When I start any UX project, there is typically very little confidence in the successful result of my UX initiatives. Actually there is a great deal reluctance and hesitationEspecially from teams that have been burned by empty promises and poor delivery in the past.
Good UX has a huge impact on the business. But often we need to build confidence in our upcoming UX projects. For me is an effective way of doing it Addresses critical bottlenecks and Uncover hidden deficiencies – Those who affect the people I work with.
Let’s take a closer look at what this can look like.
This article is Part of our ongoing series At Ux. You can find more details about Design patterns and UX strategy In Smart Interface Design patterns 🍣 – With Live UX training coming up soon. Free preview.
Ux does not disturb it resolves trouble
Bottlenecks is usually the most disturbing part of any business. Almost every team, each unit and each department has one. It is often well known by the employees as they complain about it but that rarely finds the way to the top management As they are detached from daily operations.
The bottleneck can be the only senior developer on the team, a broken older tool or a confusing stream that throws errors left and right – there is always a bottleneck and that is usually the reason for Long waiting timesDelayed delivery and cut corners in all the wrong places.
We may not be able to fix the bottleneck. But for a steady stream of work we have to ensure that resources non-restrict does not produce anymore than the restriction can handle. All processes and initiatives must be adapted to support and maximize the effectiveness of the restriction.
So before you do some UX work, look for things that slow down the organization. Show that it is not UX work that upsets the work but it is internal disturbances that UX can help with. And once you have delivered a little bit of value, you may be surprised at how quickly people want to see more of what you have in store for them.
The work is never just “the work”
Meetings, reviews, experimentation, pitching, implementation, support, updates, corrections – unplanned work blocks other work from being completed. Expose Root causes for non -planned work And finding critical bottlenecks that slow down delivery is not only the first step we need to take when we want to improve existing workflows, but it is also a good starting point to show the value of UX.
To learn more about the points that create friction in people’s daily work, Set up 1: 1S with the team And ask them what brakes them. Find a problem affecting everyone. Maybe there is too much work in progress in late delivery and low quality? Or long meetings that steal precious time?
An often overlooked detail is that we cannot control work that is invisible. That’s why it is so important that we Visualize the work first. When we know the bottleneck we can suggest ways to improve it. It may be to introduce 20% available times if, for example, the workload is too high, or to make meetings a little shorter to make room for other work.
The theory of limitations
The idea that the work is never only the “work” is deeply linked to the theory of restrictions discovered by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It showed that anyone Improvements made everywhere next to the bottleneck is an illusion.
Any improvement after the bottleneck is useless Because it always stays hungry and waiting for work from the bottleneck. And any improvements made before the bottleneck results in more work HOPER UP by the bottleneck.
Waiting = Busy ÷ Inactive
To improve power, we sometimes have to freeze the work and bring focus to a single project. Just as important as that throttling Release of work Manager Hand offers. The wait for a given resource is the percentage of time that the resource is busy divided by the percentage of the time it is inactive. If a resource is used 50%, the waiting time is 50/50 or 1 unit.
If the resource is used 90%, the waiting time is 90/10 or 9 times longer. And if it is 99% of the time spent, it is 99/1, then 99 times longer than if this resource is used 50%. The critical part is to Make waiting times visible So you know when your work spends days sitting in someone’s queue.
The exact times do not matter, but if a resource is occupied 99% of the time, the wait explodes.
Avoid 100% occupation
Our goal is to maximize power: It means to take advantage of the restriction but Creating available times for non-limitation To optimize the system’s performance.
A surprising finding for me was that any attempt to maximize the utilization of all resources – 100% occupation across all departments – can actually be CONTRAPRODUCTIVE. As Goldratt noted, “One hour lost at a bottleneck is an hour out of the whole system. An hour stored by a non-bundle-−eck is worthless.”
Recommended Reading: “The Phoenix project”
I can only recommend wholeheartedly The Phoenix projectan absolutely incredible book that goes into everyone Fine details of the theory of restrictions described above.
It’s not a design book, but a great book for designers who want to be more strategic about their work. It is a lovely and very real reading about Matches with shipping (albeit on a more technical side).
Wrapping
People do not like sudden changes and uncertainty, and UX work often interferes with their usual ways of working. It is not surprising that most people tend to block it by default. So before we introduce big changes, we need to get their support for our UX initiatives.
We have to build self -confidence and Show them the value that the UX work can have – for their The daily work. To achieve that, we can work with them. Listens To the pain points they encounter in their workflows to the things that slows them down.
Once we have revealed internal disturbancesWe can tackle these critical bottlenecks and suggest steps to make existing workflows more efficient. That is the basis for getting their confidence And to show them that UX work does not interfere, but that it is here to solve problems.
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