What the f**k is an experience architect?

¨© Justin Tauber, Head of Platforms, Profero Sydney 2013What the f**k is an Experience Architect?

What the f**k is an Experience Architect?


A story in 137 slides and 2 diagrams


But the answer’s obvious, right?


Experience = Customer experience !

Architect = The guy who does the blueprint


Therefore... an experience architect creates a blueprint

of the ideal customer experience for the rest of the team to build


There’s some truth to this


Personas capture and summarize customer needs and expectations


Wireframes are like an architect's blueprints - all "boxes and arrows"


Functional specifications often read like a development contract


But it misunderstands our role


It underestimates the need to understand the business...


... and the technology


It undervalues the creative input of designers and developers


I’ll attempt a better description


< refrain >


Experience Architects are problem designers


Who build a shared understanding of value


By doing research, analysis and construction


< /refrain >


Say wha...?


< refrain >


< /refrain >


Let’s break that down


What do I mean: “problem design”?


Anytime a brief is written, a problem is being articulated


There are better and worse ways of articulating a problem


“What are we trying to do here?”


“Are you building the right thing?”


The target audience just won’t care


Designing a problem isn't always hard


Experience architects aren't the only ones who can do this


But experience architects are good at designing complex problems


A well-designed problem has clear criteria for evaluating solutions


Two kinds of criteria...


Objectives & Constraints


Your objective is your focus; it is the point of the exercise


The objective is where the value is


Poorly designed problems tend to focus on the effort, or the features


They focus on output, rather than outcomes


“We need a better sign up form” vs

“We need more people to sign up”


Badly-designed problems presuppose solutions


Experience architects try to focus on customer-centred outcomes


Allowing people to... Encouraging people to...


This is why I go on about User Stories


As a... I want to... So that...


As a... someone I want to... do something

So that... something good happens


If you can’t say what the something good is, the story is fictional


Articulating outcomes as user stories helps build a shared understanding of

where the value is for users


What about constraints?


Constraints are the conditions under which a solution holds it value


...for the business !

(“is it sustainable?”)


...for the team !

(“is it achievable?”)


Constraints are the difference between design and art


Experience architects help articulate constraints


Experience architects help turn problems into design problems


By articulating constraints, we build a shared understanding of value for a project team and their stakeholders


<rant>


Usability is not an objective


...because it is not a reason for doing anything


Usability is a constraint


Usability = the conditions under which someone

can extract some value from your site


You can’t make a site “usable in general”


A site is usable for someone

who is trying to do something


</rant>


< refrain >


< /refrain >


3 bags of tricks (in no particular order)


Bag #1: Research


Research = asking pointed questions


... of the business


... of consumers


... of the team


(At Profero...)

The point of research is not to gather information


The point of research is 1) to uncover hidden constraints


The point of research is 2) to test assumptions about value


Because every brief and every design contains a theory


...about what users want


...how they behave


...what the business can offer


...and what’s technically feasible


Bag #2: Analysis


Analysis = interpreting patterns (in the performance team)


Analysis = digging up metaphors (in the UX team)


Metaphors are pictures we use as a shorthand for reality


They always conceal forgotten assumptions


Metaphors get buried ...inside requirements


...inside designs


...even inside databases


Experience architects dig up buried metaphors to ensure

they are actually fit for the job


and build better metaphors as required


Because a bad metaphor is like a bad smell


It’s very hard to track down, and makes everything seem just

a little bit... off


But a good metaphor can make the next step obvious


...and helps everyone make better compromises


Bag #3: Construction


I don’t mean building things


I’m thinking about geometry


Constructions are visual thought-experiments


Constructions are a way of stress-testing problems


... to reveal a way of simplifying them


...to break them down into smaller, more digestible parts


... or, at worst, to get a handle on the kind and level of complexity

we’re dealing with


Most of the time, wireframes are constructions in this sense


That’s why wireframes are not like blueprints


What’s important is the act of wireframing, or explaining the

wireframes.


Because that’s how we clarify and articulate the problem


Ok, last bit...


< refrain >


< /refrain >


So... What’s the point of all those

deliverables?


Research Plans Recommendations

Roadmaps Personas

User Stories Site Structures

Navigation Patterns Wireframes Prototypes

Functional Specifications Usability Tests


Sometimes these deliverables do end up defining the solution


Because, often, expressing a problem is finding the solution


But that’s not their purpose


We make them to share our understanding of the problem and

the value trapped within it


The more these deliverables dominate the design process, the less creative that process can be


and the less room there is for other creative members of the

team (incl. the client)


Ideally, these deliverables are more like scaffolding...


... supports for creative engineering.


But no less important...


... because, without a shared understanding of the problem


... you can’t even begin to find a solution worth having.


</thanks>

What the f**k is an experience architect?

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