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Agile UX Research Overview

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Agile UX: Agenda

Introduction

– References—this is a literature review, not a plan

Why Agile UX?

– User Experience (UX)

– Agile

– Differences

UX Role in Agile

Advantages of Agile UX

Challenges of Agile UX

Solutions to Agile UX

– Approaches

– Methods

– Artifacts

Questions

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References

Title URL

A huge list of Style Guides and UI Guidelines http://www.theuxbookmark.com/2010/08/interaction-design/a-monster-list-of-ui-guidelines-style-guides

Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-

Centered Design (Alias/Autodesk)

http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2007may/agile-ucd.html

Agile Development Projects and Usability http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-methods.html

Agile User Experience Projects http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-user-experience.html

Agile UX Development http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dd882523.aspx

Agile UX: Agile Coaching, SCRUM and User Experience,

Agile & Lean Management

http://www.agile-ux.com/

Agile Testing Days 2011: DAY 1 http://www.agile-ux.com/2011/11/19/agile-testing-days-2011-day-1-what-a-fabulous-day/

Beyond Staggered Sprints: How TheLadders.com

Integrated UX into Agile

http://johnnyholland.org/2010/10/21/beyond-staggered-sprints-how-theladders-com-integrated-ux-into-

agile/

Can UX Be Agile? http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2009/10/can-ux-be-agile.php

Can you mix UX with Agile? http://www.riagenic.com/archives/225

Case study of agile and UCD working together http://www.boxesandarrows.com/view/case-study-of-agile

Case Study of Customer Input For a Successful Product http://www.agileproductdesign.com/useful_papers/miller_customer_input_in_agile_projects.pdf

Change on a Dime: Agile Design http://uxmag.com/articles/change-on-a-dime-agile-design

Clash of the Titans: Agile and UCD http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2006/12/clash-of-the-titans-agile-and-ucd.php

IBM Dojo Widget Library http://www-01.ibm.com/software/ucd/widgetgallery/widget_home.html

Integrating UX into Agile Development http://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2011/04/integrating-ux-into-agile-development.php

Introduction to Agile Usability http://www.agilemodeling.com/essays/agileUsability.htm

Just Build It: HTML Prototyping and Agile

Development

http://www.digital-web.com/articles/just_build_it_html_prototyping_and_agile_development/

Making User and Customer Experience a Business

Competency

http://uxmag.com/articles/making-user-and-customer-experience-a-business-competency

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References

Title URL

Six strategies for more agile user experience http://www.thinkingandmaking.com/view/agile-ux-six

Scrum Agile Software Development: Chicken And Pig

Story

http://coderstalk.blogspot.com/2010/02/scrum-agile-software-development.html

The UX of User Stories, Part 1 http://www.andersramsay.com/2011/07/16/the-ux-of-user-stories-part-1

The UX of User Stories, Part 2 http://www.andersramsay.com/2011/07/24/the-ux-of-user-stories-part-2

Twelve emerging best practices for adding UX work

to Agile development

http://www.agileproductdesign.com/blog/emerging_best_agile_ux_practice.html

Two Ways Agile and UX Can Work Together http://www.scrumexpert.com/knowledge/two-ways-agile-and-ux-can-work-together/

Usability Resources http://www.infodesign.com.au/usabilityresources

User Stories: Stories for Grown-Ups http://www.slideshare.net/smamol/user-stories-stories-for-grownups

User-Centered Agile Methods http://www.morganclaypool.com/doi/abs/10.2200/S00286ED1V01Y201002HCI010

Using Personas in an Agile Environment http://confreaks.net/videos/229-agileroots2009-using-personas-in-an-agile-environment

UX Design and Agile: A Natural Fit? http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2011/1/103204-ux-design-and-agile-a-natural-fit/fulltext

Weekly User Testing: TiVo Did It, You Can, Too http://www.useit.com/alertbox/weekly-usability-tests.html

What You Need to Know About Agile UX http://www.instantshift.com/2011/04/08/what-you-need-to-know-about-agile-ux/

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Why Talk About Agile UX?

