6 levels of implementation
User Experience in an organization
The role of User Experience (UX) in an organization is becoming increasingly important. With technological progress and increasing digitization of our lives, companies are beginning to understand the importance of designing products and services with the user in mind. A turning point in many organizations is the transformation of awareness in times of advancing development through building a culture in the company where UX is part of its long-term strategy.
Of course, the level of UX implementation in an organization can vary depending on the size and culture of the company. However, it is becoming increasingly visible and important to implement certain forms of UX in the market, which helps to create friendly user experiences among other things. UX to some extent is no longer just a business matter but also a condition of existence.
In this article, I will focus on the different levels of UX implementation in organizations and show you how to start creating a UX culture in your company. Below I present six levels of implementing User Experience in an organization, which model was proposed by Jakob Nielsen in 2006. At the same time, you must take into account that there are many models of UX maturity in an organization and they may have different names. However, remember that their goal is one: the implementation of UX culture in the organization.
According to NN/g UX Maturity Model, there are 6 stages of organization maturity when it comes to UX implementation.
- Absent: UX is ignored or non-existent.
- Limited: UX work is rare, occasional, and insignificant.
- Emergent: UX work is functional and promising, but inconsistent and ineffective.
- Structural: The organization applies a semi-systematic UX methodology that is widely disseminated, but with varying levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
- Integrated: UX work is comprehensive, effective, and pervasive.
- User-centered: Engagement in UX at all levels leads to deep insights and exceptional user-centered design outcomes.
Each of these stages represents a different level of implementation of UX in an organization, with stage 1 being the lowest level and stage 6 being the highest.
First Level — Absent
UX is ignored or non-existent.
The company is not aware of what UX involves. They do not understand the values and benefits that it brings. This stage only involves the implementation of new features and does not focus on user needs. UX is not analyzed at this stage and user interfaces are mostly built by the development team without any prior research. At this point, the company should ask itself what it can do to start the transformation. The answer is awareness, of course, it’s often extremely difficult to start a conversation about users because no one in the team has ever focused on user needs before. But remember, every process has to start somewhere.
Second Level — Limited
UX work is rare, occasional, and insignificant.
The company starts to recognize the value of user experience, but it is still not a priority. The focus is on delivering a product that works well, but the understanding of how users interact with the product is limited. Developers start to learn about users and their needs but are not always able to utilize this knowledge. At this level, UX is still considered a “nice-to-have” rather than a requirement. To mitigate the consequences of this lack of focus, having a dedicated UX team or person can help to address user needs. If there is no one responsible for UX, it is likely to be ignored in favor of developing new features or fixing existing ones. To move forward at this stage, start documenting results and recording ideas. This analysis will help you see the before and after effects of a project. Then present this documentation to your colleagues or superiors. This approach will help you present the benefits of UX to the rest of the organization and make it a priority.
Third level — Emergent
UX work is functional and promising, but inconsistent and ineffective.
The third level of maturity is when companies begin to see the true value of the user experience. The organization realizes that it should not rely solely on the perspective of the design team in thinking about what will be useful for customers. UX becomes a key part of the product development process, and programmers closely collaborate with designers and researchers to understand how users interact with the product. This level of maturity requires acceptance of UX throughout the company and a commitment from management that it will be a priority. Without this engagement, it is easy to push UX to the sidelines and lose focus on it. With this engagement, the UX culture begins to be seen as a strategic advantage. At this stage, a design team is also created, and UX begins to be seen as a necessity in improving user interfaces. At this point, organizations must remember that user experience is a process, not a single stage, so all UX elements should be implemented, not skipping any stages.
Fourth level — Structural
The organization applies a semi-systematic UX methodology that is widely disseminated but with varying levels of effectiveness and efficiency.
At level four of user experience maturity, user experience is fully integrated with the company’s culture. UX is no longer an independent support function. At this stage, it is represented by a team led by a UX manager. All aspects of product development are based on user feedback, and every employee understands and contributes to the development of user experiences. This level of maturity requires a lot of effort and time, but as a result, a product is created that meets user needs and exceeds their expectations. At this level, projects are viewed in a business context. All these aspects contribute to a positive user experience.
Fifth level — Integrated
UX work is comprehensive, effective, and pervasive.
On the fifth level of maturity, the user experience becomes invisible. It’s no longer something that needs to be explicitly designed or talked about; it’s just a part of how the product works. This level can only be achieved after years of effort and continuous improvement. The fifth level is the stage where companies have a mature user-centered design process and continue to focus on solving real user problems through research, conceptualization, design, testing, and refinement. At this stage, an iterative design process is implemented. Business understands that good products are built through testing and improvement. At this stage, the goal of UX development should be to convince managers and design team members that user research and user experience are an integral part of their work.
Sixth level — User-centered
Engagement in UX at all levels leads to deep insights and exceptional user-centered design outcomes.
The sixth and final level of maturity is one in which the user experience is obvious. At this stage, companies have mastered the art of creating products that are pleasant to use and provide real value to users. UX design at this stage is a fundamental aspect of the company’s thinking and operations. The entire company uses research to determine the overall direction and set priorities. The organization at the sixth level of maturity provides positive customer experiences by empowering all employees to take responsibility for them. The processes focus on the customer and are constantly analyzed and improved. This allows the company to quickly bring innovative products to market as it can learn and act by the needs of its target customers.
The Summary
As UX approaches mature, organizations go through a rough sequence of stages, starting with an initially hostile attitude and after many years, it may reach a widespread reliance on user research. Why is this division important? Because nothing happens with a magic wand (unless in the world of Harry Potter), the organization needs time and many years of experience to reach the highest levels of the model. As an employee of the organization, this model can help you understand where you are and what change opportunities your company has, which is also very important for your career perspective. In this case, you can choose which level of the organization will be best for you, perhaps working in an institution that is just starting its journey with UX is the perfect challenge for you, think about it.
