The User Experience Consultant Book (Read 3 Chapters for Free)
Here are 3 free chapters from my book The User Experience Consultant: 10 Reasons Why UX Designers Should Consider a Career in Consulting.
I included the preface for context and a better reading experience.
A UX consultant is one who talks to clients, enables a business dialogue through design, draws insights by understanding a client’s business environment, cuts through noise, discovers problems and opportunities to provide high potential solutions, guidance and direction to the business. Consulting is domain, market, platform, and technology agnostic, and I strongly believe it should be that way. However, most of these domains, markets, platforms, technology, and types of users you would be exposed to during your projects depend upon your organization’s service offerings and focus areas. Some organizations are focused only on certain sectors or markets, based on their business strategy. Some companies don’t limit themselves and are open to new sectors, markets, and emerging opportunities. The latter is the ideal place you should aspire to be, as there are no limitations in terms of diversity exposure.
When you take the consulting path, you get the chance to work across a diverse range of domains, right from consumer focused areas like banking, travel, housing or enterprise projects in complex environments like oil and gas, energy, government, or even the space industry, if you’re lucky. Every industry you work in, might have a learning curve, and it’s worth the time and energy; if you’re a continuous learner and open to new challenges. You can always choose to be a consultant specialized in a specific domain like Healthcare or a specific market like APAC, however you will obstruct your growth possibilities, due the uncertain nature of our rapidly changing economic world. If the specialized path works for you, then you should pursue it by all means, however as you read further, you’ll notice that domain diversity is only one side of the coin.
Unlike product companies, you’re not limited to working on a single product, a specific module with a single road map, fixing screens, moving buttons, and getting that already seemingly good onboarding perfect or some other module for weeks and months. This is extremely deep work or at least, it looks and feels like it. Unlike services, where breadth matters over depth, you and won’t have the luxury of time and space to research, design and test your ideas to perfection. Working across markets, collaborating with stakeholders and researching on users from diverse cultures is a great plus on your resume and building your skill set in the early years of your career.
A typical consulting firm also moves you out of your comfort zone every month or quarter, as most design projects do not last for more than a couple of months or so. In some cases, some projects need to be delivered in couple of weeks or even under a week. You’ll be exposed to new jargon and interesting needs of users who are located in even more interesting work environments. You’ll learn to embody the philosophy — You are not the user.
- Preface
- Chapter 1: Diversity
- Chapter 2: Adaptability
- Chapter 6: Multidimensionality
Preface
Consulting is a mindset. In this short read, I intend to share my experience and perspective on why UX designers should consider a career in consulting. If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’re a UX designer or an aspiring UX designer. If not, this book isn’t for you. However, please feel free to read, explore, and learn a little about how user experience consulting works. So far, my career has been a journey of continuous exploration. The purpose of writing this book is to share my experience and help others.
As a user experience architect, I have worked with the top consulting firms that serve global clients across domains and markets. This is an interesting and promising career path, however you must take into account, both the merits and demerits. Choosing any career path depends on what you want, your personality, skills, aspirations, and outlook in life and work. I’m not offering any clear-cut career advice here. I’m only spotlighting and providing a preview of what could be in store. I request you to read, explore, evaluate, and decide for yourself. It’s your career, and it should be your choice.
The industry presents five career paths for every UX designer. You can choose to work with a product company, or with an agency, or associate with a consulting / services firm, or take the academic route of research and teaching, or choose to freelance as an independent UX consultant. One can switch between these paths, at any point in their career. You can also mix and match to create a hybrid career path for yourself. For example, you could take up consulting and teaching, which is a hybrid path. Some companies offer both products and services, operating as companies that offer solutions. If you work for such a firm, you’re in for a rich learning experience, as you get the best of both worlds — Products and Services.
In this book, we explore the consulting career path. As you read further, you will notice a recurring comparison of these five career paths. My perspective is based on my work experience and observations. If you ask me, every UX designer should do a stint in the services or consulting space. There is no doubt that working for a product firm is the real deal, however consulting is an equally exciting space, and in many ways, more challenging. The methods of a User Experience Consultant are peculiar. As the pages unfold, you’ll discover the typical consulting mindset and methods.
