Lean UX in the Agile trenches / Surrender is not a dirty word
Share my experiences on a Lean UX project working in quasi startup mode. See me present it assisted by an agile scrum board, a backlog of story cards and not a single powerpoint slide.
A lot of the discussions around integrating Agile and UX seem to be how to get the ‘other’ side to make room for ‘your’ side.
After working for a year with a small team of developers and business folk on a lean agile startup project I finally realised that my own success is predicated not on winning that battle, but on surrendering some of my grip on the control of the design, giving up on certainties and running with the flow. Adjust and Adapt, adjust and adapt, adjust and adapt.
Much of what I’ve learnt has been about negotiation, compromise and surrender. Interestingly, this has been quite an empowering process. To try and short circuit the defensive discipline based positions we tend to fall into, I’ve found that surrendering can win you a lot (and surprises the hell out of your opposite number). To make great stuff together you have to do it together, you have to get in and dirty with the devs and share the pain, negotiate the compromises and constantly keep an eye on the longer vision. You have to give up some control while knowing how much to maintain and you have to earn the respect required that allows you to do that, while developing a reciprocal respect for your colleagues that allows them to do theirs.
In this presentation I’ll discuss how we’re doing this. For example, I’ll explain how the environment we’re working in and the physical surrounds affect the process and outcomes.
I’ll also explain methods we’ve been using such as:
- Permanent ongoing research
- Guerilla/Hallway usability testing
- Sketchy prototypes
- Hi-fi/Low-fi/Ri-fi scoping
- UX Vision Farts
- Lots of client contact
I’ll describe the wins and the not so wins and attempt to extrapolate some reasons why they worked out that way.