UX Cross-TrainingDerek PoppinkCengage LearningIgnite UX MichiganOctober 24, 2013

The Opportunity Product Management group reorganized

into functional responsibilities 3 Product Managers offered positions as

UX Specialists Decades of domain and organizational

knowledge and user orientation, but no formal training

The Proposal 12 Week Training Program

Sep – Nov, 2013 8 Hours Per Week

Knowledge Training – Reading, Videos Skills Training – Exercises, Projects

3 Broad Topics UX Fundamentals (3 weeks) UX Lifecycle (5 weeks) UX at Cengage Learning (4 weeks)

The Readings Book Club

Design of Everyday Things User Experience Bookshelf

~120 books Core topics: UX Research & Design Specialties: Accessibility, Mobile,

Globalization General Interest: Gladwell, Pink, Shirky

Safari Books Online

The Videos Human Computer Interaction

Online (Coursera) https://www.coursera.org/course/hci

User Interface Engineering Seminars Virtual Seminar Program

http://www.uie.com/events/virtual_seminars/

All You Can Learn https://aycl.uie.com/

Module 1: Needfinding Skill: Active Listening Method: Contextual Inquiry Reading: Observing the User Experience

by Mike Kuniavsky Video: Coursera 2.1 & 2.2

Participant Observation Interviewing

Module 2: Principles Skill: Understanding Research Method: Heuristic Evaluation Reading: Designing with the Mind in

Mind by Jeff Johnson Video: Coursera 5.1 – 5.3

Heuristic Evaluation – How and Why?

Design Heuristics

Module 3: Leadership Skill: Facilitating Method: Affinity Mapping Reading: Rapid Contextual Design by

Karen Holtzblatt Video: Kevin Hoffman (UI 16)

Meeting Design for the Meeting Process

Module 4: Stakeholders Skill: Gamestorming Method: Stakeholder Interviews Reading: Gamestorming by Dave Gray Video: Gamestorming by

Dave Gray (UI 15) Gamestorming

Module 5: Planning Skill: Selecting Methods Method: Research Plan Reading: It’s Our Research by Tomer

Sharon Video: Designing with Agile

by Anders Ramsay (UIE)

Module 6: Users Skill: User Advocacy Method: Personas and Scenarios Reading: Essential Persona Lifecycle by

Tamara Adlin Video: The Secrets to

Developing Successful Personas by Tamara Adlin (UI 15)

Module 7: Prototyping Skill: Sketching Method: Paper Prototyping Reading: Paper Prototyping by Carolyn

Snyder Video: Coursera 1.2, 3.1, & 3.4

The Power of Prototyping Paper Prototypes and Mockups Faking It: Creating and

Comparing Alternatives

Module 8: Reporting Skill: Presenting Method: Research Report Reading: Selling Usability by John

Rhodes Video: The Business Case For

(and Against) UX by Brandon Schauer (UI 16)

Module 9: Agile Skill: Iterating Method: Story Mapping Reading: The Wisdom of Experience by

Alan Cooper (slide deck) Video: Tying Agile and UX Together by

Jeff Patton (UIE)

Module 10: User Studies Skill: Designing Tasks/Questions Method: User Studies Reading: Rocket Surgery Made Easy Video: Coursera 9.1, 9.2, & 10.1

Designing Studies You Can Learn From

Assign Participants to Conditions In Person Experiments

Module 11: Remote Skill: Recruiting Method: Software Services Reading: Remote Research by Nate Bolt Video: Coursera 10.2

Running web experiments

Module 12: Content Skill: Content Strategy Method: Interaction Map Reading: Letting Go of the Words by

Ginny Redish Video: Content Strategy by

Kristina Halvorson (UIE)

The Results 2 Trained UX Specialists UX Team & Methods Highlighted at

National Product Training Event Requests to Provide Similar Training

Across Company

The Retrospective Practice Trumps Pedagogy Reading Takes Time Senior Leadership

Approval Matters