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Cultivating a User-Centered Culture

Event Interactive 2011
Format Dual
Organizer Nancy Lyons Geek Girls Guide
Description We've all heard about the importance of user-centered design (hopefully). But, how can a person, a team or an organization hope embrace it as a core value if the entire organization isn't focused on who those users are? How can we bridge the gap between a typical web developer who is male and between the ages of 18-29 (according to A List Apart's "Survey for the People Who Make Websites", 2008), and the 45% of the senior population in the US who are now on the Internet (According to Pew Internet and the American Life Project, 2009)? From design to production to project management to customer service and support, this session aims to help web development teams view work product as a direct outcome of a work culture that includes and respects users at every level. Beginning with the "big" things that management does to set the tone of a company like hiring policies, vision and values, and moving into discussion around how individual team members affect work culture (and therefore, work product) through everyday user advocacy? We'll prove the hard business value of soft, squishy terms like emotional intelligence, intellectual curiosity, collaboration, and vulnerability. But no hugging, we promise.
Questions
Answered
  1. How does work culture play in to work/project success and output?
  2. Is work culture a critical element of work product?
  3. What happens when a culture advocates for users at all levels and across multiple disciplines?
  4. What are some simple ways to integrate users into the web development process?
  5. How do you create or support individual power and influence within an organization - regardless of size or hierarchy?
Level Beginner
Category Career / Work Concerns
Tags social media, users, work culture