I recently attended the Interaction Design training at Cooper (http://www.cooper.com/#training:interaction_design). This presentation is a brief overview of the training and Cooper process from the perspective of a software developer.

1. A Developers Take on Cooper
Adam Jordens
@ajordens

2. My Background
Technical Lead GenoLogics Life Sciences
Founder Appiity
Typically work with teams of It has been rare to have a
3 or 4 Developers, a QA dedicated design resource on
representative, and a Product the teams I've been a part of.
Manager.
Oh yeah, I can't draw.

3. ● In software, features cost almost nothing.
● In hardware, features almost always increase costs.
FEATURE-ITIS
Most people developing software products don't know precisely
what constitutes a good product, or the processes that can
help get them there.
"Goal Directed Design"

4. Goal Directed Design
Design first; As developers, we pride
program second ourselves on an ability to
deliver against all odds.
Think about what should be Often, to our own detriment
built before starting to build and the detriment of our
it. product.
Lean thinking is relatively
Goals are stable and persist new to product teams.
across time.
Contexts, tasks, needs and
tools change over time.

5. Goal Directed Design
When was the last time you Separate responsibility for
read the persona involved in design from responsibility
your feature? for programming
Do you understand the
underlying goal or scenario Optimal designs are not
your feature is addressing? necessarily easy to
implement.
Scenarios provide the glue
between user stories and are
critically important. Programmers want the
product to be easy to code,
designers desire to make the
product easy to use.

6. Goal Directed Design
Hold designers responsible Thinking Point
for product quality and
user satisfaction Who is responsible for
product quality and user
satisfaction right now?
Designers need to have the
necessary authority for
everything coming in contact
with the user.
The design spec is not Including any installers,
merely a suggestion but a documentation, etc.
plan to be followed.

7. Goal Directed Design
Until a persona is defined, a Define one specific user for
developer will think of your product; then invent a
themselves as the user. persona - give that user a
name and an environment
and derive his or her goals
Avoid talking about specific
users, talk about their
persona and goals.
Powerful design tool,
foundation for everything.
Tasks are transient. Goal != Task

8. Goal Directed Design
Work in teams of two: We're already doing it, this is
designer and design just a formalization of it with
communicator outcomes (design spec).
Generators and Synthesizers
in Cooper terminology.
Improves product quality and Developers often aren't the
design documentation. best at coming up with ad
hoc
designs.

9. Goal Directed Design
Research ● Understanding business
and user needs
Modelling ● Share with the entire
product team
Requirements Definition ● Decide what the product
should do
Framework Definition ● Come up with a good
concept
Detailed Design ● Design it in detail and
make sure it is feasible
Implementation Support ● Ensure that the design is
built as expected

10. Goal Directed Design
Research Modelling & Requirements
Observation, Interviews and Personas, Scenarios, Usage
Creative Exercises Patterns, Work Environments
● Stakeholders Scenarios are the glue
● Customers between user
● End users stories, everyone needs to
● Subject matter experts read and understand them.
● Competitors
Extract personas from actual
research.
Not everyone is a stakeholder. Personas should have goals.

11. Goal Directed Design
Framework Definition Detailed Design
Define the big picture; mast Iterate at greater and greater
heads, nav bars, content detail, screen by screen.
areas, etc.
Don't sweat little details, Collaborate with developers,
widgets, field names, data. figure out the limitations.
Scenarios provide guidance. Create challenging designs.
Avoid painting the walls Optimize for intermediates:
before creating a blue print. no one stays a beginner.
"Key Interactions"

12. Goal Directed Design
Implementation Support Done Done Done: Both
visually and functionally.
The design doesn't stop
when it's been passed to the
development team.
Designers need to ensure
that the finished product
satisfies the original intent.
Work with developers to
ensure consistency
throughout
the entire application.

13. Takeaways
● Create / update our Cooper is a formalized
personas process covering everything
upstream of development.
● Establish written
scenarios
It eases communication
● Ecosystem and Workflow amongst remote teams.
maps
Involve others to break a
● 15 minute rule stalemate.
20min * 3 shots better than 60m * 1 shot
All too often we build designs
● Design in pairs (at least) and define interactions
ourselves.