Why pixel perfect isn’t so perfectHow to scale agile

9%

Hi. I’m Jenny.

9%

I’m a UI Designer at Yammer

9%

This is what we do at Yammer.

9%

Yammer is the enterprise social network that connects coworkers.

9%

We work across platforms. On the go, everywhere.

9%

We started small….

9%

But quickly scaled up.

9%

And then we scaled some more…

9%

What was the problem?

What was the problem?

We were slowing down…

We were slowing down…

9%What happened

We were slowing down…

9%What happened

• LOTS of documentation

We were slowing down…

9%What happened

• LOTS of documentation

• Slow to staff projects

We were slowing down…

9%What happened

• LOTS of documentation

• Slow to staff projects

• Slow to ship

We were slowing down…

9%What happened

• LOTS of documentation

• Slow to staff projects

• Slow to ship

• Lack of enthusiasm and ownership

Why was this happening???

Why was this happening???

Functional silos

Anatomy of functional silos:

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

Anatomy of functional silos:

broken link

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

You know you’re in a functional silo when:

9%

• Designing is painfully slow because it has to be signed off by 10 different people.

You know you’re in a functional silo when:

9%

• Designing is painfully slow because it has to be signed off by 10 different people.

• Design has no real seat at the table when discussing business strategy.

You know you’re in a functional silo when:

9%

• Designing is painfully slow because it has to be signed off by 10 different people.

• Design has no real seat at the table when discussing business strategy.

• Design details are consistently cut back due to “scope creep”.

You know you’re in a functional silo when:

9%

• Designing is painfully slow because it has to be signed off by 10 different people.

• Design has no real seat at the table when discussing business strategy.

• Design details are consistently cut back due to “scope creep”.

• Teams spend more time defending turf than collaborating.

Implementation bottlenecks

9%

Developer

PM Designer

Implementation bottlenecks

9%

PM & Designers are slowed down making specs

Developer

PM Designer

Implementation bottlenecks

9%

PM & Designers are slowed down making specs

Confused coders—decoding specs

Developer

PM Designer

Implementation bottlenecks

9%

PM & Designers are slowed down making specs

Confused coders—decoding specs

Frustration when a spec goes nowhere

Developer

PM Designer

Anatomy of functional silos:

9%

specsmocks

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

Common result=meetings

9%

Battle over who owns who’s time

All these elements make fertile grounds for lack of trust between teams.

9%

So we tried something different…

So we tried something different…

Decentralized decision making.

Before

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

broken link

After Project ManagersDesigner

sDevelopers

AutonomousTeam

Each team was autonomousBusiness strategy

implementation

Autonomous Team

Went from having one big ship to a fleet of smaller, faster ships.

The results?

The results?

Business strategy

implementation

Autonomous Team

Fewer top down decisions.

The results?Sitting together fostered organic sharing and involvement.

The results?Sitting together fostered organic sharing and involvement.

The results?Sitting together fostered organic sharing and involvement.

The results?Got rid of a lot of bottlenecks

9%

specsmocks

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

broken link

Beforespecs & mocks

The results?Got rid of a lot of bottlenecks

Afterspecs & mocks

9%

The results?Balanced input

the product

Project Managers

Designers

Developers

The results?Trust feedback cycle between designers and engineers.

Developer reigns in any unrealistic designs.

Designer helps Developers code the details.

The results?Fewer meetings.

The results?Faster ship dates.

Shipped a lightweight chat app in only 3 months.

The results?

We had fun!

What you can do in your company tomorrow?

What you can do in your company tomorrow:

#1 Cross functional seating

What you can do in your company tomorrow:

#1 Cross functional seating -Try moving your designers and engineers closer together.

-“war rooms”

What you can do in your company tomorrow:

#1 Cross functional seating

#2 Decentralizing decision making

-Try moving your designers and engineers closer together.

-“war rooms”

What you can do in your company tomorrow:

#1 Cross functional seating

#2 Decentralizing decision making

-Try moving your designers and engineers closer together.

-Pick a small, low-risk project and try writing the spec as more of an outline, letting the team fill out details as they go.

-“war rooms”

Questions?

Jenny Mullins@pixelfatjmullins@yammer-inc.com