Agile is here

– Companies moving from a waterfall to Agile environment (where appropriate)

– Platforms will host and must accommodate a wider variety of personas

– UX resources are limited, but the work is increasing, so we must be efficient

There is risk in Agile in the eyes of the UX community

– “Approaching Agile narrowly, as a programming methodology rather than a

system development methodology, threatens to destroy the last decade's

progress in integrating usability and development.”

Jakob Nielsen (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-methods.html)

They are two of the biggest “buzz” words

They are different, but they can work together

– UX: Better understand users

– Agile: Do things in a faster, more flexible manner

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User Experience (UX)

Creating natural checkpoints and usable artifacts to facilitate the

discussion and solution of user experience issues while enabling user

participation in the process.

User and Customer Experience (CX) are not the same exact things

– “CX represents the larger business taking on UX responsibilities, and with

them an injection of fiscal responsibility.” (--Forrester)

It is a profession with a broad skill set

– Information architecture, interaction design, testing & experimental

design, graphic design, human-computer interaction, human factors,

training, facilitation, modeling & prototyping, project management,

marketing, contextual/ethnographic inquiry, research, listening, empathy,

standards, copy editing, vendor management, business analysis, consulting

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Agile

Philosophy (“over” does not mean “none”)

– … individuals and interactions over processes and tools.

– … working software over comprehensive documentation.

– … customer collaboration over contract negotiation.

– … responding to change over following a plan.

Pigs and chickens (and roosters)

No “big design up front” (BDUF)

Agile is “anti-hero”: It’s about the team, first and foremost.

Sunny side: Allows development to adapt to customer needs

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Agile

Dark side: Client can change requirements at any time

– Features can feel disjointed

– Rarely time to create a comprehensive user centered design

– A method of development, not a research process, and only loosely a design

process

– Can reduce up-front design, but does not reduce the time user research

requires

– Created by & for developers--often overlooks interaction design & usability

“A lack of UI design ownership means that everyone wants to design, regardless of

their skill level, which can lead to design by committee.”

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Waterfall vs. Agile

Agile is nothing new to UX in terms of iterative approach, but the

iterations are accelerated.

“For 50 years, almost all experiences

have shown that traditional waterfall

development methods result in a poor

user experience. The reason is

simple: requirement specifications are

always wrong.”

Jakob Nielsen (http://www.useit.com/alertbox/agile-ethods.html)

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Differing Philosophies

Agile Philosophies

– Asks “How can what we have now be improved this iteration?”

– Work closely with stakeholders/customers to identify their exact needs

– Details behind requirements can be identified on a just-in-time (JIT) basis

– Detailed, up-front modeling is a risky endeavor at best

– Does not generally distinguish between users and customers

– Definition of “Done” is up to Product Owner

UX Philosophies

– Asks “What is the ideal system?”

– Work involves the behavior of complex systems, not their construction

– All behavioral issues need to be addressed before construction begins

– Users are committed (pigs), customers are just involved (chickens)

– Qualitative and quantitative proof of user goal achievement comes

from observation of the customer while she is using the product on

real tasks

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Misconceptions Agile may have about UX

All you need is a good set of UI guidelines

– More to UX than creating consistent UIs

Working closely with stakeholders is good enough

– Does not ensure understanding users

UX is just about UI design

– UI design part of UX, but so is understanding how your users will work

with your system and what their goals are

UX relies on comprehensive up-front modeling

– Many times it does not

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Agile Adapts to UX

Learn UX skills

– Other team members should be trained in, and adopt, UX techniques

Accept that usability is a critical quality factor

– Luckily, agile practitioners are “quality infected”

– Good usability of an end product can be ensured only by systematic

usability engineering activities during the development iterations

– UX can actually reduce development time by identifying common patterns

and eliminating unnecessary steps before any code written

Adopt UI and usage style guidelines

– Developers understand that not only should their code follow common

guidelines, so should their UIs

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Misconceptions UX may have about Agile Agilists don’t model

– They do—they just discourage extensive up-front design work

Agilists are continually deploying software into production

– More common to deliver working software on a regular basis into an internal

environment for system and user testing

There is no role for UX practitioners

– There is even more of a need to involve users in the process

Agilists aren’t specialists

– Partly true, because agilists prefer to be “generalizing specialists".

