Working with Agile

Dynamic Planner had never had a UX designer before, and there were challenges in introducing UX to the process. There was a general perception that design was about how the product looked rather than how it worked, and while Dynamic Planner was using Agile elements (daily standup, user stories, and t-shirt sizing), the lack of a defined role for design in Agile meant that some felt UX should be somehow outside the process.

My approach to this was threefold:

Design education

To challenge the view that design is all about the visuals, I delivered a series of short talks to the whole company:

  • looking at the science underpinning design, drawing on my human factors background;

  • exploring how designs that were described as ‘intuitive’ got to be that way; and

  • talking through the design process.

Collaboration

I partnered with the product owner to understand the product roadmap and focus early design work on elements that:

  • were needed for upcoming releases; and

  • would benefit most from design expertise.

 This helped to reinforce the messages given in the company‑wide talks by talking through the rationale behind the design decisions.

Integrating UX

I wrote user stories to implement my designs, and while I took an active part in the t‑shirt sizing sessions, a bigger factor was the many 1:1 conversations I had with developers and testers that helped:

  • build understanding about how the design worked; and

  • get feedback on the capabilities and limitations of the codebase (which sometimes led to design changes that improved development at no loss of usability)

All of this took time and continued effort, but the result was close working relationships with the product owner, development and test teams, that led to substantial improvements in the design of the core product, less rework, and happier customers.