Business Strategy talks

Business strategy is the set of choices a company makes about where to compete and how to win: which customers to serve, what to offer them and what makes that offer better than alternatives. It shapes which products get built and how success is measured.

For UX and product designers, understanding business strategy is what turns design from a service function into a contributor to decisions. Designers who can connect user needs to business goals are better placed to argue for the right work, prioritise well and show the value of good experience.

The talks here, recorded between 2007 and 2015, connect design and business. Jared Spool’s UX Strategy Means Business and Andy Budd’s Design as a Competitive Advantage (Mind the Product, 2013) make the case for design as a business asset. Des Traynor covers product strategy in a growing company (Mind the Product, 2014), and Jason Fried and Scott Heiferman talk about building businesses that last (99U Conference, 2014). Paul Boag’s Digital Adaptation: Time To Untie Your Hands (Smashing Conference, 2014), Frans Johansson’s The Secret Truth About Executing Great Ideas (99U Conference, 2012) and David Pogue’s TED talk Simplicity sells (2007) complete the collection, alongside the competitive advantage sub-topic.