This document discusses how to maintain a core user experience process when project scope and budgets change. It recommends structuring deliverable selection using a task table to allocate time based on factors like lifespan, screens, complexity, user inputs, novelty, timeline, budget, and other stakeholders. Shortcuts can be taken when leveraging existing information, but entire steps should not be skipped as that could lead to regret. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of keeping user experience at the core of the process even when dealing with variable project sizes and scopes.

1. Resize
your UX
UX
UX
How to deal with big
jumps in project
scope & budget,
while maintaining a
core process that
keeps UX central.

2. RESIZE YOUR UX
High Level IA for this Talk
1. Get to know you
2. The problem
3. My solution
4. Shortcuts
5. Dontcuts
6. The One Slide you MUST see!
7. Q&A
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3. RESIZE YOUR UX
Get to know
you
I <3 U + UX
@UXmarti #MWUX12 3

4. RESIZE YOUR UX
About Me
First digital memory:
playing monkey math game on Atari
First email address:
smurfette_of_oz@yahoo.com
First job in digital:
department website at my undergrad
work study job
Official training:
MIS in HCI from University of Michigan
Name dropping:
Levis National Institute of Health NuStep
Whirlpool Giant Eagle Inland Jergens
Biore John Frieda
Current Affiliation:
Enlighten, a born digital agency
Marti Gukeisen
Information Architect Interaction Designer
Brand Loyalty: Senior User Experience Designer
Mac at home, PC at work, ipad, android
phone, commute on a Cannondale
@UXmarti #MWUX12 4

5. RESIZE YOUR UX
About You
What do you do? Where do you do it?
 student  In-house
I don’t do real work yet
for a single brand/entity
 IxD / UX / IA
call it what you want, you UX  Agency
lots of different clients
 I am a UX+ _______
visual design, coding, etc.  Solo
consulting, contracting
 consultant
i.e. criticize other people’s work
 Outlier
chair tester, rocket scientist, etc.
@UXmarti #MWUX12 5

6. RESIZE YOUR UX
The problem
So what’s the rub?
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7. RESIZE YOUR UX
Budgets vary, but your task
seldom does:
create an outstanding
user experience
@UXmarti #MWUX12 7

8. RESIZE YOUR UX
Or rather…
create an outstanding,
intuitive, innovative, user
experience that dwarfs
competitors and can be live
in a month for next to nothing
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9. RESIZE YOUR UX
UX Artifacts & Deliverables
(a partial list)
 Analytics Assessment  Heuristic Evaluation  Scenarios
 Card Sorting  Identify Business  Search Term Analysis
 CMS content model Objectives  Site Diagram / High level
 Competitive Review  Identify Stakeholders IA
 Consumer Trends  Identify User Objectives  Story Cards /
 Interview reports Storyboarding
 Content Inventory
 Interview scripts  Task Diagrams
 Content map
 Messaging framework  Use cases
 Cross-property Activity
Analysis  Needs Analysis  User Flows
 Ethnographic Research  Online Surveys  User Segmentation
 Feature Cards  Paper Prototyping  User Task Analysis
 Feature Set  Personas  User testing analysis and
reports
 Focus group plans  Prototypes
 User testing scripts
 Functional requirements  Reports
 Wireframes / Page level IA
 Functional specifications  Review Research
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10. RESIZE YOUR UX
Without a plan, this list can
become… Knock,
Knock.
Who’s
there?
 High Level IA
UX.
Wireframes UX
who?
 Functional Specifications
Yeah,
that’s
what I
thought.
@UXmarti #MWUX12 10