Here are 10 reasons why you should consider a career in consulting. Let’s dive in.
As a user experience architect, I have worked with the top consulting firms that serve global clients across domains and markets. This is an interesting and promising career path, however you must take into account, both the merits and demerits. Choosing any career path depends on what you want, your personality, skills, aspirations, and outlook in life and work. I’m not offering any clear-cut career advice here. I’m only spotlighting and providing a preview of what could be in store. I request you to read, explore, evaluate, and decide for yourself. It’s your career, and it should be your choice.
The industry presents five career paths for every UX designer. You can choose to work with a product company, or with an agency, or associate with a consulting / services firm, or take the academic route of research and teaching, or choose to freelance as an independent UX consultant. One can switch between these paths, at any point in their career. You can also mix and match to create a hybrid career path for yourself. For example, you could take up consulting and teaching, which is a hybrid path. Some companies offer both products and services, operating as companies that offer solutions. If you work for such a firm, you’re in for a rich learning experience, as you get the best of both worlds — Products and Services.
In this book, we explore the consulting career path. As you read further, you will notice a recurring comparison of these five career paths. My perspective is based on my work experience and observations. If you ask me, every UX designer should do a stint in the services or consulting space. There is no doubt that working for a product firm is the real deal, however consulting is an equally exciting space, and in many ways, more challenging. The methods of a User Experience Consultant are peculiar. As the pages unfold, you’ll discover the typical consulting mindset and methods.
Here are 10 reasons why you should consider a career in consulting. Let’s dive in.
Chapters in this book
- Diversity
- Adaptability
- Adventure
- Facilitation
- Business
- Multidimensionality
- Advocacy
- Versatility
- Portfolio
- Travel
Chapter 1: Diversity
Diversity is the primary reason you should choose to be, or not be in consulting. You’re going to find diversity in domains, markets, technology platforms, user groups, organization cultures, client methods, organization processes, industry regulations, and the many unknowns which you’ll discover on your journey. If you sign up for a UX consultant job — brace yourself for a journey of continuous learning, exploration, and adventure in your career. You have to unlearn, relearn, and adapt to the needs of every project. A totally new learning cycle begins with every new project.A UX consultant is one who talks to clients, enables a business dialogue through design, draws insights by understanding a client’s business environment, cuts through noise, discovers problems and opportunities to provide high potential solutions, guidance and direction to the business. Consulting is domain, market, platform, and technology agnostic, and I strongly believe it should be that way. However, most of these domains, markets, platforms, technology, and types of users you would be exposed to during your projects depend upon your organization’s service offerings and focus areas. Some organizations are focused only on certain sectors or markets, based on their business strategy. Some companies don’t limit themselves and are open to new sectors, markets, and emerging opportunities. The latter is the ideal place you should aspire to be, as there are no limitations in terms of diversity exposure.
When you take the consulting path, you get the chance to work across a diverse range of domains, right from consumer focused areas like banking, travel, housing or enterprise projects in complex environments like oil and gas, energy, government, or even the space industry, if you’re lucky. Every industry you work in, might have a learning curve, and it’s worth the time and energy; if you’re a continuous learner and open to new challenges. You can always choose to be a consultant specialized in a specific domain like Healthcare or a specific market like APAC, however you will obstruct your growth possibilities, due the uncertain nature of our rapidly changing economic world. If the specialized path works for you, then you should pursue it by all means, however as you read further, you’ll notice that domain diversity is only one side of the coin.
Unlike product companies, you’re not limited to working on a single product, a specific module with a single road map, fixing screens, moving buttons, and getting that already seemingly good onboarding perfect or some other module for weeks and months. This is extremely deep work or at least, it looks and feels like it. Unlike services, where breadth matters over depth, you and won’t have the luxury of time and space to research, design and test your ideas to perfection. Working across markets, collaborating with stakeholders and researching on users from diverse cultures is a great plus on your resume and building your skill set in the early years of your career.
A typical consulting firm also moves you out of your comfort zone every month or quarter, as most design projects do not last for more than a couple of months or so. In some cases, some projects need to be delivered in couple of weeks or even under a week. You’ll be exposed to new jargon and interesting needs of users who are located in even more interesting work environments. You’ll learn to embody the philosophy — You are not the user.
