The Cost of Winning

How are city contracts won?

Cities put out Requests for Proposals (RFPs) for various needs ranging from construction to software to food. Vendors, third party private sector companies, reply with reasons why the city should choose them. These responses can be hundreds of pages long because they include:

• Cover letter

• Resumes of the entire project team

• Timeline and approach

• Insurance certificates

• Budget proposal

• Product and technical details

• References of past projects

• Legal paperwork

• And many more

This document might need to be officially notarized, or physically dropped off in a box, or submitted in separate pieces to separate departments. If your response passes the first stage, there can be multiple rounds of review and delay.

What is the Cost of Winning?

Jared Spool, Co-Founder of UIE asks, “What was the most important thing you learned yesterday, and how will it impact what you do in the future?”

As designers and researchers, we essentially always need to think about how we design products for the future, even as we’re meeting the demands of present day design. A tall order, especially when things move as fast as they have been over the last decade.

To start, Jared advocates for looking back at the ways in which our design processes have already changed.

Remember when UX/UI wasn't a priority for many companies? As a consultant during a time when the Internet had yet to hit mass market appeal, Jared was able to steer many companies into a mindset that considered the user experience of a product.

But this also lets us gain input into how UX and UI has looked over the years, which might give us a better idea of what these concepts will look like moving forward. Jared describes a term called "The UX Tipping Point", with great actionable steps on how to get there.

In the past, designers had to fight for a seat at the table. If today you’re not starting from a place of advocating for user experience (like they were 10 years ago), they’re likely not starting at that tipping point. As a result, designers still have to ensure that the role of UX matures within the company, as well as the understanding of what makes UX important. When an organization hits the last stage, and fully embraces UX design from everything the company does, they fully hit The UX Tipping Point.