UX Strategy

Chapter 10. Strategists in the Wild

Gotta stop drifting around

Kill this ugly duckling

We’ve got the power

And must not misuse it

Cuz life is short and full of thought

I use the power.

—THE FALL (1979)

UNTIL RECENTLY, THERE HAVE BEEN FEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR PEOPLE who practice some flavor of UX strategy to huddle together and compare notes. For this reason, I decided to hunt down some of these strategists in the wild to interview for this book. They range from business strategists to design executives and have worked on everything from shoestring to big-budget projects. My goal was for them to share their perspectives and techniques even if their strategic practices were different from my own. They were all asked the same 10 questions. Here is what they had to say.

Holly North

Born: Cuckfield, England

Currently resides: London, England

Education: BA in Sociology from the University of Sussex (England)

Figure 10-1. Holly North

1. How did you become a strategist and/or get into doing strategy as part of your work?

Well, I started out in television, working on the production side, and I think it was around the mid-’90s when I began hearing conversations about email and “the Web” but it wasn’t until I saw a web address on an ad in the London Underground that I thought things were really beginning to shift. I wanted to understand these new digital channels better so I made the jump to digital or “multimedia” ...