Surviving The Software Development Process

Collin Cole
Senior Vice President, frog design
Austin TX

collin.cole@frogdesign.com

Collin Cole, SVP © 2008 frog design. Confidential & Proprietary. 2/17/2008 1

frog is a strategic-creative consulting firm.
We bring a unique combination of strategic and creative talent to
help companies evolve, expand, and envision their business.
Our rigorous yet unorthodox approach yields breakthrough innovation
and a sustainable competitive edge.

Palo Alto San Jose San Francisco Seattle Austin New York Stuttgart Milan Shanghai


Surviving the Software Development Process
How to deliver a great brand experience
through better software design


Two parts:

1. Why good software design is difficult
2. Five ways to survive the process and deliver a great design


A couple of quick definitions

“Software” = web, embedded, mobile, desktop applications
“Designers” = agencies, contractors, internal corporate groups


Software is a vital element of your brand identity.
Software is your customer’s daily interaction
with your brand.


Think of the care that goes into the
consistent delivery of your brand.


Why isn’t it the same with
your company’s software?


The software landscape is overwhelming.


Software is complex.

Applications
entertainment, information, productivity

Device Connectivity
policies, permissions, protocols

Devices
home, mobile, business, entertainment

Services, Servers & Data
content, contacts, media, commerce

Networks
fixed, wireless, satellite


The process is hard.

Tools are difficult (they’re getting better)

Traditional roles inhibit collaboration

The traditional, sequential process has gaps.
Crossing each gap requires translation and interpretation

MARCOM/STRATEGY ? DESIGN ? DEVELOPMENT

0100110100
01001
1101010001
0010111011


But mostly, it’s because your design is left in
the hands of others with very different priorities.


How we’ve adapted at frog design.

Focused our tech efforts on UI/UX

Increased the designer:developer ratio to about 4:1

Created a “design technologist” position : a design-minded,
UI-focused developer, and added other complementary roles

Invested in new design & development tools

Updated our process to be more collaborative and iterative


Case Study:
How we’ve adapted at frog

BEST IN SHOW AWARD

Best Business/Productivity Application,
People’s Choice Award


Collaborative and concurrent design and development
How we’ve adapted at frog

January December

Strategy & Design Development

PROJ 1 PROJECT 2 PROJECT 3

Discovery Proof of concept Full product design and
prototype (on handset) development, testing, launch

First idea to final product (tested, on the market)
in less than 12 months


SURVIVING THE SOFTWARE
DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
five ways to keep your brand in one piece


1. Own the user experience.

Ensuring a quality implementation is YOUR responsibility.

Expand your skills; stretch and grow.
If you don’t have developers, hire them.

Deliver what you can; simulations, key templates, reference
implementations.

Old-style design specifications just don’t work.


Major League Baseball
Microsoft Silverlight

Lawson M3 Smart Client
4 month Design-UI Development cycle
Microsoft .NET3/WPF


Designers are designing while developers have already started.
DESIGN PHASE DEVELOPMENT

design research, information architecture, wireframes,
workflows, interaction design, visual design, flash demos,
usability testing, internal presentations, design
Design
documentation… Specification

* Rate of increase is proportional
Project to the number of executives involved
Brief
TIME…

Development
Reality
functional requirements and feature lists, team assignments
and scheduling, systems architecture, platform development,
proof‐of‐concept prototyping… (they’ve already started!)


2. Start building something.

Drastically shorten the first design step.
Rough out a wireframe and start prototyping. Get out of
Photoshop/Illustrator/Visio.

Prototype as a process.
What you build serves to communicate between all groups and
continually resets expectations.

Prototype as a specification.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a
thousand pages of pretty documentation.


Yahoo! Messenger
Microsoft .NET3/WPF
2 designers, 2 developers
6 months


3. Everyone is a designer.

Build a team of technically-minded designers and
design-aware developers.

Encourage a collaborative and concurrent design-develop process.
Get the design and development teams talking and working together,
from the beginning.

Take advantage of the uniquely different perspectives on the team.
Good ideas can come from anywhere. Developers are often in the best
position to recognize improvements in interaction design.


Fox Sports
Microsoft Media Center application
Silverlight/MCML

4. You’re not finished until it ships.

Stay involved during implementation to provide design oversight for
the inevitable surprises, compromises, and on-the-spot fixes.
Remember, the quality of the final product is YOUR responsibility.
No finger pointing allowed when it’s done.

Schedule time for Design QA or “fit & finish” polishing.


Disney Software Suite
“old school” C programming


5. Build a system, not just screens.

Create a software DNA for your brand
(personality, voice, visual components, interactions)

Think modularly. Design for reuse and built-in consistency,
even across different media, platforms, and devices.

Make doing the right thing the easiest choice. Deliver your design
documentation in a format that is easily accessed and used by
engineers.


Online design specifications
with design rules, copy &
paste code snippets, and
interactive, functional
examples


HP’s elegant Photosmart identity spans platforms and devices.


Surviving The Software Development Process

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