Finding time for the creative exploration process within Agile software delivery
In the Agile software development world, time is of the essence – or rather design time becomes a precious commodity. Taking the time to conduct in-depth user research, then create and explore innovative design solutions becomes an expensive luxury that isn’t always affordable. But what happens if there is a way to not just streamline the UX research and design process, but to actually produce better results for it?
As UX Designers in Agile dev teams we commonly grapple with challenges such as:
Being allowed the time to go through the creative exploration process, when a Dev team is waiting for to you to finish so that they can start.
Finding a balance between being Lean in practices, while exploring alternative innovative ideas and solutions.
Explaining to Devs that lo-fi prototypes are more a communication tool and than a finalised deliverable
What’s the solution?
At ThoughtWorks we spend a lot of time trying to evaluate our approach and improve our techniques. I’ll share some of the Lean UX methods and approaches that we’ve been embracing to get out of the deliverable business and to start becoming an integrated part of Agile software delivery teams to collaboratively develop great experiences in short time frames. I’ll cover topics and techniques including:
- Engaging stakeholders and the Dev team early using collaborative design
- Rapid production
- Conducting lightweight research
- Rapid iterations
- Managing expectations
- Asking for more time
- Communicating progress through regular showcases