User interfaces shouldn’t be refactored

– UI refactoring results in the slow but safe evolution of the UI

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UX Adjusts to Agile

Go beyond UX

– Overspecialization of roles and hand-offs between people in those roles

Become embedded in Agile teams

– Allow others to pick up UX skills, and close collaboration keeps

documentation down

Give Agile approaches a chance

Doing some UI modeling up front

– Overall organization that fits user tasks; common scheme for navigation;

& consistent look-and-feel

Model a bit ahead when appropriate

– Explore important aspects of the UI before you implement them

Do UI development on a JIT (just in time) basis

Adopt Agile artifacts

– Go from Use Cases to user stories, but assure UX issues assigned "story

points" on an equal footing with coding

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UX Responsibilities in an Agile Process

Inform the Product Owner to clarify the “Voice of the

Customer”

Work with Product Owner to review and understand

requirements

Develops scenarios & conceptual wireframes

(illustrate user experience)

Get customer and user input

During sprint planning, elaborates on user stories to

create tasks

During the sprint, UX advises and reviews completed

work for usability

Tries to work ahead on sprint n+1

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Agile Artifacts and the UX Role User Story: A simple way of capturing user requirements

– UX helps write, refine, and test

Demonstration: Presentation of what has been accomplished

– UX facilitates & creates artifacts for the presentation

Theme: A group of related User Stories

– UX helps combine and break down user stories within the epic

Epic: A very large user story

– UX helps break down epics into manageable user stories

Spike: Time boxed periods of research and development

– UX conducts user research to answer spike questions about users and UI

Tracer: Experimental solution that cuts through all "layers" of architecture

– UX helps create vertical fidelity prototypes

Sprint Backlog

– UX helps product owner prioritize user stories in backlog

Product Backlog

– UX helps product owner prioritize user stories in backlog

Burn Down Chart

– UX reports work performed

Burn Up Chart

– UX reports value

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What are the Advantages of Agile UX? An Iterative process

– Leads to more collaboration, empowering the group rather than a single designer

Better productivity

– Catching issues early makes them cheaper to fix

Documentation vs. Prototypes

– Documentation is better for complex business rules, prototype better for design

Offers motivation

– Rapid testing cycles lets the design team know they're on the right path

Helps drive business decisions

– Because feedback is in real time, the team can react in real time

Creates a testing culture

– Data drives design, and design drives development

Builds internal knowledge

– Design decisions more manageable and easier to assimilate

Communication

– Narrow the gap between gathering usability data and acting on it

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Challenges of Agile and Agile UX

Previously mentioned differences between the two

An unclear role for design

– Business and developers, but what about the UI, UX, and graphic design?

Agile is better for refining (existing products), not defining (new)

Requirements gathering process is not defined

– Many don’t want to do any type of documentation to outline a vision

Pressure to cut corners

– ”Feed the development machine” can lead to impulsive design

Temptation to call it “good enough”

– Agile condones releasing whatever we have so long as it works

– Rework gets left in favor of exciting new stuff

Insufficient risk-free conceptual exploration time

– Allow mistakes early on when they are cheaper

Brand Damage with repeated failure to meet user needs

– Get multiple chances, but errors add up

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Basic Approaches to Agile/UX Integration

Integrate UX into the Agile process

– Cycle 0 is the "speculate" phase

Gather customer input to determine capabilities to add and the priority of each

A parallel track organization Developers work on features with high development costs and little user interface,

while UX investigates, creates, and verifies designs for next cycles

Design activities occur at least one Agile cycle or sprint ahead of development team

