Ever since Lean UX has appeared on the big picture of SAFe, everyone is curious to know what is Lean UX and how does it fit into SAFe framework ?
Definition of Lean UX (as defined by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden)
Foundations of Lean UX
Principles of Lean UX
Principles to guide Team Organization
Principles to guide Process
Principles to guide Culture
Lean UX Process
In Agile, standard user story template goes like this:
As a <user role…who>
I want <some goal…what>
So that <business value…why>
User role: we are not really worried about the segments of users, type of persona or this is just the experiment, and once we test , we learn about users or segments.
Some goal : most team replace with “some feature” and start implementing the feature, however in really again, this is just a hypothesis, which may be right or wrong.
Acceptance Criteria : System allows the user to complete a task. We are not sure if the solution is usable or feasible or simply does any one wants this.
That is why, it makes sense to change the tune to “hypothesis based” (instead of fixed requirement), as this is just beginning of the conversation. Once we develop, test with user, and we know yes, this is what was needed.
Step 1: Outcomes, Assumption, Hypothesis
How might we ensure that these statements are true as quickly (and cheaply) as possible so that future decisions stand a better chance of succeeding?
Four types of assumptions:
Can we make it easier for people to log in to our site?
Can we encourage more people to sign up?
Can we encourage greater collaboration among system users?
We create Personas and we start with assumption and then do research to validate our assumption.
Proto-personas are our best guess as to who is using (or will use) our product and why.
What is the user trying to accomplish?
How does the user want to feel during and after this process?
How does our product or service get the user closer to a life goal or dream?
We like to create feature list by brainstorming them as a team.
We are looking for features we think will help users achieve the user outcomes they seek.
In Lean UX, “Problem statement template”, looks like this
Step 2: Collaborative Design
In this step, we need to design, so that we can build something that will help test hypothesis
Design Studio Flow (Author: Jeff Gothelf) – 5 steps
Similar to Design Studio, there are other flavors like design sprints, sprints etc
Design Sprint –GV (Google Venture)
Design sprints are a framework for teams of any size to solve and test design problems in 2-5 days. Here are the steps, as reflected in the book “Sprint”, Author (Jake Knapp),
Design Sprint (Author: Richard Banfield)- explains 5 steps in his book
Step 3: Create an MVP
Lean UX makes heavy use of the notion of MVP. MVPs help us test our assumptions-will this tactic achieve the desired outcome?
Purpose of MVP
Guidelines for creating MVP
Step 4: Research & Learning
It’s now time to put your MVP to the test. All of our work up to this point has been based on assumptions; now we must begin the validation process.
As you and your team collect feedback from various sources and try to synthesize your finding.
Test what you have got
Concluding…
So where exactly ‘Lean UX’ fits in ‘Agile’ or vice versa.
As per model “Sy and Miller” defined in 2007, design activity takes place one sprint ahead of development. Work is designed and validated during the “design sprint” and then passed off into the development stream to be implemented during the development sprint, as shown in below diagram. This is called ‘sprint zero’ or sometimes “staggered sprints”.