Defeating Babel: 4 Strategies for Better Design Communication in Agile

Defeating BabelFour Strategies for Better Design Communication in AgileJim Carlsen-LandyDirector, User Experience Design

CA Technologies

[email protected]

Big Design 2015

#bigd15@JimCL42

What’s this about?

Is intro to or critique of Agile

how to reduce or eliminate design

details of specific design or coding methods

all the answers

the only answer

Is working better across

functional roles

applicable to developers, designers, product owners, QA, and managers

better communication about design and development during the process

For the attention span impaired

Drive priority discussions around value

Speak a shared language of Agile development

Show the possibilities, don’t debate principles

Tailor artifacts to meet your teams’ needs

Who am I? How did I get here?



…and you are?

Designer

Developer

Scrum Master

Product Owner

Quality Engineer

Product Manager

Team Manager

Project Manager

You are part of a product team.

Your actions and your decisions affect your product.

Therefore you are a product designer.

Why is communication a problem?

Design is different from development Years of waterfall thinking have created silos By-the-book Agile is very development-centric Our teams and leaders have different concerns Humans crawl into their comfort zone under pressure Professionals use the secret language of their craft to

reinforce their authority and value

The secret to better communication

It depends.

Every team,

every project, and

every organization

is different.

Four things you can do










Agile value

Agile value

Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous

delivery of valuable software.

Value = Priority = What gets doneQ: Who decides priority in your sprints?

A: Your product owner.

Make them your friend.

Help them understand the value

of a great user experience.

Value = Priority = What gets doneQ: Who decides priority in your sprints?

A: Your product owner.

Make them your friend.

Help them understand the value

of a great user experience.

Is this YOU?

Different concerns

Developer• Efficient• Maintainable• Implementable

Designer• Usable• Modern• Branded

Product Owner• Customer needs• Utilitarian• Business ROI

Different concerns, one goal

Developer• Efficient• Maintainable• Implementable

Designer• Usable• Modern• Branded

Product Owner• Customer needs• Utilitarian• Business ROI

DELIVER

VALUE

Usability adds value (the simple version)

A feature that cannot be used prevents the user from performing the intended task.

If the user is unable to perform the intended task, that feature delivers less (or zero) value.

An attribute of the product that interferes with or reduces the value delivered is a defect.

Therefore, an unusable feature is a defect.QED

For your users Efficiency, accuracy,

consistency

Trust & acceptance

Better tolerance for bugs

Stay competitive and profitable

User-centered design adds value

For your users Efficiency, accuracy,

consistency

Trust & acceptance

Better tolerance for bugs

Stay competitive and profitable

User-centered design adds value

For your business Reduced support calls

Reduced training costs

Fewer product returns and more renewals

Differentiate in the market

Avoid lawsuits

User-centered design reduces risk

Paul Sherman, “Decision Insurance: Iterative Prototyping to Reduce Business Risk”

User-centered design reduces risk

Paul Sherman, “Decision Insurance: Iterative Prototyping to Reduce Business Risk”

Presentation adds value

Edward Tufte, Visual Explanations, 1997



INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE WAS PREPARED TO SUPPORT AN ORAL

PRESENTATIONAND CANNOT BE CONSIDERED COMPLETE

WITHOUT THE ORAL DISCUSSION



Features aren’t enough anymore

Sunday Monday

Thanks, Jeremy Johnson!

Don’t take my word for it

Autodesk: “experience design contributes 36% to 40% to motivating users to recommend our product.” That’s NPS for you marketing folks in the room

Medallia: compared to users who had the worst experiences, users who had the best experiences:

spent 2.4x as much and renewed 6x as often


Autodesk: “experience design contributes 36% to 40% to motivating users to recommend our product.” That’s NPS for you marketing folks in the room

Medallia: compared to users who had the worst experiences, users who had the best experiences:

spent 2.4x as much and renewed 6x as often

Peter KrissHarvard Business Review

blog 1 Aug 2014

It’s time to stop the philosophical debate about whether investing in the

experience of your customers is the right business decision. This isn’t a question of beliefs, it’s a question about the behavior

of your customers.


