Implementing User-Centric Content Platforms

I came across this story on a podcast recently and I really liked its implications for today. Back in the 80s, Ritz-Carlton gave every employee the authority to spend up to $2,000 to solve a guest problem on the spot. It wasn’t about the money. It was about building a system that trusted the people closest to the guest to act. That for me is the prerequisite for true user-centric innovation. So naturally, it made me think: what would that look like in digital product development? UX/Product debt piles up because fixes sit in a backlog waiting for air-time. Teams see the problems firsthand, but the system doesn’t empower them to act. We all notice things that would make a real difference, but then have to burn extra energy lobbying for them to be addressed. So here’s a thought: what if digital product companies built a structured mechanism for it? It can be something along the lines of: • A standing “tiger team” with bandwidth dedicated to tackling UX debt and low-hanging usability wins each sprint • An empowerment budget, not in dollars, but in time & resources, for engineers, designers, and researchers to act when they see an issue • A facilitation loop so friction gets surfaced directly, and the tiger team has the mandate to move fast instead of waiting for quarterly prioritization • Recognition and incentives for those who catch and resolve issues that protect or improve the user experience. This isn’t chaos. It’s designing for agility alongside the long-term product roadmap. This isn‘t a system that just allows fixes. It actively makes space for them and takes it a step further in creating an incentivised system around it. That’s how you combine the power of the entire org and empowering every user-facing node within to reduce UX debt, keep products sharp, and drive user-centric innovation. And funny enough, I was thinking of all of this while looking at the Istanbul skyline and the Ritz-Carlton from a balcony. It‘s a gargantuan block of glass and concrete that completely taints the city’s skyline in one of its most beautiful spots. That might be a good spot for the immediate customers, but definitely not responsible or user-centric in the broader sense. It made me wish we applied the same mindset not just to our own users, but to the broader ecosystem we operate in, whether that’s a city, a community, or an industry. Because sometimes the silhouette you damage isn’t just a product, it’s the whole skyline, see for yourselves in the photo.

I won't get tired of repeating that technology is developed by humans for humans. Thus, a big part of our cooperation with clients at Viseven is devoted to studying users' personas and identifying users' outcomes and benefits. • What types (personas) of users and customers should you focus on first? (Hint: Who buys your product or service? Who uses it? Who configures it?) • Why would your users seek out your product or service? • What benefit would they gain from using it? • What behavior change can we observe that tells us they've achieved their goal? Focusing on these questions not only shapes the direction for us as a vendor to move in but also determines the solutions we eventually implement and the business outcomes we measure. For example, when implementing a content authoring tool for one of our clients, we worked out the following personas: Internal Content Creators (marketer, scientific communication manager (Medical), patient support content manager); Production Partners (Developer, QC Analyst); Approvers; Production “Proof” Reviewer; Creative agencies; Marketing Operations; Tagging Manager. Obviously, all the personas had different final outcomes and benefits: • Content creators will be able to create new content more efficiently and rapidly leveraging pre-existing templates, text elements, or modules • Reviewers/Approvers will be able to see the in-channel/dynamic version during the approval step, gaining confidence that the creative and production/functional files are the same • Production partners will be able to use a single tool • Production “Proof” Reviewers might not need to review the “proof” anymore since the platform will warranty that the 2 versions are the same • Creative agencies will be able to leverage elements from the Master Design System, helping them increase and maintain brand consistency • Marketing Operations will be able to automate modular content assembly in a much more efficient way Having this final picture in mind, helped us build several hypotheses, list product and feature ideas, and deliver an MVP. What do you think of such an approach?

Design is evolving. Design is embedded within organizations, albeit at a surface level. Tools like Figma, Canva, and Miro have made design accessible to everyone and integrated it into everyday work. However, teams struggle to create business value with design, scale impact, and effectively support other teams. The concentration of design value has been watered down. Some might point to a need for more design accountability as the issue. That’s why we built Helio—to bring UX metrics closer to the design work. But there’s a larger shift happening. As teams embrace measurement, they must focus on directly understanding customer needs. This won’t happen through design systems or tinkering with layouts. It requires involving people in the design process and aligning the business with user needs. Bridging this gap requires: User-centric metrics ↳ Shift from internal performance metrics to UX metrics that directly reflect customer satisfaction, ease of use, and engagement. Involve users early and often in the design process to understand their needs, preferences, and pain points. Iteration and continuous feedback ↳ Create regular touchpoints for collecting and implementing user feedback to refine and improve the product. Encourage a mindset of constant improvement, adapting designs based on user insights and shifting business objectives. Transparent collaboration ↳ Align teams across groups, such as marketing, product, and design, to work toward common customer-centered goals with user signals. Make design decisions visible across the organization, showing their impact on customer experience. Direct user advocacy ↳ Advocate for user needs in business strategy and product development to ensure that customers and usability are prioritized. Design products that are inclusive and accessible to a diverse range of users, building trust and expanding user reach. The old approach tried to add user needs into the build process afterward, but that didn’t work. The new approach is to build teams and processes around customer needs—meeting them where they are and supporting how they get things done. #productdesign #productdiscovery #userresearch #uxresearch

