These slides are for the software design class I teach (currently at UVA Darden). The materials page is here: http://bit.ly/sw-class .

1. © 2015 COWAN+
SOFTWARE DESIGN: SESSION 6
MAPPING THE COAST- CREATING
QUALITY DEVELOPMENT INPUTS
Alex Cowan

2. © 2015 COWAN+
THE VENTURE DESIGN PROCESS
SCALE?
PIVOT?
PRODUCT &
PROMOTION
USER STORIES
& PROTOTYPES
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
ASSUMPTIONS
SHOW
M
E
…
?
WHATIF?
Is the problem
relevant? Is the
proposition better
vs alternatives?
Do we understand
this person? What
makes them tick?
Did the
implementation
deliver on
the story?
Was the implemented
story relevant to the
proposition?
How did the customer
/user react?
WHO?PERSONAS
WHAT?
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES

3. © 2015 COWAN+
WHAT WE COVERED LAST TIME
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
ASSUMPTIONS
WHATIF?
Was the implemented
story relevant to the
proposition?

4. © 2015 COWAN+
WORKING YOUR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS
… and they have a certain
PROBLEMS(S)
… where they’re currently using certain
ALTERNATIVE(S)
… and I have a VALUE PROPOSITION
that’s better enough than the alternatives
to cause the persona to act (purchase,
use, etc.).
A certain VALUE HYPOTHESIS
QUESTIONS
How much better than the best alternative
is your product?
How obvious is that to the customer?
TOOLS
Structured Assumptions
Structured Experiments (including MVP)

5. © 2015 COWAN+
WHERE YOU SHOULD BE NOW
– Personas,
including Think-
See-Feel-Do
(Converged)
– Problem Scenarios
– Alternatives
– Value Propositions
(Converged)
– Interview Guide
– 2 (or more) Interviews
– Product Hypothesis
(Converged)
– Value Hypothesis
– Assumptions for Value
Hypothesis
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
ASSUMPTIONS
WHATIF?
Do we understand
this person? What
makes them tick?
Was the implemented
story relevant to the
proposition?
WHO?PERSONAS
WHAT?
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES
– Experiment(s) for
hypothesis testing

6. © 2015 COWAN+
WHAT WE’LL WORK ON TODAY
USER STORIES
& PROTOTYPES
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY &
EXPERIMENTS
VALUE
PROPOSITIONS &
ASSUMPTIONS
SHOW
M
E
…
?
WHATIF?
Do we understand
this person? What
makes them tick?
Was the implemented
story relevant to the
proposition?
How did the customer
/user react?
WHO?PERSONAS
WHAT?
PROBLEM
SCENARIOS &
ALTERNATIVES

7. © 2015 COWAN+
WHAT WE’LL WORK ON TODAY
Finding the Right
PROBLEM
Finding the Right
SOLUTION
time
alternatives
divergence convergence divergence convergence
source: adapted from ‘The Design of Everyday Things’
Personas
Problems
Alternatives
Field
Discovery
Value Hypothesis &
Assumptions
Product
Hypothesis
Experiments on Motivation
User Stories
Software
(input to)

8. © 2015 COWAN+Paul Holloway via Wikimedia Commons
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
AGILE: BLOCKBUSTER EVENT OF 2001

9. © 2015 COWAN+
THE AFTERPARTY
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

10. © 2015 COWAN+
THE MANIFESTO WAS SIMPLE
INDIVIDUALS
INTERACTIONS
PROCESSES
TOOLS
WORKING
SOFTWARE
COMPREHENSIVE
DOCUMENTATION
CUSTOMER
COLLABORATION
CONTRACT
NEGOTIATION
RESPONDING TO
CHANGE
FOLLOWING
A PLAN ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

11. © 2015 COWAN+
THE COMMERCE TEAM THE DEVELOPMENT TEAM
1. Connecting with customer needs
2. Managing uncertainty
3. Describing for implementation
1. Implementation strategy
2. Managing changes in need
3. Distributing actionable inputs
THE FIELD TEAM
1. Delivering on customer issues
consistent with overall company direction
WHAT’S HARD
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

12. © 2015 COWAN+
3: SMALL BATCHES2: NARRATIVE
COLLABORATION
1: THE USER STORY
AGILE: THE GOOD STUFF
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

13. © 2015 COWAN+
THE IMPORTANCE OF FORM & NOTATION

14. © 2015 COWAN+
Epic Stories
Stories
Test Cases
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
Who is this user?
What makes them tick?
Who’s an example of such a person?
Why do they want to do this?
What's the benefit/reward?
How will we know of it’s
working?
bit.ly/youagile
(THE WHOLE) AGILE USER STORY
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

15. © 2015 COWAN+
EPIC STORY
1) ’As the HR manager, I want to create a screening
quiz so that I can understand whether I want to
send possible recruits to the functional manager.’
CHILD STORY A
1A) “As an HR manager, I want to match
an open position’s required skills with
quiz topics so I can create a quiz relevant
for candidate screening.”
CHILD STORY B
1B) “As an HR manager, I want to send a
draft quiz to the the functional manager so I
make sure I’ve covered the right topics on
the screening quiz.”
…
STORY N
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES AT ENABLE QUIZ
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF

16. © 2015 COWAN+
THE EPIC: NOT QUITE AS BIG AS IT SOUNDS
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
Epic Stories
Stories
Test Cases
Epic sounds big.
But the are still specific &
discrete.

