How do you make sure your UX goals and deliverables match the project scope and timeline? (2024)

Before you start any UX work, you need to define what you want to achieve and what you need to produce. Your UX goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), and aligned with the project objectives and the user needs. Your UX deliverables should be clear, concise, and consistent, and include the appropriate level of detail and fidelity for the project stage and the stakeholders. Some examples of UX deliverables are user research reports, personas, user journeys, wireframes, prototypes, and usability testing results.

Once you have your UX goals and deliverables, you need to estimate how much time, money, and people you need to complete them. You can use various methods and tools to estimate your UX effort and resources, such as historical data, expert judgment, analogy, bottom-up, top-down, or parametric estimation. You should also consider the complexity, uncertainty, and risk of the project, and add some contingency or buffer time to account for possible changes or issues. You should document your assumptions and constraints, and communicate them to your team and stakeholders.

After you have your UX effort and resources, you need to plan how you will execute your UX work and when you will deliver your UX outcomes. You can use a UX project plan template or a project management software to create a schedule of your UX activities and milestones, and assign roles and responsibilities to your team members. You should also define the scope, quality, and acceptance criteria of your UX deliverables, and how you will measure and report your UX progress and performance. You should review and update your UX plan regularly, and communicate any changes or issues to your team and stakeholders.

During your UX work, you need to collaborate with your team and stakeholders to ensure that your UX goals and deliverables match the project scope and timeline. You can use various collaboration tools and techniques to share your UX work, collect feedback, resolve conflicts, and make decisions. Some examples of collaboration tools and techniques are online platforms, shared documents, design reviews, design sprints, co-design workshops, and agile methods. You should also establish clear and frequent communication channels with your team and stakeholders, and use appropriate communication styles and formats for different audiences and purposes.

As your UX work progresses, you may encounter changes and challenges that affect your UX goals and deliverables, such as new requirements, feedback, constraints, or issues. You need to be flexible and adaptable to cope with these changes and challenges, and adjust your UX work accordingly. You can use various methods and tools to manage changes and challenges, such as change requests, impact analysis, risk management, issue tracking, and problem-solving. You should also document and communicate the changes and challenges, and their implications for your UX work, to your team and stakeholders.

At the end of your UX work, you need to deliver your UX outcomes and value to your team and stakeholders, and demonstrate how your UX goals and deliverables match the project scope and timeline. You can use various methods and tools to deliver your UX outcomes and value, such as presentations, reports, demos, case studies, or portfolios. You should also evaluate your UX work, and collect feedback, data, and metrics to measure your UX impact and effectiveness. You should also celebrate your UX achievements, and share your UX learnings and insights with your team and stakeholders.

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

User Experience

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