Insights & Inspirations Blog
Agile Development Is No Excuse for Shoddy UX Research
Agile development and UX design are like a couple in an arranged marriage—a relationship between two strangers who are expected to coexist, develop trust and respect, and eventually, love each other. Throw UX research into the mix and you have the makings of an even more awkward alliance, as you can see in this typical conversation between a UX designer and a product owner, somewhere in the middle of Sprint 0:
Product owner: “Hey Jen, when can we see some wireframes?”
UX designer: “Well, we’re wrapping up our user interviews and putting together some personas—basically trying to get more clarity around our target users. We’ve already started on some sketches, but I expect we’ll need to make some tweaks based on what we learn.”
Product owner: “That’s all very good. But we can’t afford the luxury of spending too much time on research. Sprint 0 ends next week. We can’t keep the developers waiting! Let’s speed things up. I’d really appreciate if you could get those wireframes going quickly?” Read More
Book Review: User Story Mapping
Author: Jeff Patton, with Peter Economy
Publisher: O’Reilly Media
Publication date: September 2014
Formats: Paperback, ebook, and Safari Books Online. 324 pages in print.
Print ISBN: 978-1-4919-0490-9 and 10:1-4919-0490-9
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-4919-0485-5 and 10:1-4919-0485-2
List Price: Paperback, $34.99; ebook, $29.99
Overview
If you are or soon will be working in an agile development environment, User Story Mapping: Discover the Whole Story, Build the Right Product, by Jeff Patton is a must read for you. This book details story-mapping techniques and explains why they are important for teams that create products to meet user needs. According to Patton, user story mapping is not about creating set of written requirements, but a way of thinking. Telling stories through words and pictures builds understanding and helps solve problems for organizations, customers, and users.
The most important job we have is to focus on the outcome and the impact of the products we are creating. Taking a slightly philosophical view of the importance of project outcomes, Patton writes, “The truth is, your job is to change the world.” Read More