{
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    "title" : "Institutionalizing User Experience: Building Usability into Your Organization |Digital.gov",
    "description": "Institutionalizing User Experience: Building Usability into Your Organization",
    "home_page_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/","feed_url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/13/institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization/index.json","item" : [
    {"title" :"Institutionalizing User Experience: Building Usability into Your Organization","summary" : "So, you have some systems or tools your customers or employees access. Maybe you want to put together a robust capability to conduct usability testing. How do you start formalizing user experience (UX) into your organization? Brad Ludlow at GSA tossed this topic out on the User Experience community listserv, and I’ve encapsulated the superb discussion that","date" : "2015-02-13T10:00:30-04:00","date_modified" : "2025-01-27T19:42:55-05:00","authors" : {"beth-martin" : "Beth Martin"},"topics" : {
        
            "analytics" : "Analytics",
            "design" : "Design",
            "research" : "Research",
            "usability" : "Usability",
            "user-experience" : "User experience",
            "user-experience" : "User experience"
            },"branch" : "bc-archive-content-3",
      "filename" :"2015-02-13-institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization.md",
      
      "filepath" :"news/2015/02/2015-02-13-institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization.md",
      "filepathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/blob/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/02/2015-02-13-institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization.md",
      "editpathURL" :"https://github.com/GSA/digitalgov.gov/edit/bc-archive-content-3/content/news/2015/02/2015-02-13-institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization.md","slug" : "institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization","url" : "/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/02/13/institutionalizing-user-experience-building-usability-into-your-organization/","content" :"\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/02/600-x-420-Usability-Mathias-Rosenthal-iStock-Thinkstock-523316205.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Usability sign\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo, you have some systems or tools your customers or employees access. Maybe you want to put together a robust capability to conduct usability testing. How do you start formalizing user experience (UX) into your organization? \u003cstrong\u003eBrad Ludlow\u003c/strong\u003e at GSA tossed this topic out on the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/user-experience/\"\u003eUser Experience community listserv\u003c/a\u003e, and I’ve encapsulated the superb discussion that followed below. Here, then, are four easy steps to building User Experience into your office:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"step-1-get-buy-in-hahahugoshortcode2343s2hbhb\"\u003eStep 1: Get buy-in \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/02/250-x-167-Learn-and-share-conceptual-words-on-blackboard-AnsonLu-iStock-Thinkstock-525385549.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Learn and share conceptual words on blackboard\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, get a UX champion in your organization. Lay the groundwork with managers, content authors, developers, or anyone else who has a stake in improving user experience. Read \u003ca href=\"http://uxmastery.com/resources/books/\"\u003ebooks\u003c/a\u003e and \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/topics/user-experience/\"\u003earticles\u003c/a\u003e, attend \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/events/\"\u003eevents and webinars\u003c/a\u003e, and share your insight with your colleagues. Use what you have learned to show how it benefits your organization. Keep building until you are the office usability expert.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs one UX-pert advised, “Don’t let the naysayers discourage you. You’re likely to run into obstacles from internal stakeholders and even established designers.” Talk it up so word gets to the right people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDon’t forget you have the \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/communities/user-experience/\"\u003eFederal UX Community of Practice\u003c/a\u003e to help find answers to your questions!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"step-2-have-a-strategy\"\u003eStep 2: Have a strategy\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/02/250-x-167-Mobile-Paper-Prototype-tablet-screenshot-May-20th-2014-8am.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Mobile paper prototype tablet screenshot\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\nWhich projects do you think can provide some quick wins to build enthusiasm? Start small, like testing an existing system. Make use of the free \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/resources/digitalgov-user-experience-resources/\"\u003eusability testing resources\u003c/a\u003e at GSA. Then add \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2014/08/08/design-sketching-the-easiest-prototype-method-ever/\"\u003eprototyping\u003c/a\u003e in your next research project. Maybe a \u003ca href=\"http://www.usability.gov/how-to-and-tools/methods/card-sorting.html\"\u003ecard sort\u003c/a\u003e? How about developing \u003ca href=\"/preview/gsa/digitalgov.gov/bc-archive-content-3/2015/01/09/personas-101/\"\u003epersonas\u003c/a\u003e? If you’re doing a full-blown test, why not invite observers?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may need to prove how usability is worth it. Look at the Web analytics and show how your changes made a noticeable improvement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you get measurable results, do you have ways to market your successes? Develop your own success stories. You build communications around information campaigns, so don’t sell yourself or usability short in your organization.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have gotten buy-in in Step 1 above, consider your overall goals. Do you plan to create an end-to-end user design process, or do you want to start with usability testing, gain steam, and then expand from there?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"step-3-find-resources-hahahugoshortcode2343s10hbhb\"\u003eStep 3: Find resources \u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/02/250-x-167-Choosing-the-right-person-from-a-group-yuuurin-iStock-Thinkstock-450576387.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Choosing the right person from a group\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou have a UX champion and people are slowly learning that usability has some benefits. Your UX workload and portfolio are starting to expand. Now is the time to bring in the troops. Who is doing the work? Is there anyone full-time or part-time devoted this effort? Do you need or have contractor support?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the right environment, people will gravitate towards UX activities because they are fun and produce results (see Step 1). It can be a powerful magnet for help. At this point, you might look for additional resources if your champion can support it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"step-4-keep-current-with-training\"\u003eStep 4: Keep current with training\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"image\"\u003e\n  \u003cimg\n    src=\"https://s3.amazonaws.com/digitalgov/_legacy-img/2015/02/250-x-188-Usability-training-IMG_7259.jpg\"\n    alt=\"Usability training session\"/\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\nIs there a training budget? Can you devote chunks of time or do it piecemeal? Try something new and learn by doing. You can take classes through \u003ca href=\"https://digital.gov/digitalgov-university/\"\u003eDigitalGov University\u003c/a\u003e and read some books. Shadow someone on a UX team outside your organization.\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBeth A. Martin\u003c/strong\u003e is a Usability Lead at the Federal Aviation Administration.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n"}
  ]
}