Staying Lean and Agile with a Distributed Team
Staying Lean and Agile with a Distributed Team
Hi. I’m Ray.
Senior UX Consultant
at Catalyst Group in NYC
15 years experience in Finance, Legal,
Education, Medical, Consumer
What about you?
We strive to improve our process
Lean
Agile
Waterfall
Waterfall
1. Requirements specification
2. Design
3. Construction
4. Integration
5. Testing and debugging
6. Installation
7. Maintenance
Agile
● Individuals and interactions
over processes and tools
● Working software
over comprehensive documentation
● Customer collaboration
over contract negotiation
● Responding to change
over following a plan
Lean UX
Build
MeasureLearn
Lean UX
TEAM
Small, dedicated, colocated
Cross-functional
Problem-focused
No rockstars, ninjas, gurus
Externalize your work
Shared understanding
Lean UX
APPROACH
Continuous discovery
Making over analysis
Small batch size
GOOB (Get Out Of the Building)
Get out of deliverables
business
Lean UX
PHILOSOPHY
Learning over growth
Progress = Outcomes not output
Remove Waste
Permission to fail
But there are realities we have to deal with
We can’t all be in the same place
We don’t all work at the same time
Which principles does this affect?
Small dedicated colocated
Get Out Of the Building
Externalize your work
Shared understanding
Small, Dedicated, Colocated
Better...
Communication
Focus
Camaraderie
Relationships
Connect
● Frequent, OPEN communication
● Try to meet in person
● Use video (often)
● Simulate “hanging out”
Externalize Your Work
Everyone sees
Inspires new ideas
Allows ALL to participate
“Osmosis”
Externalize Virtually
● Project wiki
● Discourage email
● Encourage sharing
● Seek information
Get Out Of the Building
Everyone learns from
customers if the product
is ready
Participate in Research
Use technology
Participate
Make an effort to learn
Shared Understanding
Depend less on 2nd hand reports
Fewer detailed documents
Shared Understanding
● Expose your thinking
● Confirm understanding
● Visualize
● Be OPEN to looking dumb
(it’s okay, we all do)
To Summarize
● Open up
● Take responsibility
● Focus on the reasons
THANK YOU!
Please visit
http://spkr8.com/t/27071
to let me know how I did.
@rayraydel
Keep in touch!