A useful record

Agile, product ownership, and user experience - an interview with Jeff Patton

Tue, 19 May 2009 18:36:00 -0400

Agile, product ownership, and user experience - an interview with Jeff Patton:

“I don’t know what I want but I know how to get it”

- Sex Pistols

Jeff Patton uses this quote to describe a common occurance in agile teams - teams focus on defining what they want to build and then creating it incrementally using agile methods. The weakness of this approach is the inherent inability of such teams to cope with inevitable change or new knowledge. During the interview Jeff offers three strategies for product owners that can help agile teams focus on creating the right software, in addition to creating software in the right way…

Strategy 1: Focus on goals or outcomes rather than software solutions. For example, instead of saying “we want to create these features by this time,” focus on a single goal “we want to increase our market share by diversifying our product offering.” Agile is not about defining what you want to build and building it a chunk at a time. Instead, it is about being clear about the outcome you want to achieve, and constantly adjusting your actions to best reach that outcome given the current circumstances.

Strategy 2: Delay decisions as long as possible. Defer decisions about what to do and exactly how to build it to the last minute possible. Define the specific solution late, when you know more about the problem, constraints and economics. The result will be the most suitable and economically advantageous solution.

Strategy 3: Build up quality. Focus on creating the simplest thing possible. Build up necessities first, then add sophistication later. This may mean that a feature is is not complete the first time around. Early development efforts may build an example of a solution that simply allows you to discover if this feature will help you solve your business problem.

The consequence of following these strategies is that you must give up the myth of being able to accurately estimate or predict what you want, what you will do, and when you will do it by. Looking critically at these strategies, they are all pretty difficult to do in most organizational environments. But hey, who ever said that software development was easy :-).

Jeff also has some interesting insight into user experience, the role of user experience in agile development (part of the product owner team), and the skills needed to fill the user experience role.

Watch it!

"Creativity is a gift that we give ourselves, but craftsmanship is a gift we give the world"

Sat, 09 May 2009 17:33:09 -0400

“Creativity is a gift that we give ourselves, but craftsmanship is a gift we give the world”

- John Marion

Everyday Usability - 14-Point Checklist for Success

Tue, 05 May 2009 16:05:00 -0400

Everyday Usability - 14-Point Checklist for Success :

Short and sweet. Kimberly Krause Berg writes a refreshing and to-the-point article on how to improve site usability and conversion rates.

An example of what I would love to see happen over the...

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 07:58:00 -0400

An example of what I would love to see happen over the internet. Except…instead of clips being pulled together by a single person, many individuals can work together to collaborate, create, and riff on each other to pull together music and stories as variations on a theme.

An internet watered down presentation, John Pettengill

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:05:00 -0400

An internet watered down presentation, John Pettengill:

John Pettengill explores possibilities of the mobile web. The mobile web should be more than a watered down version of the internet. Instead, it should take advantage of context and appreciate the different states that users are in as they are out and about in the world (vs. sitting at their computer).

IA Summit Closing Plenary, Jesse James Garrett

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:31:00 -0400

IA Summit Closing Plenary, Jesse James Garrett :

In his closing plenary to the IA Summit 2009, Jesse James Garrett stepped out on a limb and suggested the use of the umbrella term ‘User experience designer’ rather than the outwardly confusing terms ‘Information architect’ or ‘Interaction designer.’ See also: the UX tribe, It’s just UX - petition in support of UxD.

Garrett also has some interesting things to say about the state of our profession…

“Name the five best-known information architects. Now: name a work of information architecture created by one of these people. Is that a sign of a mature profession? “

…and on our role in society…

“We must acknowledge that as user experience designers we have a broader place in the world than simply delivering value to businesses. We must embrace our role as a cultural force. “

Recommended reading for any infomration architect, ux designer/analyst/research, interaction designer, usability specialist, …

Ada Lovelace Day - celebrating women in technology

Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:30:00 -0400

Ada Lovelace Day - celebrating women in technology:

When I think of the women in technology who have inspired me, the people that come to mind are the practitioners and thought leaders in the field of agile user experience: Angela Martin, Marilyn Mantei-Tremaine, Leah Buley, Kate Rutter, Helen Sharp, Lyn Miller… While I do not talk to these women on a regular basis (or at all, in some cases) they are women that inspire me to develop my own practice and push forward in my field.

