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Making UX Agile and LeanUXPA 2016, Seattle, WA
Introductions• John• Thyra• Carol
Agile Basics
Agile is• Small teams • Making small pieces of work - “shippable
increments”• Effective communication• Ideally co-located
Original Via Spotify (original presentation not available). More at: http://www.slideshare.net/vmysla/scrum-at-spotify?qid=2345c3ad-7e68-4383-9673-9e715ff47a75&v=default&b=&from_search=14 and https://labs.spotify.com/
Photo by Federico Bierti - https://www.flickr.com/photos/53318225@N00/
We all need to be in the same boat…
Test
Developers
Product Owner
Sales
Service Engineering
Globalization
User Experience
Content
Operations
Marketing
WaterfallDefine
Design
Build
Test
Deploy
Months & Years Learn
Learn
Learn
Agile
TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild
Weeks LearnLearn Learn
TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild
Agile History• February 2001: The Agile Manifesto written
at Snowbird Ski Resort in Utah• Authors:14 male software engineers• Agile, as originally conceived, understood
nothing of UCD or UX processes
Agile Manifesto
We have come to value the items in the dark boxes more.
Full version: http://agilemanifesto.org/
Individuals and Interactions Customer Collaboration
over processes and tools over contract negotiation
Working Software Responding to Change over comprehensive
documentationover following a plan
Individuals and Interactions• Individuals and interactions over processes
and tools• Communication• Working together• Creating opportunities to learn and share
• Not doing activities just to check a box• Not allowing tools to get in the way• Finding faster/better ways to work
Shared Documents Aren’t Shared Understanding
Cartoon by Luke Barrett © Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
Working Software• Working software over comprehensive
documentation• Working software is the measure of work• Documentation doesn’t improve a system
• Complex systems • Documentation is sometimes necessary to make
“self serve”• System should be clear and well designed
Customer Collaboration• Customer collaboration over contract
negotiation• Software was built for a client (not broad sets of
users)
• We interpret as Users
Responding to Change• Responding to change over following a plan
• Planning is short-term and flexible• Change is a constant – embrace it and prepare • When things change, so does the plan
Benefits of being Incremental• When development runs out of
time/resources, the shipped solution• Delivers maximum value• Has a complete design without holes• Has much higher quality• Has no wasted design work
Agile Qualities• Iterative• Incremental• Continuous• Collaborative• Transparent
Agile Terminology
Scaling Agile at Spotify via Slideshare of Vlad Myslahttp://www.slideshare.net/vmysla/scrum-at-spotify?qid=2345c3ad-7e68-4383-9673-9e715ff47a75&v=default&b=&from_search=14
Squads, Tribes, Chapters and Guilds
Scrum• Daily Ceremonies - Standup
• 15 minute standing meeting• What you did, what you are doing, blockers
• Sprints• 2 – 4 weeks of work • Culminate in a potentially shippable product
increment
mountaingoatsoftware.com
Scrum
Sprints
TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild
Sprint 2Sprint 1 Sprint 3
TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild TestDeliverableDefine & DesignBuild
Kanban• Finite number of “tickets”• Cannot put more work in until previous work is
done• Team members pull work as work is
completed• Time-boxing is optional• All work is a collaboration• Information radiators
Kanban - work is shared on walls/boards
Story=
User Problem with acceptance criteria
Epic > Story > Task
BacklogEpic
1
Epic 2
Epic 1Story
AStory
B
Story BTask X Task Y
Name this…
https://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2015/01/22/the-curls-of-ares-2/
Fibonacci Sequence
Estimating Stories• T-shirts, Fibonacci, days work, etc.• Minimal effort to guess• If cannot guess, further define story
UX Activity Estimation• Should UX activities be estimated towards
team velocity?• A hotly debated topic
• No. They UX stories should be tracked separately, in parallel
• Yes. UX stories should be tracked with other work, especially when part of active work
• “Working software is the primary measure of progress”
Velocity• Measure amount of work done • Determine our velocity or “burn down”• Estimates and velocity tell us what we can get
done• Longer term, squads can improve velocity
Parking Lot• Used to get to a firm estimate and clarify
questions • Able to respond Go/No Go• Problems that can be solved in a single
conversation
Design Spikes• Used to get to a firm estimate when not
enough information to determine in a parking lot• Intense focus on issue with multiple resources• Done by a few while other work continues
• Multiple resources (not just design)• Must continue to support ongoing
development
User Acceptance Testing• Customer/client feedback in traditional Agile• Clients (not users):
• Are shown a demo by team• Do not touch or interact with system• Not typically a member of the Agile team• Are rarely the users of the system being designed
• When feedback is collected in traditional Agile – after iteration/sprint
Demos and Retros• Demos are “playing back” what was done
during the sprint• Matches the Epics/Stories from the Sprint• Celebrate progress
• Retrospective• Looking at what went well (continue doing)• What could be improved• What we should stop doing
Customers and Lean UX
Customer Feedback – in traditional Agile• Fails to find most learnability and usability
issues• Misses opportunity to inform future design• Misses opportunity to gain better user insight
with prototypes, observation, etc.
