The importance of identity and vision to UX designers on agile projects

Agile 2009 Johanna Kollmann, Helen Sharp & Ann Blandford The importance of identity and vision to UX designers on agile projects

@johannakoll

Introduction Research method Results & Analysis Conclusion

Waterfall doesn‘t work for me. http://www.flickr.com/photos/shadphotos/1312528502/

Agile & UX - a perfect match? http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurenbennett/3819786633/

Methods & techniques  Working ahead  Using lightweight tools  Adapting agile methods

Integrating communities  UX designers as active participants  Risks and opportunities of collaboration

So how do they play it? http://www.flickr.com/photos/euan_forrester/2322625115/

Qualitative approach  Interviews  Contextual observation

Interview outline  Understanding of agile  Methods & tools  End user involvement  Collaboration & work environment

Interview participants in-house freelance digital agency UX consultancy

Observations  One interaction designer  In-house team  Explore and revise interview analysis

Results & Analysis  Interview analysis  Observation insights  Discussion

Identity http://www.flickr.com/photos/sozesoze/320117614/

An agile mindset  Agile is a way of thinking

“ I guess my first impression of agile was that it's a framework, but it definitely affects your way of thinking , in a kind of philosophical sense in some respect....

“ ...so that the way that we approach tasks or problems or things within the brief are fundamentally different from how we would approach them in a waterfall manner.” – P4

An agile mindset  A way of thinking  Flexibility and sufficiency

“ I don't ever believe in the right products, it's never gonna be right . I think that sits at the core of agile mentality. Which is actually good in some ways, but it's kind of counter-intuitive design mentality .” - P8

An agile mindset  A way of thinking  Flexibility and sufficiency  The smarter approach

“ It's very important for us as UX designers and creatives to be able to talk and feedback and find better ways to work with developers, because that's inherently the problem. ” – P6

Roles & responsibilities  Communication hub

Roles & responsibilities  Communication hub  Blending of roles

“ It's blending it all together. Equally developers need to be more skilled at design. As not to say they should do design, I should do code, but we need to be able to speak each others language . ” – P2

Roles & responsibilities  Communication hub  Blending of roles  End user advocate

“ Essentially I was advocate for the user (...) I was an advisor, a sort of a consultant within the team on UX issues. ” – P5

Vision http://www.flickr.com/photos/nadavdov/2228281013/

“ It’s not only about understanding users, but also about understanding clients: If you don't get your foundation right, it's dangerous.” - P6

Participants found it challenging to establish, evaluate and develop the UX vision

Interim sprint zeros: “ (...) time to make sure that we are happy from a user perspective, that things are getting done in the right way and everything's prioritised correctly”. - P4

The risk of losing the UX vision was named as a big disadvantage of agile

Pro: agile facilitates communicating and protecting the UX vision.

Integrating the end user perspective http://www.flickr.com/photos/spiderpops/169966925/

“ Fitting user research in is the hardest thing.” - P8

Strategies to include end users  Working ahead: up-front research  Satellite designer: outsourcing research  Just do it: lightweight research

“ I think there are so many problems to solve that we don't really need to get tied up in how methodologically sound it is. It comes down to being a sensible researcher. ” - P7

Identity  Team mindset  Impact of organisational structure and perception of UX  Pros and cons of being a communication hub

Vision  The importance of a shared team vision  Collaboration tools: the question board

“ It shows where what team members think is important clashes, so it facilitates discussion . And it helps to find out who to talk to about things.” - Backend developer

UX practitioners’ attitude towards agile matters. A lot.

Benefit of agile: co-location and collaboration facilitate bridging the gap and overcoming silos.

If the UX team is too small or not structured appropriately, user-centredness is the first thing that’s compromised .

Sprint zero is not sufficient to establish a vision. To guide strategic decisions and activities, user research has to take place before agile development starts.

Implications for practitioners (1)  Become a design facilitator and active participant  Align UX team members around a clear vision and make sure your project‘s vision is clear, too

Implications for practitioners (2)  Consider user panels , test no matter what, combine evaluative and generative research  Explore lightweight methods and agile tools  Use interim sprint-zeros to reflect on and refine your vision

Areas for future research  Impact of co-location (or the lack of it)  Exploration of different environments and contexts (e.g. in-house vs. freelancers, web vs. mobile applications)

Agile 2009 Johanna Kollmann, Helen Sharp & Ann Blandford The importance of identity and vision to UX designers on agile projects

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The importance of identity and vision to UX designers on agile projects

by johanna kollmann on Sep 01, 2009

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