2. 2
Agile UX: Agenda
Introduction
– References—this is a literature review, not a plan
Why Agile UX?
– User Experience (UX)
– Agile
– Differences
UX Role in Agile
Advantages of Agile UX
Challenges of Agile UX
Solutions to Agile UX
– Approaches
– Methods
– Artifacts
Questions
3. 3
References
Title URL
A huge list of Style Guides and UI Guidelines http://www.theuxbookmark.com/2010/08/interaction-design/a-monster-list-of-ui-guidelines-style-guides
Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-
Centered Design (Alias/Autodesk)
http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2007may/agile-ucd.html
Agile Development Projects and Usability http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-methods.html
Agile User Experience Projects http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-user-experience.html
Agile UX Development http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd882523.aspx
Agile UX: Agile Coaching, SCRUM and User Experience,
Agile & Lean Management
http://www.agile-ux.com/
Agile Testing Days 2011: DAY 1 http://www.agile-ux.com/2011/11/19/agile-testing-days-2011-day-1-what-a-fabulous-day/
Beyond Staggered Sprints: How TheLadders.com
Integrated UX into Agile
http://johnnyholland.org/2010/10/21/beyond-staggered-sprints-how-theladders-com-integrated-ux-into-
agile/
Can UX Be Agile? http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/10/can-ux-be-agile.php
Can you mix UX with Agile? http://www.riagenic.com/archives/225
Case study of agile and UCD working together http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/case-study-of-agile
Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product http://www.agileproductdesign.com/useful_papers/miller_customer_input_in_agile_projects.pdf
Change on a Dime: Agile Design http://uxmag.com/articles/change-on-a-dime-agile-design
Clash of the Titans: Agile and UCD http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2006/12/clash-of-the-titans-agile-and-ucd.php
IBM Dojo Widget Library http://www-01.ibm.com/software/ucd/widgetgallery/widget_home.html
Integrating UX into Agile Development http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/04/integrating-ux-into-agile-development.php
Introduction to Agile Usability http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileUsability.htm
Just Build It: HTML Prototyping and Agile
Development
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/just_build_it_html_prototyping_and_agile_development/
Making User and Customer Experience a Business
Competency
http://uxmag.com/articles/making-user-and-customer-experience-a-business-competency
4. 4
References
Title URL
Six strategies for more agile user experience http://www.thinkingandmaking.com/view/agile-ux-six
Scrum Agile Software Development: Chicken And Pig
Story
http://coderstalk.blogspot.com/2010/02/scrum-agile-software-development.html
The UX of User Stories, Part 1 http://www.andersramsay.com/2011/07/16/the-ux-of-user-stories-part-1
The UX of User Stories, Part 2 http://www.andersramsay.com/2011/07/24/the-ux-of-user-stories-part-2
Twelve emerging best practices for adding UX work
to Agile development
http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/emerging_best_agile_ux_practice.html
Two Ways Agile and UX Can Work Together http://www.scrumexpert.com/knowledge/two-ways-agile-and-ux-can-work-together/
Usability Resources http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources
User Stories: Stories for Grown-Ups http://www.slideshare.net/smamol/user-stories-stories-for-grownups
User-Centered Agile Methods http://www.morganclaypool.com/doi/abs/10.2200/S00286ED1V01Y201002HCI010
Using Personas in an Agile Environment http://confreaks.net/videos/229-agileroots2009-using-personas-in-an-agile-environment
UX Design and Agile: A Natural Fit? http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/1/103204-ux-design-and-agile-a-natural-fit/fulltext
Weekly User Testing: TiVo Did It, You Can, Too http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weekly-usability-tests.html
What You Need to Know About Agile UX http://www.instantshift.com/2011/04/08/what-you-need-to-know-about-agile-ux/
5. 5
Why Talk About Agile UX?