Bring Users into Agile• UX brings the end-user into Agile and expands
the meaning of “Customer” to extend to the end-user
Lean Startup• Lean is a business development method,
popularized by Eric Ries.
• It’s like Agile for the business side of things• Uses the same build – test – learn cycle
for business models and product development• Only measure of success is market behavior
Lean UX• Agile is the perfect product delivery method
for Lean businesses• Same adaptations that make UX practices
work in Agile also make them work in Lean• Lean UX = Agile UX
• Rely on early research and usability testing (learn as you go)
• Less time to conduct research and think through problems
• Handled as a spike if needed
Eric Ries @ericries via @MelBugai on Twitter at LeanStartupMI in 2011
"The biggest waste of all is building something no one wants“
- Eric Ries @ericries
Developing Software in AgileGetting Agile Teams to Care About Usability
We Come from Different Places
By Jeff Patton as interpreted by Jim Laing – Source: http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/user_experience_relevance.html
Agile• Agile is a philosophy, not a specific set of tools
• Principles are not mandates• UX was not deliberately excluded
• Software development methods• Scrum, Kanban, XP, etc. meet the criteria for Agile• “Waterfall” does not
Agile Frustrations
Scaling Agile at Spotify via Slideshare of Vlad Myslahttp://www.slideshare.net/vmysla/scrum-at-spotify?qid=2345c3ad-7e68-4383-9673-9e715ff47a75&v=default&b=&from_search=14
team member
Agile UX: The Good• Most important features are done first • Working together – not “over the wall”• Keep up with technology and environmental
changes• Enables iteration of requirements• Less “design drift” and less wasted design
Agile UX: The Good (continued)• Issues get fixed• “Done” includes design• Satisfying to see designs in real use• Learn from actual product use• User data has effect on current release
So Now What?• If Agile doesn’t care about UX, why should my
Agile team care about what I do?
Getting Developers to Care• UX Fail strategies:
• “I’m just going to keep doing my job the way I always have and telling the team what they need to do.”
• “I’m just going to let them go ahead and fail. Then they’ll come to me begging and let me do my job.”
Be Part of the Team• They’re not going to “stop the train” for you• Make UX processes Agile• Build trust by providing value of work• Attend daily standups/scrums
Get Ahead of the Train• Design one iteration ahead if necessary, so
you have designs ready to go when they are needed
• Regular usability testing (iteration-aligned)• Test whatever is ready that day• Plus your look-ahead designs• Plus user research for existing issues and potential
future work• Test designs before developers build them –
saves arguments
Welcome the Team to your World• Invite developers to observe tests of features
they wrote • Seeing someone struggle is strongly motivating to
them• Even more so for product managers
• Engage developers in helping you to figure out solutions• Their knowledge of code and systems provides
ability to come up with innovative solutions• Credit developers when features they wrote
work well (even if you designed it)
Bring Your World to Them• No time or inclination to watch your testing?
• Record the tests • Bring key clips to the next meeting(s)• Provide easy access to sessions (always consider
ethics)• Information radiators
• Share info on the walls• Use online tools• Get it in the backlog
Photo: https://medium.com/@FBResearch/beyond-bullet-points-four-creative-ways-to-share-research-c10fa047f025#.cdauyngei
Fit into the Process• Time product testing: results ready when most
useful• Track usability metrics on the team dashboard
• Ensure they are reported upwards• Help prioritize usability problems to simplify
backlog grooming• Add preemptive cards to the schedule for
“problems we will find while testing”
Design Adapts to Agile• Falling short of end goals is a constant
• Focus on meeting user’s primary needs • Constant Improvement is key
• Widen the Design family• Distribute the work• Empower entire squad to inform design
• Agile is reactive – no time for predictive work• Prepare to react
Adapted from Jim Laing’s presentation at UX Pittsburgh, May 2014
Participate in Retrospectives• Encourage retrospectives if they aren’t
happening• Information provided enough/too much?• Questions still open?• Still confusing/frustrating?• More effectively communicate user needs?