11. RESIZE YOUR UX
My Solution
Because sometimes it’s not
cheating when you share
answers.
Uh, no. This is not a
prove-that-math-matters
kind of moment.
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12. RESIZE YOUR UX
My Hypothesis
structuring your deliverable
selection can help you
manage variability in project
size & scope
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13. RESIZE YOUR UX
Aspects of UX
 Determine Goals
Business objectives, user motivation, other stakeholder goals.
 Understand the Environment
Brand context, competitive space, user expectations & habits.
 Plan the Interaction
What states & steps are needed?
 Validate & Assess
Ask, test, iterate.
 Document the Plan
Facilitates shared understanding for everyone involved.
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14. RESIZE YOUR UX
Determine Understand the Plan the Validate / Document the
Goals Environment Interaction Assess Plan
Identify
Content Inventory Scenarios Heuristic Evaluation Site Diagram
Stakeholders
User Segmentation Competitive Review User Flows Online Surveys Wireframes
Analytics
Needs Analysis Task Diagrams User testing scripts Story Boards
Assessment
User testing analysis
Consumer Trends Review Research Use cases Content map
and reports
Cross-channel Functional
Personas Feature Set Interview scripts
Analysis requirements
Functional
Search Term Analysis User Task Analysis Feature Cards Interview reports
specifications
Identify User Ethnographic
Card Sorting Prototypes CMS content model
Objectives Research
Identify Business
Paper Prototyping
Objectives
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15. RESIZE YOUR UX
Allocating your time &
picking your deliverables
 Whichdeliverables will best meet the needs of
you and your team?
 How much attention does each aspect of the
project deserve?
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16. RESIZE YOUR UX
Consider this…
 Lifespan  Novelty
Project will be up for days? Months? (More=More understanding the
Years? (More = More everything) environment, validating, assessing)
 Screens  Timeline
or pages/states (More=More time (Less=Less something)
planning, documenting)
 Budget
 Complexity (Less=Less something)
Linear? Decision Tree? Star chart?
(More=More documentation)
 Who Else is Involved
(More=More documentation)
 User Inputs
(More=More interaction planning)
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17. RESIZE YOUR UX
Task Table
Determine Understand the Plan the Validate / Document
Goals Environment Interaction Assess the Plan
Time
Tasks
Needs
more
cowbell.
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18. RESIZE YOUR UX
Task Table Example
Determine Understand the Plan the Validate / Document
Goals Environment Interaction Assess the Plan
Time 2 days 2 days 2 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks
Business kickoff Review existing Scenarios Prototype testing Functional
meeting (1/2 day) client survey data (2 days) (3 days) specifications
(1/2 day) (2 weeks)
User Interviews Feature Set Interpret results
(1 day) Review Analytics (1 day) (2 days)
(1/2 day)
Flow diagram
Informal (2 day)
Tasks competitive
review (1 day) Wireframing
(1 week)
Updates
(1 week)
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19. RESIZE YOUR UX
Shortcuts
Because there’s never
enough time.
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20. RESIZE YOUR UX
When is it okay to cut corners?
…when you (or somebody, or everybody) already
knows the answer.
 Use existing information, industry reports, repurpose
personas for the same user segment.
 Don’t re-invent the wheel (or the comment box, or
date picker, or search results…)
 Borrow from existing paradigms whenever it’s
appropriate.
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21. RESIZE YOUR UX
Assessment & Validation:
User Testing on a Shoestring
 Focus on the 20% that’s different, not the 80%
that’s the same
the wheel works, trust me. I ride a bike.
 Quick and (relatively) cheap online testing
such as UserTesting.com
 Guerilla UX
invade and conquer in your local coffee shop
 Ask your mom
or at least someone who isn’t on the project
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22. RESIZE YOUR UX
Dontcuts
Because there’s always
time for regret.
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23. RESIZE YOUR UX
When it’s not okay to cut corners
…when it means you are skipping a step
completely.
Understand
Determine Plan the Validate / Document
the
Goals Interaction Assess the Plan
Environment
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24. RESIZE YOUR UX
The One Slide
You MUST see
Well not this slide, the next
slide. And the next one.
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25. RESIZE YOUR UX
Summary
Objective: Meet the challenge of scope that changes
with every project, and keep UX core to your process
Method: Use a task table to plan how you allocate
your time and choose the correct deliverables
Consider: lifespan, screens, complexity, user inputs,
novelty, timeline, budget, who else is involved
Do: take shortcuts when it means you aren't
duplicating others' work
Don't: skip steps; you'll end up regretting it
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26. RESIZE YOUR UX
Marti Gukeisen
@UXmarti
martivg@umich.edu
Q www.enlighten.com/blog
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