Conduct UX outside the Agile process

Adjust/combine methods and artifacts to make them quicker and leaner

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Adjust UX Methods

Include UX as a key component to the Agile process

– Assign an owner to it

Change timing and granularity of investigations & reports

Stay far enough ahead

– Do usability testing and remedy problems in previous iteration

– Support development on current iteration

– Design for future iterations

Conduct foundational user research that goes beyond “features”

Just in time: Focus on most important designs, a few at a time

Create the initial vision during a "sprint zero" period

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UX Methods (mapped to a waterfall process)

Planning Requirements Design Implementation Test & Measure Post Release

Stakeholder

Meeting

Competitor

Analysis

User Survey

Interview (live,

phone)

Contextual

Inquiry

User Observation

Focus Group

Brainstorming

Walkthrough/

Demonstration

Card Sort

Process Re-

engineering

Affinity Diagram

Task Analysis/

Context of Use

User Design

Guidelines

Paper

Prototyping

Heuristic Review

Parallel Design

Story Boarding

Wizard of Oz

Interface Design

Patterns

Low-fidelity

Prototyping

High-Fidelity

Prototyping

Design

Facilitation

Summative

Testing--Lab

Formative

Testing

Participatory

Design

Style Guide

Rapid

Prototyping

Performance

Testing/Measure

Heuristic Review

Critical Incidence

Technique

Accessibility

Review

Summative

Testing

User Survey Summative

Testing--Remote

Instructional

Design (Help)

Server Traffic

Log Analysis

Search Log

Analysis

Beta Test

Diary Study

Standards

Assessment

Eye Tracking

Photo/Video

Analysis

Benchmark Test Feedback in Use

(survey)

Cost-benefit

Analysis

Client Evaluation

(of UX service)

Research Plan

Checklist

(standards, etc.)

Claims Analysis

Cultural Probe Field Study

Free Listing Wireframe

Personas

Scenarios of Use Use Cases

UX Goals

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Common Methods

Contextual Inquiry

Heuristic/Expert Review

Card Sort

Survey

Interview

Demonstration

Usability Test

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Contextual Inquiry

A structured field research technique used for ethnographic study

– Can help us understand the context of the user's work and environment

– Cannot determine how well a product will work in an environment or how

easy to use or learn a product will be, or focus on specific features of the

product

Challenges

– Limited time within sprints

– Recruitment of participants

Solutions

– Conduct inquiry outside Agile process or in Cycle 0 (Zero Sprint)

– Do both usability testing and contextual inquiry on same customer trips

– Recruit and schedule on a regular basis, proactively

New Advantages

– More efficient use of participant time

– Less team travel and recruiting time

– User is more of a partner in the design process

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Heuristic/Expert Reviews

Usability specialists judge whether each element of a user interface

follows established usability principles

– Can point out common UX and design problems, and educate team on UX

– Cannot predict how real users will react to the actual product

Challenges

– Establishing design standards, heuristics/principles, and UX severity ratings

Solutions

– Adjust to make reviews quicker and leaner

Conduct cross-role reviews within a standard review framework/tool

Conduct to flag issues for user testing

Establish benchmark product tasks to guide the review

Establish design standards, heuristics/principles, and severity ratings

New Advantages

– Allows looking at the product design as a whole, not just as an addition

– Design observations, issues, and solutions are documented for future use

– Three to five evaluators can detect most usability problems

– No customer time is needed, unless they are included as reviewers

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Example Heuristic Principles and Severity Rating

Principle The interface should…

Consistency …help the user to predict how it will operate and allow her to transfer skills from one task (or interface) to

another.

Feedback …let a user know what she did, what affect it had, what she should do next, and where she is in the

system.

Flexibility …have the capability to adapt or to be adapted to end user needs, experience, personal preference, or

mental model of the system.