Agile is here
– Companies moving from a waterfall to Agile environment (where appropriate)
– Platforms will host and must accommodate a wider variety of personas
– UX resources are limited, but the work is increasing, so we must be efficient
There is risk in Agile in the eyes of the UX community
– “Approaching Agile narrowly, as a programming methodology rather than a
system development methodology, threatens to destroy the last decade's
progress in integrating usability and development.”
Jakob Nielsen (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-methods.html)
They are two of the biggest “buzz” words
They are different, but they can work together
– UX: Better understand users
– Agile: Do things in a faster, more flexible manner
6. 6
User Experience (UX)
Creating natural checkpoints and usable artifacts to facilitate the
discussion and solution of user experience issues while enabling user
participation in the process.
User and Customer Experience (CX) are not the same exact things
– “CX represents the larger business taking on UX responsibilities, and with
them an injection of fiscal responsibility.” (--Forrester)
It is a profession with a broad skill set
– Information architecture, interaction design, testing & experimental
design, graphic design, human-computer interaction, human factors,
training, facilitation, modeling & prototyping, project management,
marketing, contextual/ethnographic inquiry, research, listening, empathy,
standards, copy editing, vendor management, business analysis, consulting
7. 7
Agile
Philosophy (“over” does not mean “none”)
– … individuals and interactions over processes and tools.
– … working software over comprehensive documentation.
– … customer collaboration over contract negotiation.
– … responding to change over following a plan.
Pigs and chickens (and roosters)
No “big design up front” (BDUF)
Agile is “anti-hero”: It’s about the team, first and foremost.
Sunny side: Allows development to adapt to customer needs
8. 8
Agile
Dark side: Client can change requirements at any time
– Features can feel disjointed
– Rarely time to create a comprehensive user centered design
– A method of development, not a research process, and only loosely a design
process
– Can reduce up-front design, but does not reduce the time user research
requires
– Created by & for developers--often overlooks interaction design & usability
“A lack of UI design ownership means that everyone wants to design, regardless of
their skill level, which can lead to design by committee.”
9. 9
Waterfall vs. Agile
Agile is nothing new to UX in terms of iterative approach, but the
iterations are accelerated.
“For 50 years, almost all experiences
have shown that traditional waterfall
development methods result in a poor
user experience. The reason is
simple: requirement specifications are
always wrong.”
Jakob Nielsen
(http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-ethods.html)
10. 10
Differing Philosophies
Agile Philosophies
– Asks “How can what we have now be improved this iteration?”
– Work closely with stakeholders/customers to identify their exact needs
– Details behind requirements can be identified on a just-in-time (JIT) basis
– Detailed, up-front modeling is a risky endeavor at best
– Does not generally distinguish between users and customers
– Definition of “Done” is up to Product Owner
UX Philosophies
– Asks “What is the ideal system?”
– Work involves the behavior of complex systems, not their construction
– All behavioral issues need to be addressed before construction begins
– Users are committed (pigs), customers are just involved (chickens)
– Qualitative and quantitative proof of user goal achievement comes
from observation of the customer while she is using the product on
real tasks
11. 11
Misconceptions Agile may have about UX
All you need is a good set of UI guidelines
– More to UX than creating consistent UIs
Working closely with stakeholders is good enough
– Does not ensure understanding users
UX is just about UI design
– UI design part of UX, but so is understanding how your users will work
with your system and what their goals are
UX relies on comprehensive up-front modeling
– Many times it does not
12. 12
Agile Adapts to UX
Learn UX skills
– Other team members should be trained in, and adopt, UX techniques
Accept that usability is a critical quality factor
– Luckily, agile practitioners are “quality infected”
– Good usability of an end product can be ensured only by systematic
usability engineering activities during the development iterations
– UX can actually reduce development time by identifying common patterns
and eliminating unnecessary steps before any code written
Adopt UI and usage style guidelines
– Developers understand that not only should their code follow common
guidelines, so should their UIs
13. 13
Misconceptions UX may have about Agile
Agilists don’t model
– They do—they just discourage extensive up-front design work
Agilists are continually deploying software into production
– More common to deliver working software on a regular basis into an internal
environment for system and user testing
There is no role for UX practitioners
– There is even more of a need to involve users in the process
Agilists aren’t specialists
– Partly true, because agilists prefer to be “generalizing specialists".
