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Before you can implement a usability initiative in your organisation, you'll need to convince your manager it's worthwhile. The obvious approach is to use a cost-benefit argument, but experience shows that this approach often fails because many managers find the data unconvincing. A more productive approach is to tailor your argument based on your manager's MBTI personality type.
You're enthusiastic about usability and want to make it happen within your organisation. But your manager doesn't share your enthusiasm. Perhaps your manager sees usability as a diversion from the business of product or software development, or thinks it's too fluffy to truly inform design, or sees it as a threat to his or her expertise. How do you go about changing your manager's mind?
Most people will tell you to assemble a cost-benefit argument for usability. There are many resources on the Web to help you do this, and Randolph Bias and Deborah Mayhew have written an excellent book on the topic. To assemble a cost-benefit argument, you simply take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the middle. On the left you list the expected benefits, such as increased sales, fewer calls to customer service, and increased loyalty. On the right you list all the costs, such as paying participant incentives and renting a usability lab. You then pencil in guesstimates of the cost of each item, trying to be as realistic as possible.
But often, this just isn't enough. I'm a great advocate of cost-benefit calculations and recommend them as a way of institutionalising usability within your company. But as a psychologist, I also realise that changing the company culture is very different from changing a specific individual's opinion. Cost-benefit arguments will work for some people, but they assume a level of engagement with data. People who are detail-averse will listen uncomfortably to your presentation and feel that some underlying concerns haven't been addressed. They might be thinking, "How will this initiative be perceived by my manager?" or "How will the developers react to having users criticising their designs?" or "How will I be able to control something I don't understand?" So I'm proposing a three-step approach that combines using these key arguments with a communication style customised to your manager. The three steps are:
The first step is to review the key benefits of focusing on usability. There are four: higher revenues, loyal customers, improved brand value, and process improvement. Use the following items as a checklist to identify two or three benefits that are most relevant to your product, company, or industry. Then we'll move on to step 2.
The next step is to tailor these benefits to the needs and interests of your manager. When you sell anything — whether it's usability, MP3 players, or automobiles — you need to tailor the benefits to the needs and personality of the person to whom you're selling. People are different in the way that they prefer to be approached, get information, and make decisions; different things "ring their bell." To sell usability to your manager, you must understand your manager's personality.
One well-established personality model is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Based on the personality theories of the respected psychologist Carl Jung, the MBTI is over fifty years old and is administered to over two million people annually. It has been translated into over thirty languages and is the subject of over 9,000 articles.
MBTI starts from the premise that just as many of us have a preference for using our right hand, we also have an inborn preference in the way we behave and react to situations. This doesn't mean that we must always behave in this way, just as I can write with my left hand if my right is injured. It just indicates a natural inclination or preference for certain ways of thinking and behaving. I can behave contrary to my personality type, but it feels odd, as it feels odd if I use my left hand to sign a form.
If you feel uncomfortable being "pigeonholed" by the MBTI, just see it for what it is: simply another instrument to study human behaviour. As such, it is not all that different from usability testing itself: Both are practical tools used to gain insight that might not be otherwise available. Just as usability testing is useful for understanding human-computer interaction, the MBTI is useful for gaining insight into the behaviour of people you work with — and why this sometimes differs from what you would do in the same situation. As Steve Krug has observed about usability testing, "The point of testing is not to prove or disprove something. It's to inform your judgment." Something very similar could be said of the MBTI.
So how should you adapt your argument for usability to your manager's personality? The MBTI personality model is based on four preferences. According to Susan Brock, two of these are especially important when we are trying to persuade others.
Spend a week or so paying extra attention to the way your manager appears to gather information, ask questions, and make decisions; then try to work out his or her preference in each area. Your manager will be one of four possible pairings: ST, SF, NF, or NT. For each pairing, the strategy you use to sell usability is different:
So we've rehearsed some generic benefits for usability, and we have "typed" your manager. Next, we're going to tailor the benefits to turn the arguments for usability from persuasive to compelling. Let's begin with the sensing-thinking manager, because this is the type who will be most persuaded by the traditional cost-benefit arguments.
The sensing-thinking (ST) manager likes to hear about details and facts, so focus on the nitty-gritty of your plan. He or she will want you to go over your plan step by step and will expect to hear why, logically, each step is the best approach. The ST manager will expect you to give an honest appraisal of the benefits of usability and will ask you difficult questions to test your knowledge of facts and details.
To sell usability to ST managers:
Sensing-feeling (SF) managers will also want to focus on the details, but, in contrast to STs, they will be more interested in how the details will affect the people around them. SFs value personal loyalty, so they will expect your usability plan to be tailored to this value.
To sell usability to SF managers:
Intuitive-feeling (NF) managers are less interested in details. They think in terms of the big picture and will want you to focus on the implications of your plan, especially on how it will impact people. NFs are idealists who want to make a difference in the world, so show how your usability plan will do this. Of the four types, NF managers are the ones who will be least convinced by the traditional cost-benefit argument.
To sell usability to NF managers:
Like NFs, intuitive-thinking (NT) managers will want you to focus on the big picture. But in contrast to NFs, NTs are less interested on the impact on people and more interested in the logical options that flow from these big-picture possibilities. NTs will demand that your plan be well thought through and cogently presented; you will need to demonstrate competence and credibility.
To sell usability to NT managers:
I asked a few colleagues to review an early draft of this article, and one of them commented, “Won't this article just teach readers how to manipulate their manager and give them an unfair advantage?” It's certainly true that using an MBTI approach will help you find a spin for your usability initiative that will appeal to your manager. But this is not manipulation. It's simply helping you see the world through your manager's eyes. In fact, it's just like usability: You're not communicating effectively unless you're speaking the right language. Use the steps outlined in this article to craft your message to fit the user — your manager.
Dr. David Travis (@userfocus on Twitter) is a User Experience Strategist. He has worked in the fields of human factors, usability and user experience since 1989 and has published two books on usability. David helps both large firms and start ups connect with their customers and bring business ideas to market. If you like his articles, why not join the thousands of other people taking his free online user experience course?
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Until usability gets embedded in the processes of your company, you'll probably find you need to justify the investment. Fortunately, usability initiatives deliver a major return on investment: it's not unusual for usability projects to return benefits of 5-10 times their cost in the first year alone. A Business Case for Usability.
This article is tagged benefits, careers, strategy, roi, selling usability.
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