My digital product development strategy

In a world where data, research, and understanding people's desires intersect, learning and articulating is key. I’d like to share my journey in crafting digital experiences that resonate with brands and their audiences. It's not just a process; it's a relentless pursuit of solving difficult problems.

Written by Nick Petticrew, Sep 2023

An organization’s 3 common issues:

1. Lack of UX vision and strategy

2. Misunderstanding of what a UX strategy is and can do

3. Overemphasis on business needs and underemphasis on users in the
   UX vision and strategy 

I have learned that most UX professionals commonly emphasize the mastery of hands-on skills like UI design, prototyping, wireframing, user journey mapping, conducting research, and reporting findings. Although these skills are crucial, for UX to make a more profound impact, professionals must also enhance their strategic abilities. Unlike practical skills, strategic skills demand the synthesis of numerous inputs and diverse information sources to craft high-level plans aimed at enhancing the overall user experience.

Having a UX strategy is not enough; we must also be able to clearly articulate how executing the strategy will make the business more successful.

My UX strategy primary components

Vision or Statement of Intent: To navigate effectively, you must first know where you're heading and why. As part of the overarching strategy, a user-centered vision or mission statement, possibly coupled with guiding principles like key-value propositions, differentiation statements, or positioning statements, communicates your aspirations and ideal outcomes. I like to think of your vision as a concise description of your product or service in its ideal state, highlighting the value it provides.

1. Vision or statement: This vision must be strategically grounded in research, making it both user-centric and viable in the market. Your strategic intent and positioning arise from:

• Solving key problems for many users.

• Supporting broader needs within a narrow market segment.

The vision provides a high-level, user-centered purpose, framing the team's work over time.

2. Goals and measures: Once I have a clear destination and purpose, I need a way to gauge progress. Goals, along with metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs), create a direct link between my UX improvements and business objectives.

It's crucial for UX to comprehend how an organization generates and allocates resources and what it values. Without this understanding, user experience goals and metrics may seem irrelevant and disconnected from business priorities.

• Strategic goals and measures serve to:

  • Explain how a user-centered approach will drive business success.

  • Identify actions with the highest business impact.

  • Guide prioritization, trade-off decisions, and deferrals.

  Goals are usually defined by leadership, while key results can be determined in various ways. Some teams set their own based on past performance, while others inherit them from leadership. Every vision breaks down into multiple goals that directly address end-user needs. Goals are essential for prioritization and meaningful progress tracking.
  
  
  3. A plan is needed: My approach to achieving your goals involves crafting a detailed plan. Each goal breaks down into multiple objectives, which outline the specific actions or steps required to reach that goal over time. Objectives may include solving known UX issues, exploring new opportunities, or conducting additional user research. Completing these objectives is essential as it allows our team to demonstrate incremental progress toward our key results and ultimate vision. Along with objectives, the plan encompasses:

• Focus areas within the user experience.

• Approximate timelines for each objective.

• Prerequisites and dependencies.

• Key stakeholders involved in each step.

• The plan is a crucial tool for prioritizing activities and addressing uncertainties. While it must include the components mentioned, there's flexibility in how it's structured. Some teams prefer using project management tools, while others opt for sharing UX roadmaps.

  It's important to note that our plans describe rather than prescribe. They provide a broad framework for considering what needs to be addressed and when. They don't dictate the precise methods for conducting research or the specific solutions to implement. Those details are determined by the teams responsible for executing the user experience work once the plan is in place.

Dangers of insufficient UX strategy

The risks of lacking a robust UX strategy are significant. A UX strategy is essentially a business strategy. Organizations that fail to conduct user research and truly understand user needs are at a disadvantage in the experience economy. These companies are likely to witness declines in the coming years.

Some teams make strategic experience decisions without planning, while others plan but don't execute effectively. Without a UX strategy, organizations face several risks:

Company, product, and service level:

• Detachment from user needs results in top-down decision-making based solely on business value.

• Misconceptions about UX can lead to failed features and experiences.

• UX is seen as a cleanup crew, not a strategic partner.

• Organizational UX maturity stagnates.

Leadership and stakeholders:

• UX's influence on the organization diminishes.

• The lack of business intelligence hampers UX's ability to translate research findings into value.

• Stakeholders with limited understanding make key decisions without user research.

• Productive discussions become rare.

Prioritization:

• UX chases trends and loses focus on real user and business value.

• Arbitrary prioritization criteria lead to unfocused efforts.

• Targets constantly shift, causing a loss of productivity.

Team level:

• The absence of a UX strategy results in unclear processes and roles.

• Duplicate work and low team morale become common.

• Team members question the significance of being user-centered.

Resources:

• Advocating for additional UX resources becomes challenging.

• Managers struggle to allocate resources effectively.

• Top talent may leave for more strategic opportunities.

In summary, a weak or absent UX strategy can have detrimental effects on every aspect of an organization, from decision-making and prioritization to team morale and resource management.