AGILE AND ME
a story with just enough documentation

A typical waterfall project produces pages and page of end-to-end
requirements for the entire project as it is envisioned (but not necessarily
as it will be built). The people compiling these requirements are, of
course, part of an assembly with only the most cursory involvement with
others outside their department.

After all 9,238 lbs. of paper are heaved over the wall with a hearty “good
luck!” and a cheery wave, the silos are once again in place and silence is
golden.

?
While agile was taking hold of development, design was still stuck in the
waterfall method. So why not blend the two and run the entire project in
an agile fashion, starting with requirements.

AGILE DESIGN
in theory

TRANSLATING AGILE METHODS TO DESIGN
Agile teams are self-organizing and highlight
Individuals with Overlapping Skills

OVERLAPPING SKILLS = T-SHAPED PEOPLE
T
Being Shaped
Tim Brown from IDEO talks about “T-shaped People” as those who
have a core competency but branch out into other areas and can
do them well (thus forming a T).

UxD in an agile world
Still using the same tools (wireframes, etc.)
BUT ....
Project team is not divided into silos
Everything isn’t designed up front
Using more than your base skillset

UxD in an agile world
PROS ...
Expanding your project role
& involvement throughout entire SDLC
CONS ...
how is your comfort level with uncertainty?

AGILE DESIGN
in practice

INSERT UXD FROM THE BEGINNING
User Driven requirements
¥ Who is using the product?
¥ What do the users require?
¥ What does the business require?
¥ What does development require?

DIAGRAMS THAT DEVELOPERS UNDERSTAND
User research yields user modeling; user modeling, in turn,
informs data modeling. But it’s of no use if the research is
ignored by the developers. Integrating design into the entire
SDLC meant creating meaningful documentation that your
audience can relate to.

FROM TASKS TO USER STORIES
As a General User associated
with a Host Company, I need to
be able to:
¥ create new reports and be
able to save them so I can
easily access them in the
future (or delete them)
¥ have a list of standard
reports that I can quickly run
but can also modify/filter the
results
¥ be able to view contractors
who have completed PQF
¥ specify the orientation
requirements for a
contractor employee
Expand persona diagrams to show sub-tasks and further explain
with user stories.

PERSONAS TO DEVELOPMENT
User Stories yield:
> User Driven Feature List
> Project Scope Determined
> Iterations Scheduled
> Iteration 0 begins:
start designing features for iteration 1
this is where feature design begins

DESIGNING A FEATURE
just enough documentation

ITERATION DESIGNS
For each feature in an iteration:
¥ User Stories to be developed in that iteration
• stating user needs and business goals
¥ Acceptance Tests
• defines when a feature is complete
¥ Workflow Diagrams
• diagrams the user path when completing tasks for this feature
¥ Annotated Wireframes
• what does the screen look like
• what are the screen behaviors
¥ Functional Specifications
• describes how the feature will work from user’s perspective

WRITING STORIES & TESTS
User stories state user needs and the business benefits for that
feature. Acceptance tests, written as scenarios and based on the user
stories, define when a feature is complete. If a scenario is not defined,
it is not a part of the feature being developed for this iteration.

DIAGRAM THE USER’S WORKFLOW
Workflows diagram the end-to-end flow for the feature. If a section
of the flow is out of scope for the current iteration or for this feature
but needs to be in the flow for clarity, include it in the diagram but
note that it’s out of scope for this iteration.

CREATE ANNOTATED WIREFRAMES
Annotations note behavior of various elements on the page.

WRITE FUNCTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS
Functional specs describe how a feature will work and are written
entirely from the user’s perspective.

AGILE DESIGN
in summary

UxD IN AN AGILE WORLD MEANS:
Not being in a silo
Not staying behind a wall
Designing as features are developed
Collaborating and Iterating as project progresses
Having an active voice throughout entire SDLC

Agile UXD : Your sandbox just got a whole lot bigger

ALICE TOTH
senior consultant, uxd
atoth@pathf.com