lean UX — getting out of the deliverables business

[ SXSW Bios ] #leanux

@jboogie

Brief

Traditionally User Experience Design has been a deliverables practice. Wireframes, sitemaps, flow diagrams, content inventories, taxonomies and “The Spec” defined the practice of UX Designers (IxD, UX Design, whatever, etc). While this work has helped define what UX Designers do and the value our work brings to the business, it has also put us in the deliverables business – measured and compensated for the depth and breadth of our deliverables (instead of the quality and success of the experiences we design). Enter Lean UX. Inspired by Lean Product and Agile development theories, Lean UX is the practice of bringing the true nature of our work to light faster, with less emphasis on deliverables and greater focus on the actual experience being designed. This talk will explore how Lean UX manifests in terms of process, communication, documentation and team interaction. In addition, we’ll take a look at how this philosophical shift can take root in any environment from large corporation to interactive agencies to startups.

began with IA, IA didn’t have any artifacts to demonstrate value. Enter deliverables (wireframes, sitemaps, flow diagrams, etc.). Helped define the practice. Now we are drowning in deliverables and are they getting in the way/hiding the true value of ux/ia (outcome experience/product)? Focus on actual experience being designed/developed.

  • Concept
  • Prototype
  • Validate (internally)
  • Test (externally)
  • Observe user behavior
  • Iterate

This just gets an idea out there quickly. How do you know you have a good product? How do you know it’s an improvement beyond what is already out there? Seems to rely on verbal feedback which is suspect. This is just a (design) slice in a larger process.