Workflow Map

TomElliottdesign

Abandoning the Org Chart to better visualize process.

The Limits of Org ChartsWhen communicating process to teams, UX Leadership often employ org charts showing rank and role,but offering little understanding of process and by extension culture.

UX Leadership

UX Manager UX ManagerFED Manager

UXA’s UXD’sFED’s

1. Org charts don’t show workflow

2. Org charts don’t show communication

Is there a better way to visualize a team?

3. Org charts don’t show deliverables

4. Org charts assume oversight

Components of ProcessGood process makes productive teamwork possible. Whatever the team, process consists of...

1. Roles - Who does what

2. Workflow - How people spend their day

3. Communication - How people talk to each other

4. Oversight - How others are supervised

5. Deliverables - When are things do and to whom

1. RolesThere are many roles, some defined by rank, others by discipline, but all well defined roles consists of:

example: plumberLet’s define the role of a plumber.

Role = responsibility + authority + expertise

responsibility - What the plumber is supposed to do. Fix the sink.

authority - The right of the plumber to fix the sink as he wishes.

expertise - Is the plumber qualified to fix the sink?

1. Roles - Common ProblemsMany process problems result from unclear roles, typically slowing decisions. Common examples include:

rookie - A role with responsibility, who lacks experience with the subject.

principal - A role with experience , but lacking authority and/or responsibility.

micromanager - A supervisor role who delegates responsibility, but not authority.

stakeholder - A role with authority, that lacks responsibility for the outcome.

lackey - A role with responsibility, but no authority.

Role = responsibility + authority + expertise

2. WorkflowEvery role has a workflow that executes its responsibility over time. If what happens every day defines an organization’s culture, then workflow largely determines culture.

UXM’s

UX Leadership Run dept. & UX vision

Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

time

2. Workflow - Common ProblemsRelated workflows should be logically adjacent with clear distinctions of responsibility. When they are not, two things can result.

Implementation

UX Management Art Direction

Innovation Strategy

Tactics

irrelevancy - The loss of a responsibility.

Here the strategy team (denied knowledge and access to tactical reality) produces unusable theory. Tactics take over.

3. CommunicationCommunication simply means different rolls talking to each other and how often. Communicationexchanges information and grants broader insight about a department to individuals.

UXM’s

UX Leadership Run dept. & UX vision

Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

3. Communication - Common problemsCommunication problems result from either too much or too little communication between workflows.

UXM’s Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

WasteAll meetings, nothing gets done. Responsibilities threatened.

SiloingNeither role knows what the other is doing. Authority unclear.

4. OversightOversight grants control of one role over another, verifying their efforts. Unlike communication which isbidirectional and informal, oversight flows in one direction and is more structured.

UXM’s

UX Leadership Run dept. & UX vision

Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

4. Oversight - Common ProblemsOverly controlled processes become bureaucratic. Under-control leads to chaos. Both are a battle fora role’s authority.

UXM’s Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

BureaucracyDesign role frustrated and slowed by constant supervision.

ChaosDesign & Oversight roles cannot predict what DEV will do.

5. DeliverablesDeliverables make different roles beholden to another. Thus, they also serve as touchpoints between roles typically presented up or down. Ironically, an overly tactical culture can result from either too few or toomany deliverables.

UXM’s

UX Leadership Run dept. & UX vision

Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

5. Deliverables - Common ProblemsSiloing can occur when different roles’ deliverables don’t align or some roles don’t deliver to each other. Below we see a dept. leadership role with authority but without responsibilities.

DEV Leadership DEV Oversight

Dept. Leadership Operations

DEV Build UX

Managing UpIt is common for management not to provide deliverables to junior team members. This silos leader-ship from its own team.

5. Deliverables - Common ProblemsWhat really is a team?

UXA’s UX Design

UXM’s UX Oversight

DEV Build UX

MisalignmentNotice how the roles’ deliverables occur at differ-ent times and rates - seemingly unrelated. Is this a team with 3 roles or 3 teams?

Putting the Components TogetherBelow we see the connective tissue of a team’s process. Roles who’s workflows are only lightly connected to others are silos. Over-connection produces micromanaging. Which roles below look siloed or micromanaged?

UXM’s

UX Leadership Run dept. & UX vision

Oversight UX

UXA’s Design UX

DEV Build UX

ExamplesMapping roles, workflows, communication, oversight, & deliverables

to real life UX teams

Product M

UXA & UXD’s

UXM’s

Leadership

DIG Team

Interface with senior management

Project M completion

UX

UX Oversight

UX innovation & strategy

DEV build

success

Example 1: The Sears UX Waterfall (circa 2010)

Observation 1 - SchismRather than show a UX department working with other departments, the diagram below reveals two unrelated UX teams. One tactical, reporting to Product Management, the other strategic and irrelevant.

Product M

UXA & UXD’s

UXM’s

Leadership

DIG Team

Interface with senior management

Project M completion

UX

UX Oversight

UX innovation & strategy

DEV build

success

Real UX team - Reporting to Product

UX Leadership - Reporting to Senior Management

Notice how all UX deliverables flow to the Product role and how heavily Product oversights UX.

By comparison UX Leadership barely communicates or oversights UX managers.

Product also oversights the DEV team, thus through them UX has access to DEV.

