Lean Apart: A Case Study in Agile UX Design for a Distributed Team
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The document outlines a case study on implementing agile UX design practices within a distributed team at IBM, focusing on overcoming past challenges related to remote collaboration and team dynamics. Key strategies employed include adopting lean methodologies, conducting design studios, and utilizing various digital tools for effective communication and collaboration. Lessons learned emphasize the importance of inclusive practices and the benefits of cross-functional involvement in the design process.
Lean Apart: A Case Study in Agile UX Design for a Distributed Team
- 1. Lean Apart A Case Study in Agile UX Design for a Distributed Team Jennifer Hayes, IBM Adam Archer, IBM UXD lead, JazzHub [email protected] Dev lead, JazzHub [email protected] QCon San Francisco November 12, 2013 IBM Rational Design 1
- 2. Watch the video with slide synchronization on InfoQ.com! http://www.infoq.com/presentations /agile-ux-design-distributed-team InfoQ.com: News & Community Site • 750,000 unique visitors/month • Published in 4 languages (English, Chinese, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese) • Post content from our QCon conferences • News 15-20 / week • Articles 3-4 / week • Presentations (videos) 12-15 / week • Interviews 2-3 / week • Books 1 / month
- 3. Presented at QCon San Francisco www.qconsf.com Purpose of QCon - to empower software development by facilitating the spread of knowledge and innovation Strategy - practitioner-driven conference designed for YOU: influencers of change and innovation in your teams - speakers and topics driving the evolution and innovation - connecting and catalyzing the influencers and innovators Highlights - attended by more than 12,000 delegates since 2007 - held in 9 cities worldwide
- 4. Our team, our challenges Becoming a lean team Designing together Lessons learned IBM Rational Design 2
- 5. Our team, our challenges Working remotely and the nature of our work IBM Rational Design 3
- 6. Our team is pretty remote IBM Rational Design 4
- 7. In the past: A designer’s disconnect 1. Engineering-driven solutions – Designer as editor 2. Wasted time on unused design – Why is your release theme more important than mine? 3. Problem-solving oriented – Is this the right thing to solve / do we understand the problem well? 4. Different workflows and cadence – Silos suck 5. Distributed teams – It’s lonely on the phone all the time Ref: Kimberley Peter, IBM Design IBM Rational Design 5
- 8. In the past: A developer’s pain 1. Late breaking, unexpected changes – I was already fully committed before you came along 2. Development teams (and product management teams) are too ‘feature’ oriented – Just give ‘em the functionality they asked for 3. Impractical designs – Gee, I wished you’d talked to me sooner 4. Distributed teams – What ‘page’ are we on anyway? IBM Rational Design 6
- 9. Hmmm, these seem familiar A designer’s disconnect A developer’s pain Eng-driven solutions Late-breaking changes Wasted time on unused designs Too feature oriented Too problem-solving oriented Impractical designs Different cadences Distributed teams IBM Rational Design Distributed teams 7
- 10. Becoming a lean team In February 2013, we embarked on a mission to become a leaner, Agile team. It was time for a culture change in how we worked together. IBM Rational Design 8
- 11. A new project, a new context IBM Rational Design 9
- 12. Enough waterfalls, already! IBM Rational Design 10
- 13. Learning to be a lean team IBM Rational Design 11
- 14. How we put change into practice IBM Rational Design 12
- 15. Weekly backlog planning IBM Rational Design 13
- 16. Planning poker for sizing tasks with the team IBM Rational Design 14
- 17. Group chat for daily scrum meetings IBM Rational Design 15
- 18. Development wiki to share information IBM Rational Design 16
- 19. Designing together Getting our sketch-on in design studios, learning locally, practicing remotely IBM Rational Design 17
- 20. Learning to design lean IBM Rational Design 18
- 21. How we design together IBM Rational Design 19
- 22. Between 5 and 8 cross-discipline team members get together Developer Developer Business UX Designer Business Users, if appropriate IBM Rational Design 20
- 23. The materials we use IBM Rational Design 21
- 24. We practice the Design Studio method Step 1: Understand the problem Step 2: Step 2: Sketch Sketch a solution a solution Step 3: Step 3: Pitch Pitch the ideas the ideas Step 4: Step 4: Critique Critique the ideas the ideas Step 5: Converge on one design IBM Rational Design 22
- 25. Step 1: Understand the problem (30 – 45 min) Identify the problem space and scope Know the business goals Understand for whom you are designing Generate some ideas IBM Rational Design 23