User interfaces shouldn’t be refactored
– UI refactoring results in the slow but safe evolution of the UI
14. 14
UX Adjusts to Agile
Go beyond UX
– Overspecialization of roles and hand-offs between people in those roles
Become embedded in Agile teams
– Allow others to pick up UX skills, and close collaboration keeps
documentation down
Give Agile approaches a chance
Doing some UI modeling up front
– Overall organization that fits user tasks; common scheme for navigation;
& consistent look-and-feel
Model a bit ahead when appropriate
– Explore important aspects of the UI before you implement them
Do UI development on a JIT (just in time) basis
Adopt Agile artifacts
– Go from Use Cases to user stories, but assure UX issues assigned "story
points" on an equal footing with coding
15. 15
UX Responsibilities in an Agile Process
Inform the Product Owner to clarify the “Voice of the
Customer”
Work with Product Owner to review and understand
requirements
Develops scenarios & conceptual wireframes
(illustrate user experience)
Get customer and user input
During sprint planning, elaborates on user stories to
create tasks
During the sprint, UX advises and reviews completed
work for usability
Tries to work ahead on sprint n+1
16. 16
Agile Artifacts and the UX Role
User Story: A simple way of capturing user requirements
– UX helps write, refine, and test
Demonstration: Presentation of what has been accomplished
– UX facilitates & creates artifacts for the presentation
Theme: A group of related User Stories
– UX helps combine and break down user stories within the epic
Epic: A very large user story
– UX helps break down epics into manageable user stories
Spike: Time boxed periods of research and development
– UX conducts user research to answer spike questions about users and UI
Tracer: Experimental solution that cuts through all "layers" of architecture
– UX helps create vertical fidelity prototypes
Sprint Backlog
– UX helps product owner prioritize user stories in backlog
Product Backlog
– UX helps product owner prioritize user stories in backlog
Burn Down Chart
– UX reports work performed
Burn Up Chart
– UX reports value
17. 17
What are the Advantages of Agile UX?
An Iterative process
– Leads to more collaboration, empowering the group rather than a single designer
Better productivity
– Catching issues early makes them cheaper to fix
Documentation vs. Prototypes
– Documentation is better for complex business rules, prototype better for design
Offers motivation
– Rapid testing cycles lets the design team know they're on the right path
Helps drive business decisions
– Because feedback is in real time, the team can react in real time
Creates a testing culture
– Data drives design, and design drives development
Builds internal knowledge
– Design decisions more manageable and easier to assimilate
Communication
– Narrow the gap between gathering usability data and acting on it
18. 18
Challenges of Agile and Agile UX
Previously mentioned differences between the two
An unclear role for design
– Business and developers, but what about the UI, UX, and graphic design?
