupportInput SupportFeedback & Input Support Support

Product Release

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Dev Story

Product Backlog Sprint Backlog

Sprint Planning

Backlog Grooming

Daily Scrum

Potentially shippable product increment

Acceptance / Demo

Retrospective

Sprint(2-4 weeks)

DevelopmentTesting

Documentation

Sprint

UX: Detailed Design within Sprints• Interface Design (Wireframes) /

Information Design (Wayfinding) / Visual Design (Colors, Icons, Typography, Grids, etc.)

• Terminology (Tech writers)• Design Specification /

Documentation

UX: Usability Testing• User Testing (Users)• Usability Inspections (Testers/Other Designers)

• Cognitive Walkthroughs• Heuristic Evaluations

• Conceptual Evaluation (Expert reviews)

Document Designs

Document Designs

Document Designs

Dev Story

Dev Story

UX: Design for Sprint 3


UX: Test / validate completed

stories Sprint 2



stories Sprint 3


stories Sprint 4

DEV: Stories not requiring desing

DEV: ReviewDesigns

DEV: Implement Stories

DEV: ReviewDesigns


DEV: ReviewDesigns


DEV: ReviewDesigns

DEV: Bug Fixing

DEV: SystemArchitecture

DEV: Proof of Concepts

Design Documentation

Completed Stories

Documented Designs

Completed Stories

Documented Designs

Documented Designs

C

Completed Stories

C

Release Stories

C

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Stabilization

Product/Service - Detailed DesignsPer Story: Interface Design (Wireframes) / Information Design (Wayfinding) / Visual Design (Colors, Icons, Typography, Grids, etc.)

UI Control Library

Product/Service - UX Strategy

UX: Evaluation• Beta Feedback (Internal/

External)• Feedback (PS / Partners/

Customer Support)• User Testing (Customers)• Collection of Metrics

Post-‐Release

UX: High Level Design § UX Strategy (Goals)§ UX Research (Personas, Scenarios)§ Interaction Design (Conceptual Models,

Metaphors, Navigation Design)§ Concept evaluation

Document Strategy

New/enhanced UI Control

UX: User Needs§ Site visits§ Interviews§ Questionnaires§ Observations§ Background research§ Competitor studies

Pre-‐Project

InputTechnical Feasability Validation

PM: Product Strategy§ Product Objectives (Business Goals, Success Metrics)

§ Functional Specification (Prioritized List of Requirements)

Sprint 0

reference to

Design Story

Design Story

This sprint

Next sprint

Setup a WIKI for Collaboration

What works for us:We maintain a separate space in our development WIKI

Encourage discussions

What we learned:Tagging content, setting up “smart” lists (e.g. for discussions), activity streams, and notifications allow for high level of transparency and provide visibility on what everybody is working on.


What we learned:Provide version information and status for all pages containing design concepts or UI specs. Provides clarity to stakeholders (e.g. PM & Dev) if they looking at a draft or final version of a page.

Experiment and pick what works for you…

Provide Physical Space for Collaboration

Allow for creativity

We had unused space…

We came up with a concept

Creative Spaces Town Hall Meetings

Social Spaces

So we got a “Creative Space”Colors

Stimulate creative processesWhiteboard

covering the whole wall

Flexible movable furniture for various use cases (design workshops, hackathons,

townhall meetings, product demos, etc.)

More: Google Ventures: Your Design Team Needs A War Room. Here's How To Set One Up

Creative Spaces

Write with whiteboard markers on tables

Helps every discussion

Design War Rooms / Walls

Design BooksInspiration

PersonasDesign Printouts

Design War Rooms / Walls

If Possible, Get the Community to Sit Together

Decorate for soccer world cups!

Get stuff on the walls!

3) Nurture Community



Nurture Community









Create a Culture

Establish a Vision

Identify Members


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SDL UX Community Hangout

What works for us:(Almost) everybody is on Facebook and knows how it works. So we set up a private Facebook group for SDL’s UX community where we exchange articles, photos, talk about events, trends, share cat videos… everything except of actual discussions about work. Works great to create a sense of “closeness” with teams that are distributed over offices and time zone.

SDL UX Community Hangout

What works for us:When anybody goes to a conference or meetup we share some pictures and what was discussed – keeps everybody in the loop and triggers our own discussions.

Participate in the Larger Professional Community

Gain Visibility in Existing Communities

We are on Dribble!Visit our Dribbble Space and follow us:www.dribbble.com/sdl

Set up a Community Site, Blog, or Forum

Shortly we will be launching a UX group in the public SDL Community. Join us there and participate in discussions around UX and design at SDL in general!

Conferences and Meetups

If You Do Cool Stuff Then Talk About It

Speak on Conferences

Visit Conferences, Workshops, and Meetups

Host a Meetup, Un-conference, etc.

Summary



Nurture Community









Create a Culture

Establish a Vision

Identify Members


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Thank You!Questions, Feedback? Mail or Follow me!