Image: http://intland.com/blog/project-management-en/tips-and-tricks-to-make-the-most-of-your-retrospectives/
Let’s Chat
Let’s Get to Know Each Other• Who has had agile training?
• Reading, no formal training• Other team members trained• No training• Some training
• How long have you been doing Agile?
Who’s Here?• Roles?
• UX practitioner, UX manager -- is this who we all are?
• Resources?• Single UX resource on a single Agile team/project• Single UX resource on 2+ Agile teams/projects• Part of a UX team on a single Agile team/project• Part of a UX team on 2+ Agile teams/projects
• Maturity of UX Practice?
What’s Your Team Like?• Distributed/remote?• Large/small?• Who else is on the team?• How long have you been together?
Balancing Team Work• Within UX team
• Research• Wires/clickable prototypes• Usability testing preparation• Usability test facilitation• UX Issue wrangling• Visual design• What else?
• Split team up on different items or attack together
Marketing, Sales and Business Analysts• Have customer access• Knowledge
• Business rules• Usage patterns, what other tools customer has
• Can support• Research (users/stakeholders)• Wires• Demos/Clickable prototypes
Developers and UX• Trust is key• FED (front end developers) and UI Developers
• Can provide• Clickable prototypes • Coded “prototypes”
product owner =
product manager+
dev lead+
interaction designer
Break
30 Minutes, Fifth Avenue
Scaling Agile at Spotify via Slideshare of Vlad Myslahttp://www.slideshare.net/vmysla/scrum-at-spotify?qid=2345c3ad-7e68-4383-9673-9e715ff47a75&v=default&b=&from_search=14
Squads, Tribes, Chapters and Guilds
Parallel-Track Workflow
a.k.a. Staggered Sprints
Agile Design Timing: Parallel Tracks• Developer track: Focus is on production code• Interaction designers track: Focus is on user
contact
Iteration 1: Developer Track• Underlying architecture work• Critical features with little user interface
design required
Iteration 1: Interaction Designers• Design, create prototypes, usability test
(UTest), and iterate (RITE method)• Field studies to understand user needs (contextual
inquiry)
Iteration 2: Developers• Take the verified designs and start making
them a reality
Iteration 2: Interaction Designers• UTest completed code for integration and implementation
issues
Iteration 2: Interaction Designers• UTest completed code for integration and implementation
issues• Use data gathered in the last iteration to create designs for
next iteration
Iteration 2: Interaction Designers• UTest completed code for integration and implementation
issues• Use data gathered in the last iteration to create designs for
next iteration• Field studies for detailed information needed for upcoming
iterations
And so on…• Constant communication between the two tracks is
essential for success• These are not just hand-offs
We repeat:• Constant communication between the two
tracks is essential for success
• These are not just hand-offs
• This is the most misunderstood thing about staggered sprints.
During Each Iteration• Be present with developers day to day• Are they building what you expect?• Get their feedback on your designs in
progress
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
During Each Iteration• Look back• Validate the work done in previous iteration
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
During Each Iteration• Look ahead• Design for next iteration (n+1)• Research for future iterations (n+2, n+3…)
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Combine Your Investigations• Maximize your time with users• Test completed code• Test paper prototypes of upcoming design• Elicit data for future design
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Agile Roles and Parallel Tracks• UX Takes Time• Having multiple roles (e.g. UX + product
owner, UX + scrum master) leads to overload
• Working on multiple teams is a bad idea
Incremental Implementation
Getting to complete workflows, one DONE at a time
“Story”=
User Problem with acceptance criteria
Story Myths• Story = feature• Story = specification• Story must fit in one iteration• Stories are time limited• All stories have firm estimates and specs in
Iteration Zero (or even Iteration One)• These are NOT true.
Story Examples
Advantages of the “As a user, I want” user story template. By Mike Cohn
http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/advantages-of-the-as-a-user-i-want-user-story-
template
To make a story INVEST• A good story is:
• Independent• Negotiable• Valuable to users or customers• Estimate-able• Small• Testable
User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, By Mike Cohn
What if your story is too big?• If work can’t be completed in one iteration• Where are the break lines?• How do you prioritize the feature cards?
Big Design - Waterfall• Everyone signs off before Dev begins
• One big design document contains everything• Dev builds it until they run out of time• QA doesn’t test until Dev has run out of time
• Result• Whatever is built first is completed• Details are left out, quality issues identified too
late• Holes are left in the design
• Much of your design effort is wasted
Big Design - Agile• Deliver incremental value quickly• Break the story into small pieces• What is the smallest piece that can be built?
• Delivers value to the user• Incremental • Something to learn from• Minimum Viable/Valuable Product (MVP) – from
Lean Startup
Big Design – Agile (continued)• Schedule the pieces in order of importance• Design incrementally, as if the each piece
were the final one• Change your future plans between iterations if
you have learned new things
Original via Spotify (original presentation not available). More at: http://www.slideshare.net/vmysla/scrum-at-spotify?qid=2345c3ad-7e68-4383-9673-9e715ff47a75&v=default&b=&from_search=14 and https://labs.spotify.com/
Story Card Progress• Is UX Needed?
• What is the story?• What do we know? • What do we need to know?
• Conduct Lean UX to answer outstanding questions• Interviews, observations, prototype testing, etc.• Work with Dev to respond to questions as needed
92
Kanban
Do Review Done
Benefits of being incremental• When development runs out of
time/resources, the shipped solution• Delivers maximum value• Has a complete design without holes• Has much higher quality• Has no wasted design work
Mistakes to avoid• Designing all the detail up front• Not thinking about the full experience up front• Not breaking things down far enough• Not delivering a complete (sub) story each
iteration – “now the user can…”
Incremental Example: Doorway• User story: The user can get in and out of her
house easily.• Completion Criteria:
- Secure - Insulated - Lets light in - Allows large furniture items to pass - Fits with house décor - Works even without keys
Incremental Example: Doorway• Initial Rough Design:
- Beautiful Colonial Door - Unbreakable translucent window - Programmable digital lock - Steel deadbolt - Metal-clad on the outside - High R-Value
Incremental Example: Doorway• What is the minimum work that will give the
user incremental value towards their goal?• What needs to be designed for that?
• What is the next smallest item that will give the user an added capability?
• What needs to be designed for that?
ActivityStory Selection
Activity: Early Story Selection• Select the first 10 stories that should be done.
• How many do you have to complete before
you would be willing to try it with real customers?
• See handout
Incremental Implementation
Continued
Fitting This to Your Process• The purpose of incremental implementation is
to get feedback early and often• After each iteration, gather feedback• Questions that can affect your breakdown:
• Who evaluates your product?• Is it always the same people?• Are your target users internal or external?
Gather feedback from• Internal ‘expert users’• Beta/Usability testers under NDA• The general public (after release or open beta)• Internal users in a protected ‘sandbox’• Internal users after general deployment
Before releasing, consider• Are you getting the feedback you need?• Is there enough completed for an external
user to evaluate?
• Sometimes you may want to hold back certain work until more is done.
Make it Easier for the Team• Write staged specifications
• Best guess at breaking the design into 1-iteration Story increments
• “Break” the Stories with developers into Tasks• Remember: they own the Tasks• You need to know how to map those back to Stories &
Capabilities (See story mapping)
Ways to Break a Story Down• Workflows
• Stories with many “mini-workflows”• e.g., Channel changer
• Allowed inputs• Story that applies across different data types• e.g., Image file reader
• Capacity• Completion criteria involve extreme size or speed• e.g., File transfer of large files
Example: Ordering Your Sub-Stories• Big Story: User can move, duplicate, or
remove selected text in a document.
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Example: Story Breakdown• Big Story: User can move, duplicate, or
remove selected text in a document.
• Note: there are many possible designs that achieve this user capability
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Example: Story Breakdown• Big Story: User can move, duplicate, or
remove selected text in a document.
• The selected design is to provide 4 menu items with hotkeys: Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete.
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Example: Story Breakdown• Written out as proper stories:
• The user can move selected text out of the document and into an off-screen clipboard.
• The user can copy selected text into the off-screen clipboard.
• The user can replace selected text with the contents of the off-screen clipboard.
• The user can delete selected text.
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Example: Story Breakdown• Stories: Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete• How engineering breaks it down:
• Sprint one: create memory buffer system• Sprint two: add menu items, tooltips, etc• Sprint three: Copy• Spring four: Cut, Paste, Delete
• What is wrong with this?