Agile is better for refining (existing products), not defining (new)
Requirements gathering process is not defined
– Many don’t want to do any type of documentation to outline a vision
Pressure to cut corners
– ”Feed the development machine” can lead to impulsive design
Temptation to call it “good enough”
– Agile condones releasing whatever we have so long as it works
– Rework gets left in favor of exciting new stuff
Insufficient risk-free conceptual exploration time
– Allow mistakes early on when they are cheaper
Brand Damage with repeated failure to meet user needs
– Get multiple chances, but errors add up
19. 19
Basic Approaches to Agile/UX Integration
Integrate UX into the Agile process
– Cycle 0 is the "speculate" phase
Gather customer input to determine capabilities to add and the priority of each
A parallel track organization
Developers work on features with high development costs and little user interface,
while UX investigates, creates, and verifies designs for next cycles
Design activities occur at least one Agile cycle or sprint ahead of development team
Conduct UX outside the Agile process
Adjust/combine methods and artifacts to make them quicker and leaner
20. 20
Adjust UX Methods
Include UX as a key component to the Agile process
– Assign an owner to it
Change timing and granularity of investigations & reports
Stay far enough ahead
– Do usability testing and remedy problems in previous iteration
– Support development on current iteration
– Design for future iterations
Conduct foundational user research that goes beyond “features”
Just in time: Focus on most important designs, a few at a time
Create the initial vision during a "sprint zero" period
21. 21
UX Methods (mapped to a waterfall process)
Planning Requirements Design Implementation Test & Measure Post Release
Stakeholder
Meeting
Competitor
Analysis
User Survey
Interview (live,
phone)
Contextual
Inquiry
User Observation
Focus Group
Brainstorming
Walkthrough/
Demonstration
Card Sort
Process Re-
engineering
Affinity Diagram
Task Analysis/
Context of Use
User Design
Guidelines
Paper
Prototyping
Heuristic Review
Parallel Design
Story Boarding
Wizard of Oz
Interface Design
Patterns
Low-fidelity
Prototyping
High-Fidelity
Prototyping
Design
Facilitation
Summative
Testing--Lab
Formative
Testing
Participatory
Design
Style Guide
Rapid
Prototyping
Performance
Testing/Measure
Heuristic Review
Critical Incidence
Technique
Accessibility
Review
Summative
Testing
User Survey
Summative
Testing--Remote
Instructional
Design (Help)
Server Traffic
Log Analysis
Search Log
Analysis
Beta Test
Diary Study
Standards
Assessment
Eye Tracking
Photo/Video
Analysis
Benchmark Test
Feedback in Use
(survey)
Cost-benefit
Analysis
Client Evaluation
(of UX service)
Research Plan
Checklist
(standards, etc.)
Claims Analysis
Cultural ProbeField Study
Free Listing Wireframe
Personas
Scenarios of UseUse Cases
UX Goals
23. 23
Contextual Inquiry
A structured field research technique used for ethnographic study
– Can help us understand the context of the user's work and environment
– Cannot determine how well a product will work in an environment or how
easy to use or learn a product will be, or focus on specific features of the
product
Challenges
– Limited time within sprints
– Recruitment of participants
Solutions
– Conduct inquiry outside Agile process or in Cycle 0 (Zero Sprint)
– Do both usability testing and contextual inquiry on same customer trips
– Recruit and schedule on a regular basis, proactively
New Advantages
– More efficient use of participant time
– Less team travel and recruiting time
– User is more of a partner in the design process
24. 24
Heuristic/Expert Reviews
Usability specialists judge whether each element of a user interface
follows established usability principles
– Can point out common UX and design problems, and educate team on UX
– Cannot predict how real users will react to the actual product
Challenges
– Establishing design standards, heuristics/principles, and UX severity ratings
Solutions
– Adjust to make reviews quicker and leaner
Conduct cross-role reviews within a standard review framework/tool
Conduct to flag issues for user testing
Establish benchmark product tasks to guide the review
Establish design standards, heuristics/principles, and severity ratings
New Advantages
– Allows looking at the product design as a whole, not just as an addition
– Design observations, issues, and solutions are documented for future use
– Three to five evaluators can detect most usability problems
– No customer time is needed, unless they are included as reviewers
25. 25
Example Heuristic Principles and Severity Rating
Principle The interface should…
Consistency …help the user to predict how it will operate and allow her to transfer skills from one task (or interface) to
another.
Feedback …let a user know what she did, what affect it had, what she should do next, and where she is in the
system.
Flexibility …have the capability to adapt or to be adapted to end user needs, experience, personal preference, or
mental model of the system.
Perceived Control …give the end user the impression that she (not the computer) commands the interaction.
Economy …display concisely only the information that is required for the user to complete the task at hand.
