Enterprise, Agile, and UX: Making It Work Today, Tomorrow, and Beyond
1. Enterprise + UX + Agile
Making It Work Today, Tomorrow, And Beyond
cc: Scott McKittrick - https://www.flickr.com/photos/12505291@N08
2. About Me
• Sr. Director Interaction Design and
Research, Active Network
• Close to 25 years in enterprise
software, 15 in UX
• 25+ publications
• Authored UX Agile best practice for
Vista Equity
cc: Fefa Guerra - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73573770@N04
3. About Active Network
• 2000+ employees
• 30+ products spanning consumer
to back office software
• Millions of users daily
• 14 interaction designers and
researchers (we’re hiring!)
cc: Fefa Guerra - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73573770@N04
4. Today's Agenda
• Why is this so hard?
• Many paths
• Infusing Agile with UX design for
the Enterprise
• Learn From My Fail (#LFMF)
• Reading the tea leaves
cc: Fefa Guerra - https://www.flickr.com/photos/73573770@N04
5. Enterprise + UX + Agile
Why Is This So Hard?
cc: DVIDSHUB - https://www.flickr.com/photos/28650594@N03
6. No Seat At The Table
• The agile manifesto did not originally
allow for UX design as a unique discipline
• The definition of UX design varies widely,
so level setting can be challenging
• There is a perception that making room
for UX design "interrupts" the flow and
introduces too many artifacts
cc: hjl - https://www.flickr.com/photos/92605333@N00
7. Working at Scale
• Enterprise struggles to scale agile
(for one model, see the Scaled
Agile Framework (SAFe))
• Enterprise also struggles to
understand how to prioritize and
implement UX design
cc: Ben Sutherland - https://www.flickr.com/photos/60179301@N00
9. Agile UX
• Breaking down problems into
consumable bits
• Testing those bits before they go to
development
• Working in defined cycles
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10. Agile UX: What We Stole
• Planning and estimation
• Sprints for design
cc: WorldIslandInfo.com - https://www.flickr.com/photos/76074333@N00
11. Lean UX
• Uses workshops to generate
assumptions rather than
requirements
• Rapid prototyping to test hypothesis
cc: Lars Plougmann - https://www.flickr.com/photos/75062596@N00
12. Lean UX: What We Stole
• Workshops (lightning)
• Guerilla/hallway testing
cc: Ruth and Dave - https://www.flickr.com/photos/95142644@N00
13. Enterprise + UX + Agile
Infusing Agile with Design
cc: Matt Bernius - https://www.flickr.com/photos/99402954@N00
14. Phases
• Problem Definition
• Research
• Vision and Validation
• Planning
• Sprints
cc: SivamDesign - https://www.flickr.com/photos/23285057@N04
15. Problem Definition
• Understand the opportunity
• Define the problem
• High level requirements
• Business case
• Market analysis
cc: ccPixs.com - https://www.flickr.com/photos/86530412@N02
16. When CONTEXT, ACTOR wants/needs to ACTION but they
are prevented by BARRIER which causes IMPACT that
SEVERITY. CONSTANTS remain steady. However, VARIABLES
changes DELTA.
cc: Andi Licious - https://www.flickr.com/photos/32722794@N07
17. When bringing on new members, the recreation
center owner wants to have a system to stay in contact
with their new members and let them know about
features of the membership and classes, but they are
prevented by limited time and resources which causes
30% of new members to drop their membership after
a trial period leading to a 15% loss of revenue. The
owner will not be able to hire more or better staff.
However, they have a budget available for software
equivalent to 2% of their membership price.
18. Research
• Interviews and site visits
• Pattern analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Heuristic evaluation
• Surveys
cc: jannekestaaks - https://www.flickr.com/photos/33328695@N02
19. Vision and Validation
• Ideation and explorations
• High-level customer validation
• Epic definition
cc: chrismar - https://www.flickr.com/photos/14334258@N00
20. Planning
• Grooming and estimation
• User stories with acceptance criteria
• Dependency flags
cc: JohannesLundberg - https://www.flickr.com/photos/25054287@N07
21. As a user, I want to manage
donations to be compliant.
cc: HowardLake - https://www.flickr.com/photos/53941041@N00
22. When completing a non-profit race, the race director wants to
gather information about donations made for a the event so they
can send the money to the non-profit and provide accurate report
figures.
cc: stevendepolo - https://www.flickr.com/photos/10506540@N07
23. As a user, I want a toggle button somewhere on the
screen that is not labeled and does visually nothing
when activated.
cc: kate e. did - https://www.flickr.com/photos/67637588@N00
24. When a suspicious customer purchases a hunting license,
the cashier wants a way to flag the sale without alerting the
customer so that the sale can be examined later by
administrators.
cc: ialla - https://www.flickr.com/photos/29795849@N00
25. Sprints
• Two types of sprints: Foundational and
Functional
• Foundational Sprints create items necessary
for the Functional Sprints: wireframes and
visual comps, back-end services, APIs, etc.