As you learn the ways of a specific domain or market, you have something new to learn, apply them in your other upcoming projects, or other areas of your work and life, or just flaunt this newly gained knowledge in business or social gatherings. You’ll learn to talk the right things to the right set of people, and you’ll find them surprised and even impressed, when you tell them about how their industry works. There’s so much to learn everyday and the world is your canvas in consulting. Variety is the order of the day in this constantly changing economy. If you take the product design path, working in a single domain or a product for years together can make you sharp in a certain way, however equally dull, in other aspects and areas of your life.
You get an opportunity to work on a range of interfaces, platforms and design systems. Most projects would demand you to constantly study and pick up new skills, before delivering projects. You’re also exposed to several processes, collaboration tools and design software. There is a good chance that not every client team would be using the same tools that you seem be well versed in. This once again puts you on a learning mode. The learning never seems to end.
You need to adapt to situations and develop your own methods for designing solutions. You bill clients for the solution delivery, not the process. Clients look up to you for design solutions on the move —phone calls, meetings, workshops, and even lunch meetings. Time is of essence here. In consulting, you’ll discover and appreciate that the design process is only a means and not an end. As a UX designer, are you obsessed about the UX process? If you’re a stickler to design the process, then you’ll have a tough time in consulting and it would be a difficult journey.
Does the process matter over product? Here’s a hard-hitting fact. Both clients and users give a damn about your design process. Unless you’re selling them the process, over the solution. Every UX designer goes through this phase of being obsessed with the design process. At times, we even fight endlessly to diligently follow a process, even in uncalled for scenarios. (I have been there) Well, there is no doubt that adherence to the design process is immensely important in designing a good user experience. However, excessive importance to process over business and user context, only kills its efficacy and existence in the first place. The only purpose of the design process is to build the user experience and not to impede its development.
Having said that, there is no good product sans process. Clients don’t pay you for the process nor the user buys or use your product based on your process diligence. If you’re working for a services or a consulting firm, all your clients care about is the end outcome. The only question that matters to a client is does the design solution grow business and improve brand equity? We must keep up with the agility of the solution development process and avoid causing any kind of domino effect on sprint plans, connected teams and the overall delivery roadmap. Time is money! The more time we invest in design, the more accountable we ought to be to the client, users and other stakeholders. It’s best to take an incremental innovation approach, where you can design fast, test early, fail fast, and win fast.
Do users care about the process? Before we answer that question, the fundamental question is do they even know that a design process exists? All they care about is the value they get in using or paying for a product or a service. When faced with this dilemma, UX designers should care about what really matters and focus on delivering value, rather than whining on the limitations like process, methods, time and resources. Ask yourself the fundamental stoic question. “Is this necessary?” Apply this question at work and get rid of the unnecessary and focus only on what matters. Fixating on fancy frameworks will act as a deterrent to your delivery efforts. You got to figure and work within the constraints to deliver solutions and stop being obsessed about the process.
Create with what you have. Our ability to adapt will make us real creative problem solvers. In my experience, I have learnt to go with the flow, by knowing what a business wants in the very first meeting. Embrace reality and learn to make sensible design decisions when it comes to designing a solution and customizing the process. Be flexible with your approach and strict with your results. Adapt, adapt more, and adapt even more. You’ll win, the client wins, and the users win.
A UX consultant needs to think multidimensional and by all means avoid unilateral thinking at work. This fundamental design rule applies whether you are in consulting or not. There are three dimensions to look at when you solve a problem and present a design solution. The three dimensions are Business, Brand, and Users. First things first. You need to know and thoroughly understand how the client perceives the world — their values, vision, and mission. This is of utmost importance before you think multidimensional. A UX consultant's job is to learn the client’s business and how and why they do business. What are the business and brand values?
