agile user experience design

UX Case StudyAsgard Wealth Management

Agile User Experience Design

Alla Zollers

[email protected]


• What is User Experience (UX) Design?

• What does a UX Designer DO anyway?

• Designing in Waterfall

• Problems with Waterfall

• Designing in Agile or Agile UX

• Integrating with Development

• Advantages

• Challenges

• Types of Designers

• Closing Thoughts

Agenda


What is User Experience Design?


A “user experience” encompasses all aspects of the interactions an individual has with a company, its services, and its products.

An exemplary user experience meets current end-user needs and anticipates future needs, exceeds end user expectations, sends a clear and strategic message, and delights the end user with innovative solutions.

In Short: Useful, Usable, Desirable

Definition


User Experience Honeycomb

*Created by Peter Morville


The Core

User experience advocates for the end-user and makes sure to bring the end user’s goals and perspectives into the decision making process.


What does a UX Designer DO anyway?


The Elements of UX

*Created by Jesse James Garrett


Activities


Full Circle

Observe

Research

Analyze & Synthesize

Ideate

Communicate


Value of User Experience Design


Value

Design is Generative.


Value

Efficiency is no longer enough to be competitive in the global market.

User experience design:

• Increases productivity

• Reduces help desk/support needs

• Increased conversion rates

• Reduced training costs

• Decreased drop off rates

• Increased time on site and engagement


Waterfall Design


Traditional Waterfall Design

ObserveObserve

ResearchResearch

Analyze Analyze

Ideate Ideate

Design Design

Test Test

Entire Site


The Designer/Developer Wall

Design Development


Agile UX


Agile UX

Design

Build

* Adopted from Anders Ramsey


Agile UX

The question is not “how do you fit UX into Agile”, its “how do you fit Agile into UX”

•There is an assumption that the standard set of UX activities and outputs should simply slot into agile development practices unchanged

•Lets flip the question and ask what would a UX Design project look like if you were to manage it following Agile principals.


Agile UX

The UX approach is crafted around the same principals that drive our development methodology. It’s an approach that values:

•Working software over comprehensive documentation

• to get a faster feedback cycle, and

• better experience design

•Highly iterative and test driven design

•Individuals and interactions over processes and tools


Working software over documentation

Standard Approach

create documents of increasing visual fidelity which imply functional behavior

Standard Approach

create documents of increasing visual fidelity which imply functional behavior

AUX Approach

create prototypes of increasing functional and visual fidelity in order to model and test functional behavior and the interactive user experience

AUX Approach

create prototypes of increasing functional and visual fidelity in order to model and test functional behavior and the interactive user experience


Highly iterative and test driven

•We design using short iterative design steps and regular testing cycles, ensuring we craft prototypes that are built with customers in a collaborative manner.

•The only way to know with any certainty if your solution is the right one is to test it early and often with the people who will use the system.

•Involving your customers throughout the process also ensures that strategy is aligned with the customer needs


Chunking Design

Iteration 1: Home Page Iteration 2: Search Results Page


Integrating with Development



UX Inception Workshops

UX Inception Workshops

UX PrototypeIteration 1






Initial Discovery ResearchInitial Discovery Research

Customer journey Sketch boards Customer journey Sketch boards

Interaction design & wireframesInteraction design & wireframes

Context, Customer, ScenariosContext, Customer, Scenarios

Interactive Prototype DevelopmentInteractive Prototype Development

Usability Test Usability Test Usability Test Usability TestShowcase Showcase

PrioritizePrioritize

design analysis

UX Prototype

Usability Test

design analysis

UX Prototype

Usability Test

design analysis

UX Prototype

Usability Test

DiscoveryDiscovery Iteration 0Iteration 0

UX Prototype StoriesUX Prototype Stories

ScopingScoping

ShowcaseShowcase

Ongoing Discovery ResearchOngoing Discovery Research

Time boxed analysis, development and user testing cycles focusing on collaboration, testing and fast feedback



UX

Dev

iterating the UX design and Dev implementation tracks simultaneously

Short iterative design steps and regular testing cycles, ensuring we craft User Experiences that are built with your customers in a collaborative manner

iterating the UX design and Dev implementation tracks simultaneously

Short iterative design steps and regular testing cycles, ensuring we craft User Experiences that are built with your customers in a collaborative manner


Advantages of AUX

• Chunking of design enables designers to also be agile to changing requirements

• Frequent testing and checking back with the end users

• Close communication with developers

• Open and visible with less documentation

• The team becomes responsible for design

• Working software over beautiful documentation

• Feasibility is ensured


Challenges of AUX

• Designers often feel rushed

• Incremental (“add-to”) versus iterative (“re-do”)

• Agile focuses on the customer, which isn’t always the end-user

• Developer-centric, developers need to change their mindset too

• Designers can become a bottle neck, the ratio between designers and developers is key


Successful Designers


Characteristics

• Generalist

• Strong development knowledge

• Able to implement “guerilla” techniques

• Excellent communicator

• Embrace Agile, change their mindset, let go of control


ClosingThoughts


Being Agile about Agile

• Most successful teams have a custom agile implementation

• It’s about communication


Thank You!

[email protected]

agile user experience design

Technology

user experience ux design

agile ux design build

value design

elements of ux

ux design project look

development ux dev

ux prototype stories

chunking design iteration