Assessing the health of a forest by examining a single tree would obviously be misguided –yet for many complex tasks that involve using a patchwork of apps and web sites to complete a goal, we tend to do just that: evaluate the experience based on sentiment for individual applications (via NPS, UMUX, etc.). In this talk, we will describe a User Experience Index (UXI) we have developed to assess and track task “friction” end-to-end, across applications in a large-scale IT workplace. The UXI is derived by comparing existing task complexity to an “ideal” user experience for that task, recognizing that some tasks are inherently simpler and others more complex. This approach forms a basis for UX prioritization, serves as a metric to demonstrate ROI for UX activities and assists with cross-team cooperation, ensuring a “big picture” view of how each app or site fits into the user journey.

Jon Temple, PhD

Jon is a Design Principal in CIO Design. He recently celebrated his 25th-anniversary at IBM, a quarter century of user-centered design, UX research, human factors, and cognitive psychological research. He received his AB from Vassar College in Psychology, his MA and Ph.D. at the University of Cincinnati in Experimental Psychology and has completed postdocs in HCI and human factors. These days Jon splits his time between projects,mentoring, advocacy for end-to-end friction analysis, and chairing the IBM Spark Design Festival. In his spare time, he practices Karate (2nd-degree black belt), brews beer, and writes truly awful science fiction stories.

Annette Tassone, PhD

Annette is a UX Research Director at IBM CIO Design, leading craft and quality of research that informs product design, planning, and strategy. She is also the program manager of the enterprise-wide Voice of the Employee program (VotE). With over 20 years of experience in UX research and design, Annette has a wealth of knowledge in research methodology and operations, NPS research, and building tools that support research and analysis. She holds a MS and PhD in Applied Psychology from Stevens Institute of Technology.