Lean Ux in Software Product Development (Hrishikesh Deshmukh)

At TCS, products are developed using an adaptation of the Agile model. Development happens in Sprints but is preceeded by a short Sprint 0 for PoCs / Architectural Design. The User Experience COE has developed a lean UX version on top of this model to align the UX design framework with development. Our process is derived from User Centered Design, but focus is on rapid iterations, fast delivery and adherence to certain toll gates to ensure quality is uncompromised.

Product development entails large focus on not only functional requirements, but user requirements as well. Hence our engagements typically start with a Sprint 0 usually on the field. We use this time to the maximum to understand our prospective users using traditional UCD methodologies. At the same time, we use techniques like Kano Model Analysis to derive requirements that may not be obvious right from the start. Our requirement gathering process is governed by a User Requirement Definition Template [UXRD]. The activities are chosen based on desired level of UX maturity as defined in TCS - UXMM. Once requirements are signed off, we create personas for rapid validation of interaction design decisions.

Design & development work in tandem, interspersed with formative UTs. One key area where we are different is Enablement. We work with product dev teams as partners, and our model is geared towards ensuring that UX is driven from within the teams - not without. Finally, we have mandated cprocesses like UI testing and UX Final Inspection without which there can be no signoff. In this talk, we will describe our UX framework, its pros and cons and how it is different specifically for software products.

Transcript

1. Hrishikesh Deshmukh, UXINDIA13 Conference Presentation
2. Lean UX – TCS Products way 1 Lean UX – TCS Products way Hrishikesh Deshmukh 9 April 2013
3. Agenda TCS Products World What is Lean UX? Lean UX Adaptation Constraints and Solutions Constraints and Solutions In Summary… Questions 1
4. TCS Product World Products Product Ideas Core Engineering Group • Product ideation by different horizontal and vertical units • Distributed knowledge • Distant teams • Scattered technical expertise • Common UX team • Enablement of product teams • Reusable Core Components - Patterns and code snippets • Common reference to best practices and guidelines • Same approach for design and verification of UX development • Unified branding • Consistent User Experience across the products • Easy UX maintenance/ updates • Identical Quality Control criteria for all products 2 40+ products are being delivered using this approach
5. What is Lean UX? Working Software Comprehensive Documentation UI Design SME BA TL UX Subject Matter Experts, Business Analysts, Technical Leads and UX Designers are all involved in ideation and iterative wireframe generation Iterative development in sprints, which releases working versions of s/w. Most of these sprints involve UX designers. Individuals and Interactions Processes and Tools R1 R2 Documentation Customer Collaboration Contract Negotiation Responding to Change Following a Plan 3 Customer representatives are involved in all the iterations and work closely with the UX designers. This ensures customer satisfaction at all levels of UI design. Any changes in UI requirements are taken up in subsequent sprints, thereby incorporating them in the working version at the earliest. UI Design SME BA TL UX R1 R2 C C
6. • User Interviews • Contextual Inquiries Wireframe • Visual Design • HTML / CSS Testing • UXMM Sprint 0 Sprint 1 - n Requirements Design Development SIT / UAT Software Development Life Cycle Release Lean UX Adaptation Lean UX adaptation to support Agile product development framework Inquiries • Heuristic Evaluation • Competitor Benchmarking • Persona Modeling UX Requirements Signoff • Wireframe Development • Business & Tech Feasibility Reviews • User Tests Wireframe Signoff • HTML / CSS • Client side Coding [JavaScript + JS Libraries] • Integration Support HTML Delivery • UI Testing • User Testing Testing • UXMM Assessment • Final Inspection & Sign-off Release Iterative Process 4 Asset creation, Training and Enablement and Dip-stick analysis
7. Constraints and Solutions • Daily calls/ WebEx with all stakeholders – Product owner, Business analyst, UX designer, Solutions architect, Developers and Testers • Frequent in-person meet-ups • Create and enable local UX champions in the product teams Teams are not co-located • Training and Enablement UX as an after-thought? 5 • Training and Enablement • Collaborative working • Centralized knowledge repository for common understanding • Regular show-and-tell sessions in all the iterations • Maximum involvement of all stake-holders throughout the process Externalization of work is difficult
8. In summary… Co-located, Cross-functional Teams Common User experience is being ensured by using central asset repositories – Shared understanding Identify, Augment, Assess and Track model for creation and tracking of UX champions Even though cross functional teams are not co-located, we are making them self- sufficient Shared Understanding and responsibilities 6 Shared understanding Integrated quality checks at regular intervals – much before the Final inspection of products Entire team is invited to be a part of creating better UX – Updating shared patterns in the library Permission to fail and iterative development Developing the design more than trying to finalize them in one go UXMM model (agnostic to domain, technology and interactions) is used to assess the maturity level of all the products
9. Questions ? ? 7 ? ?