Presented at the SoCal UX Camp 2013 Unconference. Target audience: UX designers and other team members working in an Agile environment.

1. Best Practices
Sally Abolrous
UX Strategist, Researcher, and Designer
sally@salouli.com
www.salouli.com
UX and Agile

2. What I love about Agile
· Teaming
· It’s collaborative and cross-functional
· Incremental
· You don’t have to answer everything now
· Rapid
· Frequent releases to test your designs
· Flexible and Adaptable
· The team’s goal is to keep improving

3. What I don’t love about Agile
· Velocity is everything
· Quality is an after-thought

4. A great user experience must be rooted in an understanding of business needs and
user needs; Good user interface design is not enough.
User Experience

5. User Experience
Beyond the 30%...
· We immerse ourselves in the business
· We listen to stakeholders and users
· We identify problems
· We propose and test solutions
· We create and share a vision
· We drive decision making

6. A great user experience must be rooted in an understanding of business needs and
user needs; Good user interface design is not enough.
User Experience
How do we fit
this into the
process?

7. Experiments that work
· 7 Best Practices based on successful experiments
· Resulted in high velocity
· Resulted in high quality

8. 1. Ad-hoc “Discovery” Sprints
Best practices for Agile UX

9. Why?
Ad hoc “Discovery” Sprints
· “Sprint 0” is short. We can’t plan for everything
· We need time to answer big questions
· We need time to reach a decision
· We need to take a step back and look at the big
picture
Sprint 0
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Sprint 3
Sprint 4
Sprint 6

10. How does it fit in Agile?
Ad hoc “Discovery” Sprints
· Design (UX, BA, Arch) is 2
sprints ahead
· “Discovery” sprints as
needed
· Prioritize non-UX stories/
tasks for the team while
doing discovery
Design Sprint 0
Design Sprint 1
Design Sprint 2
Design Sprint 3
Design Sprint 4
Discovery
Design Sprint 6
Sprint 0
Sprint 1
Sprint 2
Dev Sprint 3
Dev Sprint 4
Dev Sprint 5
Dev Sprint 6

11. What do you do?
Ad hoc “Discovery” Sprints
· Talk to the users, the business, and
the stakeholders
· Create and evaluate concepts
· Research the industry and the
competition
· Conduct surveys, participatory design
sessions, usability testing
· Etc…

12. What are some deliverables?
Ad hoc “Discovery” Sprints
· Process Flows
· Stories
· Scenarios
· Wireframes
· Design guidelines

13. 2. Assign a UX Owner
Best practices for Agile UX

14. Assign a UX Owner
Why?
· Team is focused on the details of the
current and next sprint, not on the
big picture
· Multiple designers on different teams
can lead to inconsistency
· Need someone to ensure the vision is
carried through and the design
doesn’t lose its integrity
Make it
my way!
80/20
Rule
Zero
training
Less is
More!!!

15. How?
Assign a UX Owner
· Embed UX members in the agile teams
· Increased collaboration
· Increased understanding of UX
process
· Common vision
· UX owner may/may not be on a team
· UX owner ensures consistency
· UX owner maintains the vision and
design goals
· UX owner passes/approves deliverables
Team A
UX
VD
PO
BA
Dev
Arch
QA
SM

16. 3. Don’t lose sight of the Big Picture
Best practices for Agile UX

17. Why?
Don’t lose sight of the big picture
· In Agile, stories are small and
focused on one feature
· It’s easy to forget about the
big picture
· The navigation and
interaction of the whole
system is UX’s responsibility
Sprint 1
Team A
Sprint 2
Team B
Sprint 3
Team A
Sprint 3
Team B
Sprint 4
Team C
Sprint 3
Team C

18. Don’t lose sight of the big picture
· Everywhere…
· Process Flows
· Personas
· Design Mantras
· Wireframes/Sketches/Ideas
· Design team…
· Cross-team design sessions
to ensure pieces fit together
· Maintain and use the UX
framework
· Think ahead

19. Don’t lose sight of the big picture
Anticipate
what’s coming
next based on
process flows.
Is there a
next step or
is this final
step?
What if the
user gets
interrupted?
Out of scope
Out of scope

20. 4. Get Buy-In from the Team
Best practices for Agile UX

21. Why?
Get Buy-In from the Team
· Everyone should be invested in the design
· Development, Business, QA insight is crucial
Solid Design
Technology
Context
Business
Goals
Customer
Needs

22. How?
Get Buy-In from the Team
· Talk! Often!
· Whiteboard sessions with Arch/Dev/BA
· Make Informed decisions
· Understand the technology:
· Limitations, Customizations, Effort required…
· Understand the business:
· Goals, Motivations, Priorities…
· Share early design sketches/ideas
· Are there better solutions?
· Are there technical concerns?
· Are there testing concerns?

23. 5. Put the user in the user story
Best practices for Agile UX

24. A great user experience must be rooted in an understanding of
business needs and user needs.
Put the User in the User Story

25. Why?
Put the User in the User Story
· Business objectives and goals drive design decisions
· and users’ objectives and goals drive business decisions
· Bring the user’s voice to requirements gathering sessions with the business
· Bridge the gap between the business and the users

26. We think beyond the requirements
Put the User in the User Story
· Question how things work today
· We ask “why?”
· Think beyond a user story
· What’s happening before this? After this?
· Channel the user
· Will users understand this term? Add tooltips
· Do users have enough information to make a decision? Add info
· Do users know where they are? Add breadcrumbs
· Do users know who to contact in case they get stuck? Add content
· Are we missing key requirements needed to complete a task?

27. We look for ways to delight users, make their lives easier, and
form an emotional connection with our product or service.
Put the User in the User Story

28. 6. Form a User Committee
Best practices for Agile UX

29. Why?
Form a User Committee
· Feedback is needed quickly
· No time for formal user research

30. Made up of key personas
Form a User Committee
· Available for the entire team to:
· Gather additional requirements
· Understand and create process flows
· Review wireframes
· Review visual designs
· Review prototypes or implementations
· Complete surveys
· Help expedite decision making
· Ensure that nothing is overlooked or missed

31. 7. Have your UX Laundry List Ready
Best practices for Agile UX

32. Why?
Have your UX Laundry List Ready
· There’s always room for improvement and refinement
· Inconsistencies get deprioritized during sprints
· Visual design often gets deprioritized
· Iterations are important in both UX and Agile
· There’s always some unexpected down time – be prepared!

33. How?
Have your UX Laundry List Ready
· Evaluate and test the release frequently and keep a log of desired enhancements
· Discuss your list with the team and get their buy-in
· Keep your list prioritized at all times

34. Thank you!
Questions or comments? Contact me at sally@salouli.com