The document discusses how designers can learn from engineers by adopting agile principles and practices. It outlines how common engineering activities like paired programming, code reviews, daily standups, and retrospectives can be adapted for design as partner designing, peer reviews, design standups and design retrospectives. This increased collaboration through agile practices could boost designers' productivity and engagement by facilitating knowledge sharing and reducing redundant work.

1. 2015
Learning from a Culture of Collaboration:
Engineers do it better.
What can designers learn
from them?
Yvonne So, Intuit
Oct 2015
#GHC15
2015

2. 2015
What is Agile?
Agile methodologies are an alternative to
waterfall, or traditional sequential
development
Agile is a mindset, not a process
Focus on experimentation and
collaboration over deliverables and
documentation

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Traditional Waterfall Model
http://www.powerobjects.com/2013/02/11/microsoft-dynamics-crm-and-agile-development/

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Agile Scrum Approach
http://scrumreferencecard.com/

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Dichotomy
Engineers
Generally cheerful
More actively engaged
Motivated to solve problems
Productivity is high
Designers
Stressed out and losing hair
Impartial or unengaged
Constantly under deadline
Low visibility into others’
workstreams

6. 2015
Examples of Design Deliverables
• Wireframes
• Conceptual Mockups
• Storyboards
• Functional Specs
• Final Assets
• User Testing
• Prototypes
• Research Decks

7. 2015
What if...
What if a lot of designers’
work could be alleviated
simply by collaborating
the way engineers do?

8. 2015
Turn Engineering Principles
into Design Principles

9. 2015
PAIRED
PROGRAMMING
Two programmers work
together as peers at a single
computer, focusing on writing
quality software.
PARTNER DESIGNING
Interaction and visual designers
communicate regularly.
Clearly define roles.
Share the workload or divvy up
work into smaller tasks.

10. 2015
CODE REVIEWS
The main purpose of code
reviews is to keep code quality
and readability high.
PEER REVIEWS
Give and receive feedback.
System of checks and balances.
Adhere to company’s brand style
guide colors and patterns.

11. 2015
REFACTORING
Restructuring and cleaning up
an existing body of code,
altering its internal structure
without changing the
functionality.
SOURCE FILE CONTROL
Revisit source files and clean
them up.
Make sure layers are adequately
and logically named.
Get rid of any unnecessary layers
and metadata.

12. 2015
DAILY STANDUP
Every workday at a specified
time, the team meets at a daily
standup to bring everyone up to
date on the information that is
vital for coordination.
DESIGN STANDUP
Regularly schedule standups so
everyone has visibility into each
other’s patterns and features.
Share out status, designs, feedback.
Have quick sketch and brainstorm
sessions.

13. 2015
RETROSPECTIVE
A sprint retrospective allows a
team to continuously evolve
and improve throughout the
product lifecycle.
DESIGN RETROSPECT
Reflect upon what you’ve
accomplished.
Think of new ways to improve
workflow.
Identify anything you should stop
doing.

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Outcome
Improved collaboration
(increased communication, willingness to give
feedback and help others, more sharing of
files, shared goals)
Increased engagement
(more team lunches, regular sketch fests,
weekly check-ins)
Boosted productivity
(knowledge share-outs, cleaned-up files,
aligning roadmaps to reduce redundant work)

15. 2015
What if...
What if YOUR work
could be alleviated by
implementing Agile
engineering principles?

16. 2015
Thanks!
Stay in touch:
Yvonne So
Sr. UX Designer, Intuit
yvonneyso@gmail.com
@yvonniks

17. 2015
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