Understanding and integrating user needs is crucial for creating products that truly resonate. At Google, we've shifted from tech-focused solutions to strategies that prioritize user-centricity. Here’s a 5-step framework for enhancing user-centricity in product development: 1. Focus on What Matters to Users Instead of getting caught up in the tech, learn to focus on user-driven product development. By focusing on the most critical user journeys, which involve understanding the users’ main goals and the tasks they perform to achieve those goals, make sure your products are not only innovative but deeply aligned with what users actually need. This helps avoiding the pitfall of designing based on your company structure or technological capabilities alone. 2. Aim for Impact, Not Features "We're not just creating features, we're creating memories." This philosophy reminds you to focus on user goals rather than just technical features. For example, in Google Photos, a goal isn't just to share photos, but to enable users to share memories with family and friends. Having a goal-oriented approach leads to solutions that resonate on a personal level. 3. Engage and Validate User research isn’t just about understanding users, it's also about continuously testing your assumptions against their feedback. By improving critical user journeys, you make sure development work is on target and effective. This continuous interaction helps you to stay aligned with what users expect and adapt to their changing needs. 4. Understand Every Step User actions are complex. It's not just about task completion but understanding each step of their journey to optimize efficiency and satisfaction. For example, analyze user behavior through 'action flows' to see how tasks are completed, identifying any potential inefficiencies along the way. This analysis helps you to refine user interactions for maximum clarity and ease of use. 5. Measure What You Do Metrics like “CUJ happiness” and “Task success” help to quantitatively measure user satisfaction and task efficiency. These metrics, based on surveys and product interactions, give you real-time feedback on specific user journeys. By measuring satisfaction and task success directly linked to specific actions, you can make informed decisions that significantly enhance the user experience. To watch the talk where I shared about 'Unlocking the Secrets of UX,' please visit this YouTube link: https://lnkd.in/dTG4fqdZ

Do you sometimes feel frustration, as you are building a product to get the management off your back, rather than address the users? Here are 6 ways to become user-centric again: 1) Prioritize in a transparent way This is a great place to start. If your backlog is prioritized based on data and potential opportunity, risk, and cost, it will be easier to put forth user-centric initiatives ahead of those that came from upstairs. At the very least, you will have a good basis for an educated discussion. 2) Utilize users' perspective using user stories and personas If your team understands the users and their problems, it will be easier to craft something great that will later appeal to the same users. Just keep up the empathy of creating something by people for other people, and not get some metric magically go up! 3) Make user feedback public If everyone in the company can see the themes that come from user feedback, it will be way harder to ignore it in favor of some corporate nonsense. Let those voices be heard by everyone! 4) Have the NPS and user ratings at the forefront The same goes for a single metric representing the general product sentiment. If the number is low or, worse, is going down and everyone can see that, the responsible Product Manager has to react. 5) Focus on your product goals Now, upstairs mandates might not be the only distraction you face when trying to improve your product. To survive them all, focus on one thing: your product goals. This will allow you to demonstrate you are doing what you are asked for and you can use user feedback and points 1-4 to pursue those goals. Thus, it's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. However, you can also simply: 6) Have the confidence to say "No" Not all company/legal/management requests can be ignored. Sometimes changing the law or a wider company initiative will require you to comply and that is OK! However, there will also be times when someone will try to force your compliance. This is where you need to be confident, and exercise your Product Manager's independence, especially when there is no data to support a specific request. There you go! My 6 ways you can become a user-centric Product Manager. How about you? Do you address your users or your management first and foremost when developing your product? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #usercentricity

While auditing content for an Entrepreneurship course at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture I discovered a secret. The secret to enhanced user-centric innovation: We often get "stuck" with what we're taught, and this sometimes affects how we think. We all learn about Design Thinking as a standalone tool, but there's MUCH MORE to it. Integrating Design Thinking, Lean UX, and Agile methodologies creates a powerful framework for driving user-centric innovation. Here's how it works: → Design Thinking: for deep empathy and problem definition → Lean UX: for rapid prototyping and validation → Agile: for iterative development and delivery ... And what happens when each is missing? • Without Design Thinking = "Misunderstanding" • Without Lean UX = "Wasted Effort" • Without Agile = "Stagnation" Combining these methodologies offers a holistic approach. Concept Exploration + Iterative Experimentation = Needs-and-Pain-point Discovery The initial stages emphasize brainstorming and prioritizing insights, leading to hypothesis formation that guides subsequent experiments. Continuous experimentation allows for the revision of hypotheses based on real user feedback, creating a dynamic loop of learning and adaptation. Here's how to integrate them: 1/ Design Thinking: Start with empathy. Understand your users deeply before defining the problem. 2/ Lean UX: Prototype quickly. Validate your ideas with real users early and often. 3/ Agile: Iterate. Develop in short cycles and adapt based on feedback. As teams build and explore new ideas, they foster collaboration across disciplines, leveraging diverse perspectives to refine solutions. This integrated framework not only enhances the customer experience but also drives sustainable growth. This helps founders ensure they remain competitive and relevant in their respective industries. George Dr. Kelsey Burton Yenni 👀 LESSGO!

Your product is not what you think it is!!! Paul Graham makes a compelling point in his essay: in many of the most valuable online platforms, the real product is the users; not the software, not the features, not even the content. It's the people. Think about it: ~ People go to LinkedIn not just for the interface, but for the professionals they can learn from. ~ Airbnb’s value lies not just in listings, but in the hosts and guests. ~ Reddit thrives because of its communities, not just its design. The posts, listings, and discussions all the content people come for are created by users. So when you're building or scaling a user-driven platform, your biggest lever isn't just features or marketing. It’s the kind of people you attract. If you're building a product where users create value, focus just as much on who your users are as what your product does. Because in the end, the user is the content.