Design Management Institute, March 10, 2014

Product Owner value questions

What would you ask for if this was the last sprint?

What would you ask for if you can only get one thing? After that? After that?

What you’re asking for is risky / expensive. Does this lower cost alternative meet your needs? No? Then let’s negotiate something that does.

The value of happiness

@SimonCockayne“Forget velocity, measure value”

Ask your customers:“How happy does backlog item x make you?”

Super-happy (score 9-10) – You love the backlog item.

Ok (score 7-8) – You are satisfied.

Unhappy (score 0-6) – You are unhappy (or miserable) about the backlog item.

The value of happiness

@SimonCockayne“Forget velocity, measure value”

The value of happinessThe results were wonderful.

First of all, they were super keen to try something new and we wanted their opinion.

Second, the scores showed that they LOVED the stuff we were doing.

Third, the scrum team who were listening were STOKED to see the high scores. Frankly, I thank that helped boost scrum team morale in the next sprint.

Fourth, customers started interacting with each other as they discussed the value they perceived, lots of

good spirits and good humour, to boot.@SimonCockayne

“Forget velocity, measure value”

Perspectives on value

Adam Polansky, “Spread It, Split It & Stack It – 3 Methods for Qualifying Content”, Big Design 2010

Games for getting to value

www.innovationgames.com

Summing up value






It’s in there

Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances

agility.Simplicity – the art of maximizing the amount of work not done – is essential.

Being present in an Agile world

Story

creation Estimation

Itera

tion

plann

ingDaily scrum Sp

rint

dem

o

Retrospectiv

e

Design stories, dev stories

Design stories Development stories



Research & discovery

Epic-level design (e.g. storyboards)

Pre-release usability testing✔

✔

✔



Generic “do GUI” in a separate user story

“Apply the look&feel to finished screens”

UX defects are “cosmetic” (UX debt)

✗✗✗

Development storiesDesign stories


Development stories


Design stories

✔

Project stories


✔

Building a teapot

As a user I need a teapot so that I can make tea.

Building a teapot


Building a teapot


a tea drinker

Building a teapot

As a user I need a teapot so that I can make tea and enjoy a relaxing hot beverage.

a tea drinkerJane

Souchong

Building a teapot

As a user I need a teapot so that I can make tea and enjoy a relaxing hot beverage.

a tea drinkerJane Souchong needs sh

e

“User Stories Don’t Help Users: Introducing Persona Stories”, William Hudson, ACM Interactions magazine, issue XX.6 Nov/Dec 2013

Building a teapot

Jane Souchong needs a teapot so she can make tea and enjoy a relaxing hot beverage.

Building a teapot

Acceptance criteria:


Building a teapot

Acceptance criteria:Holds waterCan be heated to boiling without breakingHolds tea so it can steep in boiling waterHandle to lift the teapotSpout to pour out the teaWashableAttractive on my kitchen shelf

… and so on



Building a teapot


… and so on

Building a teapot


… and so on

usable


Bold

ness

Make users and usability explicit

Prototyping and design validation for every product increment

Definition of Done includes “UX reviewed” and “Usability tested”

“Reviewed and approved by UX” in acceptance criteria (add a task!)

“Usability tested” in acceptance criteria (add a task!)

“Usable” in acceptance criteria

Usability test stories in every sprint

Usability test stories in every release backlog

Persona names in user stories (“Jane Souchong needs…”, not “As a user…”)

Even more Agile UX hooks

Refactoring Shippable increments No unnecessary documentation Simple design






Prototype, prototype, prototype

Q: What’s the right fidelity of prototype?

A: Any fidelity is better than none.

Prototype, prototype, prototype Paper Wizard of Oz PowerPoint, Keynote InDesign, Axure, InVision

Okay, HTML/javascript are good for prototyping, too

Prototype, prototype, prototype Paper Wizard of Oz PowerPoint, Keynote InDesign, Axure, InVision

Okay, HTML/javascript are good for prototyping, too But keep it cheap, light, and fast

Can I throw this away without hesitation?

