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jwsg's review
4.0
The core audience for User Experience Team of One is "people who are already working on product teams in another role but are interested in transitioning into the field of UX…[and] more experienced practitioners who are seeking ways to work more effectively within a cross-functional team".
Part 1 of the book covers the basics - UX101, understanding the UX process, building support for your work, growing yourself and your career. Part 2 is the meat of the book. It focusses on practice - planning and discovery methods; research methods; design methods; testing and validation methods; evangelism methods.
I don't fall into either category for Buley's core audience but I nonetheless found the book a useful read on several fronts.
First, it's an accessibly written primer for UX. Even if you're not a UX practitioner (and don't intend to become one), reading this book gives you a better appreciation of what UX entails and can set you up to have better conversations with UX practitioners in your organisation. It gives you another lens with which to assess your product or service. I found it really helpful how Buley lay out multiple methods to go about different aspects of UX practice, with a rough estimate of how long each method might take.
Second, many of the methods Buley describes in Part 2 of the book could be applied to other kinds of work. For instance, the methods described for planning and discovery methods could be applied to any kind of project where you are trying to set yourself up for a successful engagement. It would be useful for any project to ask who is responsible for the project, who is in charge; what are the 3-5 project goals; who is the target audience, describe them in detail and their primary motivations; what is the value proposition of the product and success measures; the risks [UX Questionnaire]. It would be useful when working on a new project to talk to colleagues and learn what matters to them, in order to help you identify where there are opportunities and problems to solve, and where your approaches (in this case UX practices) could be helpful [Listening Tour]. Or writing a one-page project brief to summarise the overall plan for a project to create an opportunity to align stakeholders on the project (or at least create the opportunity to have a conversation about misaligned areas). I also liked Buley's suggestion of designing an Opportunity Workshop to assess what needs to be done to improve the user experience, the highest priority from a business perspective and what would have the most impact from a user perspective.
The chapter on research methods breaks down different approaches to uncover new insights which, again, can be applied to non UX type work. Might a learning plan that maps out what we know and need to learn about different demographic groups help policymakers sharpen their policy options? The learning plan also challenges one to think about how to get the data to address the areas we need to learn more about users - beyond the usual surveys and focus group discussions, might we use call centre transcripts, search analytics, for instance? Might using proto-personas (which are less scientific and rigorous than traditional personas, being based on whatever insights you have including second hand research) help policymakers develop a more human-centred approach to policymaking?
The chapter on design methods lists approaches like a design brief, laying out design principles (how you want users to experience your product, the kind of personality the product will have), visualising the product via sketching, sketchboards, task flows and wireframes. Policymakers don't do enough visualisation, relying mainly on words to describe new services, processes and workflows. Why not visualise them instead?
On testing and validation methods, Buley describes methods such as paper and interactive prototypes, organising a Black Hat session (where people put on their critical black hat - re: Edward de Bono - to provide negative feedback, concerns and criticism), having a quick-and-dirty usability test or deploying the "five second test" (exposing the user to a screen or moment in a product for 5 seconds and asking what they recall of it, what they thought the purpose of the page was).
On evangelism methods and building support for UX work, the approaches Buley lays out can be applied to any change management process. Focus on building relationships (and hence alignment and support) rather than on process. Relationships help nudge people to participate and support the processes you want to put in place. Have one-page mini case studies that share stories of what worked. Engage in "pyramid evangelism", where you connect with people at every level of the organisational pyramid to build supporters at all levels.
I also appreciated how User Experience Team of One made UX seem doable, even if one was resource constrained. Limited time to do planning and discovery? Then focus on the listening tour because it will surface others' ideas for the product, their mental models and moreover can give you valuable info on team dynamics. Limited time to do user research? Then try guerilla user research where you go out and talk to users, even if it's just two or three. Want bang for your buck for design? Then focus on sketchboards as they help get people involved and engaged, making the design process more inclusive and exploratory. Organise a black hat session if you need a fast and blunt way to figure out what isn't working and needs adjusting. Focus on pyramid evangelism, even if you have to limit the scale of your efforts, to help build a foundation for your work in the future.
Part 1 of the book covers the basics - UX101, understanding the UX process, building support for your work, growing yourself and your career. Part 2 is the meat of the book. It focusses on practice - planning and discovery methods; research methods; design methods; testing and validation methods; evangelism methods.
I don't fall into either category for Buley's core audience but I nonetheless found the book a useful read on several fronts.
