Mary Beth Snapp, Ohio State University, Presented at HighEdWeb, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2010

1. Rapid Iterative Design (RID):
A Minimalist Approach to Requirements-
Gathering and Interface Design
for Agile Software Developers
HighEdWeb 2010
October 11, 2010 | Cincinnati, Ohio
Beth Snapp (snapp.6@osu.edu)
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2. [Rapid] [Iterative] Design (RID):
A [Minimalist] Approach to Requirements-Gathering
and Interface Design
for [Agile] Software Developers
HighEdWeb 2010
October 11, 2010 | Cincinnati, Ohio
Beth Snapp (snapp.6@osu.edu)
College of Arts and Sciences | Technology Services | Web and Data Solutions

3. [Rapid] [Iterative] [Minimalist] [Agile]
You – Agile software developer
Goal – Define product Rapid
Speed – Very quickly Iterative
Methods – Simple
Design*
Project – Iteration-friendly
*Or, how to spend more time writing software
and less time writing documents
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4. Rapid Iterative Design
Vision
Personas
Paper
Scenarios
Prototyping
User Stories Develop-
ment

5. Where is the customer?
How can I get
R.I.D.
We are evaluated on of some of these
documents?
whether we have
delivered something
that helps our customers
meet their goals.
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6. What does our customer need?
Software that Works!
http://agilemanifesto.org
Agile Alliance
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7. How much is enough?
Just Enough,
Just in Time!
Analysis Paralysis
Cowboy Coding
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8. Traditional Software Development
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9. Collaboration is the Key
“The problem with abstractions (like reports and documents)
is that they create illusions of agreement. A hundred
people can read the same words, but … they’re imagining a
hundred different things. That’s why you want to get to
something real right away.” (from Rework)
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10. Something Real Right Away
Vision
Personas
Paper
Scenarios
Prototyping
User Stories Develop-
ment

11. Personas
What is it?
• Representative users
• Become “members” of your team
• Behaviors, skills, experience,
attitudes, demographics
Why do it?
• Visualize real users
• Elicit users’ goals
• Avoid programmers programming
for other programmers
Good resource: About Face 3, Alan Cooper Schwab.com
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12. A Real Persona
Jen, GEC Academic Advisor
Goal: “I’m busy. I have a lot of
advising notes to enter, and I
need to do it fast.”
• Experienced: has worked for OSU for 10 years
• Technically-savvy
• Very knowledgeable of GEC requirements
• Specializes in more challenging cases Hint: you’ll probably only need 3-
5 short personas. No need to get
carried away.
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13. Scenarios
What is it?
• Narratives of real situations
your personas will find
themselves in
Why do it?
• Elicit business rules
• Test your assumptions
• Discover stuff you didn’t think
about
Hint: Defer the edge cases.
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14. A Real Scenario
Jen, GEC Academic Advisor
Goal: “I’m busy. I have a lot of
advising notes to enter, and I
need to do it fast.”
Jen had a one hour appointment earlier today with a student
who had been dismissed from the university a couple years
ago due to poor academic performance. The student asked Jen
to help her file a petition for reinstatement. The student was
also visibly upset about some personal issues. Jen wants to
record what they talked about for future reference.
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15. A Real Scenario
Jen, GEC Academic Advisor
Goal: “I’m busy. I have a lot of
advising notes to enter, and I
need to do it fast.”
Jen had a one hour appointment earlier today with a student
who had been dismissed from the university a couple years
ago due to poor academic performance. The studentCan save Jen
asked drafts
of notes?
to help her file a petition for reinstatement. The student was
also visibly upset about some personal issues. Jen wants to
record what they talked about for future reference.
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16. User Stories
What is it?
• Short statements of functionality written by
the user
• Focus on “what,” not “how”
Why do it?
• Placeholders for later conversations
(“just in time”)
• Fast way to get requirements
• Collaboration tool As a <persona>,
I want to <task>,
so that <business goal>.
Hint: All developers
should be in attendance.
Adapted from Mike Cohn, User Stories Applied
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17. Real User Stories
As a <persona>, I want to <task>, so that <business goal>.
As an academic advisor,
I want to enter a note after an
appointment with a student, so that there
is a written summary of what we
discussed.
As an academic advisor,
I want to see a student’s entire history of
Hint: Hold a time- notes, so that I can prepare ahead of time
boxed story-writing for my appointment with the student.
workshop.
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18. Rapid Iterative Design
Vision
Personas
Paper
Scenarios
Prototyping
User Stories Develop-
ment

19. Paper Prototyping
What is it?
• More than a sketch!
• Build the system with paper
• End user simulates task
completion
Why do it?
• Easy to create/easy to change
• Doesn’t look finished
• Communication vehicle
• Validate design
• Test usability
Hint: Keep focused on
interaction, not interface!
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20. Ingeping89 (Inge Nahuis, Netherlands)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtfWM2jRS2w
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21. A Real Paper Prototype
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22. A Real Paper Prototype
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23. A Real Paper Prototype
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24. The Real System
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25. The Real System
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26. How much is enough?
Just Enough,
Just in Time!
Analysis Paralysis
1. Personas
2. Scenarios
3. User Stories Cowboy Coding
4. Paper Prototypes
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27. Final Thoughts
Value working software over excessive
documentation
Get to something real, real quick
Stay focused on your customer’s goals
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28. Resources & Acknowledgments
Rework Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
About Face 3 Alan Cooper
User Stories Applied Mike Cohn
The Art of Agile Development James Shore Many thanks to:
Paper Prototyping: The Fast and Easy Way to • Diane Dagefoerde
Design and Refine User Interfaces Carolyn Snyder • Jennifer Belisle
• Ryan Stocker
Blog: Agile Product Design, Jeff Patton
• George Abraham
• Ousmane Kebe
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