Prototype, prototype, prototype

WARNING

Obligatory Controversial Content Ahead

Prototype, prototype, prototypeQ: Should designers code their own prototypes?



A: If you can, go ahead.

BUTDon’t limit your designs to what

YOU can build.

Find a developer to pair with – they’re better at it.


Here’s what we really need: we need designers who can design the hell out

of things and developers who can develop the hell out of things.

And we need them all to work together seamlessly.

Jesse Weaver“We Don’t Need More Designers Who Can Code”

Medium RE:Write, Dec 2014

Prototyping is cheap, not free

Prototypes save time & money Experiments save time & money

Plan prototypes into the sprint Do NOT rely on skunkworks Do NOT rely on the team’s willingness to

“do the right thing” off the clock

Spike it out

Developers If you don’t know

something, spike it If an approach seems

risky, spike it If someone thinks

another way is better, spike both

Spike it out = Do. The. Research.Developers If you don’t know

something, spike it If an approach seems

risky, spike it If someone thinks

another way is better, spike both

Designers If you don’t know

something, research it If an approach seems

uncertain, research it If someone thinks

another way is better, research both

Note: Research = USER research

Research is expensive, right?

Wrong. REALLY wrong. Guerrilla user research Guerrilla usability

testing 5-second tests Hallway tests Group sessions $$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Research is expensive, right?

Wrong. REALLY wrong. Guerrilla user research Guerrilla usability

testing 5-second tests Hallway tests Group sessions $$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Less >> Zero Stakeholder interviews Repurpose existing data Fewer participants Remote / unmoderated No lab, no recordings

One more thing about researchQ: What’s the most expensive mistake

you can make in a product?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

One more thing about researchQ: What’s the most expensive mistake

you can make in a product?

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

A: Building a product that nobody wants.Do. The. Research.

Show design and code often

It’s never done, so don’t hang on to it

Show in-work design in sprint demos to other designers to your developers (they’ll tell you if it’s insane)

Show in-work code in pairing sessions to other developers to your designers (they’ll tell you if it’s off-target)






Lean UX sez

You are in the problem-solving business, and you don’t solve problems with design

documentation.

You solve them with elegant, efficient and sophisticated software.

Jeff Gothelf“Getting out of the deliverables business”

Smashing Magazine, March 2011

What are the right deliverables?

It depends.

What does your team need?Fid

elity

& D

etai

l

CostCo-construction

Conversations & notes

Scenarios / Use Cases)

StoryboardsWireframes

Low-fi mockupsHi-fi mockups

Pixel-perfect comps

Annotated static mockupsInteractive mockups

Clickable wireframes


It depends. How mature is the design team? How mature is the dev team? How mature is the relationship of design, dev, and PO? What is the least fidelity that communicates sufficiently?


It will change.This is a wonderful kind of magic.

Start somewhere in the middle,and see which way you need to adjust.

Observe in each sprint.Adjust again. And again.

Wireframe scenarios

Wireframe scenarios






Right here at Big Design 2015

“The $1 Prototype: A Modern Approach to UX Design”, Greg Nudelman (Thursday workshop)

“Axure Essentials: Beyond Paper Prototyping”, Jo Anne Wright (Thursday workshop)

“Rapid Prototyping 2015: It’s a Mad, Mad World”, Marti Gold (Fri 10:00)

“Flash Builds: 1 Week Prototyping”, Jessica Keup (Fri 4:00)

“Don’t Waste Your Time: Secrets of Minimum Valuable Prototyping”, Philip Likens (Sat noon)

“Scrappy Usability: How to Run Faster Than Lean UX”, Josh Hall (Sat 2:30)

“Six Ways to Bridge the Distance Between UX and Agile Virtual Teams”, Mary Brodie (Sat 4:00)

Your turn

www.linkedin.com/in/jimcl

@JimCL42

[email protected]

If you remember only one thingCommunicating design in an Agile team

is about conveying value,

not handing off artifacts.So…

Know where UX adds value,

equip yourself to communicate it clearly, and

be prepared to talk about it a LOT.

1.www.linkedin.com/in/jimcl

[email protected]

@JimCL42