- 26. Step 2: Sketch, and sketch some more (5 min) Step 2: Sketching Based on our definition and constraints, we each sketched as many ideas as possible in 5 minutes. Image source: UIE Webinar, Sketching by Nathan Curtis, Eightshapes IBM Rational Design 24
- 27. Sketches: Exploring JazzHub projects (5 min) IBM Rational Design 25
- 28. Step 3: Pitch and Critique (3 min each) Image source: The Design Studio Method - Todd Zaki Warfel IBM Rational Design 26
- 29. Step 4: Sketch to iterate and refine (5 min) IBM Rational Design 27
- 30. Step 5: Converge on a final team design (45 min) IBM Rational Design 28
- 31. What’s so great about Design Studio? Generate 2 weeks of work in one day Cross-functional viewpoints Levels playing field – everyone is uncomfortable with sketching Vet design concepts Creates team buy-in, everyone invests More accuracy in development estimates IBM Rational Design 29
- 32. When we want to explore or refine ideas IBM Rational Design 30
- 33. We do weekly sessions with playback Playback to team Design Studio IBM Rational Design 31
- 34. How we do remote design studios IBM Rational Design 32
- 35. The workspace setup IBM Rational Design 33
- 36. The screen setup: Seeing our teammates faces Google Hangout with visuals only (We use the phone for audio) IBM Rational Design 34
- 37. The screen setup: A web meeting to screen share SmartCloud (web meeting) window overlays the Hangout so we can see screens and faces at the same time IBM Rational Design 35
- 38. The sketch set up: Sharing sketches with IPEVO Start up your IPEVO camera and resize the window so that it’s the same height as the SmartCloud (web) meeting. IBM Rational Design 36
- 39. Now you’re ready to start the Design Studio Now bring the SmartCloud (web) meeting window to the front to get ready to start the Design Studio. IBM Rational Design 37
- 40. Understand the problem IBM Rational Design 38
- 41. Brainstorm: Each person gets a row Adam’s ideas go here IBM Rational Design 39
- 42. Affinity groups: One group, one column, one color IBM Rational Design 40
- 43. Sketch, pitch and critique IBM Rational Design 41
- 44. Converge on one design IBM Rational Design 42
- 45. Playback to the team IBM Rational Design 43
- 46. Lessons learned… A summary of what worked well for us and what needs some tweaking IBM Rational Design 44
- 47. The benefits • • • • • • • IBM Rational Design Inclusive – everyone is involved in some way Fun and easy to do Possible to do across geographies Builds camaraderie Low-cost and fast Quick to process and share broadly Gets to implementation with lower investment 45
- 48. The limitations • • • • • Technical difficulties at set up Slightly more prep required Moderator might need technical help Not everyone has IPEVO cameras IBM has constraints on what we can expose in cloudbased tools • Keeping the right balance of disciplines IBM Rational Design 46
- 49. Sources for further learning Articles, webinars and tools IBM Rational Design 47
- 50. About the methods Agile / Lean UX Methods • Ries, E., The Lean Startup, (2011) • Gothelf, J., Seiden, J. (editor), Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience, O'Reilly Media (2013) • Ramsey, A., Designing with Agile Workshop: Fast, Effective Methods that Work (Anders Ramsey – Blog, 2011) Design Principles • Hess, W., Design Principles: The Philosophy of UX (Slideshare, 2011) Design Studio Method • Curtis, N., Sketching for Understanding (UIE Webinar, 2013) • Evans, W., Introduction to Design Studio Methodology (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) • Evans, W., The Design of Design Studio (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) • Evans, W., Design Studio and Agile UX: Process and Pitfalls (UX Magazine – Article, 2011) • Zaki Warfel, T., The Design Studio Method (Agile UX NYC 2012 – Vimeo, 2012) Remote Collaboration Methods • Curtis, N., Efficient Sketching Studios With Remote Participants (EightShapes – Blog, 2011) • Gothelf, J., Designing with remote teams (Jeff Gothelf – Blog, 2013) IBM Rational Design 48
- 51. Tools referenced, tools used Agile team practices • IBM Sametime: Scrum meetings • IBM Rational Team Concert, Backlog planning • Hat.Jit.su: Distributed scrum planning poker for estimating agile projects Sharing sketches, faces and screens: • IPEVO camera: Sharing sketches • SmartCloud ™ Meetings for IBM: Sharing screens and sketches • Google Hangouts: Showing the face of participants • Balsamiq: Creating wireframes from sketches Sharing information and requirements: • IBM Rational Requirements Composer: Playbacks, sharing research and prep for sketching • Google Drive: For non-confidential ideation on a shared surface Software development in the cloud: JazzHub: Task Tracking, Planning, Code IBM Rational Design 49
- 54. Watch the video with slide synchronization on InfoQ.com! http://www.infoq.com/presentations/agile-uxdesign-distributed-team