Beyond Staggered Sprints: Integrating User Experience and Agile

Beyond staggered sprintsHow TheLadders.com integrated UX into Agile

Who is this guy?With a hat like that, he must know his shit.

Jeff GothelfCurrently: Director of UX at TheLadders.com

Previously: Publicis Modem, Webtrends, AOL, Fidelity and an assortment of startups

Blog: www.jeffgothelf.com/blog

Twitter: @jboogie

Email: jgothelf@theladders.com

Job site for professionals earning $100k or more and the recruiters/employers looking to hire them.

Execution team made up of product managers, developers and user experience folks.

UX team made up of Interaction Designers, Visual Designers and Copywriters.

Work spans both pre-paywall acquisition and conversion marketing as well as post-paywall product design.

User Experience is a shared service

Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line

Everything was butterflies and rainbows in our waterfall worldI couldn’t find a pic of a waterfall, a rainbow AND butterflies….sorry.

http://www.niagarafallscanadapics.net/Niagara-falls-Canada-rainbow-pdam2.jpg

3-9 month release cycles Thick functional specs In-depth wireframe decks Long visual design cycles Late-stage user validation and

testing Explicit hand-offs

We didn’t land on Plymouth Rock…In fact, we had no idea we were going for a ride.

http://www.fieldmuseum.org/museum_info/press/images/nature1_lg.jpg

Bottom-up decision No heads-up or discussion with

UX

We were told tales of glamour and victory!Improvements galore!

http://membres.multimania.fr/frodon9/hpbimg/oliphant.jpg

Better! Faster! Tighter! Nimbler (is that a word?)

But instead were treated like Hobbits.We can come along, but figure out your own way.

http://quizilla.teennick.com/user_images/T/tohrupenguin/1112394240_ryfrodosam.jpg

Many stories of failure No existing experience No clear path to success But The Precious was out

there….we were sure of it

So we set out on a quest to find the unicorn!And this was no ordinary unicorn.

http://www.boingboing.net/gimages/patrick.jpg

Preliminary research made it clear that no one had really nailed this problem.

We had some very thorny issues to tackle.These became clear very early.

http://www.africandreamadventuresafaris.com/thornbush-arusha-national-park.JPG

What to do with Big Upfront Design?

How do you maintain focus on a bigger vision?

Can we maintain product quality? How do you produce creative

work faster? How do you keep the engineering

teams busy each iteration? Will lighter product iterations be

accepted by the business? Will we be blamed if they don’t?

The journey of 1000 miles starts with one step.Our first step was research.

http://www.africandreamadventuresafaris.com/thornbush-arusha-national-park.JPG

Agile and user experience

And more research…This time with humans.

We even sought out The Oracle…He was very oracle-ish.

http://www.xqa.com.ar/visualmanagement/wp-content/uploads/XQA_9437.JPG

Add up all the research to get…..ideas!An idea and $.75 and you’re on your way to that cup of coffee.

http://legacy.lclark.edu/faculty/jsmiller/objects/idea_bulb.jpg

Our first attempt:Just get it all done in 2 weeks.

We took our 9-month waterfall process…Which was mighty and massive

http://www.julia-mathewson.com/photos/usa_2005_photos/8niagara1.jpg

And jammed it into a 2-week timeframe.We kept all the pieces and processes the same.

http://www6.worldisround.com/photos/29/323/524_o.jpg

We became chairmen of the boards.It got a little silly, actually.

“The whiteboards do not help organize the UX team’s work at all. Instead, they block out natural light from the windows and create a harsh and uncreative visual environment.”- Internal survey respondent

Functional specs were now banned.The story card had taken the spec’s place. And it multiplied.

The boards took on multiple purposes.Functional spec. Project plan. Resource allocation. And status indication.

The boards took on multiple purposes.Functional spec. Project plan. Resource allocation. And status indication.

But, hey, the UX team got its own board.Which is nice.

Wireframes picked up the heavy lifting specs had left behind.Annotations galore!

Dreams of a “vision” document never materialized.You can dream in one hand and poop in the other. See which one fills first.

Learnings from our first attempt:UX morale in the crapperFeeling of “going for the bronze”Perceived quality of work was much lowerNo time to designNo ownership or pride in the work

Summary: FAIL

Our second attempt:Introduce two secret weapons

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesThe cause of, and solution to, all of UX’s problems.

