Setting Up UX Process for Growing UX Teams
Recently my team finally has the bandwidth to build a sharable document about our UX Process (thanks to our new designer on board!) and I figured I will share some of my learning in this process.
Keep it direct and simple.
When I got started, I thought it was just a lack of UX knowledge so I started with building up UX literacy. However, it turned out that it was not only a lack of knowledge, but also a lack of established and unified UX process. My initial approach only solves part of the challenge and was a little roundabout.
This also leads to my next takeaway…
What you think doesn’t matter may matter.
When it was just me and another designer, I thought as long as I know what I am doing with UX then we are fine. However, that’s not the case, Product Owners also want to know how UX works and since they are closely involved with product features, they need to know how UX work plays into features.
Additionally, unifying the overarching UX process also helps to scale UX team. A small team may not stay small, and you should prepare for expansion.
Just start somewhere.
If you are in an organization that has only a few designers and everyone is already spread thin. Just start somewhere by at least documenting your personal process. You never know if someday you will get another designer, and all of sudden, she/he would have the bandwidth for design ops work. And that’s the time when your documentations can contribute as a foundation.
Involve Product/Project People.
Deliverables and activities for the new UX process may impact project timeline and product roadmap, so make sure to include Product Owners, Project Managers, and whoever might be impacted. It’s ideal to include usability testing and user observations, but in reality, sometimes there’s just not enough time or resources for that, and your Product Owners or Project Managers know those the best.
Create a toolkit rather than just one tool.
If you’re Agile or Lean, sometimes you will have to move fast in design. There will also be very straightforward bugs and small enhancements that should not take full-on UX Research. So for Agile teams, make sure your UX Process can act as a toolkit for designers to pick and choose whichever applicable rather than one cookie cutter for all.
When you’re done, make sure announce the new process to the entire organization.
The purpose of setting up a unified process is mainly for non-design departments to get alignment with UX. So once you have it sorted out, make sure to share with the entire organization. Additionally, post your final at a place where everyone can access for future reference.
That’s all. Hopefully, these can be helpful if you are also setting up or revamping your team’s UX processes.
