What Makes The Most Valuable UX Person In The World?
February 16th, 2011
At this year’s IA Summit in Denver, I’m giving a presentation on measuring the value a UX person delivers, which I’ve called, The Most Valuable UX Person In The World. Borrowing liberally from the Dos Equis ads, I used this as the program description:
The Most Valuable UX Person In The World
She builds her wireframes with real wire from ancient hand-smelted Ukranian steel.
Her worst personas could kick the ass of your best personas.
His pattern library is now in the Library of Congress.
When she explains good design visuals, the only thing Edward Tufte can add is “What she said.”
He’s organized his wine cellar in order of awesome.
Wikileaks is ready to release her sketchbooks just because they’re cool.
He only sketches on the front of the napkin.
He built the world’s biggest web site, using only his left hand.
Last season’s American Idol featured her concept maps.
His research finds customers desire to research his behavior.
He is the only person Don Norman agrees with.
She makes her own icons out of straw.
Software bugs specifically ask for her to fix them.
He defined the damn thing, then moved on.
Her study participants screen themselves. Out.
Her interactions are the basis for everyone else’s designs.
Scalpers sell tickets to his project kickoff meetings.
He is already coding in HTML6. And has been for a decade.
They are the most valuable UX person in the world.
“Design well, my friend.”
What would you add to this list? Leave your own ideas of the Most Valuable UX Person In The World in the comments. I’ll be sprinkling your best suggestions through out my presentation, giving you full credit.
Oh, by the way, the early bird price for the Summit ends this Friday, February 18. Sign up here. I’d love to see you there.
Tweet
February 16th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
I’ll see your Norman reference and raise you a Spool. 🙂
Good stuff.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
“What Makes The Most Valuable UX Person In The World?”
She promises that due to her efficiency; you’ll only need to hire her once
February 16th, 2011 at 3:31 pm
His designs are so intuitive they already know what you do.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Her design made Steve Jobs cry.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:37 pm
His tax form websites double as relaxation aids
His apps are pre-approved on the App Store
Steve Jobs answers her emails; mostly with ‘good idea – thanks!’
His Calls to Action have a 100% click rate.
Search engines optimize to her content
February 16th, 2011 at 4:29 pm
One very important one – Measuring the work that you do to improve the UX in real business terms. For example, implementing a new site funnel and measuring conversion, contact volumes across channels and customer satisfaction.
February 16th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
The Most Valuable UX Person In The World
“Some Magicans can walk on water, Chuck Norris can swim through land by consulting only through her research”
February 17th, 2011 at 2:06 pm
He displays realistic depictions of complex user interactions with his abs.
He discovered 13 new elements between Structure and Skeleton alone.
His usability tests are a waste of time.
That polar bear’s hyde is warming his den floor.
He’s never designed an error screen. Hasn’t come up.
He understands Microsoft Project.
February 18th, 2011 at 2:34 pm
[…] Full article here. Suggest more. […]
February 18th, 2011 at 2:35 pm
He stopped wearing black turtlenecks 5 years ago.
February 19th, 2011 at 9:37 am
Nielsen buys usability reports from him.
February 21st, 2011 at 9:46 am
Her ability to design software so good it actually gets classified as hardware.
The way his first generation prototypes get released as the final product.
His whiteboard has been only drawn on once. With the right answer.
February 21st, 2011 at 4:35 pm
He’s a designer, not a marketer. But he’s also a marketer.
February 23rd, 2011 at 10:38 pm
Her paper prototypes draw themselves
His journey maps inspired Harry Beck
Her usability test participants recruit themselves
His project sponsor thinks she designed the site – and his customers think it was designed just for them
May 26th, 2011 at 9:55 am
[…] a skills gap that’s yet to be closed. In his IAS11 talk, Jared Spool asserted that the ‘most valuable UX person in the world‘ is one who can code. The increased efficiency in having a designer implement their own […]
June 23rd, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Funny someone mentioned Nielsen and Steve Job. Did anyone read the evaluation Nielsen did for iPad? Full article here: http://www.useit.com/alertbox/ipad.html. I read Nielsen’s book for my class. I think it is a bit of outdated. One the other hand, can successful UX be designed by following his rules?