Sunday, 2:00pm, Grand Salon B
How traditional teams can adopt and be empowered by agile methods
In the face of the ever-increasing complexity of digital products, agile and iterative development is replacing the traditional waterfall method as the predominant methodology among developers. At the same time, the waterfall methodology continues to be applied widely, particularly in large design agencies. In fact, I recently worked at an agency where the development teams were agile, while the overall organization was waterfall, making for an incredibly disjointed process. Why is this the case? Why is the non-tech side of the equation lagging behind?
One hint at the answer can be found by simply doing a search for “agile” or “iterative” on Amazon. As of this writing, every book in the search results are targeted to developers. And those books are in most cases written, by, for and from the perspective of developers. In other words, even if, say, a producer at an organization practicing traditional methods wants to explore this new way of working, the resources available to learn about and provide thought leadership for the rest of their team is very limited.
After discussing this lack of available resources for this target audience, we’ll do an in-a-nut-shell walkthrough of the agile methodology. We’ll also touch on how to get beyond the agile hype (i.e. teams who call their work “agile,” but aren’t really agile at all.)
As part of that discussion, we’ll cover the following recommendations for how the non-technical side of a design team can adopt agile methods, empowering them to more effectively create better user experiences.
Many Small Waterfalls
We’ll look at the cost and risk of having one sequence of large phases of research, design, and production, and the value of instead of dividing the work into several micro-projects containing each of these phases of work, and how delivering working software at the conclusion of each micro-project empowers not just developers but the entire team.
Document Just Enough
We’ll look at the power and value of shifting your thinking about the artifacts you create from one of creating comprehensive design documents to creating the minimum needed for developers to start building what you’ve designed.
Trust but Verify
We’ll look at how to think of the artifacts you create as important explorations but not verifications of an idea. In other words, no matter how much you keep refining, reviewing and discussing your wireframes or prototypes or whatever, they will never reveal if your idea really will work. That final verdict will come only when it is manifested in the form of working software.
Dissolve the Designer/Developer Divide
We’ll discuss how an agile or iterative model can dissolve the all-too-common Us/Them divide between developers and UX/Creative, by thinking of production not as some separate activity, but in fact an integral part of design.
Strategies for Getting Started
We’ll discuss how to adopt the methodology by making the smallest possible change to your current practice that has the largest positive impact. We’ll also discuss avoiding potentially intimidating “agile speak” and instead focusing on underlying principles, framing ideas in a way that will make sense within your organizational culture, and help create the right flavor for your team.
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INSTRUCTOR
Anders Ramsay
Anders Ramsay has been practicing User Experience design for over a decade, designing and producing both consumer-facing and enterprise applications for clients in the finance and entertainment industries. Previous clients include Sony, Viacom, Turner Broadcasting, FOX, CBS, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity, and JP Morgan. Anders is also active in the UX community, as an instructor at Smart Experience, panelist at the IA Summit, and founder of the New York City IA Meetup. He is also a contributor to the Boxes & Arrows online magazine and blogs about all things UX at www.andersramsay.com. He is currently an independent consultant in New York City.