Agile UX: Embrace or Tolerate

Agile and UX:
Embrace or Tolerate
Rob Keefer, PhD
@rbkeefer

@pomietwww.pomiet.com
The Big Idea
Everything is Designed.
Be Agile.
Get UX Design.

The (Longer) Big Idea
Everything is Designed -
So, Embrace It or Tolerate It
Get UX Design
You must BE agile, and
Into your
Product Development Process

The Big Idea

The Big Idea
Get UX Design.

UX Overview
Understand User
Interviews
Immersion
Observation
Identify Goals
Information Architecture
Flow Charts
Site Maps
Navigation
Taxonomy
Identify Tasks
Prototype
Sketches
Wireframes
Interactive Prototypes
Usability Testing
Understand How People Interact
Discover problems
Test overall Design

Understand User

Prototype

Usability Test

The Big Idea
So, who is doing your design?
Are they qualiﬁed?

FourValues of Agile Manifesto
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
WeValue ...

Principles of Agile
Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable
software.
Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change
for the customer's competitive advantage.
Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a
preference to the shorter timescale.
Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.
Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and
trust them to get the job done.
The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is
face-to-face conversation.
Working software is the primary measure of progress.
Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able
to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.
Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.
Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.
The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.
At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and
adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Doing Agile Sucks ...

Doing Agile Sucks ...
You Need to BE AGILE

Practices can never be completely
objectified or formalized because
they must ever be worked out anew
in particular relationships and in
real time.
- Dr. Patricia Benner

The heart of Scrum is assessing the
condition of activities and empirically
determining what to do next.This
determination arises from the
experience, training and common
sense. (p 101, 2001)
The XP manager’s most sensitive
barometer of the need for change is
awareness of his or her own feelings,
physical and emotional. If your stomach
knots when you get in the car in the
morning, something is wrong with your
project and it’s your job to effect the
change. (p 73, 2000)

Lessons from the Trenches
• Challenges of Agile UX
• Tips for Making it Work
•Common Questions

Challenges of Agile UX
• Little Up Front Design
• Users are Poorly Deﬁned
•Agile is Developer Centric
• Little Time to Test

Little Up Front Design
• No BDUF != No DUF
• Rely Heavily on Information Architecture
• Establish and Use Design Patterns
• Be Flexible

Do-Go Map

Poorly Deﬁned Users
• Developers are working for the person
who signs the check (Customer)
• UX represents the person with hands
on the keyboard (User)
• Verify as early and often as possible

Developer-Centric
• The goal of Agile methods is to discover
the most optimal work environment.
• Use reviews and retrospectives as a place
to promote a UX agenda.
• Work within the process

Little Time to Test
• Remember that the goal is to build high quality
software - Lose the emotional ties to a design
• Save longer tests for out of sprint activities
• Use short tests during product design
- Memorization Tests
- A-B Tests

Tips for Making It Work
• Incorporate Low-Fi prototypes into stories
• Work in parallel
• Refactor Mercilessly
• Documentation
• Turn developers into designers

Supplement Stories

Work in Parallel

Refactor Mercilessly
1 2
43

Documentation
• Assumption Personas
• Flowcharts, site-maps, Do-Go Maps
• Short Style Guide - patterns, colors
• Wireframes
• Reduce noise through collaboration over
formal documentation.
• USE WHAT WORKS.

Developers into Designers
Goal:Train developers to do the little things
so that you can do the interesting things.
Teach them toValue:
• People over Features
• User Feedback over Generalized Opinions
• Ease of Use over Ease of Development
• Discovery over Documentation

Common Questions
• How do I prioritize a feature?
• How can I be sure I haven’t missed
anything?
• What is the best way to track bugs?

How do I prioritize a feature?
Use Role and Task Priority
Determine the Feature Priority
Use details about the user role that beneﬁts from
the feature and the task that the feature supports.

How can I be sure I haven’t
missed something?
Reconcile Roles and Goals with
Tasks then Consider Features
For each goal associated with a role, ensure that
a task exists to help the person achieve the goal.
Make sure that the features support the goal.

What’s the best way to
track bugs?
Use Role & Task to
Determine Bug Criticality
•Close out as many bugs as possible with
the sprint
•Role up remaining bugs into new
stories at the end of the month

Conclusion
UX is needed in Agile to:
Set product direction
Specify cohesive features
Keep the inmates from running the asylum

Final Example

Conclusion
Everything is Designed -
So, Embrace It or Tolerate It
Get UX Design
You must BE agile, and
Into your
Product Development Process

Rob Keefer, PhD
Rob.Keefer@pomiet.com
@rbkeefer

Agile UX: Embrace or Tolerate

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