To compensate, UX Leadership at-tempts to oversight UXA’s and UXD’s directly, but doesn’t show up nearly enough.

Leadership is focused on managing up to Senior Management not down to its own team.

Observation 2 - No StrategyDespite a large, dedicated innovation and strategy team, the UX department’s output is entirely tactical.

UXA & UXD’s

UXM’s

Leadership

DIG Team

Interface with senior management

UX

UX Oversight

UX innovation & strategy

FirewallThe lack of communication, over-sight, and deliverables between Leadership and UXM’s isolated the DIG team from other UXA’s.

Some UX team members have never heard of the DIG team. None of the Product Managers have.

UXA’s didn’t know the strategy and the DIG team’s strategy did not reflect Sears daily UX reality.

The DIG team’s audience wasn’t the user, it was Sears senior management.

Observation 3 - Servant of 2 MastersDue to the fracturing of UX, UXA’s had a lot of responsibility and were under pressure to obey the authority of both Product Managers and UX Leadership, two roles battling for control over UX.

Product M

UXA & UXD’s

UXM’s

Leadership Interface with senior management

UX

UX Oversight

success

ConflictThe UXA’s and UXD’s roles were ground zero for the power struggle between Product Management and UX Leadership. The result, high UXA turnover.

Sprint TeamDEV

PM’s

UXA’s

UXM’s

Leadership

UXD’s

UXM’s

run department & vision

success & completion

build

UX

UX Oversight

DEV control of UX

UX

Example 2: The Grainger Sprint (circa 2014)

Sprint TeamDEV

PM’s

UXA’s

success & completion

build

UX

Observation 1 - UX not on AgileThe sprint teams didn’t really exist. While some teams were exceptions (mobile, business management), DEV was largely a black box working in its own way with deliverables unrelated to Product and UX.

OversightPM’s only oversight UXA’s and talked to DEV sporadically.

InsightMost UXA’s ignorant of DEV matters.

AgileOnly DEV produced biweekly deliverables.

Observation 2 - Ineffective UX OversightWhile UXM’s communicated often with their teams, they oversighted little, typically in response toLeadership oversight.

UXA’s

UXM’s

Leadership run department & vision

UX

UX

Leadership OversightOccasionally leadership attempted to steer UXA’s directly forcing UXM’s to step in and fight for control.

UXM OversightFor long periods, UXM’s provided no oversight, which wasproblematic for junior UXA’s.

UXA’s

UXM’s

Leadership run department & vision

UX

UX

Observation 3 - Nobody Beholden to UXA’sUXM’s have few deliverables and none to their teams.

GuidanceJunior UXA’s needed more formal guidance (articulated as deliverables) and less talk.

Particularly in response to leader-

ship co-oversight. Co-oversight often confused inexperienced

team members.

UXA’s

UXM’s

Leadership run department & vision

UX

UX

Observation 4 - Unpredictable LeadershipLeadership was a silo from its own department - the lack of communication outward meant the team didn’t know the expectations or what was coming. Similarly, leadership didn’t feel informed about projects.

VisionLeadership has no deliverables to share it’s vision.

InvolvementLeadership’s involve-ment in sprint teams is unpredictable.

CommunicationLeadership provides little insight or direction to UXM’s.

ControlAt times, leadership second-guesses its own managers.

Observation 5 - Visual Design, the other UX TeamVisual design reported to Front End Development which was part of UX Leadership. As such, visual designwas not on the sprint teams and had no connection to Product Management or UX Architecture.

UXA’s

UXM’s

Leadership

UXD’s

UXM’s

run department & vision

UX

UX

DEV control of UX

UX

UX Team 1Architects working with Product Managers.

UX Team 1Designers reporting to Front end Development.

ProposalHow do you prevent bureaucracy, impose control, and improve teamwork?

Sprint team DEV

TPM

UXA & VD

UXM

UX Planning

Leadership

UX strategy & planning

UX Oversight

build

success

UX

Operations & Vision

Proposed Team Structure

Advantage 1 - Embrace the Sprint For the sprint team to be real, all roles should work in 2 week increments with Product providing oversightof DEV and UX and all roles providing deliverables to each other.

Sprint team DEV

TPM

UX

build 1

2

3success

UX

Hand-offNotice how the roles work ahead of each other, passing deliverables while working in parallel - a mini-waterfall.

Advantage 2 - UX Management that ActsMore than just talking to UXA’s and UXD’s, UX Managers should provide regular (monthly) oversight and deliverables to their teams to guide without disruption or ambiguity.

Sprint team DEV

TPM

UX

UXM

build

success

UX

UX oversight

Manage DownNotice the regular pattern of deliverables that make UX Management beholden to their own teams.

Advantage 3 - Connection of Vision to TacticsMost orgs are purely tactical because those tasked with vision or strategy do not deliver actionable steps at regular intervals to tactical roles. A planning team is needed between leadership and management.

UXM

UX Planning

Leadership

UX strategy & planning

Operations & Vision

UX Oversight

Communicate VisionUX Leadership delivers quarterly vision goals to the UX Planning team (not to be confused with company status meetings).

Shape StrategyUX Planning shapes Leadership’s vision, marries it to learnings from UX Managers, then plans an actionable strategy.

Communicate StrategyUX Management takes strategic deliverables and translates them into tactical initiatives for their sprint teams.