Perceived Control …give the end user the impression that she (not the computer) commands the interaction.

Economy …display concisely only the information that is required for the user to complete the task at hand.

Compatibility …be compatible with users’ impressions of the world and the model of how users think tasks should be

completed.

Severe - The product is not stable, performs too slowly, or crashes when the feature is used.

- There is a likely loss of data.

High - The usability issue may affect a majority of users, and/or has a profound impact on a user being able to use the product.

- An error is likely that will cause a loss of work and it will be difficult to recover.

- The usability issue is on a highly critical or frequently used feature.

- There is no easy work around to the problem.

- The visual style used makes the product look unprofessional and not up to the standard of company.

Medium - The usability issue may affect about half the users, and/or has a modest impact on a user being able to use the product.

- The usability issue is on a feature that is expected to be used less than half of the time.

- There is an easily discovered work around that allows users to perform the task.

- A common task is too tedious in proportion to its complexity.

- The visual style used detracts from an otherwise professional looking product.

Low - The usability issue may affect a minority of users, and/or has a limited impact on a user being able to use the product.

- The usability issue is not predicted to cause user errors, but nonetheless affects the product’s look of professionalism.

- The visual style used has minor inconsistencies but nonetheless should be corrected.

None - There is no usability issue, or the issue has a negligible effect on system performance, professionalism, or use.

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Card Sort/Affinity Diagramming

Write item on index card, and request participant(s) to sort these into groups

– Develop structures that maximize the probability of users being able to find things

Challenges

– Analysis can be difficult or “messy”

– Editorial and legacy structures slow to change

– May require all participants to be co-located

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Automate by using card sort tools such as UserZoom or WebSort

Incorporate editorial, expert, and user input

New Advantages

– Users can directly help design the content and application structure

– A tool to design and confirm complex navigation and information architecture

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Surveys Sets of questions that are delivered to a large number of people in order to

gather quantitative and qualitative data

– Can gather information from a large section of users inexpensively

– No understanding of “why” behind facts, and also cannot tell if people will buy product

Challenges

– Recruiting participants

– Testing surveys within tight timelines

– Low response rate, compensation, and anonymity

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Use standard survey questions, templates, and reporting

User partnering system (surveys, demographic data, panel management)

Use results to complement and focus user testing

Build enterprise infrastructure for surveys, polls, and forms

Engage recruiting firms

New Advantage

– Survey results can be compared across iterations and products

– Past survey results can be used to create new surveys

– Tool to measure general customer satisfaction and feed executive dashboards

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Interviews

Structured one-on-one question and answer sessions that

attempt to gain understanding in areas that that are unclear

– Learn user likes and dislikes, and what they want to see in future

versions

– Cannot determine if software is easy to use

– Will not help identify new market opportunities

Challenges

– Recruiting and scheduling is more difficult with a constrained

timeline

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Create customer panel to enable proactive recruiting

Conduct remote interviews to complement live interviews

New Advantages

– Get knowledge right from the field for a discount price

– Less travel and cost

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Demonstrations

A canned presentation of new software (or new features) shown to

customers, users, or stakeholders to get their opinions

– Learn if a feature would make user more likely to buy, and if they think

you are going in the right direction to solve their problems

– Cannot determine if a feature will work in a real production environment,

if it is easy to use and learn, or how much people will like the feature

after they start using it for real

Challenges

– Product Owner does not have time to put demo together

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track

UX assists with prototype or other demonstration artifacts

UX assists with review protocol and measurements

New Advantages

– Product Owner is more knowledgeable about user experience issues

– Tighter integration between customer and user needs

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Usability Test

Evaluate a product design by watching the intended

users of the product try it (or a prototype)

