I work on a military base as a contractor. I was hired because the users here absolutely hate SharePoint and they want me to fix it. However, when I’ve tried to bring in the UX concepts I’m familiar with, they will have nothing to do with it. They are asking for out of the box solutions with SharePoint and the only tool they have given me is Photoshop CS5. How can I help them understand that wireframes, customer feedback, usability testing, etc… are all valuable elements that will pay off in the end?
Specific questions will help the answer mate.
Cheers
Hi ya,
Great question. There are a couple of threads here and [URL=“http://community.uxmastery.com/forum/user-experience/culture/1594-tips-for-selling-ux”]here which may be of some help.
Actually we have an article about this very topic coming out very soon (a week or two tops!). Watch this space!
I know exactly what you mean…
The culture of a workplace can be tricky to work with. Especially when they are change-adverse and risk-adverse.
In a previous role, I came in contact with a similar issue. It was at a large organization, everyone hated SharePoint but we were limited to out-of-the-box only. Anything beyond that freaked them out- it was like they thought it would time consuming and expensive and they thought they knew better. The problem still exists- it’s on the way to improving but it’s taken a few years of baby steps and it doesn’t sound like you have that kind of time.
The military is in an interesting culture all on it’s own. I have a family member who is in the Air Force and the military code of behavior is fascinating. How long have you been there? My take on this would be to explore and fully understand the workplace culture you’re dealing with and from there once you understand them chances are you will know how to communicate with them and actually be heard.
It’s not easy and I feel your frustrations - if have any more questions please just ask.
And read Matt’s article! 