• Re-usable components defined once

• Housed in centralized, accessible KM system

• Asset library for designers and developers

• Reduced number of design cycles

• Reduced dev time

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesThe cause of, and solution to, all of UX’s problems.

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesThe cause of, and solution to, all of UX’s problems.

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesThe cause of, and solution to, all of UX’s problems.

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesThe cause of, and solution to, all of UX’s problems.

Secret weapon #1: Style guidesNow, everyone’s a designer. Yay?

http://iyokobat.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/village-of-the-damned.jpg

Secret weapon #2: PrototypingShow me. Don’t tell me.

Secret weapon #2: PrototypingShow me. Don’t tell me.

Learnings from our second attempt:Style guides make life easierRe-usable components FTW!“Everyone is a designer” buys more UX timePrototyping reduces the need for most documentation

Summary: We’re making progress

Our third attempt:Put everything in-line.

Wait! You forgot usability testing!How else will we know how awesome we are?

http://stevejencks.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/usability.jpg

Every other week (2 weeks sprints)

Mid-way through the sprint Enough time to reach Show whatever you have ready No more than 3 participants Clear the boulders Validate and iterate

Great, the customer likes it. What about the product owner?Opinions are like belly buttons. Belly buttons on cats.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekeeler/4677093058/sizes/l/

Design reviews 2 reviews per iteration Initial review mid-way in the

sprint, directional alignment Second review is final – 95% done Ad hoc reviews in between Decision at second review is

made to move forward or spend another iteration designing

Great, the customer likes it. What about the product owner?Opinions are like belly buttons. Belly buttons on cats.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekeeler/4677093058/sizes/l/

“Design reviews have made the biggest difference. Having all the decision makers in one room has been crucial to getting projects approved on time.”- Internal survey respondent

“Design reviews have helped reduce the “endless email thread” reviews we used to have.”- Another internal survey respondent

Learnings from our third attempt:In-sprint user testing provides continuous user feedback in advance of coding

Lightweight and cost-effective testing

Formal, fixed design reviews provide mileposts for everyone to strive toward

Unified approval processes buy more UX time

Summary: Win!

Our fourth attempt:Bring everyone together and then separate

Can you guess who sketched this?The answer will shock you!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekeeler/4677093058/sizes/l/

Can you guess who sketched this?The answer will shock you!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekeeler/4677093058/sizes/l/

Can you guess who sketched this?The answer will shock you!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekeeler/4677093058/sizes/l/

The whole execution team did in a modified “design studio.”You can also call it collaborative sketching.

Design studios Cross-functional team Everybody draws, presents and

critiques Refine ideas through 3 rounds Generate tons of raw ideas Huge headstart for UX Early team-wide alignment Team-wide feeling of ownership

Start small.6 of your best ideas as fast as possible.

Refine to 3 or 4 better ideas.Add detail.

And once more to one, final, detailed idea.Let your one best idea shine.

User Experience is a shared service

Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line

Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line Biz Line

UX UX UX UX

Learnings from our fourth attempt:Collaboration worksAnyone can contribute ideasFocusing teams on one workstream proves effectiveCamaraderie, communication benefit from aligned teams

Summary: Win! (that’s two, but I’m not counting)

Where we are today:We’re changing our mind. Slowly.

Designers love ritual.Trying to pull them out of established ruts is a Herculean task.

http://www.strongcopssavelives.com/images/Air%20Plane%20Pull%202009.jpg

Designers are used to being heroes. Agile is distinctly, anti-hero.

http://www.abegoodman.com/Images/greatest-american-hero.jpg

What about estimates?Deadlines or points?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_FfetiF7C9vo/SEeOU0ew8KI/AAAAAAAAILU/CE_tq46wDYM/S600/Washington+DC+auto+mechanic,+1942.JPG

Is it viable?Yes, but does anybody actually want it?

Minimally viable Minimally desirable

Evolution continues through the breaking of old norms.Moving towards parallel pathing development and design.

http://www.greatoutdoors.com/files/imagecache/display/files/images/articles/Wong%20leading%20a%20Powder%208%20win%20%20photo%20-%20Wong%20Collection.jpg

Thanks!Ask me some questions. Here. Now. Or later: jgothelf@theladders.com / @jboogie