– Can indicate how well a user can complete tasks

– Cannot discover whether a product will fit into the users'

work environment, that a product is solving the right

problems for specific users, or if people will actually buy it

Challenges

– Recruiting can be challenging

– Can take a lot of time to collect data and analyze results

– Expensive when done in a lab environment

– Technical issues with remote testing

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Usability Test

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner

format

Start recruiting right away from database of potential

participants

Use “Think-aloud” protocol

Remote testing (monitored and non-monitored)

Bring in no more than 3 participants each time

Test on same day at same time

Show the participants whatever is ready

Schedule session midway in sprint, leaving time to react

Invite everyone to review session

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Usability Test

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Test internally with colleagues

– Expose non-UX professionals to the process and principles

– Dry run to test the test plan

– Weed out obvious issues

– Update the prototype for “real user testing”

Use the testing to “clear the boulders” out of the interaction

Use the remaining time in the sprint to iterate on the design

Perform usability activities in a few days

Do usability testing and contextual inquiry on the same customer trip

New Advantages

– Can test on changing designs more frequently

– Recruiting for remote testing is easier and cheaper

– “Just enough” fidelity of test artifacts increases agility

– Can integrate results across products and businesses

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UX Artifacts: Adjust for Agile

Personas

Task Flow Diagram

UI Style Guide

Wireframe

Prototype

Web Analytics

Test Report

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Personas Fictional characters created to represent the different user

types within targeted demographics

Challenges

– New to many (adoption and understanding by larger team)

– Require significant investment of time and resources

Solutions

– Create as part of foundational research outside of the Agile

process

– Require personas as the actors of user stories

New Advantages

– Ensuring team understands and agrees who the target audience is,

making collecting and using customer input easier throughout

– Make user stories much more effective

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Task Flow Diagram

Documentation of steps in specific user tasks revealing current workflow

– Can help understand number of actions it takes users to complete a task

– Cannot uncover how the actual product screens should be designed

Challenges

– Often flow is defined as system activity, not user experience

– Difficult to isolate focused changes within an existing workflow

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track

New features mapped to appropriate task flow

Use to blueprint the product interaction design

New Advantages

– Shows how it all should fit and gives a sense of direction

– Provides an early artifact for stakeholder and user input

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User Interface Style Guide

As set of standards that indicate the answer to common design

questions such as topography, color, layout, branding, & design patterns

Challenges – All businesses do not have one

– Need to maintained and updated

– Need to be customized for different products

Solutions – Outside Agile

Create standards to enable the Agile process

Leverage existing standards (IBM, Apple, etc.)

Establish standards committee and process

Create patterns and standards for prototypes

New Advantages – Define a set of re-usable components once (for prototyping and coding environments)

– Create a centralized, easily-accessible asset library for designers and developers

– Provide a living document that develops as the platform and process mature

– Reduce the time developers needed to create repetitive elements

– Reduce design cycles by allowing designers to focus on the core experience while

relegating the repeated patterns to style guide assets

– Don’t have to keep repeating the same user story over and over

– Allows those not versed in interaction design to use the pattern library

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Wireframe

A static representation of key interfaces within a product

– Uncover issues with layout, functionality, and general design

– Main focus lies in functionality

Challenges

– Translating wireframes to low-fidelity prototype

– Annotations produce “noise” in the interface

– Synch with written requirements

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, leaner format

Create as the beginning of a low-fidelity prototype

Incorporate business rules and other notes into the wireframe/prototype

Use Axure to automatically generate prototypes and specifications that are

always up to date with one another

New Advantages

– Wireframes, annotations, business rules, and specifications are all

contained in the same tool, which allows team collaboration

– Fidelity and interaction can be added until sprint time is up

– Work can be reused for new designs or training

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Prototype

Models your final product and allows you to test attributes of the final

product even if it's not ready yet

– Low-, medium, high-, vertical-, and horizontal-fidelity

Challenges

– Time crunch

– Lack of design skill set

– May waste time with high-fidelity mockup if requirements are to change

Exception may be when style or branding guidelines are clearly defined

– Different tools with poor collaboration support

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Use common tools (Axure) to enable collaboration, and share lessons learned