You should learn about the binding factor of an organisation. The binding factor is the core philosophy, shared values and vision to provide value and the best experience to customers. User Experience is not just a designer’s expression. It’s an organizational expression. It is a glue that binds everyone in the organization to a common goal. If we look at brands like Taj Hotels, Apple or Zappos, the real binding factor in these companies is the relentless pursuit to provide that unique brand experience. I love the Taj experience, it is called the Tajness for a reason. Tajness is the extraordinary and out of the way service philosophy at all Taj Hotels in India and across the world. This outlook is the binding factor of the organisation, where everyone from the bellboy to the CEO share the same ethos, when it comes to delivering a superior guest experience.
What’s your client’s ness? You need to find that binding factor before jumping into delivering solutions. For big corporations, everyone speaks the same language and it’s quite evident in all brand and business communication. The problem arises, when you consult with smaller companies, newly formed organizations, and growing firms without a real binding factor. You need to discover that aspect and integrate the same into your user experience design efforts.
A well rounded UX practitioner is one who can understand the three dimensions and find a good balance at work. A business leader steps in to explain you their business in terms of strategy, vision and numbers. A brand manager comes in to help you understand the brand positioning and brand promise. Product teams talk to you about the user needs and Executives talk about their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategy and the difference they want to make to the planet. You need to integrate and balance all these needs. Today, more and more companies are moving to a Triple Bottom Line business model. Each front plays an equally important role in achieving the objective of your design consulting endeavours. What if a product has great usability, but doesn’t generate sufficient business or engagement or isn’t in connect with your overall brand messaging and promise? UX consultants need to offer solutions that are viable, usable, and desirable.
From a business standpoint, the UX consultant should have an eye for conversions, numbers, return on investment and an ability to measure the outcome of design in terms of monetary value. Think multidimensional to stand apart and deliver value for the business, brands, and users.
Service design helps you deliver an omni-channel experience. Service design works at two levels. Front stage & Back Stage. The front stage is what your customer can see — ideally the interface or a touchpoint as such. The back stage is where the real action happens, with so many people and complex processes, policies and systems working towards delivering that front stage performance to your customer. Integrating people, policy, process, values and building a shared UX vision is the crux of service design. The answer is service design blueprinting. Also, think service design like a moving front stage and a backstage. Environments, behaviours and needs change with the movement of your user within your ecosystem. Think ecosystems.
You get an opportunity to work on a range of interfaces, platforms and design systems. Most projects would demand you to constantly study and pick up new skills, before delivering projects. You’re also exposed to several processes, collaboration tools and design software. There is a good chance that not every client team would be using the same tools that you seem be well versed in. This once again puts you on a learning mode. The learning never seems to end.
Chapter 2: Adaptability
In the business of consulting, we don’t have ideal worlds. As a consultant you learn to adapt and maintain a flexible attitude on process and delivery methods. When you work for clients in a services based organisation, the delivery due date is mostly yesterday. I’m not kidding. Most projects are not really planned well and design delivery can be a nightmare. With so many project dynamics at play, you’ll learn to make uncertainty and chaos your friend. Apart from finding design solutions for your client, your fundamental task would be to see order in chaos. To keep it simple, you have to figure out things — before you figure out solutions. It’s a double task and can be extremely daunting for beginners.You need to adapt to situations and develop your own methods for designing solutions. You bill clients for the solution delivery, not the process. Clients look up to you for design solutions on the move —phone calls, meetings, workshops, and even lunch meetings. Time is of essence here. In consulting, you’ll discover and appreciate that the design process is only a means and not an end. As a UX designer, are you obsessed about the UX process? If you’re a stickler to design the process, then you’ll have a tough time in consulting and it would be a difficult journey.
Does the process matter over product? Here’s a hard-hitting fact. Both clients and users give a damn about your design process. Unless you’re selling them the process, over the solution. Every UX designer goes through this phase of being obsessed with the design process. At times, we even fight endlessly to diligently follow a process, even in uncalled for scenarios. (I have been there) Well, there is no doubt that adherence to the design process is immensely important in designing a good user experience. However, excessive importance to process over business and user context, only kills its efficacy and existence in the first place. The only purpose of the design process is to build the user experience and not to impede its development.
