My UX process.
How I try to approach all UX project requests—be they wide or narrow; greenfield, updates, or sustainment.
My General UX Process
- Research and validate the request
- Analyze the current state of things
- Iterate on design: collaboration, reviews, and testing
- Launch, and evaluate post-launch
Research and validate the request
- What concern are we trying address?
- Whose concern is it? Who's the intended audience?
- Is the concern valid? How does it affect other audiences?
- Is the concern prescriptive? If so, what's the real underlying concern?
- What are the priorities for usability? What are the priorities for accessibility?
- Does the solution need to be internationalized and/or localized?
- What are our metrics for judging success? What are our targets, and are they hard or soft?
Analyze the current state of things
- What tools do we have at our disposal to evaluate the current experience and any changes to it?
- What's our baseline to compare any improvements against? What artifacts and history exist?
- What happens in the current experience?
- How do customers/visitors access the relevant parts in the current experience?
- How would changes affect the current experience? How would changes affect the overall customer/visitor engagement across all kinds of touchpoints?
- What historical research and testing results do we have for this or similar efforts?
- How viable is user testing for the current experience and the new experience?
- What heuristic analysis has been done? What can be done?
Iterate on design: collaboration, reviews, and testing
- Collaborate with stakeholders, customers, and team members, preferrably in working sessions when possible.
- Leverage SMEs to the best extent, especially when interaction with customers is limited.
- Review progress and designs with stakeholders and teammates on a regular basis.
- Validate the experience against requirements.
- When ready and possible, test the design and experience with customers and visitors.
- Modify designs based on appropriate feedback.
- Lather; rinse; repeat.
Launch, and evaluate post-launch
- Participate in the launch once ready to rollout to customers and visitors.
- Assist the team with any issues as they arise.
- Provide in-launch and post-launch evaluation of the experience.
- Monitor post-launch analytics and customer/visitor feedback.
- If additional phases of design and development are needed to achieve a larger goal, queue those up and keep moving forward.