Compatibility …be compatible with users’ impressions of the world and the model of how users think tasks should be
completed.
Severe - The product is not stable, performs too slowly, or crashes when the feature is used.
- There is a likely loss of data.
High - The usability issue may affect a majority of users, and/or has a profound impact on a user being able to use the product.
- An error is likely that will cause a loss of work and it will be difficult to recover.
- The usability issue is on a highly critical or frequently used feature.
- There is no easy work around to the problem.
- The visual style used makes the product look unprofessional and not up to the standard of company.
Medium - The usability issue may affect about half the users, and/or has a modest impact on a user being able to use the product.
- The usability issue is on a feature that is expected to be used less than half of the time.
- There is an easily discovered work around that allows users to perform the task.
- A common task is too tedious in proportion to its complexity.
- The visual style used detracts from an otherwise professional looking product.
Low - The usability issue may affect a minority of users, and/or has a limited impact on a user being able to use the product.
- The usability issue is not predicted to cause user errors, but nonetheless affects the product’s look of professionalism.
- The visual style used has minor inconsistencies but nonetheless should be corrected.
None - There is no usability issue, or the issue has a negligible effect on system performance, professionalism, or use.
26. 26
Card Sort/Affinity Diagramming
Write item on index card, and request participant(s) to sort these into groups
– Develop structures that maximize the probability of users being able to find things
Challenges
– Analysis can be difficult or “messy”
– Editorial and legacy structures slow to change
– May require all participants to be co-located
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Automate by using card sort tools such as UserZoom or WebSort
Incorporate editorial, expert, and user input
New Advantages
– Users can directly help design the content and application structure
– A tool to design and confirm complex navigation and information architecture
27. 27
Surveys
Sets of questions that are delivered to a large number of people in order to
gather quantitative and qualitative data
– Can gather information from a large section of users inexpensively
– No understanding of “why” behind facts, and also cannot tell if people will buy product
Challenges
– Recruiting participants
– Testing surveys within tight timelines
– Low response rate, compensation, and anonymity
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Use standard survey questions, templates, and reporting
User partnering system (surveys, demographic data, panel management)
Use results to complement and focus user testing
Build enterprise infrastructure for surveys, polls, and forms
Engage recruiting firms
New Advantage
– Survey results can be compared across iterations and products
– Past survey results can be used to create new surveys
– Tool to measure general customer satisfaction and feed executive dashboards
28. 28
Interviews
Structured one-on-one question and answer sessions that
attempt to gain understanding in areas that that are unclear
– Learn user likes and dislikes, and what they want to see in future
versions
– Cannot determine if software is easy to use
– Will not help identify new market opportunities
Challenges
– Recruiting and scheduling is more difficult with a constrained
timeline
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Create customer panel to enable proactive recruiting
Conduct remote interviews to complement live interviews
New Advantages
– Get knowledge right from the field for a discount price
– Less travel and cost
29. 29
Demonstrations
A canned presentation of new software (or new features) shown to
customers, users, or stakeholders to get their opinions
– Learn if a feature would make user more likely to buy, and if they think
you are going in the right direction to solve their problems
– Cannot determine if a feature will work in a real production environment,
if it is easy to use and learn, or how much people will like the feature
after they start using it for real
Challenges
– Product Owner does not have time to put demo together
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track
UX assists with prototype or other demonstration artifacts
UX assists with review protocol and measurements
New Advantages
– Product Owner is more knowledgeable about user experience issues
– Tighter integration between customer and user needs
30. 30
Usability Test
Evaluate a product design by watching the intended
users of the product try it (or a prototype)
– Can indicate how well a user can complete tasks
– Cannot discover whether a product will fit into the users'
work environment, that a product is solving the right