Having said that, there is no good product sans process. Clients don’t pay you for the process nor the user buys or use your product based on your process diligence. If you’re working for a services or a consulting firm, all your clients care about is the end outcome. The only question that matters to a client is does the design solution grow business and improve brand equity? We must keep up with the agility of the solution development process and avoid causing any kind of domino effect on sprint plans, connected teams and the overall delivery roadmap. Time is money! The more time we invest in design, the more accountable we ought to be to the client, users and other stakeholders. It’s best to take an incremental innovation approach, where you can design fast, test early, fail fast, and win fast.
Do users care about the process? Before we answer that question, the fundamental question is do they even know that a design process exists? All they care about is the value they get in using or paying for a product or a service. When faced with this dilemma, UX designers should care about what really matters and focus on delivering value, rather than whining on the limitations like process, methods, time and resources. Ask yourself the fundamental stoic question. “Is this necessary?” Apply this question at work and get rid of the unnecessary and focus only on what matters. Fixating on fancy frameworks will act as a deterrent to your delivery efforts. You got to figure and work within the constraints to deliver solutions and stop being obsessed about the process.
Create with what you have. Our ability to adapt will make us real creative problem solvers. In my experience, I have learnt to go with the flow, by knowing what a business wants in the very first meeting. Embrace reality and learn to make sensible design decisions when it comes to designing a solution and customizing the process. Be flexible with your approach and strict with your results. Adapt, adapt more, and adapt even more. You’ll win, the client wins, and the users win.
Chapter 6: Multidimensionality
A UX consultant needs to think multidimensional and by all means avoid unilateral thinking at work. This fundamental design rule applies whether you are in consulting or not. There are three dimensions to look at when you solve a problem and present a design solution. The three dimensions are Business, Brand, and Users. First things first. You need to know and thoroughly understand how the client perceives the world — their values, vision, and mission. This is of utmost importance before you think multidimensional. A UX consultant's job is to learn the client’s business and how and why they do business. What are the business and brand values?You should learn about the binding factor of an organisation. The binding factor is the core philosophy, shared values and vision to provide value and the best experience to customers. User Experience is not just a designer’s expression. It’s an organizational expression. It is a glue that binds everyone in the organization to a common goal. If we look at brands like Taj Hotels, Apple or Zappos, the real binding factor in these companies is the relentless pursuit to provide that unique brand experience. I love the Taj experience, it is called the Tajness for a reason. Tajness is the extraordinary and out of the way service philosophy at all Taj Hotels in India and across the world. This outlook is the binding factor of the organisation, where everyone from the bellboy to the CEO share the same ethos, when it comes to delivering a superior guest experience.
What’s your client’s ness? You need to find that binding factor before jumping into delivering solutions. For big corporations, everyone speaks the same language and it’s quite evident in all brand and business communication. The problem arises, when you consult with smaller companies, newly formed organizations, and growing firms without a real binding factor. You need to discover that aspect and integrate the same into your user experience design efforts.
A well rounded UX practitioner is one who can understand the three dimensions and find a good balance at work. A business leader steps in to explain you their business in terms of strategy, vision and numbers. A brand manager comes in to help you understand the brand positioning and brand promise. Product teams talk to you about the user needs and Executives talk about their ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategy and the difference they want to make to the planet. You need to integrate and balance all these needs. Today, more and more companies are moving to a Triple Bottom Line business model. Each front plays an equally important role in achieving the objective of your design consulting endeavours. What if a product has great usability, but doesn’t generate sufficient business or engagement or isn’t in connect with your overall brand messaging and promise? UX consultants need to offer solutions that are viable, usable, and desirable.
From a business standpoint, the UX consultant should have an eye for conversions, numbers, return on investment and an ability to measure the outcome of design in terms of monetary value. Think multidimensional to stand apart and deliver value for the business, brands, and users.
Service design helps you deliver an omni-channel experience. Service design works at two levels. Front stage & Back Stage. The front stage is what your customer can see — ideally the interface or a touchpoint as such. The back stage is where the real action happens, with so many people and complex processes, policies and systems working towards delivering that front stage performance to your customer. Integrating people, policy, process, values and building a shared UX vision is the crux of service design. The answer is service design blueprinting. Also, think service design like a moving front stage and a backstage. Environments, behaviours and needs change with the movement of your user within your ecosystem. Think ecosystems.
