This document discusses collaborative user experience design practices for agile development. It recommends creating shared user models, visualizing user journeys across releases, and holding collaborative sketching sessions. Frequent low-fidelity prototyping and usability testing with 3-5 users each iteration is emphasized over high-fidelity mockups. Test results should be shared across teams. The goal is rapid iterative testing and evaluation to build designs collaboratively with users and developers.

1. Collaborative user experience design
in agile development
Anu Ramaswamy (anu@empaticasystems.com)
Empatica Systems!
Facilitating Collaborative Design

2. Create a shared understanding of the user
-­‐ It
helps
to
create
visual
models
of
users
and
share
them
across
team
members
in
all
loca4ons
-­‐ When
offshoring
product
development
ensure
that
you
create
an
empathy
for
the
user
in
the
offshore
team

3. Use internal releases to validate User Journeys
-­‐ Visualize
evolu4on
of
the
user
interface
across
mul4ple
internal
releases
-­‐ Storyboard
the
user
experience
once
every
2-­‐3
itera4ons
(4
to
6
weeks),
and
showcase
the
user
journey
in
those
itera4ons

4. Collaboratively sketch the interactions
-­‐ Use
collabora4ve
design
sessions
(like
collabora4ve
sketching)
as
oKen
as
you
can–
try
to
include
both
users
and
developers
while
sketching
-­‐ Sketch
interac4ons,
not
user
stories

5. Validate key design guidelines with mockups
Hi-­‐fi
mockups
can
help,
but,
for
limited
purposes:
-­‐ To
establish
UI
paQerns
for
global
naviga4on
elements
early
in
the
project
-­‐ As
a
basis
for
valida4ng
UI
architecture
-­‐ Assessing
the
need
for
Let’s not get too attached to
visual
assets
this thing though!

6. Do RITE with lo-fi prototypes to keep up!
-­‐ Quickly
steer
away
Tools that do the trick
from
high
fidelity
prototyping
to
enable
Rapid
Itera4ve
Tes4ng
and
Evalua4on
of
design
-­‐ The
only
design
that
maQers
from
now
on
is
the
one
in
the
real
product!

7. Get religious about usability testing
-­‐ You
only
need
3-­‐5
people
tes4ng
every
itera4on
-­‐ Hallway
tes4ng,
guerilla
tes4ng,
remote
tes4ng,
anything
is
beQer
than
nothing
-­‐ Broadcast
usability
test
session
recordings
and
results
to
the
team
–
upload
videos
and
results
for
offshore
teams
to
see

8. Practice Pull – with team and with users
q Design decisions
made between q Designs built
designers and collaboratively
stakeholders with users and
developers
q Mockups that
are difficult to q Designs that are
update easy to update
q Tolerance to q Usability testing
lack of usability becomes a
testing culture
q Visual design q Visual design
show cases too elements
early in the layered in at
project the right time