Shared learnings and practical tips on how to make UX work with Agile software development based on what The Economist UX mobile team has done in the past year.

1. @dsetia_1
UX in Agile
Danny Setiawan
Moving towards User-Centered Design Culture
Lead UX for Mobile, The Economist
New York, 04.07.2016

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Objective
Share insights and practical steps to improve UX
contribution in Agile based on my experience

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Agenda
• Intro
• UX activities
• At The Economist
• How? Change of Culture

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Intro
• 15+ years of experience in Product Design and UX
• Has worked with established brands (The Economist,
Yahoo!, Microsoft) as well as start ups
• Currently :
• UX Lead/Manager at The Economist
• UXD Instructor at General Assembly
• Product/UX mentor for startups

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3 types of UX activity

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Operational
• Goal: Flow (unblocking dev)
• Activity: Reacting to issues raised by developers during sprint
• UX role: Produce deliverables so dev team can complete stories
• Measure: Team’s velocity

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX resource

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX!?
UX resource

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX!?
UX!?

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX!?

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX!?
UX!?

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog
UX!?

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 Task 3 Task 4 … DoneBacklog

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Tactical
• Goals: Flow (smooth implementation), value (what’s important for
customers)
• Activity: Preparing everything that’s required to implement stories
for upcoming sprint (prioritize use cases, test solutions)
• UX role: Contribute to story definition, prioritization and produce
deliverables addressing potential blockers
• Measure: Team’s velocity, customer satisfaction

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
UX resource
Task 3 Task 4

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
UX resource
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate Prototype Test Prep for dev

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklogIdeate Prototype Test
Elaboration
Prep for dev

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Strategic
• Goals: Growth (customer segment and problem to solve)
• Activity: Research to identify and validate opportunities
• UX role: Facilitate discovery phase, ideate and test solution
• Measure: Acquisition metrics

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Development
Task 1 Task 2 … DoneBacklogIdeate Prototype Test Prep for dev
Elaboration

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Development
… DoneBacklog
Elaboration
Ideate + test solution
Discovery
Identify + validate new opportunities
User Research
Stakeholders’
Input

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At The Economist

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Operational
Tactical
Strategic
Mar 2015
Activities breakdown
Economist Mobile UX Team

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Operational
Tactical
Strategic
Mar 2016
Activities breakdown
Economist Mobile UX Team

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How ?
Change of Culture

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“
Culture
set of beliefs, values, and behaviors, including
their embodiment in artifacts; that are
shared by a group of people
WORKING DEFINITION

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Culture
• Belief: How we believe things work (world view)
• Value: What we consider important (prioritize)
• Behavior: What we do to get the value based on
the world view we subscribe to
• Artifacts: Manifestation of our behavior

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Example
• Belief: User testing is a waste of time
• Value: Efficiency
• Behavior: Not supporting user testing initiative
• Artifacts: Email, verbal communication

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Practical Tips
• Start Small
• Small team, small cost, small time, small risk
• Build momentum : Many small wins > One big win
• Don’t dictate, motivate
• Provide real value (that can be felt)
• Help others succeed
• Don’t bulls#*t
• It’s ok to say “I don’t know the answer (but I can help you find out)”
• Drop the buzzwords
• Lead with a story (meaning & purpose)
• Co-create
• Be transparent about your method
• Include others in your process
• Let others contribute

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How we started…
• Start with unblocking dev to earn trust
• Facilitate small ideation sessions that involves the
team (proto-persona, sketching exercise , etc.)
• Visualize process, highlighting contribution UX can
make
• Support Product Owner and Scrum Master in
product roadmap creation

36. @dsetia_1
Thank you
twitter: @dsetia_1