Why couldn’t Tebow make it as a pro?
As a professional, Tebow kept playing his college game
Professionals run plays from a professional’s playbook
Professionals Who Use Software 
Dentist 
Investor/ 
Trader 
Database 
Administrator 
Computer 
Animator 
Administrative 
Assistant 
Business 
Analyst 
Chemical 
Engineer 
Airline Crew 
Scheduler 
Cashier 
Geek 
Squad 
Teacher 
Customer Service 
Representative 
Architect 
Recording 
Artist 
Domain Expertise 
Digital Literacy
The Consumer-to-Professional Software Matrix 
Digital Literacy 
Domain Expertise
What we know about professionals 
• Many work 40-80 hrs/week 
• They spend a majority of their work hours 
using one primary software tool 
• They are highly trained/experienced 
• Some are self-employed, so earnings are 
tied directly to productivity 
• “Easy” means faster, fewer steps, less 
effort, less friction, greater efficiency, and 
better results 
• The stakes are often high; data has to be 
accurate, and decisions have to be right 
• They tend to resist change but are open to 
it if productivity improves; most have no 
say in the matter
Professionals run plays from a professional’s playbook
The Consumer UX Playbook says… 
X 
X 
X 
X X X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
O O 
O 
O 
O O 
O 
O 
O O 
O
Don’t Make Me Think 
X 
X 
X 
X X X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
O O 
O 
O 
O O 
O 
O 
O O 
O
Provide Consistency 
X 
X 
X 
X X X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
X 
O O O O O O O O O O 
O
Remove the Obstacles 
O O O O O O O O O O 
O
Reduce the Clutter 
O
Simplify the Workflow 
O
Great for consumers. Not for the pros.
Welcome to the pros, kid! 
Here’s your new playbook
Strong Blitz 
#1. 
Build Domain 
Knowledge 
…FAST
Based on these indicators, we 
want to buy to open FB, 
August, 30-35, strangle five 
times 
Yes…uh 
huh…right. 
Blah, blah, 
blah…strangle 
someone, 
Blah, blah….
Man-to-Man Coverage 
#2. 
Watch 
Professionals 
Work
Collaboration 
Decision making 
Data flow 
Inefficiencies 
Human factors
Two Point Conversion 
#3. 
Convert 
solution ideas 
into problems, 
then solve the 
real problem
Be skeptical of solution ideas from professionals
Compliments of Yan Xiao, PhD & C. Probst, PhD: Human Factors @ 
Baylor Scott&White Health - presentation to the SHARPC working group on 3.25.14
Up the Middle 
#4. 
Efficiency 
Trumps Easy
Professionals wouldn’t 
use this even if you 
gave it to them.
Double Coverage 
#5. 
Reuse 
Screen 
Real Estate
Multiple windows 
Docking frameworks 
Tabs & accordions 
Collapsing panels 
Contextual controls 
Data density
Zone Coverage 
#6. 
Design for 
Effective 
Collaboration
Hey, let me know 
when you’ve completed 
Real-time updates that Genome sequence 
Check in/out 
Versioning 
Lock-out
Locking
Screen Pass 
#7. 
. 
Visualize Data
Charts/Graphs 
Interactives 
Skeuomophism 
Dashboards 
Blunders
Aptitude
Wing Formation 
#8. 
Get Real 
with Testing
Onsite 
Online 
In the Lab 
Real users 
Real data 
Real contexts
Half-time Report
Domain Knowledge Blindness 
Rookie Mistake #1
“Don’t Make Me Think” 
Rookie Mistake #2
‘For people doing a job, 
maybe the software 
doesn’t need to be dead 
simple. There is delight 
in mastering something 
complicated.’ 
Jeremy Johnson 
Yesterday 
(paraphrased) photo credit: @juliehudspeth
”Journey Mapping” 
Rookie Mistake #3
Crane operator journey map 
“Sigh” “Sigh” “Sigh” 
Come to work 
Lift heavy 
objects 
“Yay!” 
Move them Go home
Are we really designing 
experiences?
A high-level overview of airline crew management
”Mobile First” 
Rookie Mistake #4
Some professionals are mobile Others…not so much
Microinteractions 
Rookie Mistake #5
UX and Value Engineering 
$20 K 
Mass Market App 
Features: 15 
Total budget: $1 mil 
Time to market: 9 mo. 
Cost per feature: $40K 
Days per feature: 12 
Professional Software 
Features: 400 
Total budget: $6 mil 
Time to market: 2 yrs. 
Cost per feature: $15K 
Days per feature: 1.2
Attractive Things Work Better 
Rookie Mistake #6
“Designs intended for stressful 
situations have to pay special 
attention to matching the needs of 
the users, to making appropriate 
actions salient and easy to apply.”
Guerilla User Testing 
Rookie Mistake #7
Where would you 
click to see the range of 
proton-antiproton energies 
during the deceleration 
cycle? 
CERN testing in-the-wild at the Geneva Starbucks
Post-Game Recap
What’s In Your Playbook? 
DesignForPros.com 
@design4pros
Vote for us at SXSW 2015 
panelpicker.sxsw.com

Design for Professionals - Big (D)esign Conference 2014

Editor's Notes

  • #6 [play video] We’re in Texas, so I probably don’t need to explain the rules of football. But if you’re not familiar with the game, he was running the wrong way. That’s the longest recorded sack in NFL history. Yes, I’m being selective again. Certainly, Tebow had some successful moments in the NFL and this was not a successful moment.
  • #27 [Ben]