Incorporate branding, templates, guidelines, and design patterns into tool

If you have less time, use fewer details (low fidelity)

Incorporate an understanding of coding challenges into prototyping environment

Begin documenting existing systems in Axure, so designers can save time and

effort by re-using proven design patterns

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Prototype

New Advantages

– Substitute clean HTML prototypes for annotation-heavy wireframes

– Prototype demonstrations & daily conversation can replaced detailed docs

– Documents are written to record a history of design decisions (re-use)

– UI Designers get a better understanding of coding capabilities and limitations

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User Story

A brief description of functionality as viewed by the user

– A “role and a goal”

– Play a major role in project estimation and planning (story points & velocity)

– Discovered at planning and other stages of the project

– Have three parts

Card: A description, priority, and estimate

Conversation: A section for capturing further information about the user story

Confirmation: Convey tests to confirm the user story is complete and working as

expected

– Begin the discussion of design

Challenges

– User stories can be seen as “contracts” (fixed)

– Continuously emerge, change, and disappear

– Confused with use cases

– Rely on collaboration, discussion, and proximity

– Must be implemented and tested in one iteration

– Often need to be simplified from Epics

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User Story

Solutions

– Understand it from perspective of different roles

User: Desired feature

Developer: Feature that needs to be estimated, or work to be

completed

Tester: Something for which a test likely needs to be written

UX: Puzzle piece to be fit into a coherent and valuable experience

– Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimate-able, Small, and Testable

– Full story is conversation triggered by statement on card

– Make personas the voice of the story

– Have users write stories (if you can)

– Don’t write in isolation

– Be sure to get your “so that”s (extend capabilities)

– Iterate story development with UI exploration (prototypes)

Story coverage more likely to jump out at you when looking at a UI

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User Story

Solutions

– Make sure UI infrastructure stories get into the backlog

A feature in a wireframe does not mean that feature will get built

Include “water-sewer-electricity-type” features (ex. table pagination)

– Have UX present during story estimation

– Make sure testers are testing for usability

Acceptance criteria is usually the basis for determining “done-ness”

Create a UI style guide, so user stories are not repeated

Buy design time with complex engineering stories

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User Story

Solutions

– Split up Large User Stories

Persona or role

Steps of a workflow

Scenario

Sequence in a scenario

Operations

Size or type of data

Type of input, output or configuration

Level of knowledge

Level of complexity

Level of quality expected

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User Story

New Advantages

– UX adds a key agile component to their tool box

– User stories are smaller and easier to maintain than use cases

– User stories gain a strong proponent and owner

– User stories are “user tested” from the beginning

45

Web Analytics

Measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of internet data for

purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage

– Can tell WHAT users did

– Cannot tell WHY they did or did not do it

Challenges

– It's hard to drill down into why people are doing or not doing something

with just analytics

Solutions

– Outside Agile

Use other Agile UX methods and artifacts to complement analytics

Code products to enable tools like Google Analytics

New Advantages

– Analytics can be used to complement and focus user research

– Some decision makers need numbers

– Analysis can be done across products and iterations

46

Test Reports

Documentation of test results

Challenges

– No standard format now

– People do not read them

Solutions

– Zero sprint, parallel track, outside Agile, or leaner format

Present proposed solutions for all issues in a comprehensive approach

Provide a standard UX severity rating

Use Common Industry Format (http://zing.ncsl.nist.gov/iusr/documents/cifv1.1b.htm)

Produce in a format that enables user story creation and proper tracking

Isolate an issue matrix within the larger report for easy review

New Advantages

– Stakeholders will read and use the information because…

It is digestible

It is “just-in-time”

It addresses their questions

# Issue Possible Solutions Issue

Severity

1 Users had trouble understanding

where they were on the search

page

Make “Selected Content” link bold black

text when it is the chosen item, or change

these links to tabs. Remove the title text,

as it is redundant to the link or tab control

Medium