UX Strategy on the Job: An Interview with Three UX Strategists

UX Strategy Deliverables

Paul: What kinds of deliverables do you produce?

Nicole: Deliverables are much less predictable than for a UX design project, where you know you’ll eventually need things like wireframes or some representation of how the screens in a user experience stitch together. Some situations might require testing a prototype to validate a hypothesis; while, for others, a set of design criteria that result from research is exactly what the team needs.

In all cases, we start by documenting a UX Strategy Approach that synthesizes many inputs—analytics, key financials, market knowledge, qualitative findings, and so on—to frame the business challenge. The UX Strategy Approach also includes a current-state audit of how we are participating in a space today, a competitive landscape from an experience perspective, and a hypothesis and strategy for change based on what we’ve learned—to accomplish X, the experience needs to X. Experience roadmaps also help the business to understand how to sequence and roll out large pieces of work into their workstreams, based on an understanding of technology capability.

Rick: Some deliverables are more formative and guiding in nature, such as a creative brief or intent brief, guiding principles, and concept maps. I’ve worked with different teams around design and execution, creating deliverables such as wireframes, component libraries, style guides, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, testing and research protocols, and so on. Other deliverables are more strategic in nature, so I’m unable to go into details.

Stephanie: As a strategist who also focuses on practice maturity, I create internal process maps, RACI charts, policies to support effective team function, and so on. To support the project approach, I provide strategic direction and estimations around experience impact, level of effort, resources, and timelines. To further build out the strategy practice, I’m developing an estimation framework along with strategy documentation templates.

Collaboration with Other Roles

Paul: With what other roles in your company do you collaborate on a regular basis?

Nicole: I spend the majority of my time working with our research team—both market researchers and design researchers—analytics teams, and business owners. If a project calls for concept development or prototyping, I work closely with design teams as well, including UX designers, visual designers, writers, and developers.

Rick: As my role here has evolved and our focus has become more multichannel, I’ve been able to reach further and wider throughout the organization to collaborate with more groups. At first, ecommerce business stakeholders, corporate research, analytics, and IT and creative teams were my inner circle. But as my role has shifted more to supporting and driving enterprise-level initiatives focusing on customer experience, that inner circle has expanded to a much larger universe.

Stephanie: I collaborate closely with all levels of leadership in several key areas of the organization, including ecommerce, creative, customer service, and information systems.

The Future of UX Strategy

Paul: How do you see UX strategy evolving in your company over the next three years?

Nicole: I would imagine a significant increase in how much this role works in partnership across channels, instead of only within the BestBuy.com channel. The UX Strategist is uniquely positioned to be the experience liaison across channels—call center, mobile, and store.

In addition, I hope to see Best Buy increasingly use the UX strategy process to help shape business planning. We saw the start of that this year—the first year of the UX strategy practice—and the value is there. I knew we had made gains when, after my first project, the business owner said, “After this work, I feel much more prepared in my portfolio planning for next year.” That was a big win. And that’s where UX strategy really sits—helping to shape business plans more effectively by synthesizing our understanding of customers, the business, and technology.

Rick: I think there is still some confusion around just what user experience means—and this is more of an industry thing rather than a Lowe’s thing. There is still somewhat of a perception that user experience is all about user interface and usability for digital products. As the understanding of true customer needs evolves as an important part of strategy for companies that play in multiple channels, the definition of user experience is naturally expanding to include the experience beyond the digital touchpoints.

Retail UX Strategy

Paul: What do you see on the digital horizon that will impact retail UX Strategists in a big way?

Nicole: Retailers, like Best Buy, who grew up building the bricks business and have legacy systems to show for it, very quickly need to develop a single view of their customers, products, and services. Delivering seamless, personalized, relevant, omnichannel experiences is possible only when companies have systems and data in place that work effectively across channels. Organizations that understand, prioritize, and are able to execute against that goal will be well positioned to tap into the exciting potential ahead.

Plus, as our physical and digital worlds increasingly enhance each other, companies will expect UX professionals to play more and more in non-digital spaces and to understand and employ some of the foundational work that our friends in industrial design have done before us.

Rick: Going back to the idea of digital and physical worlds colliding or fusing, I think strategists will be challenged to innovate solutions and experiences that leverage this coming together of multiple touchpoints over time and space into something that truly transcends what is possible today. It’s actually paying attention to the Shopping 3.0 model that is emerging in bricks and mortar; in combination with the notion of anywhere, anytime; as well as social media and mobile driving the larger online ecosystem.

Stephanie: On the digital horizon, I believe the opportunity for digital-physical convergence will impact retail strategists in a big way. In addition, the level of sophistication around big data will pose interesting challenges to retail strategists, as we seek to craft personal experiences in a meaningful way, without violating our customers’ personal boundaries.

Personal Perspectives on UX Strategy

Paul: Is there anything else you’d like to share about your work, your current role, or UX strategy in general?

Nicole: As someone who is very interested in bridging the digital and physical experiences that we are designing for customers, I feel very fortunate to have been able to shift my role into a Customer Experience Design group that is channel agnostic. In talking to UX Strategists and other UX professionals in the industry who have grown up within the digital arm of their organization, where channel-agnostic design groups do not exist, I’ve realized that UX Strategists’ ability to influence holistic change across a multitude of touchpoints is significantly impacted. I hope to see more organizations embracing the need for channel-agnostic design groups and using design strategies to help shape their business.

Rick: Regardless of my role or organization, I try to be a customer-first strategist as best I can. Sometimes this is easy, as in the case of Lowe’s, where I am always focused on the customer first, so it’s not a huge leap for me to see things from a customer’s perspective.

Stephanie: Working in house offers unique and interesting challenges to a UX Strategist who is also focused on building out experience design maturity within an organization. Both the perspective and the strategic skills that one has developed within a consulting environment translate well to an in-house position. Those UX Strategists who are currently in consulting and considering a move back in house may find that both the challenges and their potential impact are well worth making the shift. 

Note—There is already a placeholder Web site for the forthcoming UX Strategy Conference, where you’ll find more detailed information about the conference as its date approaches.