This document discusses lean design concepts and lean experimentation. Some key points: 1) Lean design focuses on continuous learning through short, rapid experimentation cycles rather than long development processes. The goal is to validate learning as quickly as possible. 2) Experiments should be planned by starting with the most important hypotheses and determining what minimal tests could validate or invalidate each one. The goal is to learn quickly and cheaply. 3) Human-centered design is incorporated into the lean process by running it as a series of non-linear experiments rather than a rigid, dogmatic process. All activities, including prototyping, are considered experiments aimed at learning. 4) Separating problem and solution hypotheses allows

1. Lean Design concepts
Joel Eden
Philly Lean Experiment Meetup, March, 2016
-Lean concepts
-Lean human centered design
-Lean Experiments
-Lean Coffee / affinity
diagramming tonight for meetup
topics

2. Experimental learning
Lean Startup, Lean UX, Agile UX, Agile (as intended)
-Outcomes over outputs (agile is a mechanism of
delivery, whereas lean is a mechanism of learning)
-Innovation Accounting (metric is validated
learning, as opposed to agile velocity)
-We’re not creating software, were creating value
-Continuous learning

3. Lean (Startup) Build, Measure, Learn loop
But…
Goal is validated learning (loop around), as
fast as possible.

4. Need to go backwards to plan experiments
1. What is my most
important hypothesis?
2. What would I need
to see happen to
(in)validate it?
3. What’s the fastest,
cheapest, least thing I can
make or do to test it (learn)?

5. Need to go backwards to plan experiments
1. What is my most
important hypothesis?
2. What would I need
to see (data) to
validate it?
That’s what
MVP means!!!!!
3. What’s the fastest,
cheapest, least thing I can
make or do to test it (learn)?
Instead of “MVP”:
Ash Maurya’s Offer: Unique Value Proposition, Demo of UVP, Exchange of Value

6. Lean Canvas (1 page alternative to biz plan)
(Business Model Canvas  Ash Maurya’s Lean Canvas  My tweak)

7. Hypothesis Map (like a user story map, but experiment perspective)
*Separate Problem hypotheses + Solution hypotheses.
Fits well with agile (outcome vs output focused).
Needs hierarchy
Will
trade
value
Band-aid
Aware
Exists

8. Goal Directed Design (human centered design)
Goal Directed Design has valid, rigorous design
research and interaction design methods…
BUT, it’s a bit waterfallish, linear, ~dogmatic.
Personas Scenarios IxFrameworks, IxDesign

9. Human Centered Design “poured into” Lean loop…
= Non-linear, lean human centered design
(“pull” design efforts through as hypotheses require,
not as dogma)
Now, there’s no difference
between design and research…it’s
all just experiments. Any act of
“making” (what looks like “design”)
is in the act of learning, so it’s both
research and design, intertwingled.

10. Lean Canvas / Story (hypothesis) Map at center of
experiment loop

11. Defining experiments from hypotheses
Highest priority item gets tested
(place smaller bets, on smaller batches)
Turn assumptions  falsifiable hypotheses
www.slideshare.net/luxrco

12. Defining experiments from hypotheses
Highest priority item gets tested
(place smaller bets, on smaller batches)www.slideshare.net/luxrco
melissaperri.com/2015/07/22/the-product-kata

13. Experiments – Problem vs Solution hypotheses
Separate Problem and Solution assumptions and hypotheses.
-Problem/Need hierarchy: Exists, Aware, Band aid, Will pay for you to solve
We should only be exploring solutions for validated problems.
-Rather than research vs design, everything is an experiment (even production).
-A prototype is a question rendered as an artifact.
Example hypothesis types Example useful experiment methods
Problem/need discovery and
validation
Ethnographic/observational interviews, diary
study, experience sampling
Problem/need frequency Diary study, experience sampling, analytics
Problem/need priority/severity Ranking (during interviews, surveys), analytics
Prob: Personas, scenarios (& customer
journey maps for current experiences)
Observational interviews, diary studies,
persona clustering analysis
Solution: Terminology, Info org Card sorting, tree test, lostness test
Solution vision and concrete options Test narrative scenarios, storyboards, IxDesign
Solution: Interaction + Visual design Usability testing (observe in context, don’t
need lab) using paper or digital prototypes,
icon studies
*Value (problem, solution hypotheses)
and in what order do we try them?
Value, cost of delay, real option theory

14. Goal of this meetup: speed this up (keeping validity)
From 1-2 week sprints, to an hour, to 5 minutes?
-Experiment patterns (problem, solution, metrics)?
-Reuse of design research data?
-Machine learning / genetic algorithms?
-???

15. Lean Coffee method
• List out topics, questions, etc, 1 per post it
• We’ll vote on ones we want to talk about
tonight
• Also use all of these ideas to discover what we
want to cover in future meetups…so list out
anything you can think of you want to see/do