THE DESIGN FORTRESS Boosting Design Productivity &

Creativity in an Agile World

David Randall • @davidkrandall • davidkrandall.com

ABOUT YOU

PHILOSOPHY TOOLS

PROCESS AND TACTICS

THE BACK STORY

WHY IS ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE SO HARD?

AT PIVOTAL EVERYTHING CHANGED FOR ME, BECAUSE I SAW THIS

AMAZING DEVELOPER PROCESS

PAIR PROGRAMMING TEST DRIVEN DEVELOPMENT

ITERATION PLANNING PIVOTAL TRACKER WEEKLY RETROS

I GOT JEALOUS

I STARTED TO UNDERSTAND THE CHALLENGES OF DESIGN + AGILE

I STARTED SEEING THE BOUNDARY OF THE CRAFTSMAN MODEL

“ ”

To be competitive we need institutionalization. We need a process driven approach. Because at the end of the day, none of us is as smart as all of us.

•  Keep Teams Consistent •  Be Proactive Not Reactive •  Have a Dedicated Scrum Master, Especially at

the Beginning •  UX Must Work at Least One Step Ahead of the

Sprint

•  Keep Teams Consistent •  Be Proactive Not Reactive •  Have a Dedicated Scrum Master, Especially at

the Beginning •  UX Must Work at Least One Step Ahead of the

Sprint

THE DESIGN FORTRESS: 5 KEY PRINCIPLES FOR AGILE DESIGN

DESIGNERS WHO WORK ON

LOTS OF PROJECTS

DESIGNERS WHO WORK

WITH DEVELOPERS

START DESIGN AHEAD OF DEVELOPMENT 1.

1. START DESIGN AHEAD OF DEVELOPMENT

•  Discovery + Framing •  2-4 Weeks •  Insights and early prototypes •  Not a finished design

1. START DESIGN AHEAD OF DEVELOPMENT

•  Keys to Success – Keep it agile – Stakeholders and Product Owners Involved – Flexibility at the end

CREATE A INDEPENDENT, ELECTRONIC DESIGN BACKLOG 2.

2. CREATE AN INDEPENDENT, ELECTRONIC DESIGN BACKLOG

•  Helps design float above lumpy dev and PM needs

•  Enables prioritization of research and non-mockup related tasks

•  Allow the problem and the solution to be documented, saved and linked

USE SMALL, DELIVERABLE BASED DESIGN TASKS 3.

3. USE SMALL, DELIVERABLE BASED DESIGN TASKS

•  Project > Epic > Story > Task •  Not true user stories •  Eliminate the muddy middle •  Finish line •  No (bad) surprises

3. USE SMALL, DELIVERABLE BASED DESIGN TASKS

Review  the  front  page  

Finish  Se3ngs  Screen  

3. USE SMALL, DELIVERABLE BASED DESIGN TASKS

3. USE SMALL, DELIVERABLE BASED DESIGN TASKS

•  Bonus: Pointing

DELIVER DESIGN TO A PRODUCT OWNER 4.

WE DON’T MAKE PRODUCTS, WE MAKE PLANS

4. DELIVER DESIGN TO A PRODUCT OWNER

•  Keeps development and business constraints in view

•  Avoids fuzzy acceptance and rework

CREATE A DESIGN ACCEPTANCE ENVIRONMENT 5.

FEW THINGS ARE MORE TRAGIC THAN A PERFECTLY IMPLEMENTED,

OUT OF DATE DESIGN

5. CREATE A DESIGN ACCEPTANCE ENVIRONMENT

•  Share all of your work all the time – Sketch > Invision

•  Only share links, never attach images •  Make every flow as complete as possible – Symbols, Styles, Libraries

•  Buy a URL

THE DESIGN FORTRESS: 5 KEY PRINCIPLES

1.  Start Design Ahead of Development 2.  Create a Independent, Electronic Design

Backlog 3.  Use Small, Deliverable Based Design Tasks 4.  Deliver Design to a Product Owner 5.  Create a Design Acceptance Environment

David Randall • @davidkrandall • davidkrandall.com