Interactions - November/December 2011

resource planning, the UX team
can leverage this advantage and
design products that truly meet
their business users’ needs.
Ux Consultancy

In a consultancy model, UX professionals are not typically co-located with their stakeholder clients, since these stakeholders change from project to project. If software development is contracted to global outsourcing firms, UX may also be outsourced to a different agency. These days many large outsourcing firms, such as TCS and Wipro, also provide in-house UX capability as part of their overall service offering. Moreover, there is a trend for UX consulting firms to emerge in the proximity of large service firms. In either case a significant travel budget is needed to negotiate the project plan and contract with the client as well as execute a typical user-centered design (UCD) product engineering cycle.

Common Recommendations
for All Scenarios
There are a few principles that
apply universally.
Communication fidelity versus
cost. One of the most common
reasons for project failure is not
accounting for communication
costs when allocating global UX
resources. Conference calls are
just not as high fidelity as face-to-
face communication, particularly
in the requirements-gathering
and validation phases, where
observational techniques are
more relevant than interviews.
Out of sight, out of mind. The
importance of project management
and creating visibility in a global
team cannot be overemphasized.
One way to address this issue is to
create a virtual space where the
teams can share their work and
project status. Many tools can be
used for this purpose, but the most
popular at this time appear to be
wikis. Team members can post
links to their designs and invite
feedback from other team mem-
bers and stakeholders. Establishing
a culture of structured virtual
communication can provide the
required transparency to a global
UX team and its stakeholders.

of the UX relationship. This is
particularly true for stakehold-
ers with the corporate authority
to control the product direction
and resource budgets. It is easier
for UX to take a leadership role if
it is co-located in the corporate
or project center of influence.

In summary, as the dimensions identified here indicate, globalization is a complex, multifaceted topic. Our best advice to UX leaders is to analyze their situations based on the six scenarios outlined in this article, and with a clear understanding of their long-term, strategic goals, construct and operationalize their globally distributed team. Addressing the strategic topics identified in these six scenarios first and then focusing on the tactical and operational subtopics will enable the UX function to scale effectively as the team and business mission mature.

endnotes:
1. SAP Stream Work ( www.streamwork.com) is a
cloud-based collaboration tool that supports
decision making.
2. Kumar, J., Rosenberg, D., Hoffmann, P.,
and Arent, M. Designing international enter-
prise software. Proc. of the Symposium on
Human Interface 2009. Springer-Verlag, Berlin,
Heidelberg, 2009; http://www.springerlink.com/
content/76728332051gk387/

About the Authors
Daniel Rosenberg is a senior vice
president for user experience at
SAP, the world’s largest enter-
prise applications software com-
pany. Prior to joining SAP he was
vice president of R&D for UI
Janaki Kumar is the senior direc-
tor for user experience for SAP’s
cloud-based CRM applications
and Sustainability product suite,
which include mobile and desk-
top interfaces. She specializes in
designing business software for a
variety of enterprise domains. She has extensive
experience working with and leading globally dis-
tributed teams located in India, China, the U.S.,
and Germany.