Main conference presentation

A management fable: The little UX that went a long way

Dan Willis

Saturday April 12 2008, 1:45 - 2:30PM

UX management often feels like a mystic art. It can entail moving people and processes within an organization without the enchantment of an official mandate. In fact, UX managers usually need to work their magic from inside other managers’ kingdoms. Business owners control a project’s strategic development; engineers own construction; and Marketing teams frequently manage implementation.

This presentation will deconstruct an illustrated fable about an intrepid little creature who introduces user goals to a development process that would have otherwise been dominated by royal business owners and technological black magic. The deconstruction will surface issues around user types, user-based requirements gathering, scope creep and implementation anxiety.

The presentation will provide current and potential supervisors with specific tactics for successfully managing UX resources within an organization and provide the forum for seasoned veterans to talk about their own exploits rescuing user experiences from the clutches of evil forces.