lean ux anti-patterns@billwscott on twitterbill
scott. sr. dir. user interface engineering @paypalwebvisions talk. may 23, 2013. portland.behaviors & situations that can stifle lean teams

what is lean ux?background &
principles

lean startupfounded on build/measure/learnget out
of the building (GOOB)invalidate your riskyassumptionsgo for the minimal viableproduct (MVP)fail fast, learn fastget to the pivot

lean uxdesigning products for build/measure/learn
(lean startup)requires 3 rules to be followed atall timesget to & maintain a sharedunderstandingform deep collaborationacross disciplineskeep continuous customerfeedback flowing

principles of lean ux

sharedunderstandingthe more understanding theless documentationbut
this doesn’t mean ZEROdocumentationyou need whatever isrequired to gain andmaintain a sharedunderstanding1

deepcollaborationstrong belief that ideas comefrom
many different voicestrust is essentialall efforts never stray far fromcollaborative efforts2

continuouscustomerfeedbackthis is the lifeblood of
theteamgets rid of politicsturns a team outside-in3

lean ux and paypalmy journey
in championing lean ux @ paypal

a good patterncontinuous customerfeedback (get
out of thebuilding - GOOB)customer metrics driveeverythingthink it. build it. ship it. tweak itfail fast. learn fast.lots of experimentation...build/measure/learn

fourdifferent PS3experienceslaunchedon same daylaunching the
ps3experience16 different test cells2 different tech blogs weresimultaneously reviewing differentexperiencesfocus was on build/measure/learn

paypal vs netflix

paypal circa 2011roll your own.disconnected
deliveryexperience. culture oflong shelf life. inwardfocus. risk averse.

new dna @paypaljanuary 2012fleshed out
ui layer that couldsupport rapid experimentationmarch 2012david Marcus becomes presidentof PayPalapril 2012kick off of lean project

hermes projectwhiteboardto codecode to usabilityproduct/design/engineering
teams usability/customerslean ux in action

before leanux

after leanux

more transformations

the anti-patternsproblems & situations i
have seen stifle lean teams

geniusdesignerall design emanates from anhuber
designer. team doesn’tcollaboratively participate indesign/ideation.solution: Keep the inspirationof genius designer but bring inothers to brainstorm. focus onMVP (minimal viable product) totest with customersimmediately. critical to buildteam success early.

tribal groupwhen a team is
very smallmembers are forced to workacross disciplines. As soon asteam gets bigger, tribes reformaround skills. collaborationstops.solution: keep teamreasonably small. leaders ineach discipline must form atribe that works acrossdisciplines. keep collaborationhigh.

strangerlean teams will form sharedunderstanding.
however, whennew “stranger” joins weassume this hard earnedunderstanding will just happen.solution: the team mustimmediately stop and initiatethe newcomer. be patient,answer questions, resetvocabulary and enjoy the newvoice in the team. get back toregular cadence.

bad habitsteams will often make
a goodstart by trying out newbehaviors and seemingly leaveold behaviors behind. beware!old habits will creep back in.solution: you must do it longenough and be successfullong enough to ensure teammembers internalize the newhabits. build in checks andbalances that enforce newhabits.

naysayerwith collaboration so importantit is
key to believe in theprocess to create greatproducts. a single naysayercan bring the team down in aninstant.solution: the naysayer musteither learn new techniques orleave the team. often they havevalid concerns. channel thatenergy convergence time notdivergence thinking.

visitorinput from outside the team
isessential. however, watch out.people cycling in & out of theteam can cause the samedisruption that the strangeranti-pattern causes. alsoknown as swoop and poop.solution: customer trumpsvisitor. take input. test early andoften with customers. that isthe only “visitor” that ultimatelymatters.

magic tooldesign & prototyping tools
canaccelerate ideation and design.however, be careful, tools thatempower prototyping canenable designers to work inisolation.solution: use tools as meansto collaborate. never revert to“delivery” model of design.sketching is a real key toencourage collaboration. also“design in the wild” approach.

going darkwhen a developer, productmanager,
or designer goesdark for more than a day (ortwo) the team is losing valuablecollaboration.solution: working in isolationis necessary from time to time.however, limit to short periodsof time. make workcontinuously visible. balanceindividual productivity withgroup creativity

change ofcadencechange of cadence is
actuallya good and normal happening.however, whenever the rhythmchanges it can bringproductivity down.solution: prepare the teamfor the change and quickly getfocus and re-establish withnew cadence.

too manycooksthe work needs to
be dividedup among different types ofcooks (Chef de cuisine, Sous-chef, Chef de partie)solution: have clear decisionmakers in each discipline andhave specific roles (you canalso rotate these functions).

not enoughpizzawhen a team suddenly
scalesup in size the team is in dangerof losing cadence, sharedunderstanding and focussolution: keep teams to 2-pizza size. clear lines ofresponsibilities and laser focusfor the team must bemaintained.

tower ofbabelshared understanding is key
tolean ux. however, it is easy toassume too quickly that teammembers are speaking thesame languagesolution: always ask, “whatdo you mean by x?”. alwaysensure other disciplinesunderstand your jargon. spendtime with customers together.

you got mailteams can revert
to email overcollaboration. also, geo-graphically distributed teamscan fall into delivery by email vscollaboration.solution. utilize highbandwidth communication(face to face, hangouts,telepresence, magicwhiteboards, etc.) balance:asynchronous communicationis good.

inmates runningthe asylumthis is from
Alan Cooper’sclassic book of the same title.when engineers drive designthe inmates are running theasylum.solution. front end engineersmust partner with product/design and get out ahead ofbackend engineers (lean ux).experience debt is equallyimportant to technical debt.

perfectionistnot embracing the challenge ofthe
unknown, the perfectionistwill not share their work till it isperfect. easy for designers tofall into this trap.solution: engineers must notjudge rough designs, insteaduse as springboard fordiscussion. designers mustrealize iterative will yield betterdesigns. sketching can breakthis mindset. make it easy torelease experiences.

weakest linkteam members who aren’t
upto the challenge of closeproximity & transparency cancause a team to stumble.solution: talent acquisitionmust match this style ofproduct delivery. must havefreedom to replace talent. soft-skills are highly valued.

the wallwalls between teams canhappen
when• we allow tribes to form• we see the other teams asseparate delivery factories• geo-distributed teams• focus on documentationsolution: always work in smallteams, collaborating notdelivering and build sharedunderstanding. challenge everyhand-off point.

tangled uptechnologyunless the technology stack
is builtto have a clear separation fromexperience & services the leanteam cannot make rapid progress.watch out when dev teams caretoo much about the specificversion of the UI.solution: key patterns includebuilding services, APIs and CLIs.Keep the services & UI separate.enable rapid experimentation.

sharedunderstandingthe more understanding theless documentationbut
this doesn’t mean ZEROdocumentationyou need whatever isrequired to gain andmaintain a sharedunderstanding1

deepcollaborationstrong belief that ideas comefrom
many different voicestrust is essentialall efforts never stray far fromcollaborative efforts2

continuouscustomerfeedbackthis is the lifeblood of
theteamgets rid of politicsturns a team outside-in3

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