User Experience on projects: how late is too late?
A common complaint from UX professionals is that they are involved too late in the project lifecycle. The stage when UX resources are involved will determine what they can do for the project, and in turn, the impact they can have. While it is best to involve UX from the beginning, in reality that does not always happen. How early is early enough, and how late is too late? Looking back, I have typically seen our team involved in one of five stages: