There’s more than one way to skin a cat
Integrating UX into an Agile environment
Jon InnesJanice JamesKate Walton
July 9-12, 2013
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Agile: The basic concept
Product Backlog
Sprint Backlog
Potentially Shippable Product Increment
Daily Scrum Meeting
24 hrs
2-4 weekSprint
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Lean UX
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How Agile can you go?
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Don’t worry—No cats were harmed!
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Large Government Agency employing >10,000 employees
Many employees telecommute full-time or 1 day/week
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Janice’s Company
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Project Designing a complex web application, integrating 3 internal and 3 external primary systems
supported by other systems
Distributed teams Internal teams representing multiple business units 5 contract firms, each with its own Project Manager(s)
Content Management System Web and Business Services Reporting Management User Interface Design and Development
6 User Interface Designers and Interaction Designers 1 Graphic Designer 6 Developers
Interaction designers primarily work remotely Agile Environment
3-week Sprints Interaction designers work 1-2 sprints ahead
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The Project
it
Complex Application
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3-week Sprints Distributed teams
Internal teams representing multiple business units
External teams consisting of 4-5 contract firms UX team
Agile / UX Process
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UX Process 1-2 Sprints Ahead
Wireframes to illustrate concepts Interviews and feedback sessions with users 2x/wk, 2 hrs each Iterate designs Write user stories for agreed upon designs
1 Sprint Ahead Final details of wireframes Review user stories formally with business architects and all
technical teams Refine if necessary
Conduct usability testing 2x/quarter Meet weekly and as needed with UI developers to review
designs, evaluate for risks and effort Meet weekly with Visual Designer
Agile / UX Process
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The UI team drives the design
Steady flow of user research means fewer assumptions Usability testing facilitates
improved process of fixing problems
Rotation of users provides a good sampling
Working remotely means increased focus and productivity
The Good . . .
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Working remotely means Less in-person interaction
with UI developers Lots of meetings (in
addition to typical Agile meetings)
Juggling usability testing during other in-Sprint research and design activities is difficult
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. . . And the bad
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Takeaways
UX within Agile is an evolving process—not necessarily a bad thing
Sprint Zero is an opportune time User Research Agile training Communication plans
Communication within teams and across teams is key
Be creative in delegation of responsibilities to allow for more user research
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Product and service provider to the oil industry
<72,000 employees in > 80 countries
Broad range of end-users from engineers to field operators
Kate’s Company
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Two separate applications which are different in: Objectives End-user populations Technical Platforms
Large, highly complex applications Engineering Tool (4 years) Process assurance tool (4 years)
2 independent, parallel timelines with shared resources; working on the projects simultaneously
26% of the team is offshore
The Projects
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Agile / UX Process
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Very typical agile process in many regards UX efforts are split between researching
and designing for future sprints and supporting the current sprint
Atypical aspects Amount of effort spent during the
sprint Last minute negotiations with
development Redesigns Interim feedback and testing UX sign-off on user stories
Detailed UX specifications
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UX Specification Example
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Pros UX team is a balanced
partner within the team In the trenches with the
team every day – reactive and responsive to changing needs
Assurance that the design is followed through to the implementation
The Good . . .
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Cons Unable to perform as much usability
research as needed
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. . . And the bad
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No typical agile environment; No typical UX fit within the agile environment
Some aspects of the project will force the shape that UX takes
Some things you can work to change; some things you have to accept
The most important success factor of our environment is that we assess and iterate on the process Next iteration involves ‘mini-
sabbaticals’
Takeaways
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Early stage startup, with series A funding (some cash)
Team meets the “two pizza size” rule limit Everyone is in the same physical location Founders have good sense of customer
needs Everyone believes that user experience is
critical Some of them know what UX means!
Just trying to figure out what how to do things right
Jon’s Company
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Evolve web based application to expand user base
Existing visual design defined by external agency
Goal is to add and refine features based on: Backlog of ideas from founders Competitive analysis by Product Owner Feedback from prior user studies
Founders had talked to users, but rather informal
The Project
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Scrum with only minor modifications Two week sprints UX driven modifications to Scrum
“Feature toggles” used to try for continuous delivery
Basic visual style of site defined, but still evolving Team reviews product backlog a sprint ahead All user stories evaluated for UX risk & effort UX tasks split into 2 phases
Sprint ahead: Wireframes/mockups as “light specs”
In Sprint: Detailed design & user testing
Agile / UX Process
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Stories move from commit to delivery in about a month
Regular user feedback cadence established Remote or in person testing of designs
Clearly defined definition of done for UX Team agrees on design hypothesis in sprint
planning Highly collaborative process
The Good . . .
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Big picture assumptions often go unexamined
Balancing sprint ahead vs. in sprint work is tough Have to plan studies during sprint ahead, run
next sprint Research work can impact detailed design time
Sometimes design epics are hard to fit into sprints Beware the never ending story!
Hard to avoid reworking stuff during detailed design This makes it hard to make big changes
Prototyping is done in real code =$$$July 9-12, 2013
. . . And the bad
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Have a solid product vision & backlog Don’t know who you are designing for? Don’t sprint! Use story mapping & design charrettes to focus team
Consider “sprint sabbaticals” for big picture UX work Once sprinting, it’s hard to change design direction Doing any research away from team is hard in a sprint
Track UX metrics to keep score as you go How many users have you interacted with? Can users complete the stories/tasks as expected? Are users satisfied with what is delivered?
Takeaways
July 9-12, 2013
UX Metrics: http://boxesandarrows.com/integrating-ux-into-the-product-backlog/
Discussion
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