I think one of the hardest parts of explaining the User Experience process is how it fits within into the complete software development life cycle, especially in a consulting environment.

Clients want to know how to limit costs, developers want to know when they’re going to get in documentation, and your boss wants to know what you can bill for (remember, wireframes are deliverables). Some of the process is very new for developers that have been working in software for a while. Or, as one CTO said to me, “You know, you guys changed the process on me.” And he had worked in an agency environment. And I had just recently worked with a couple of agencies that know they needed to start paying attention to it, but didn’t know where to start.

This is a document I developed at my previous company to explain the User Experience process not only to clients, but internally within the consultancy, and it helped greatly show that we were following some kind of process (Well, I tried to, but you know how that goes on some projects).

I included where sales came in, to further illustrate the point that User Experience extends even into the sales process because a good Information Architect or Creative Director can sell the concept, and a final review with the developers, to fix issues that came up. A lot of consulting engagements lend themselves to a waterfall process because of fixed costs, so that’s what this is modelled around.

What’s the process you follow at your company?