Post on 22-Mar-2017
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
True Fact:
• The vast majority of projects fail NOT because they couldn’t build a great product using the latest new technology.
• They failed because they built something no one wanted.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Why Are We Here?• All too often, leaders, managers, teams, designers rely
on common approaches that may work well in one context, and fail in another.
• Teams want to create better customer experiences (user experiences), but aren’t sure what that really means.
• Teams often find it difficult moving from insights to action (based on this research, what should we do now?).
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Why Collaborative Design?
“Ninja. Rockstar. Gifted genius. Many of the ways we talk about creative work (whether it’s design or development) only capture the brilliance of a single individual.”
- Stefan Kloeck
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Discover • Gather information
• Brainstorming
• Competitive analysis
• Define the project scope
• UX deliverables: personas + user scenarios
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Define • Developing interaction model or UI framework
• Define the content + functionality requirements
• Define information architecture
• Create a project plan
• UX deliverables: product requirement document
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Design • Create paper prototype / sketches
• Usability evaluation
• Create wireframes
• Visual design explorations
• Visual design approval
• UX deliverables: sitemap, user flows, wireframes + UI
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Develop • Architecture design
• UML diagram / class diagram
• Daily scrum
• Code iteration cycles
• Interim installers
• Release management
• Unit testing
• Code refactoring
• Documentation
• UX deliverables: No key UX deliverables at this stage.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Deploy • Use cases
• Test cases
• Testing
• Regression testing
• Test reports
• Build releases
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
“Traditional” UX Practices
• Emphasize deliverables
• See the work as a solution that gets sold to stakeholders
• See the (UX) designer as the hero in charge of finding solutions to design challenges and getting approval before development starts
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
How Can We Improve Our Process?
• The design work we do is often limited to on-the-go type of decisions
• We struggle with approvals
• We don’t have an established process that involves UXD, thus our scenario is not “going from traditional UX to Lean”, but rather, “establishing our approach to UXD”
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
The “Traditional” Way
(Waterfall + Waterfall or Waterfall + Agile)
1. Have a great idea
2. Wireframe
3. Designer creates a static mockup
4. Static mockup & specs are thrown to devs to implement, QA to test
The Collaborative Way
(Lean UX + Agile Development)
1. Have a great idea
2. Sketch together
3. Engage team (BA, UX, Dev, QA) to build a prototype
4. Play, tweak, rinse, repeat
5. Once UX is nailed have a visual designer polish to perfection
Integrating Design into Development Process
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
It’s about generating many safe-to-fail experiments,
not highly rendered solutions.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Design Studio • Generate lots of design concepts (options*)
• Present concepts as stories
• Critique using Ritual Dissent
• Integrate (steal) & Iterate
• Check stories for coherence
• Converge around testable solution hypotheses
*See Chris Matts Real Options Theory
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Design Studio • Level playing field.
• Idea generation.
• Team buy-in.
• Ownership/investment.
• Vet design concepts.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Create. PITCH. Critique. 3 minutes to pitch how your concept solves the problem.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Create. Pitch. CRITIQUE. 2 minutes for critique.
2-3 ways it solves the problem and one 1-2 opportunities for improvement.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Larry “If I only had a photographic memory I wouldn’t need a shopping list.”
Larry is a 32 year old engineer that works for a major corporation building large-scale desktop applications. When he’s not in the office, he spends most of his time building side projects like mobile and web apps. Because Larry is always working on the next idea, he often forgets to make a list of items he needs from the grocery store and when he goes to make dinner, he doesn’t have the right ingredients to cook with.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
“Many ideas grow better when transplanted into another mind than the one where they sprang up.”
- Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Ritual Dissent.
• The basic approach involves a spokesperson presenting a series of ideas to a group of investors who listen to them in silence.
• Your spokesperson will only have 5 minutes to present.
• Team must imagine they are a group of investors hearing a pitch from a startup.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Ritual Dissent.
• The spokesperson turns to face the wall, so that their back is to the investor team and listens in silence while the group attacks the idea.
• The spokesperson cannot respond to questions or defend the ideas.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
“Whenever we propose a solution to a problem, we ought to try as hard as we can to overthrow our solution, rather than defend it.”
- Karl Popper
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
For all critique decide: • Ignore (backburner)
• Remove (de-solve)
• Research Solution (best practice)
• Research Problem (innovate)
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Iterate as a team based on the critique.
15 minutes Then pitch to the whole workshop.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Tips For Running This At Your Workplace.
• Timebox: 5 minutes sketch / 5 minutes per person • No more than 6 or 7 people per table (4 is best) • Don’t introduce too many business rules up front • Imagine no technology constraints • Make explicit all potential channels (not just mobile or web)* • Move people from team to team to prevent premature
convergence • Don’t serve turkey sandwiches
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Potential Pitfalls
• Having a solution before Design Studio starts – “we already have a solution – we just want buy-in”
• Not adequately scoping Design Studio to match the problem – “we can only spend 2 hours on Design Studio because of people’s schedules”
• Introducing blockers or business constraints too early • The invisible hand of the absent stakeholder
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Maximize Optionality
• From insights, you can create multiple problem & solution hypotheses sets.
• It's not about designing the one right solution and refining. • It's about testing many solutions to multiple problem
hypotheses. • It's about many small bets.
Jacklyn Burgan // @playfulpixel
Some Ideas for Good Product Design
• Create a balanced team • Design + PM + Development = One Team
• Externalize thought process • Flow: Think > Make > Check • Research to understand problem space • No proxies between customers and team • Generative ideation: it’s about optionality • Formulate many small tests & measure outcome