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
Example: Story Breakdown• Stories: Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete
• How do you order these four stories?• Which one comes first? Why?• Which one comes second? Why?• Which one comes third? Why?
© Copyright 2014 Desirée Sy & John Schrag. All rights reserved.
ActivityStory Breakdown
Activity: Story Breakdown• Chandra needs all the application functions
available to him in his native language or another language he understands well.
• Which of these breakdowns is/are Agile? Why?
• What factors would determine which breakdown you should choose?
• See handout
What if no breakdown is possible?• You can have a story with one single capability
that takes more than a sprint to build.• For example, a calculation with a difficult
algorithm.
• This is an engineering problem, not a UX problem.
• If possible, see if the work-in-progress can be validated using partial results.
Discussion• What are your story breakdown problems?
Lunch12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Agile Qualities• Iterative• Incremental• Continuous• Collaborative• Transparent
User Story Mapping
Shared Documents Aren’t Shared Understanding
Cartoon by Luke Barrett © Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
User Story Mapping• Organizing user stories
into a map that communicates experience
Book: User Story Mapping, Discover the whole story, build the right product. By Jeff Patton (with Peter Economy)
Visible Depiction of Available User Stories• Frame questions such as
• What is needed?• When is it needed?• Where is there value?• What is really important?
Depth and Breadth of Entire System
© Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
time
Below each activity, or large story are the child stories that make it up
Arrange spatially to tell bigger stories
Represents Complexity and Size of Work
time
Refine the map and test for completeness with the entire team - developers, designers, BA’s etc.
Conversations to Understand• Relationships between stories• Structure and hierarchy of related stories• Functionality that is being built • Conversations to share knowledge and clarify
assumptions
Clarity of What is to be Built• Organizes stories• Context of use for product• Clear understanding of use makes
prioritization easier• Backlog completeness can be verified
• Can be overwhelming to see entire product• Important to know information now rather than
later
Enables Better Releases• Select relevant, high priority stories in
releases• Valuable functionality• Complete sets of functionality
• Plan, at a high level • What would come next• What is for “later”
© Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
Activity: Story Mapping
• What were all the things you did to get ready to be here today?• Starting from the moment you woke up until you
arrived here• Write one item per sticky note
Activity: Story Mapping
• In a small group (3 to 5) merge stickies into a single model• Arrange left to right in order that makes sense
to group• Eliminate duplicates• Cluster items that seem similar and create
labels for the clusters if items that seem to go together
© Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
* from Cockburn’s Writing Effective Use Cases
Story Detail – Level of Fidelity
© Jeff Patton, all rights reserved, www.AgileProductDesign.com
Functional or “Sea level”I’d reasonably expect to complete this in a single sitting
Sub-Functional or “Fish level”Small tasks that by themselves don’t mean much. I’ll do several of these before I reach a functional level goal
Activity or “Kite level”Longer term goals often with no precise ending. I’ll perform several functional tasks in the context of an activity
Too abstract
Too detailed
Think about user experience at this
level
Be sensitive to your user task’s “altitude”
Discover as much as possible, as quickly as possible• Prototype early • Learn from prototypes and iterate
Agile UX Prioritization
Knowing what’s important
Timing for Prioritization• When grooming the backlog• During formative usability testing
Prioritizing Problems• It’s better to fix the few most important issues
than to find every issue because:• Big problems can mask other problems• Every fix changes user behavior
Prioritizing ProblemsHigh ValueLow Cost
High ValueHigh Cost
Low ValueLow Cost
Low ValueHigh Cost
UX/Product Managementdetermines “Value”
Prioritizing ProblemsHigh ValueLow Cost
High ValueHigh Cost
Low ValueLow Cost
Low ValueHigh Cost
Development determines “Cost”
Prioritizing ProblemsHigh ValueLow Cost
High ValueHigh Cost
Low ValueLow Cost
Low ValueHigh Cost
A BC Seriously?
“If a user can’t find or use feature, it’s the same as if the feature is broken.”
VS.
“It’s more important to fix things that really don’t work. The user can learn the hard stuff.”
Prioritizing UX vs “real” bugs
Prioritizing UX vs “real” bugs• You cannot win this argument on a case-by-
case basis• Instead, adopt a strategy for getting required
investment in UX work
Strategies for Getting Investment in UX• Political strategy: Create a formal equivalence
of UX versus bug priorities.• Investment strategy 1: Block out fixed time• Investment strategy 2: Block out people• End-run strategy: get your own engineer
• Fix UX problems early, if possible.
