0

In a current project I am working on the stakeholders seem to think that functionality is king. While I agree that functionality is important it is only one factor in the success of a software project. They don't see the importance of spending time on UX. But I see it differently.

What are effective ways that I can use to convince stakeholders in a project about the importance of User Experience, usability, interaction design and all those intangible factors that make an end-user want to use your software?

motionpotion
  • 101
  • 2

2 Answers2

1

This is a day to day problem that every UX designer faces. It is not possible to just convince them when they are hard core programmers or managers. The best way is to deal them in their own way. That is speak in terms of ROI. You may have to check Measuring Usability website and if you know it already prepare a presentation to explain ROI and speak in terms of money and customer satisfaction. Every manager falls for this. To convince developers give them a design with their favorite Database-Centric-Design and one with User Centric Design and let them use both to understand the difference.

PrashanthKrish
  • 612
  • 3
  • 8
0

It all depends on who those stakeholders are. I would always try to find a common ground where UX-design matters. Everybody has at least a few (user) experiences that where good and a few that where bad. Point out those experiences and show them they matter (they know it matters because they experienced it themselves).

It helps when you relate to your stakeholder. For example, when I want to stress out the importance of UX to a programmer I mostly ask which IDE they use and why. I most cases they answer the question 'why UX-design is important' themselves.

Ruudt
  • 2,598
  • 16
  • 20
  • that's the wall I'm running into they will ask "Why does it matter? - the end-user will use it anyway. Why should we care about the end-user? Why should we fund making the end-user happier?" etc. etc. – motionpotion May 26 '14 at 12:28
  • Why will end-users use it anyway? Is there no competition? Is this product unique in it's capabilies and is there no alternative? If you don't make the end-user happy, sooner or later somebody else will. – Ruudt May 26 '14 at 13:05
  • It's an internal intranet for staff. – motionpotion May 27 '14 at 20:19