Brown Bagging, Storytelling, and Persona Building: Three Effective Strategies for Creating Participation (Includes Buy-In) for a User-Centered Design (UCD) Process And Communicating Success!  

This paper identifies challenges for obtaining managerial buy-in for a user-centered design process using performance tasks. Initially, it presents lessons learned from a case study. Next, it provides strategies (leadership, persuasion, organizational conflict, active listening, and teamwork) for obtaining buy-in from work team and their constituencies. Last, it concludes with recommendations for obtaining buy-in from managers.

Carey, Jennifer and Gloria A. Reece. STC Proceedings (2003). Articles>Project Management>User Centered Design

The Design and Development of a Project-Oriented Information System    

In this paper, the idea of building a project-oriented information system based upon a specialized information database was discussed. It attempts to provide tools for helping researchers use Internet resources effectively in the course of their research. Based on this idea, a web-based project-oriented information system was constructed. The paper systematically expounds the design and development process of the project-oriented information system. Furthermore, examples of utilizing the project-oriented information system to obtain useful information and suggestions for specific projects were described. According to our discussion and utilization of the system, we believe that building a project-oriented information system can help researchers with their research projects.

Zhao, Yuehong, Chao Liu, Hao Wen, Hezhen Zhang and Zhihong Xu. Data Science Journal (2003). Articles>Project Management>User Centered Design

Issues in Sizing UCD Projects

Sizing UCD projects presents special challenges to usability practitioners and consultants. Each project and UCD methodology comes with its own set of variables that makes it difficult to accurately estimate resource requirements and completion times.

Usability Body of Knowledge (2007). Articles>Usability>User Centered Design>Project Management

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Acting without planning can be expensive, and because of the potential cost of poorly thought-out actions, we should not only plan, but plan twice.

Hart, Geoffrey J.S. Geoff-Hart.com (2000). Articles>Project Management>Planning>User Centered Design

Setting Up Business Stakeholder Interviews Part 2

In part one, Michael shared how to navigate company politics to set up great stakeholder interviews. Here he covers his five tips for navigating company politics, avoiding client bias, and eliciting the information you need to inform your design.

Beavers, Michael. Boxes and Arrows (2007). Articles>Interviewing>Project Management>User Centered Design

Strategies for Sizing UCD Projects

When discussing strategies for sizing UCD projects with consultants, it quickly becomes evident that there seem to be as many strategies as there are consultants. This document will define and describe commonly used strategies, identify each strategy’s scope (i.e., whether it applies to design, research, or evaluation), suggest situations in which each strategy would be best suited, and identify pros, cons, and caveats to its use.

Usability Body of Knowledge. Articles>User Centered Design>Project Management

When ROI Isn't Enough: Making Persuasive Cases for User-Centered Design

Making the case for user-centered design (UCD) is a topic of recurring discussion for UX professionals. Much of the discussion has centered on strictly objective approaches such as cost-benefit or return-on-investment (ROI) analysis. However, recent commentary suggests proving ROI is not always enough.

Jones, Colleen. UXmatters (2007). Articles>User Centered Design>Project Management>Workplace

Adopting User-Centered Design Within An Agile Process: A Conversation  

eXtreme Programming and other agile processes provide a middle ground between chaos and over-elaborate processes sometimes referred to as 'death by documentation'. A particular attrtactive aspect of the agile approach for many teams is its willingness to accomodate change no matter how advanced development might be. However, this very flexibility can cause user interface design issues and ensuing usability problems. Adopting a user-centered approach to user interface design can address these issues, as the following simulated conversation between a user-centered design consultant and an XP team leader will explain.

Hudson, William. UIaccess (2002). Articles>User Centered Design>Agile>Project Management

Five Ways to Reduce Costs With User Centred Design

User centred design can be a useful and speedy way of increasing efficiency and hence reducing costs. More often that not, design is seen as a way of increasing sales, attracting eyeballs or retaining customers. However at Frontend we've noticed that some of our most successful projects concentrate on cost-reduction and business efficiency. Here's a few ways we've used user centred design to help our clients save money.

Frontend Infocentre (2009). Articles>User Centered Design>Project Management

Going Viral

Our plan was to market Project Dragonfly virally. Going out now meant that we were a little early and many details were still on the to-do list. As a user centered design practitioner working with an Agile Development process, I was comfortable working in an iterative manner to engage users quickly so that we think through details and bring solutions forward. Yet something about this situation seemed different to me. We wanted the world to broadcast about the benefits of Project Dragonfly while our marketing efforts simply facilitated the conversation.

Arnold, Steve. Designing the User Experience at Autodesk (2009). Articles>User Centered Design>Project Management>Marketing