Detail Matters• Users are usually more delighted by low-cost
annoyance fixes than by big flashy new features
Focus and Negotiation• Keep an intense focus on fixing the most
important things
• Negotiate on behalf of users• Represent their needs as best you can
Break
30 Minutes
Research & Requirements
Research Balancing Act
Understand users, context, etc. Create personas, mental models, etc. Prepare for story mapping
and other sessions thoroughly
Strive for UX Best Practices
Engineers need designs to develop - will move on without UX involvement
Research cannot continue forever
Meet Production Needs
Agile requires leaner methods
How much is good enough?• What is being developed?• What do you know?• What questions are still open?
• Meet goal when users starting to talk about colors and icons (not functionality)
Light Design - Lean UX• Familiar UX methods made lean:
• Iterative (flexible, change as needed)• Repeatable (easy to do, expected next steps)• Incremental (lead into next, small changes over
time)
Tips for Lean• Usability Testing
• Insert questions to find out more for open issues• Schedule regular testing to reduce preparation
time• Reach users quickly for meaningful
information (panels, remote testing, surveys etc.)• Incentives as needed
• Put all data together quickly – no big reports
Documentation & Reporting
Don’t Overwhelm Audience or You• Document in Wiki or similar (avoid PPT)• Just enough to understand the “why”• Always challenging due to:
• Limited time• Multiple changes over time• Findings building upon one another
150
Provide Details as Appropriate• Archive prototypes and other deliverables• Regulatory environment or complex
interactions • Test plans and guides• Detailed changes• Participant information as needed, but avoid
sharing with wider team
151
Capture the Evolution• Helps avoid making same mistakes later• Helpful to capture first, middle and end
screenshots:• primary pages• primary features• contentious issues
• Don’t sweat the small stuff• Use final prototypes as a base for
recommendations (vs. written documentation and/or comps) 152
Separation affects documentation needs• When team is not co-located, does not share
time zones and/or does not share language• Use additional documentation to communicate
and coordinate• Use Agile tools (GitHub, JIRA/Confluence) and UX
tools (Mural.ly, etc.) to share understanding• Use communication tools as frequently as possible
(Skype, online meetings, etc.)153
Lean Reporting• Put all data together quickly• No big reports• Information as needed
• Get it to the team – quickly (Evernote, Mural.ly, Trello, Story/Bug tracker, etc.)
• Tell the story – pertinent information – who, why?• Provide solutions (wireframes, etc.)
Tell the Story• Strive for “Caterpillar to Butterfly”
• Show progressions of key sections of the interactions
• Use more screenshots – fewer words• Explain what changes were made and why
155
Activity: Make it Lean (45 minutes)
Activity: Determine User Expectations• Early stages of a project - defining scope. • Stakeholders: “Users will never sign a catering
contract on their phone!” Doesn’t need to work on the phone.
• UX team: Not likely to be their primary access choice, but will be desired to be done on their phone.• You have 2 days: Determine if common/critical use
case • Teams of 3 people• Make a plan for what to do (10 minutes)• Share your plan
Guidelines• What do you need to know?• What resources do you have?• How much effort/time do you have?
Activity: Part 2• Take roles and act them out• Discuss ramifications of findings
• What's in and what's out?• Make tradeoffs – conversations• Vote within teams
• See handout
Sprint Zero
Sprint Zero for Scrum Teams• Time to do initial research, setup usability
testing, etc.• When technical teams are setting up
environments• Back end that doesn’t hit front end
• Getting alignment on business goals – WHY??• All bought in across board• Do just enough work to get development
started
Alternatives to Sprint Zero• Can be in parallel sprints while other teams
are wrapping up previous work• Do work in Sprint 1
• Planning, story mapping, etc. (or already done)• Story creation (or not done yet, or will do later)• Create initial wires and prototypes (or in Sprint 1)
• Goal is to have initial questions answered – doesn't matter what you call it
Pros and Cons - Sprint Zero• Pros
• Gives UX a head start• Lot of backend work needs to be done anyway• Establish common vision
• Who for?• Common “elevator statement”
• Cons• Can be a trap leading to Waterfall
• Big Design Up Front (BDUF)• Time box and Focus on Outcomes to avoid this
Requirements• Change in presence of the artifact• Questions change as you learn more • Pointless to do ALL requirements gathering up
front• Works better iteratively – unless in hands of
those that will use it• Don't know what we don't know
Make it Quick!• Proxies as needed• Quick enough analysis• Get to 80% confidence • Continued learning with additional contacts
• Usability testing• Customer visits (enterprise software)
Setting Expectations• Developers
• Only get a little bit of information at a time• Need to fit work in• May need to rework as we learn• Repeat it as we go
Arguments About UX• Not done (what is “done?”)• Indecisive (make up your mind!)• Never right (“more feedback already?”)
