Sunflower UX Framework
Every time I meet a Client, a CEO, or a Product Manager, they ask me, What UX Process do I follow? The more I practice UX in Corporate, the more I realize, it can be a Framework and some part of the framework could be methodology. But UX as a “Process” doesn’t make sense to me. It can’t be automated! Some say UX is an Approach, and I very closely agree. Hence decided, I will call it Sunflower UX Framework. Before you could shoot your hopes high, let me put something straight. A Framework evolves.
Is it going to be Savior of Mankind? No.
Can it be used for Rocket Science? Yes.
Can it be used for DIY? Yes.
It means this framework can be used in small and big projects. There are ifs and buts in Agile and there will be ifs and buts in this framework too. Rants are welcome!
Let us begin then with some scenarios and the journey to discover Sunflower UX Framework.
UX is a messy process. Innovation is a messy process. The UX and Design Thinking Speaker will start with this powerful idiom and then draw a Linear UX process. The Linear Process will establish visual cognitive bias in the mind of the gullible audience preferably the CEO, CMO, VP, Product Manager, CTO, Engineering Director, Technical Architect, and the Development Team. Then in some days, a real project will begin. Somewhere out of the blue, the UX Expert will claim that Usability Testing is a Habit. UX Research is not a one-time task. The UX process is iterative. It will toss all the budget, planning, and hierarchy off the roof.
In 1980 one person coded a whole Operating System. Saying relatively, 1980 is long past for UX.
UX Research is an Inherent Term.
You can say that a UX Researcher helped a Business Consultant to fill out the Kickoff Presale Pitch. Vision Roadmap Team is carrying out some Longitudinal Ethnographic UX Research. Mission Journey Team is carrying out Service Safari. The Goal Prototype Team needs the help of a UX Researcher to do some Qualitative Usability Testing to conclude the MVP. Then Development will begin in Development Agile Environment. For now visualize the tip of each of the petals as a domain (Presale Pitch Team, Vision Team, Mission Team, Goal Team, etc.). In the case of big organizations, it can be various departments.
Moving ahead, the term Inclusive Design has become very popular in recent UX articles. The word is so resourceful that “Inclusive Design Organization” is much more meaningful than “Design Centric Organization”.
UX Curriculum is expanding. With expanding curriculum one person can’t be expected to be Master in all research types. UX is not anymore one person’s forte. UX Researchers are exhausted over time. They need to move from a Person to System Driven approach. They won’t agree, rather your product will pay the price. It is very frequent to see one UX defending against the Development Team. Sometimes one UX defending against the Marketing Team. In worst cases one UX defending against the Management Team. Let it be UX Team against another Team so that in the long run the Product becomes the Winner. This paragraph is for Corporate working on Enterprise Applications.
Sunflower UX framework would enable teams to Practice Agile in UX Environment. Few sprints completely running in UX Agile Environment for completing MVP Prototype. Not the way we see it now, UX Sprints compressed in a Development Environment. Agile was created for Software Project Management. UX is a part of Software Product Development. PoC and MVP are part of Software Product Development.
The industry thinks that UX is all about wireframing and Prototyping because normal people can only make sense of tangible output. To conclude intangibility, one has to dig deep into the subject. A major part of UX is Psychology. We should not be complaining about the world don’t understand our field. If we present it in a intangible form the world will never understand.
What is so different about implementing Sunflower UX Framework than others? In Sunflower UX the Designations in a Project are based on Tangible Artifacts. It is for truly flat organizations. There won’t be any confusion between Designation and Deliverable. No Program Manager, No Project Manager, No UX Researcher, No Strategist, No Principal Consultant. Like an Architect, the person responsible for creating the architecture. Similarly, the Specialists will be called by their respective Artifacts. The things they need to do to produce that Artifact is Inherent. Remember the picture you visualize earlier of each team holding the tip of a petal. Now these specialists can climb down from one edge, gather the requirement from nectar, and if not available ask for help from other specialists to hold a meeting in nectar and then climb up to their respective tips from the other edge of the petal.
I came across a passage in an article somewhere, “Product Managers, you guys need to change your title, you are not like rest of the Managers. You are doing a good job.”
Concluding with the final words.
UX Researcher is a very progressive and agile Designation. Which keeps a close watch on the users and organizations, never letting them saturate to a certain idea and belief system, rescuing them from losing the edge and turning traditional. Because UX has the word USER. Implementing tangible departments could only mean that someday a Recruiter will call you and expect you to get the Tangible outcome without User Research and that will become a dead-end practice.
Everything Obvious has obviously been implemented. The landscape of Product Development is growing in dark depth of data and the curriculum of UX is expanding. We need new Corporate Governance by Service Design Approach.
