User experience: influencing customer decisions

In the last lecture, we discussed about the user experience (UX). According to Wikipedia, it involves a person's behaviors, attitudes, and emotions about using a particular product, system or service. The last three words of this definition mean that UX is not only applied to software development, but also to any product. Anyway, we are going to focus on this term from the point of view of software engineering.

Based on my previous experience as a freelance web designer, I had the opportunity of dealing with several customers and different projects. In general, I noticed that most of the customers get carried away by my recommendations, especially in terms of design and style (always respecting the corporate identity). It is very important to identify as quick as possible if our clients have a clear idea about what they want when you face a software project. It requires attention to detail, and some experience in client meetings. Furthermore, you also need to display strong communications skills, because most of the UX is not so much about applying the right methodologies or being an outstanding designer, it is more about properly communication with your customer. Regarding this fact, I think that the main goal is to know how to persuade or influence your client in some way that involves taking significant decisions or making changes based on your own recommendations. It may sound "unethical", but is the way followed by many UX engineers  (whenever possible) to get the best results, and I can confirm that it works with most of the customers. It seems like they feel more confident when they get advice from a professional who is used to work/design similar things (such as a website, software, hardware, etc).

In addition, it is always a good practice letting external users be part of the project somehow. They should be familiar with the technology you are working on, but only in terms on usability if possible. This practice is widely used during the test stage (also called "beta testers"), but I think that external users can collaborate with the project almost from the beginning. For example, they may give their point of view about the story board (design stage), because they actually do not need experience or skills in software development. Following this approach you can get quick benefits based on their UX, because it is very common that designers and programmers overlook certain mistakes or improvements that could be easily fixed. That is the reason why a "third party point of view" may be so interesting particularly in software development.