Scrum and User Experience Design: Bringing Great Design into the Agile

Process

Patrick Neeman, Usability CountsMike Vincent, MVA Software

ScrumA process for managing

complex projects.

Stay small: Focus on smaller, measurable increments

Staying in communication: Short meetings to encourage more short meetings between fewer team members

Stay transparent: Inspection is dependent on transparency.

Scrum…Works Well

Existing productsSmaller teamsProjects with no

existing methodologyProjects with

existing technology but a failed approach

Dedicated teamsJack of all trade team

members

Doesn’t Work So WellUndefined, new

productsLarger teams and

projectsTeams with members

on several projectsWithout a strong

team in placeSpecialists

Scrum Sprint Process

Sprint 1 Sprint 2 Sprint 3 Sprint 4 Sprint 5

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Daily Meeting

Retrospective Meeting

Daily: Talk about yesterday, today, tomorrow(15 minutes)

Take longer conversations offline

Retrospective: Change the process to make it better(1 hour)

Don’t change Product Backlog (list of features) once sprint has started

Week 1 Week 2

Product OwnerDefines the features of the product

Agency: Client is Product OwnerCompany: Product Manager/UX Lead is

Product OwnerManages project features and releases

to optimize return on investment (ROI)Inspects increment and makes

adaptations to project after end of sprints

Can change features and priority every X days, but not in the middle of a Sprint

Scrum MasterEnsures that the team is fully

functional, productive and improves quality

Enables close cooperation across all roles and functions and removes barriers

Shields the team from external interferences

Ensures that the process is followedTeaches Product Owner and Team

how to fulfill their rolesNot a dedicated role, but it’s nice if

this it the UX team member

Roles and ResponsibilitiesTeam

Cross-functional, seven plus/minus two members Example:

1 UX Designer, 3 Developers, 2 QA Self organizingManages itself, its work and its processCommits to what it feels it can accomplish

Limit team to 45 hour work weeks for measurable resultsCollaborates with Product Owner to optimize valueDemos work results to the Product Owner as much as

possible Hallway usability testing

Definition of Done• Team together with product owner

defines what “done” means.• Done defines the current technical

capability of the team.• Typically, Done should include

everything needed before deployment.

• Done may be a stub page or a process that requires human intervention.

• Not done backlog items should be pushed to the next Sprint.

How to measure Done Development team

must be able to produce a completely “done” piece every Sprint

Product Owner must inspect and adapt to optimize ROI every Sprint

“Undone” work must be identified

Development ProcessDon

e

Done

Done

Done

Done

WaterfallDone at end of project

Done

Agile/ScrumDone at end every iteration

Documentation PlanJust enough – it’s what you have to

say and what you don’t have to sayOverall style guideHigh level use cases / user storiesLight wireframes, 3 by 5 cards,

hand written notes Don’t update what you don’t need

Detailed test plans (definition of done) Pass / Fail

The only deliverable that counts is the final product

Corporate Espionage Sprint PlanWhere User Experience / QA

fits inWork one sprint ahead

Wireframes Test Plans

Test driven development Unit tests defined by

requirements Test plans are written to define

completing requirementsSchedule a sprint or two for

user research

Product BacklogUser Research – Sprint 1 UXScoring Architecture – Sprint 2Claim Card – Sprint 2 UXPlay Card – Sprint 2 UXSign In – Sprint 2 UXSign Up – Sprint 3 UXPick Card – Sprint 4 UXScore Card – Sprint 4 UX

Example Product DevelopmentTeam agreed to…

Two week sprints Daily 15 minute meetings Retrospective, no more than one

hour, talk about processOne sprint on user researchEveryone gives estimates, fill 80

percent of their schedule (8 of 10 days) Developers need breathing room UX’ers need drinking, research

time With further sprints, estimates will

become more refined

Example Product Development

Sprint Backlog 1Developers

Set up development environment

Set up testing environment

User Experience / QAUser Research

What is the game Who is the target

audiencePlan with product

owner the first few sprints

Plan a design pattern

Claim Card

Sprint Backlog 2Developers

Scoring Architecture

Build Of Pages/Stubs

Claim Card

User Experience / QAHigh level use casesHigh level site map

-- Establish Pages/Stubs

Play Card

Sprint Backlog 3Developers

Create Pages/StubsPlay Card

User Experience / QAPick CardScore CardA/B Testing of Claim

Card

Sprint Backlog 4Developers

Play CardScore Card

User ExperienceClaim Card Refactor

RetrospectiveWhat did we do wellWhat didn’t we do wellIs our Product Owner Happy?

Produce working fully tested softwareDid not produce unnecessary stuff

MetricsLook at key reports

Example Burndown Charts