I’ve recently been learning about an approach to marketing and product management strategy called ‘Jobs to be done’. It seems an excellent way to bring business and user goals into alignment, and one to explore further in our thinking about product development.

I’m in the middle of reading the new book by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden: Sense and Respond. I’ve finding it pretty inspirational and yesterday at our Web Publishers Community session a short webinar on the topic prompted some interesting conversation.

I’ve been accepted as a contributor at this year’s UX Scotland conference, happening at Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh from 7 to 9 June 2017.

A programme of projects centered around user experience (UX) are now up and running, providing new processes, services and training to key University-wide initiatives.

Last week I supported colleague Ross Ward, part of our Educational Design & Engagement team, in running a session that introduced UX concepts to students, and enabled him to explore new opportunities for technology-enhanced learning.

We now have two members of staff who are specialists in user experience design and strategy working on the Digital Transformation Initiative-funded UX Services projects.

We’re creating an online version of our popular Writing for the Web course, and are looking for volunteers to help test it, and name it.

I recently re-ran a usability study for the IS (Information Services) Helpline which I had first conducted back in June. The results, though far from perfect, are encouraging enough to reaffirm our conviction in the value of repeat usability testing.

In recent months I’ve been investigating the Kano model, which is a way to plan and prioritise features of a product to better meet user expectations. After discussing with the team, we decided to try it out through the planning process for some upcoming EdWeb CMS features.

Join us for another open invite usability testing review workshop, which is showcasing our work with IS Helpline to enhance the online student experience. You’ll see how we’ve improved the website support experience based on our last round of testing, and learn how to run the process for yourself.