17. © 2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE EPIC STORIES AT ENABLE QUIZ
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
Draft a set of epic stories
(Next: pick an epic and detail it w/ child stories.)
EXAMPLE EPICS
1) ’As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I
want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’
2) ’As the HR manager, I want to try out the screening quiz so that I can make sure it works as I
expected and that I’m ready to both give it to candidates and share the results with the
functional manager.’
3) ‘As the HR manager, I want to give the screening quiz to a job candidate so I can assess
their skill sets against the needs of the position.’
4) ‘As the HR manager, I want to share and explain the results of our screening with the
functional manager so they can decide who they want to interview.’
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
(5 min)

18. © 2015 COWAN+
EXAMPLE: AGILE EPIC STORIES AT ENABLE QUIZ
ALEX COWAN
alexandercowan.com
@cowanSF
Draft a set of epic stories
(Next: pick an epic and detail it w/ child stories.)
EXAMPLE EPICS
1) ’As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I
want to send possible recruits to the functional manager.’
2) ’As the HR manager, I want to try out the screening quiz so that I can make sure it works as I
expected and that I’m ready to both give it to candidates and share the results with the
functional manager.’
3) ‘As the HR manager, I want to give the screening quiz to a job candidate so I can assess
their skill sets against the needs of the position.’
4) ‘As the HR manager, I want to share and explain the results of our screening with the
functional manager so they can decide who they want to interview.’
“As a [persona],
I want to [do something]
so that I can [derive a benefit]”
(5 min)

19. © 2015 COWAN+
EPIC
‘As the HR manager, I
want to create a
screening quiz so that I
can understand whether
I want to send possible
recruits to the
functional manager.’
WALKING THROUGH AN EPIC
bit.ly/dostory

20. © 2015 COWAN+
USING THE STORYBOARDING SQUARES
bit.ly/dostory
}
}}1 Panel
Storyboard
Area
Notes
Area
Optional notes here to
supplement your storyboard

21. © 2015 COWAN+
TRIGGER
How does the
problem scenario
initiate?
ACTION
How is the action
executed? How
easy is it?
REWARD
How is the persona
gratified?
SKETCHING YOUR NARRATIVE
source: adapted from Nir Eyal’s Hook Framework
bit.ly/dostory

22. © 2015 COWAN+
EPIC
‘As the HR manager, I
want to create a
screening quiz so that I
can understand whether
I want to send possible
recruits to the
functional manager.’
WALKING THROUGH AN EPIC
Pick an epic and
storyboard it with ~6
squares
(8 min)

23. © 2015 COWAN+
CHILD STORIES
A) “As an HR manager, I want to match an open position’s required skills with quiz topics so I can create a
quiz relevant for candidate screening.”
B) “As an HR manager, I want to send a draft quiz to the the functional manager so I make sure I’ve covered
the right topics on the screening quiz.”
C) “As a functional manager, I want to send feedback on the screening quiz to the HR manager so I make sure
I’m getting the best possible screening on candidates.”
D) “As an HR manager, I need to purchase an upgraded service tier so I can add additional topics to my quiz.”
E) “As an HR manager, I want to add custom questions to the quiz so we cover additional topics that are
important to the functional manager.”
EPIC STORY
‘As the HR manager, I want to create a screening quiz so that I can understand whether I want to send possible
recruits to the functional manager.’
EXAMPLE: AGILE USER STORIES
Detail your epic with
child stories (8 min)

24. © 2015 COWAN+
Item
✔ Your stories have all three clauses
✔ Usability and motivation are both linked to stories, but tested separately
✔ Usability is testing feels easy, frequent, and effective
✔ Every story is linked to a value proposition (small or large)
✔ Every proposition is linked to a problem
✔ Every story, proposition, and problem is linked to a vivid persona
AGILE: YOU’LL KNOW IT’S WORKING IF…

25. © 2015 COWAN+
ASSIGNMENTS
1. Do/Individual: Agile Epics (15-20 minutes)
2. Do/Individual: Storyboard an Agile Epic (10-20 minutes)
3. Do/Individual: Draft User Stories for An Agile Epic (20-30 minutes)

26. © 2015 COWAN+
bit.ly/vdesignExperimentLearn
Hypothesize
@cowanSF
acowan@alexandercowan.com
bit.ly/cdhandbook
bit.ly/sw-class
FINI
Check out
Venture Design
Twitter
Get in touch!
Use Customer Discovery
Handbook
View this deck