Agile is the all new buzz word in the world of IT and software or internet design and development. However, it's partnership with user experience is still a fragile one.
Many companies at the moment are pushing their expertise of user experience (UX) in the sales pitch but when it comes down to it their teams are no more than a bunch of business analysts, technical architects and developers, who's true knowledge of user experience and human interaction design is virtually nil.
Nowadays this is resulting in super rapid development of live working code but at the price of being functionally fixated and only iterating minor enhancements based on a flawed initial concept.
Hopefully with the increase in demand of true user experience professionals the sprint 0 can be the time they steer the project in the right direction with proper analysis of insight turning into multiple designs concepts that consolidate into a great design and user experiences for customers.
Research is the most critical part of the design process. The 'golden rule' in business is to know your customers. Every bit of insight that allows us to understand customers and their needs is a sure step closer to your business online being a success.
Prototyping is the next essential step to getting things right. Recently, with the dominance of agile delivery, it is here so many go wrong.
Without using techniques true to design it is easy to fixate on one idea or set of features. This is the opportunity to 'think out of the box' and marry great design to the customers' needs we now know.
Think of this as the planning and creative stage. When building a house or structure, a builder wouldn't think of laying a single brick until the architect's plans have been drawn up.
Get this wrong and you might find yourself moving walls and rooms around in your 'digital building', ultimately costing a fortune.
As soon as the first ideas are sketched out start sharing and testing. Feedback helps to evolve the product and as soon as possible get a working prototype in front of genuine customers, to get their priceless feedback.
This doesn't need to be production strength code. The current trend to do this, I believe is detrimental to the end result. Developers are getting hung up on the technology and the complexities, bugs, new ways of slick coding and the forever learning curve. They are soon bogged down in trying to get things working and with the tight deadlines of delivering on a weekly or bi-weekly iteration, with a backlog piling up, they soon lose sight of flexibility and the customers' experience.
Many companies at the moment are pushing their expertise of user experience (UX) in the sales pitch but when it comes down to it their teams are no more than a bunch of business analysts, technical architects and developers, who's true knowledge of user experience and human interaction design is virtually nil.
Nowadays this is resulting in super rapid development of live working code but at the price of being functionally fixated and only iterating minor enhancements based on a flawed initial concept.
Hopefully with the increase in demand of true user experience professionals the sprint 0 can be the time they steer the project in the right direction with proper analysis of insight turning into multiple designs concepts that consolidate into a great design and user experiences for customers.
Research is the most critical part of the design process. The 'golden rule' in business is to know your customers. Every bit of insight that allows us to understand customers and their needs is a sure step closer to your business online being a success.
Prototyping is the next essential step to getting things right. Recently, with the dominance of agile delivery, it is here so many go wrong.
Without using techniques true to design it is easy to fixate on one idea or set of features. This is the opportunity to 'think out of the box' and marry great design to the customers' needs we now know.
Think of this as the planning and creative stage. When building a house or structure, a builder wouldn't think of laying a single brick until the architect's plans have been drawn up.
Get this wrong and you might find yourself moving walls and rooms around in your 'digital building', ultimately costing a fortune.
As soon as the first ideas are sketched out start sharing and testing. Feedback helps to evolve the product and as soon as possible get a working prototype in front of genuine customers, to get their priceless feedback.
This doesn't need to be production strength code. The current trend to do this, I believe is detrimental to the end result. Developers are getting hung up on the technology and the complexities, bugs, new ways of slick coding and the forever learning curve. They are soon bogged down in trying to get things working and with the tight deadlines of delivering on a weekly or bi-weekly iteration, with a backlog piling up, they soon lose sight of flexibility and the customers' experience.
SHARE
