Our hearts beat for people: UX research in agile contexts.

Our hearts beat for people
UX research in agile contexts
Johanna Kollmann- @johannakoll
Agile UX & ResearchThingMeeupt, 24 August 2011
Photo by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center http://www.flickr.com/photos/28634332@N05/4864418222/

Research is the first thing to get compromised.
Photo byKristina Alexanderson http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/5421517469/

(Some) research methods
Quantitative
Qualitative
Contextual inquiry
Mental models
Interviews
Diary studies
Surveys
Interviews
Generative
Usability testing
Moderated card sort
Wizard of Oz
Automated card sort
Surveys
Automated studies
Analytics
A/B Testing
Multi-variant testing
Evaluative
Adapted from figures by Janice Fraser, Nate Bolt, Christian Rohrer

Magic bullets?
Photo byEd Schipul http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/4160817135/

Working ahead & ‘sprint zero’
‘Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product’, Lynn Miller (2005)

Make it a habit
‘5 Users every Friday’(case study by Tom Illmensee and Alyson Muff)
UX research as the bottleneck
Solution: get research into the natural rhythm of the Scrum teams

A busy week!
Plan
(Tuesday/Wednesday)
Recommend
(Monday/Tuesday)
Prepare
(Wednesday/Thursday)
Analysis
(Friday/Monday)
Test
(Friday!)

‘5 Users every Friday’ (case study by Tom Illmensee and Alyson Muff)
Collaborate on the research goals with the team
Simple template
Generative AND evaluative
Recruiting participants way in advance
Low-cost ‘lab’: a meeting room with observers sitting around the table
Grabbing people in the wild
Low-fi reporting

How it works at TheLadders.com
Every other week (2 weeks sprints)
Use whatever is ready
Limited to maximum of 3 participants
Validate and iterate

How many people do you need to see bumping their head?
Photo bySteve Clark http://www.flickr.com/photos/askclark/3698813123/

So what about personas?
Persona and Empathy Map: Design Jam London 3.
Team: Alison, Tarun, Jill, Venu and Mariana
http://djlon0304.tumblr.com/page/2

Story mapping as research activity
Photo by Anders Ramsay, http://bit.ly/hlHgZd
‘Pair interviewing’
Outcome: feature cards
Details on Anders Ramsay’s blog:http://bit.ly/hlHgZd

Top tips 2007 - 2011
Prototype! Prototype! Prototype!
State your hypothesis – what do you want to find out or validate?
Combine generative + iterative
Triangulate and consider remote methods
Recruiting is a b*tch
Involve the team
Do it RITE
Practice, learn and iterate

Steve Blank, The Four Steps to the Epiphany

A selection of resources
‘Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product’, Lynn Miller (2005)
‘5 Users every Friday’, Tom Illmensee and Alyson Muff, Agile 2009 Proceedings
‘Paired Interviews – applying pair programming thinking to user research’, Anders Ramsay,http://bit.ly/hlHgZd
‘Beyond Staggered Sprints: Integrating User Experience and Agile’, Jeff Gothelf, http://slidesha.re/9Pq3qb
‘Designing the user experience in an agile context’, Johanna Kollmann, http://bit.ly/p3NmWI

Thank you
All the practitioners who share their learnings.
The Balanced Team. Desiree Sy. Jeff Patton. Anders Ramsay. Jeff Gothelf & Will Evans. Tom Ilmensee.
Jeff Van Campen for organising this event with me, and Fortune Cookie for hosting and sponsoring.

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Our hearts beat for people: UX research in agile contexts.

by johanna kollmann

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Our hearts beat for people: UX research in agile contexts. Presentation Transcript