Agile Usability Testing
UX Made “Agile”• Any UX method can be adapted
• Don’t have to give up our favorite methods • Don’t have to learn new ones• Doesn’t take much effort to adapt our methods to
fit the Agile process• Think about “lean” and “iterative” methods• RITE is a good place to start
RITE Overview• Qualitative user feedback
• actions + comments • Series of small usability tests• 3 participants each day• Minimum of 3 days of testing
• Iteration between testing days• Total of 5 days
RITE Process
Test Update Test
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High
Medium
Low
Priority & Level of Effort
What Works for RITE• Best used early in project lifecycle
• Early concepts• Need to be vetted with users• Can assist in quickly shaping designs
• Doesn’t this sound “agile”?
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Evaluation + Testing• Think evaluation → testing throughout the
product development lifecycle• Start with design evaluations and move onto
testing the deliverables for each Sprint/Iteration
• Start with the big questions and narrow down quickly (what would be the top 3 things to fix/improve? would you use it? Would it be a “wow”? which of 3 approaches do you prefer?)
Number of Participants• Think fast and iterative
• For example ~5 participants for each, and iterate if needed
• Key is to get the needed feedback, iterate, and move on • Do you really need 10 participants to tell you it’s
something they would never use?• Know when enough is enough
• If 3 participants so far have “failed”, do you need to test the other 2?
• Note: personas can be agile too: top 1, confirm, test
Testing Cycles• Set a schedule and expectations with the
team early• User testing days (e.g., every Friday, we’ll
have 3 hours set aside for testing)• Schedule set to Sprints/Iterations (e.g., at end
of every Sprint, schedule a round of testing to cover what has been completed)
• Also consider combining sessions for multiple goals (e.g., test what was done last Sprint, get early feedback on what you are working on now)
Testing Materials• Use the lowest fidelity method possible to get
the needed information (the time spent in developing the materials is time you won’t have for iterating and testing)
• Use sketches and wireframes to work on basic concepts and keep attention focused away from details
• Use higher fidelity when you are testing the details and interactions
Test Only Until “Done”• Stop testing when you know enough to move
forward• Test for the big stuff first: when you start
hearing about icons and colors, not function or layout, you know it’s “enough”
Light Reporting• Don’t write a report• Focus on most important changes• Record change decisions and reasons why (for
future reference, and for onboarding new designers)
• Explain changes to the team face-to-face• Tell the story
Discussion
Discussion• Additional topics
• Bringing work in – how do you select the right thing(s)?
• Backlog grooming and where UX fits in• Types of prototypes• Other frameworks for Agile• Working with PM’s, and leadership
• What are your experiences?
Contacting the Presenters• John Schrag, john.schrag@autodesk.com
@jvschrag• Thyra Rauch, trauch@us.ibm.com • Carol Smith, carologic@gmail.com @carologic
Additional Reference
Principles behind the Agile Manifesto1. Customer satisfaction by rapid delivery of useful software2. Welcome changing requirements, even late in development3. Working software is delivered frequently (weeks rather than
months)4. Close, daily cooperation between business people and developers5. Projects are built around motivated individuals, who should be
trusted6. Face-to-face conversation is the best form of communication (co-
location)7. Working software is the principal measure of progress8. Sustainable development, able to maintain a constant pace9. Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design10.Simplicity—the art of maximizing the amount of work not done—is
essential11.Self-organizing teams12.Regular adaptation to changing circumstance
http://www.agilemanifesto.org/principles.html
• Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-Centered Design by Desirée Sy
• Journal of Usability Studies, Volume 2, Issue 3 (the most-cited paper in JUS)
• http://www.uxpajournal.org/
References• Shivani Mohan and Lissette Sotelo Parr, Sharing Ethnographic research:
https://medium.com/@FBResearch/beyond-bullet-points-four-creative-ways-to-share-research-c10fa047f025#.of9i2n5g7
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