problems for specific users, or if people will actually buy it
Challenges
– Recruiting can be challenging
– Can take a lot of time to collect data and analyze results
– Expensive when done in a lab environment
– Technical issues with remote testing
31. 31
Usability Test
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner
format
Start recruiting right away from database of potential
participants
Use “Think-aloud” protocol
Remote testing (monitored and non-monitored)
Bring in no more than 3 participants each time
Test on same day at same time
Show the participants whatever is ready
Schedule session midway in sprint, leaving time to react
Invite everyone to review session
32. 32
Usability Test
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Test internally with colleagues
– Expose non-UX professionals to the process and principles
– Dry run to test the test plan
– Weed out obvious issues
– Update the prototype for “real user testing”
Use the testing to “clear the boulders” out of the interaction
Use the remaining time in the sprint to iterate on the design
Perform usability activities in a few days
Do usability testing and contextual inquiry on the same customer trip
New Advantages
– Can test on changing designs more frequently
– Recruiting for remote testing is easier and cheaper
– “Just enough” fidelity of test artifacts increases agility
– Can integrate results across products and businesses
33. 33
UX Artifacts: Adjust for Agile
Personas
Task Flow Diagram
UI Style Guide
Wireframe
Prototype
Web Analytics
Test Report
34. 34
Personas
Fictional characters created to represent the different user
types within targeted demographics
Challenges
– New to many (adoption and understanding by larger team)
– Require significant investment of time and resources
Solutions
– Create as part of foundational research outside of the Agile
process
– Require personas as the actors of user stories
New Advantages
– Ensuring team understands and agrees who the target audience is,
making collecting and using customer input easier throughout
– Make user stories much more effective
35. 35
Task Flow Diagram
Documentation of steps in specific user tasks revealing current workflow
– Can help understand number of actions it takes users to complete a task
– Cannot uncover how the actual product screens should be designed
Challenges
– Often flow is defined as system activity, not user experience
– Difficult to isolate focused changes within an existing workflow
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track
New features mapped to appropriate task flow
Use to blueprint the product interaction design
New Advantages
– Shows how it all should fit and gives a sense of direction
– Provides an early artifact for stakeholder and user input
36. 36
User Interface Style Guide
As set of standards that indicate the answer to common design
questions such as topography, color, layout, branding, & design patterns
Challenges
– All businesses do not have one
– Need to maintained and updated
– Need to be customized for different products
Solutions
– Outside Agile
Create standards to enable the Agile process
Leverage existing standards (IBM, Apple, etc.)
Establish standards committee and process
Create patterns and standards for prototypes
New Advantages
– Define a set of re-usable components once (for prototyping and coding environments)
– Create a centralized, easily-accessible asset library for designers and developers
– Provide a living document that develops as the platform and process mature
– Reduce the time developers needed to create repetitive elements
– Reduce design cycles by allowing designers to focus on the core experience while
relegating the repeated patterns to style guide assets
– Don’t have to keep repeating the same user story over and over
– Allows those not versed in interaction design to use the pattern library
37. 37
Wireframe
A static representation of key interfaces within a product
– Uncover issues with layout, functionality, and general design
– Main focus lies in functionality
Challenges
– Translating wireframes to low-fidelity prototype
– Annotations produce “noise” in the interface
– Synch with written requirements
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, leaner format
Create as the beginning of a low-fidelity prototype
Incorporate business rules and other notes into the wireframe/prototype
Use Axure to automatically generate prototypes and specifications that are
always up to date with one another
New Advantages
– Wireframes, annotations, business rules, and specifications are all
contained in the same tool, which allows team collaboration
– Fidelity and interaction can be added until sprint time is up
– Work can be reused for new designs or training
38. 38
Prototype
Models your final product and allows you to test attributes of the final
product even if it's not ready yet
– Low-, medium, high-, vertical-, and horizontal-fidelity
Challenges
– Time crunch
– Lack of design skill set
– May waste time with high-fidelity mockup if requirements are to change
