User Experience Guru

Description

The User Experience Guru must define the user experience for each
product during pre-production. This must be done in two separate but
equal ways. The first is by creating thorough documentation, both
written and audio-visual, that specifies the intent of the user
experience, without micromanaging or stifling the innovation of the
various teams that must create the content, features and assets. The
second is through constant personal leadership of the pre-production
process, meeting individually and in small groups with the people who
will build the product to assure their understanding of the vision.

The User Experience Guru must also carefully monitor the user
experience for each product during the production process. This must be
done through constant attention to both the people making the product,
and the process used to make the product. The User Experience Guru must
maintain a close understanding of the evolving product by attending all
significant product meetings, as well as by personally using each major
build as it is internally released.

The User Experience Guru must finally protect the user experience for
each product during the post-production process. This must be done by
continuous monitoring of the bug reports as the product is tested, and
active participation in the bug triage meetings with other members of
the product team. As soon as is practicable, each product should have
at least one formal User Test, run by and with the results championed
by the User Experience Guru.

The User Experience Guru must be involved in user evaluations and
reviews, in the course of iterative evaluation and review of the
product. He or she must review feedback from early users and identify
issues that may require revision of the user experience. This often
involves prioritizing feature requests, and determining which are
critical to address, which are desirable but not essential, and which
should be addressed in a different way. Any revisions must be
reconciled with previous expectations.

The User Experience Guru will, through constant advocacy of the user,
often request alteration and rework of tasks from every department. It
is the User Experience Guru's responsibility to assure that these
changes are clearly grounded in previous expectations, explicit product
goals, or generally accepted practice; failure to do so may result in
unnecessary friction with other team members. Similarly, the User
Experience Guru must work with an understanding of the resources and
time available to each product, and therefore advocate for change and
improvement within those bounds. The Product Manager for each product,
not the User Experience Guru, is the final arbiter of all conflicts for
that product.

The User Experience Guru must belong to no particular department, and
should have no direct reports. It functions entirely at the product
level, not the company level.