Design Research Methods for Experience Design

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 11:44:00 -0500

Design Research Methods for Experience Design:

Michael Hawley discusses ‘experience design’ as an alternative option to user experience design.

“New methods and approaches for experience design merge the best of traditional user-centered design and genius design. The goal is to obtain insight into the attributes of an experience that would help or delight people based on research evidence.”

He describes some new tools for user research:

Storytelling and personalization: collect unfiltered user input by asking users to apply human characteristics to designs/concepts and tell stories about them
Triading: encourage users to describe the the design characteristics and attributes that are most important to them by asking them to compare three designs (i.e. explain how one design different from the two others)
Games: create a more relaxed and realistic environment by playing games, and use them to gain insight into social, collaborative, and personal reactions/interactions.

User experience & product ownership

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 19:50:00 -0500

User experience & product ownership :

Matt Roadknight presents a stunning presentation on developing the user experience in an agile environment. He discusses the definition of an ‘experience architecture’ and ‘user journey’ in order to define the vision for a product, and explores some of the tensions between agile methods and innovative product design.

And even if you’re not interested in the topic, download the file anyway so you can admire his well-constructed presentation deck.

Writing the Product Backlog Just Enough and Just In Time by Mike Cohn

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:57:00 -0500

Writing the Product Backlog Just Enough and Just In Time by Mike Cohn :

Mike Cohn discusses what I find to be one of the most challenging aspects of working as a ux designer in an agile environment: “The goal of the [User Experience Designer] is to add detail to the story in a just-in-time manner.”

This refreshingly concise article explores the creation of feature descriptions for just-in-time for agile software development, and provides some insight into the mechanics of splitting up large features into smaller stories so that you can feed them into the sprints without overdesigning.

If you are interested in this link you might also want to check out Jeff Pattons most recent article ‘The product owner and the product shaped hole.”

Group recipies recently caught my interest as an fun site for...

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:47:00 -0500

Group recipies recently caught my interest as an fun site for finding and sharing recipies. Some of the more interesting characteristics include:

The strong community focus. You can become find other ‘foodies’ with the same taste in food, see who’s been looking at your recipies, become friends, and create groups.
Small details that support food-lovers - for example, the ability to suggest alterations to a given recipe, or the ability to add step-by-step photos for a given recipes
Different methods of exploration, such as by browsing by ‘interesting’ or ‘beautiful’ food, or searching by flavour or ingredients

Draw backs of the site include inconsistencies in the interaction design, as well as a browse by tag feature that shows hundreds of tags with few distinguishing trends or patterns emerging form the tag cloud. In a way, I enjoy the diversity of tags, but I also feel that well-known task like cooking a meal could benefit from some more structured categorization (e.g. vegetarian, quick, or healthy).

…and now I’m getting hungry.

The true 21st century begins

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:55:56 -0500

The true 21st century begins:

An example of why Bruce Sterling is one of my favorite writers…

“The year to come is best approached as a learning opportunity. It offers a golden chance to bury our dead prejudices and learn how to properly feed the living. Once we stop shaking all over and scolding Americans, we will recognize the tremendous potential this new century offers the people of the world. The sun still shines, the grass still grows, we are still human. If we stopped pretending to be puppets of an invisible hand, we would not fret over the loss of the 20th century’s strings. We might see that life is sweet.”

Pledgebank is a site that touches on the very social nature of...

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 12:43:00 -0500

Pledgebank is a site that touches on the very social nature of peoples actions and decisions in life. It allows people to make public pledges to do something, as long as other people do it with them.