Exception may be when style or branding guidelines are clearly defined
– Different tools with poor collaboration support
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Use common tools (Axure) to enable collaboration, and share lessons learned
Incorporate branding, templates, guidelines, and design patterns into tool
If you have less time, use fewer details (low fidelity)
Incorporate an understanding of coding challenges into prototyping environment
Begin documenting existing systems in Axure, so designers can save time and
effort by re-using proven design patterns
39. 39
Prototype
New Advantages
– Substitute clean HTML prototypes for annotation-heavy wireframes
– Prototype demonstrations & daily conversation can replaced detailed docs
– Documents are written to record a history of design decisions (re-use)
– UI Designers get a better understanding of coding capabilities and limitations
40. 40
User Story
A brief description of functionality as viewed by the user
– A “role and a goal”
– Play a major role in project estimation and planning (story points & velocity)
– Discovered at planning and other stages of the project
– Have three parts
Card: A description, priority, and estimate
Conversation: A section for capturing further information about the user story
Confirmation: Convey tests to confirm the user story is complete and working as
expected
– Begin the discussion of design
Challenges
– User stories can be seen as “contracts” (fixed)
– Continuously emerge, change, and disappear
– Confused with use cases
– Rely on collaboration, discussion, and proximity
– Must be implemented and tested in one iteration
– Often need to be simplified from Epics
41. 41
User Story
Solutions
– Understand it from perspective of different roles
User: Desired feature
Developer: Feature that needs to be estimated, or work to be
completed
Tester: Something for which a test likely needs to be written
UX: Puzzle piece to be fit into a coherent and valuable experience
– Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimate-able, Small, and Testable
– Full story is conversation triggered by statement on card
– Make personas the voice of the story
– Have users write stories (if you can)
– Don’t write in isolation
– Be sure to get your “so that”s (extend capabilities)
– Iterate story development with UI exploration (prototypes)
Story coverage more likely to jump out at you when looking at a UI
42. 42
User Story
Solutions
– Make sure UI infrastructure stories get into the backlog
A feature in a wireframe does not mean that feature will get built
Include “water-sewer-electricity-type” features (ex. table pagination)
– Have UX present during story estimation
– Make sure testers are testing for usability
Acceptance criteria is usually the basis for determining “done-ness”
Create a UI style guide, so user stories are not repeated
Buy design time with complex engineering stories
43. 43
User Story
Solutions
– Split up Large User Stories
Persona or role
Steps of a workflow
Scenario
Sequence in a scenario
Operations
Size or type of data
Type of input, output or configuration
Level of knowledge
Level of complexity
Level of quality expected
44. 44
User Story
New Advantages
– UX adds a key agile component to their tool box
– User stories are smaller and easier to maintain than use cases
– User stories gain a strong proponent and owner
– User stories are “user tested” from the beginning
45. 45
Web Analytics
Measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for
purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage
– Can tell WHAT users did
– Cannot tell WHY they did or did not do it
Challenges
– It's hard to drill down into why people are doing or not doing something
with just analytics
Solutions
– Outside Agile
Use other Agile UX methods and artifacts to complement analytics
Code products to enable tools like Google Analytics
New Advantages
– Analytics can be used to complement and focus user research
– Some decision makers need numbers
– Analysis can be done across products and iterations
46. 46
Test Reports
Documentation of test results
Challenges
– No standard format now
– People do not read them
Solutions
– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format
Present proposed solutions for all issues in a comprehensive approach
Provide a standard UX severity rating
Use Common Industry Format (http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/documents/cifv1.1b.htm)
Produce in a format that enables user story creation and proper tracking
Isolate an issue matrix within the larger report for easy review
New Advantages
– Stakeholders will read and use the information because…
It is digestible
It is “just-in-time”
It addresses their questions
# Issue Possible Solutions Issue
Severity
1 Users had trouble understanding
where they were on the search
page
Make “Selected Content” link bold black
text when it is the chosen item, or change
these links to tabs. Remove the title text,
as it is redundant to the link or tab control
Medium