First, it's an accessibly written primer for UX. Even if you're not a UX practitioner (and don't intend to become one), reading this book gives you a better appreciation of what UX entails and can set you up to have better conversations with UX practitioners in your organisation. It gives you another lens with which to assess your product or service. I found it really helpful how Buley lay out multiple methods to go about different aspects of UX practice, with a rough estimate of how long each method might take.
Second, many of the methods Buley describes in Part 2 of the book could be applied to other kinds of work. For instance, the methods described for planning and discovery methods could be applied to any kind of project where you are trying to set yourself up for a successful engagement. It would be useful for any project to ask who is responsible for the project, who is in charge; what are the 3-5 project goals; who is the target audience, describe them in detail and their primary motivations; what is the value proposition of the product and success measures; the risks [UX Questionnaire]. It would be useful when working on a new project to talk to colleagues and learn what matters to them, in order to help you identify where there are opportunities and problems to solve, and where your approaches (in this case UX practices) could be helpful [Listening Tour]. Or writing a one-page project brief to summarise the overall plan for a project to create an opportunity to align stakeholders on the project (or at least create the opportunity to have a conversation about misaligned areas). I also liked Buley's suggestion of designing an Opportunity Workshop to assess what needs to be done to improve the user experience, the highest priority from a business perspective and what would have the most impact from a user perspective.
The chapter on research methods breaks down different approaches to uncover new insights which, again, can be applied to non UX type work. Might a learning plan that maps out what we know and need to learn about different demographic groups help policymakers sharpen their policy options? The learning plan also challenges one to think about how to get the data to address the areas we need to learn more about users - beyond the usual surveys and focus group discussions, might we use call centre transcripts, search analytics, for instance? Might using proto-personas (which are less scientific and rigorous than traditional personas, being based on whatever insights you have including second hand research) help policymakers develop a more human-centred approach to policymaking?
The chapter on design methods lists approaches like a design brief, laying out design principles (how you want users to experience your product, the kind of personality the product will have), visualising the product via sketching, sketchboards, task flows and wireframes. Policymakers don't do enough visualisation, relying mainly on words to describe new services, processes and workflows. Why not visualise them instead?
On testing and validation methods, Buley describes methods such as paper and interactive prototypes, organising a Black Hat session (where people put on their critical black hat - re: Edward de Bono - to provide negative feedback, concerns and criticism), having a quick-and-dirty usability test or deploying the "five second test" (exposing the user to a screen or moment in a product for 5 seconds and asking what they recall of it, what they thought the purpose of the page was).
On evangelism methods and building support for UX work, the approaches Buley lays out can be applied to any change management process. Focus on building relationships (and hence alignment and support) rather than on process. Relationships help nudge people to participate and support the processes you want to put in place. Have one-page mini case studies that share stories of what worked. Engage in "pyramid evangelism", where you connect with people at every level of the organisational pyramid to build supporters at all levels.
I also appreciated how User Experience Team of One made UX seem doable, even if one was resource constrained. Limited time to do planning and discovery? Then focus on the listening tour because it will surface others' ideas for the product, their mental models and moreover can give you valuable info on team dynamics. Limited time to do user research? Then try guerilla user research where you go out and talk to users, even if it's just two or three. Want bang for your buck for design? Then focus on sketchboards as they help get people involved and engaged, making the design process more inclusive and exploratory. Organise a black hat session if you need a fast and blunt way to figure out what isn't working and needs adjusting. Focus on pyramid evangelism, even if you have to limit the scale of your efforts, to help build a foundation for your work in the future.
jess_segraves's review
5.0
Like with [b:INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love|36645100|INSPIRED How to Create Tech Products Customers Love|Marty Cagan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511403934s/36645100.jpg|3361249], this isn't the kind of book I'm just going to recommend to everyone but it's very, very solid and actionable for people who are passionate about content strategy and user experience. I plan to use many of the tactics in here to get more done and expand my UX wheelhouse.
jassim's review against another edition
5.0
If you haven’t read any UX related books, this is the very first book you have to read. It is focused on UX practices and gives us a total outline of the disciplines.
nithou's review
5.0
Was on my shelf for quite a long time, a very good book for anyone having to do all the UX work in a company, be it a big structure or a startup. This book does a very good job at giving you some tools you can use to start doing a great job and some basis on which you can evolve later. Especially useful for people in startups where you have to do a lot of things in a short span of time. And really important for anyone starting into the UX field.