The site is multi-lingual, in that you can choose to view pledges by country. I was also satisfied to see pledges in other languages being displayed even when browsing the USA-based area of the site. A nice touch of globalization in an era where most sites make a clean split between languages and country content.

I’m always pleasantly suprised by sites that step beyond...

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 17:32:00 -0500

I’m always pleasantly suprised by sites that step beyond mere categorical definition of their content and create interfaces that relate to situations in the users life.

Kijiji, for example, is a classified ad service here in Germany. The site includes a wonderful browse function based on ‘Lebensphasen’ - life phases. The menu items on the right are Birth, Wedding, Moving, Retirement, and Hard times. On the ‘Moving’ page above there is a list of things someone moving would be interested in, and the page is filled with pictures, facts, stories, and tidbits related to moving, and setting up a new home.

In fact, much of the content on the page is advertising, and most of the links will take you to a regular classified listing. This simple and pleasant entry-point to the information is quite refreshing, however; especially when compared to the standard (read, overwhelming) listings of ads based on category.

Coralie Bickford-Smith: An Interview with the Designer

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:28:00 -0500

Coralie Bickford-Smith: An Interview with the Designer:

An inspiring interview with book cover designer Coralie Bickford-Smith.

Deconstructing Product Design

Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:15:00 -0500

Deconstructing Product Design:

William Lidwell and Gerry Manacsa will be exploring the meaning of design in their upcoming book, and we can too…

"If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each..."

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:37:00 -0500

“

If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple.

But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.

”

- George Bernard Shaw

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design

Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:36:00 -0500

10 Most Common Misconceptions About User Experience Design:

This article by Whitney Hess is a great ux primer for bosses or customers. She describes 10 things that user experience design is NOT; number 10 being ‘…a choice.’

Design Hates a Depression

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:04:00 -0500

Design Hates a Depression:

Murray Moss replies to the recent article ‘Design Loves a Depression’ by Michael Cannell.

“This is not a celebratory moment for design. Design-related businesses, including my own, are suffering, and will most likely continue to face very difficult times in the coming year, at the very least. That said, I deeply resent the tone of comeuppance in Mr. Cannell’s article, his condescending, parochial-school-matronly, Calvinistic reproach of the design that flourished during what he refers to as the “economic boom.” (I would use the term Renaissance). None of us — gallerists, collectors, architects, interior designers, and especially journalists — who love and respect the designers and the industrialists who have grown design during the past fifteen years should be smugly waving our fingers at those unruly designers who dared to speak without raising their hands, who fluidly transverse the terrain between art and design and lead us — some of us, evidently, resisting all the way — to new possibilities, way beyond those imagined by their counterparts in the mid-20th century.”

Ouch.

Design Revolution or Social Revolution? Reflections from Saint-Etienne

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 03:02:49 -0500

Design Revolution or Social Revolution? Reflections from Saint-Etienne:

Core77 ran a fascinating article on the Saint-Etienne International Design Biennial by Marcia Caines.

“The Biennial kicked off with a press conference with local authorities…delivering a very clear message: the city wants to apply design and ‘design thinking’ to local industries, schools, cultural initiatives and higher education, and create a ‘design state of mind’ capable of developing new models for economic development and sustainable growth.

…The three main questions that structured the Biennial’s curatorial work were:
- How can design help to develop our lifestyles?
- How to make design work with research and innovation?
- How can design now become a tool for economic development?

…In a society used to superlative advertising slogans, reality shows, ringtones, convenience food and low-cost flights, the challenge of addressing such complex problems through design is definitely going to be a long journey, but the event definitely provided a good start.

…The fear is that design will struggle to free its creative faculties from industry and therefore fail to perform in previously unexplored territories such as design as a social tool. If it’s true that designers are now the key intermediaries between science, policy and the public, this is indeed a very new and quite a big responsibility.”