• Functional Sprints use items from the
Foundational Sprints to create an MVP.
• If the groundwork has been done properly,
we can usually generate at least 2 Functional
sprints worth of work from 1 Foundational
sprint.
cc: roolrool - https://www.flickr.com/photos/71317184@N00
26. Enterprise + UX + Agile
Learn From My Fail (LFMF)
cc: felixtsao - https://www.flickr.com/photos/43163345@N06
27. "I'll Just Do It"
• Product Manager wanted to skip research
and planning
• Decided to create the designs himself
because he "knew what the customers
wanted"
• Attached designs to the development story
without letting UX know - found out when
development called with questions.
cc: Jhong Dizon | Photography - https://www.flickr.com/photos/27636029@N05
28. LFMF: Clear Responsibilities
• Product Manager did not have a
clear idea of what UX was
responsible for and why
• Project Manager did not know who
could provide designs
• Learning: Define who does what
for every thing (RACI)
cc: quinn.anya - https://www.flickr.com/photos/53326337@N00
29. "I deliberately left this vague"
• Product manager provided story with
no requirements
• Designer accepted the story and
produced a design - that missed eight
key requirements that came out
during review
• Designer had to overhaul the design
twice and delay development.
cc: cobalt123 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/66606673@N00
30. LFMF: Clearly Define Problems
• Product Manager confused "not
providing a solution" with "not defining
the problem"
• Designer did not ask any questions
• Learning: If every little thing isn't clear,
ask. Lightening workshops have helped
everyone learn how to do better
definitions.
cc: Michael Dales - https://www.flickr.com/photos/68497070@N00
31. "Oh, I forgot to mention..."
• Product Manager decided to skip the twice
weekly standups for design because she “didn’t
have time.”
• For a large story, the designers worked an entire
long sprint (3 weeks) in solitude before showing
their work during the sprint design review.
• Seeing the designs, the product manager
realized she had forgotten to include several
things in the requirements, including an entire
asset type, that, in turn, required a complete
redesign.
cc: @Doug88888 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/29468339@N02
32. LFMF: Constant Communication
• Product Manager had made
assumptions about what others knew
• Designers had made assumptions
about what they knew
• Learning: Check in early and often.
Seeing the solution come to life
brings realizations – you make time
to save time.
cc: Wiertz Sébastien - https://www.flickr.com/photos/36169570@N08
33. Enterprise + UX + Agile
Reading the Tea Leaves
cc: Ingrid Truemper - https://www.flickr.com/photos/46406260@N00
34. Improving Estimation
• Quantifying effort improves
understanding
• Accurate estimates provide
predictability and accountability
• Good estimations require practice and
understanding of both the craft and
the problem
cc: Capt Kodak - https://www.flickr.com/photos/35114754@N00
35. Measuring Impact
• Knowing what success looks like
ensures you know when you're
successful
• Measuring success of design
quantitatively ties your deliverables to
the success of the business
• Good measurements require an
understanding of business needs and
goals as well as research techniques
cc: MattiaMc - https://www.flickr.com/photos/78332974@N06
36. Rigorously Defining Problems
• Rigorous problem definitions ensures
superior design
• More constraints improve focus and
efficiency
• Good problem definition requires
solid, data-based understanding of
both user and business needs
cc: wburris - https://www.flickr.com/photos/95104082@N00
38. A Few Resources on Agile and UX
• Welcome to the Scaled Agile Framework
http://www.scaledagileframework.com/about/
• Treder, M. Lean UX vs. Agile UX: Is there a difference?
https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/lean-ux-vs-agile-ux-is-there-a-
difference/
• Interaction Design Foundation, A Simple Introduction to Lea UX
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/a-simple-
introduction-to-lean-ux
• Agile UX http://www.agile-ux.com/
39. A Few Resources on Critical Thinking
• Critical Thinking for UX Designers
http://www.slideshare.net/stephenpa/critical-thinking-forux-
designers-workshop
• Become a Better Designer Through Critical
Thinkinghttp://www.vanseodesign.com/web-design/critical-
thinking/
• A Plea for More Critical Thinking in Design, Please
http://www.fastcompany.com/1327667/plea-more-critical-
thinking-design-please
• CriticalThinking.Net http://www.criticalthinking.net/index.html
40. A Few Resources on Problem Definition
• Rosenhead, J. (1996)What's the problem? An introduction to
problem structuring methods Interfaces 26 (6), 117-131
• Portigal, S. (2016) Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User
Research War Stories. Rosenfeld Media.
• Quesenbery, W. and Brooks, K. (2010) Storytelling for User
Experience. Brooklyn, NY: Rosefeld Media, LLC
• Hackos, J. and Redish, J. (1998) User and Task Analysis for Interface
Design. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Spool, J. (2014, Oct 01) Promise, Vision, Scenario and User. [Blog
post] Retrieved from
http://www.uie.com/articles/promise_vision_scenario/
• Inchauste, F. (2010, Jan 29) Better UX with Story Telling. Smashing
Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/29/better-user-
experience-using-storytelling-part-one/