People Over Process: Turning Assumptions into shared understanding

Every project is based on a number of assumptions. Assumptions about our users and assumptions that our team has a shared vision of what we are building and why we are building it. The longer we hold onto these assumptions, the greater we increase the risk of not meeting our users needs and ultimately, our project fails.

This talk will be about how we ensure we are meeting our users needs. In addition to learning project workflow, we will cover specific techniques that you can use to ensure that the user is at the center of our design and that you create a shared understanding among your team.

Transcript

1. Thank you for helping refresh the Baltimore tech
   community since January 2013!
   

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4. MICHAEL JOVEL - @MJOVEL
   JAVIER RIOS - @JAVIERIOS
   PEOPLE OVER PROCESSES:
   TURNING ASSUMPTIONS INTO SHARED UNDERSTANDING
   

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10. AFPIMS
    American Forces Public Information Management System
    

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11. 3 Years + $$$ = ???
    

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13. 2008 2010
    

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16. Waterfall
    Document Design Develop Test Launch
    

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17. Exhaustive Specifications
    

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18. History of the World Part I
    

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20. That Is Not What They Wanted
    

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21. Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.
    Iron Mike Tyson
    

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23. http://visual.ly/lean-startup
    

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24. MVP
    Minimum Viable Product
    

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25. The version of a product that brings the
    maximum amount of validated learning
    about customers with the least effort.
    MVP
    

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26. MVP
    Minimum Valuable Product
    

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27. M P
    Minimum Lovable Product
    

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28. LDP
    Least Dreadful Product
    

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29. ITERATION
    

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30. Where Do We Start?
    

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31. Focus On The Problem
    

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32. The Answer Is Yes. Now What Is The
    Question?
    

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33. “People don’t want to buy a quarter-inch drill.
    They want a quarter-inch hole.”
    - Theodore Levitt
    

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34. Create A Sign-Up Form
    Instead of:
    Outcome
    Increase User Subscriptions
    

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35. Redesign Report A Problem Page
    Instead of:
    Outcome
    Reduce the amount of time it takes for a user to
    report an adverse event with medical products
    

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36. Hypothesis
    

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37. A Tentative Assumption Made In Order To Draw
    Out And Test Its Logical Or Empirical
    Consequences
    merriam-webster
    

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38. Why Hypothesis
    • Rather than make assertions it puts forth a question which must be
    validated
    • Engages Team Creativity
    

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39. Risk
    • What assumptions do you have that if proven false will cause your
    solution to fail?
    

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40. Basic Hypothesis
    We Believe ___________
    and
    if this is true we should see __________
    

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41. Prioritize
    

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42. Get Out Of The
    Building
    

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44. Low Inventory
    

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45. http://www.carolinabarcode.com/choosing-barcode-inventory-software-a-45.html
    

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46. Design Idea Inventory
    • high number of unvalidated design ideas leads to large deliverables
    • leads to lag in production as team awaits deliverables
    • maximizes the risk as there more time between creation and
    validation
    

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47. Pattern Libraries
    

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48. Pattern Library
    • Library of UI Patterns that developers can use (i.e. buttons, fields,
    etc.
    • Library of UI Components composed of multiple patterns (i.e. forms,
    video player, etc.)
    

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49. http://patternry.com/
    http://rizzo.lonelyplanet.com/styleguide/
    

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50. Focus On Experience Instead Of
    Just UI
    

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51. Helps Developers When
    Prototyping
    

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52. http://styletil.es/
    

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53. http://danielmall.com/articles/rif-element-collages/
    

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54. Design Studio
    

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55. http://designforamericayale.wordpress.com/
    

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56. Supplies
    • Butcher paper, painters tape, sharpies and stop watch, grid
    template sheets
    • Build small 3-4 person teams composed of designer, developers
    and business team.
    • Give each team a persona to focus on
    

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57. http://500px.com/Twitter
    

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58. Sketch
    • 8-10 minutes to sketch individually
    • Could be flow diagrams, wireframes, etc.
    

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59. Individual Pitch
    • 3 minutes to pitch team
    

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60. Critique
    • Each member lists 1 or 2 ways in which sketch achieves goal
    • Each member Lists 1 or 2 ways in which sketch fails to achieve goal
    

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61. Team Sketching
    • Team takes 10 minutes to iterate on best aspecs of Sketch
    

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62. Team Pitch
    • Team selects one member to pitch teams solution to larger team
    

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63. http://500px.com/Twitter
    

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64. That Is Great But We Are A
    Distributed Team
    

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66. http://popapp.in
    

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67. http://www.fiftythree.com/paper
    

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68. Ux Is Not A Department, Agency
    Or Team Role
    

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69. Raise Unicorns
    

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71. Unicorn?
    Mythical user experience designer with an advanced and
    adaptive skill range. Outstanding skills in graphic design, rapid
    prototyping, front end development, user testing, technical
    specifications, marketing and branding. It does not have an
    opinion, it has a process, and will harmonize with any
    environment.

    http://uxunicorn.com/
    

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72. Promote Code Literacy
    

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73. Literacy Is Not Fluency
    

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74. Promote Design Literacy
    

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75. The days of designers simply pushing pixels are long gone.
    Leading design means building a design culture, designing for
    the future, and adapting constantly.
    

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76. Designers need to help build a company culture that values
    design by not only producing a well designed product but by
    helping other team members understand and respect design.
    

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77. –Stewart Scott-Curran, Creative Mornings
    “The designers that actively seek out opportunities to contribute
    and influence other areas of the company become the leaders
    regardless of title. They are the people that others look to when
    problems arise or if an expert opinion is required”
    

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78. Promote Business Literacy
    

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79. Designers need to get better at articulating their ideas through
    direct business communication. We need to show that our
    thinking is grounded in logic and produces results.
    

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80. Learn to quickly absorb and synthesize feedback should push us
    to take action. We need to learn to fail fast and make adjustments
    

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81. Pair Designing
    

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82. Benefits Of Pair Design
    • Make sure designers and developers spend time working together
    • saves time on implementation
    • promotes ownership
    

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83. http://500px.com/Twitter
    

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85. Validation
    • send multi-disciplined team to meet with customer
    • take a copy of the MVP to visit customers
    • have one members lead the interview while the others observe and
    record
    

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86. Where Lean UX Has Struggled
    

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87. The Traditional Agency/
    Consultancy Model Won’t Survive
    

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88. Great products require investment across many different parts of
    a business, so we put a bigger effort on collaborating with our
    customers.
    

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89. It doesn't change the organizational dynamics or shift the way
    people think about building great products.
    

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90. Death To Agencies/
    Consultants?
    

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91. Invest clients into the work and focus on smaller deliverables to
    create momentum. Dedicate a small group across the entire
    product development cycle, thus providing value beyond just
    wireframe flows.
    

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92. WORKFLOW
    UX
    Design
    Development
    

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93. WORKFLOW
    UX
    Design
    Development
    

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94. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/07/23/sports/olympics/the-fastest-baton-to-the-finish-line.html?_r=0
    

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95. EXCHANGE AREA
    UX
    Design
    Development
    

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96. TAPERING
    UX
    Design
    Development
    

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97. DIVERGENCE
    UX
    Design
    Development
    concept by Daniel Mall
    

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98. DIVERGENCE
    

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99. Don’t Get Caught Up On Process
    

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100. “It’s easier to ask forgiveness
     than it is to get permission”
     - U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Grace Hopper
     

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102. THANK YOU!
     Questions?
     MICHAEL JOVEL - @MJOVEL
     

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