Tips for people new to Agile?

[William Pietri]

Hi! Pretty much every day we moderators see people signing up for the
list. As part of the process, they mention why they're here. A common
theme is somebody with usability experience who is new to Agile methods.
For example, here are some recent ones:

    I'm a Certified Usability Analyst contracting at a company using Agile.
    This is a whole new way of doing business for me so I'm trying to get as
    much help as I can from someone who keeps it real.

    I am a usability practitioner in [Canada]. I currently work on a
    large site and i'm interested in learning about how usability with an
    Agile flavour can make efficiencies.

    I am UX working at an Agile organization, and would love to discuss and
    learn how to merge both UX and Agile methodologies.
     


Since many of you have been on this list a long time, I thought I'd ask:
What tips do you have for user-focused people new to Agile environments?

William

[Anders Ramsay]

Some tips that come to mind:

* The change in your practice when transitioning to Agile is primarily in
the How rather than the What.  In other words, you are using a different way
of communicating the same design principles and ideas you might communicate
in a traditional process.

* Think less of UX as a role and more as a literacy, something that a UX
specialist might facilitate.  You can also think of yourself as a UX coach,
playing a role similar to that of an Agile Coach working with a traditional
team. You may provide guidance and leadership but ultimately it is the team
as a whole that should be designing the product. This can be a very
challenging shift for someone coming from a kind of genius designer mindset,
in organizations where a creative team is sort of expected to deliver the
design from on high to the developers.  This is a fundamental contradiction
to Agile thinking. (And unfortunately one that likely will persist as long
as academic institutions keep computer engineers in separate buildings from
those in design programs.)

* Because Agile is a completely different paradigm compared to Waterfall,
you can't really just flip the methodology switch and one day 'go Agile.'
Paraphrasing the book 'Becoming Agile,' just like you wouldn't one day get
up an run a marathon without first training and building up your stamina and
running lots of shorter runs first, you need to work on your Agile Fitness.
One key area is developing a deeper understanding of software development,
what it actually means to program, actually understanding computer logic,
normalization, and other computer fundamentals.  A key reason for this is
that your practice, if you really are working as an Agile team, will be much
more integrated with developers. A lot of times, the front-end developer may
also wear the UX lead hat.  Or the UX lead might contribute to front-end
development, such as maintaining the CSS. Similarlly, while you may not know
how to do something like refactoring, you need to understand what it is and
why it is done.  Then, you will be able to more powerfully integrate your
practice with theirs. More specifically, while they are doing code
refactoring, you can be thinking about your work as UI or UX refactoring.

* As Jeff Patton once so wisely pointed out to me, "the user experience
exists no matter what."  In other words, the moment you've built something
with inputs and outputs, it has an experience.  Therefore, at a high level,
the work of a UX specialist is to facilitate achieving maximum Experience
Quality.

Just a few slightly meandering thoughts.

-Anders


On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 12:11 PM, William Pietri <william@...>wrote:

>
>
> Hi! Pretty much every day we moderators see people signing up for the list.
> As part of the process, they mention why they're here. A common theme is
> somebody with usability experience who is new to Agile methods. For example,
> here are some recent ones:
>
>  I'm a Certified Usability Analyst contracting at a company using Agile.
> This is a whole new way of doing business for me so I'm trying to get as
> much help as I can from someone who keeps it real.
>
> I am a usability practitioner in [Canada]. I currently work on a
> large site and i'm interested in learning about how usability with an
> Agile flavour can make efficiencies.
>
> I am UX working at an Agile organization, and would love to discuss and
> learn how to merge both UX and Agile methodologies.
>
>
>
> Since many of you have been on this list a long time, I thought I'd ask:
> What tips do you have for user-focused people new to Agile environments?
>
> William
>  
>

[thomas_o_coleman]

Hi Anders,

Thanks for your tips!

I'm wondering if you would mind if I repost your comments in another forum (the AgileUX group on connect.humanfactors.com)?

Thanks,
Tom

P.S. I'd also like to invite you all to participate in that forum as well

--- In agile-usability@..., Anders Ramsay <andersr@...> wrote:

>
> Some tips that come to mind:
>
> * The change in your practice when transitioning to Agile is primarily in
> the How rather than the What.  In other words, you are using a different way
> of communicating the same design principles and ideas you might communicate
> in a traditional process.
>
> * Think less of UX as a role and more as a literacy, something that a UX
> specialist might facilitate.  You can also think of yourself as a UX coach,
> playing a role similar to that of an Agile Coach working with a traditional
> team. You may provide guidance and leadership but ultimately it is the team
> as a whole that should be designing the product. This can be a very
> challenging shift for someone coming from a kind of genius designer mindset,
> in organizations where a creative team is sort of expected to deliver the
> design from on high to the developers.  This is a fundamental contradiction
> to Agile thinking. (And unfortunately one that likely will persist as long
> as academic institutions keep computer engineers in separate buildings from
> those in design programs.)
>
> * Because Agile is a completely different paradigm compared to Waterfall,
> you can't really just flip the methodology switch and one day 'go Agile.'
> Paraphrasing the book 'Becoming Agile,' just like you wouldn't one day get
> up an run a marathon without first training and building up your stamina and
> running lots of shorter runs first, you need to work on your Agile Fitness.
> One key area is developing a deeper understanding of software development,
> what it actually means to program, actually understanding computer logic,
> normalization, and other computer fundamentals.  A key reason for this is
> that your practice, if you really are working as an Agile team, will be much
> more integrated with developers. A lot of times, the front-end developer may
> also wear the UX lead hat.  Or the UX lead might contribute to front-end
> development, such as maintaining the CSS. Similarlly, while you may not know
> how to do something like refactoring, you need to understand what it is and
> why it is done.  Then, you will be able to more powerfully integrate your
> practice with theirs. More specifically, while they are doing code
> refactoring, you can be thinking about your work as UI or UX refactoring.
>
> * As Jeff Patton once so wisely pointed out to me, "the user experience
> exists no matter what."  In other words, the moment you've built something
> with inputs and outputs, it has an experience.  Therefore, at a high level,
> the work of a UX specialist is to facilitate achieving maximum Experience
> Quality.
>
> Just a few slightly meandering thoughts.
>
> -Anders
>
>
> On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 12:11 PM, William Pietri <william@...>wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Hi! Pretty much every day we moderators see people signing up for the list.
> > As part of the process, they mention why they're here. A common theme is
> > somebody with usability experience who is new to Agile methods. For example,
> > here are some recent ones:
> >
> >  I'm a Certified Usability Analyst contracting at a company using Agile.
> > This is a whole new way of doing business for me so I'm trying to get as
> > much help as I can from someone who keeps it real.
> >
> > I am a usability practitioner in [Canada]. I currently work on a
> > large site and i'm interested in learning about how usability with an
> > Agile flavour can make efficiencies.
> >
> > I am UX working at an Agile organization, and would love to discuss and
> > learn how to merge both UX and Agile methodologies.
> >
> >
> >
> > Since many of you have been on this list a long time, I thought I'd ask:
> > What tips do you have for user-focused people new to Agile environments?
> >
> > William
> >  
> >
>

[Anders Ramsay]

Glad you found them useful!  Please feel free to re-post.

On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 2:33 PM, thomas_o_coleman <
thomas_o_coleman@...> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> Hi Anders,
>
> Thanks for your tips!
>
> I'm wondering if you would mind if I repost your comments in another forum
> (the AgileUX group on connect.humanfactors.com)?
>
> Thanks,
> Tom
>
> P.S. I'd also like to invite you all to participate in that forum as well
>
>
> --- In agile-usability@... <agile-usability%40yahoogroups.com>,
> Anders Ramsay <andersr@...> wrote:
> >
> > Some tips that come to mind:
> >
> > * The change in your practice when transitioning to Agile is primarily in
> > the How rather than the What. In other words, you are using a different
> way
> > of communicating the same design principles and ideas you might
> communicate
> > in a traditional process.
> >
> > * Think less of UX as a role and more as a literacy, something that a UX
> > specialist might facilitate. You can also think of yourself as a UX
> coach,
> > playing a role similar to that of an Agile Coach working with a
> traditional
> > team. You may provide guidance and leadership but ultimately it is the
> team
> > as a whole that should be designing the product. This can be a very
> > challenging shift for someone coming from a kind of genius designer
> mindset,
> > in organizations where a creative team is sort of expected to deliver the
> > design from on high to the developers. This is a fundamental
> contradiction
> > to Agile thinking. (And unfortunately one that likely will persist as
> long
> > as academic institutions keep computer engineers in separate buildings
> from
> > those in design programs.)
> >
> > * Because Agile is a completely different paradigm compared to Waterfall,
> > you can't really just flip the methodology switch and one day 'go Agile.'
> > Paraphrasing the book 'Becoming Agile,' just like you wouldn't one day
> get
> > up an run a marathon without first training and building up your stamina
> and
> > running lots of shorter runs first, you need to work on your Agile
> Fitness.
> > One key area is developing a deeper understanding of software
> development,
> > what it actually means to program, actually understanding computer logic,
> > normalization, and other computer fundamentals. A key reason for this is
> > that your practice, if you really are working as an Agile team, will be
> much
> > more integrated with developers. A lot of times, the front-end developer
> may
> > also wear the UX lead hat. Or the UX lead might contribute to front-end
> > development, such as maintaining the CSS. Similarlly, while you may not
> know
> > how to do something like refactoring, you need to understand what it is
> and
> > why it is done. Then, you will be able to more powerfully integrate your
> > practice with theirs. More specifically, while they are doing code
> > refactoring, you can be thinking about your work as UI or UX refactoring.
> >
> > * As Jeff Patton once so wisely pointed out to me, "the user experience
> > exists no matter what." In other words, the moment you've built something
> > with inputs and outputs, it has an experience. Therefore, at a high
> level,
> > the work of a UX specialist is to facilitate achieving maximum Experience
> > Quality.
> >
> > Just a few slightly meandering thoughts.
> >
> > -Anders
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Oct 20, 2009 at 12:11 PM, William Pietri <william@...>wrote:
>
> >
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi! Pretty much every day we moderators see people signing up for the
> list.
> > > As part of the process, they mention why they're here. A common theme
> is
> > > somebody with usability experience who is new to Agile methods. For
> example,
> > > here are some recent ones:
> > >
> > > I'm a Certified Usability Analyst contracting at a company using Agile.
> > > This is a whole new way of doing business for me so I'm trying to get
> as
> > > much help as I can from someone who keeps it real.
> > >
> > > I am a usability practitioner in [Canada]. I currently work on a
> > > large site and i'm interested in learning about how usability with an
> > > Agile flavour can make efficiencies.
> > >
> > > I am UX working at an Agile organization, and would love to discuss and
> > > learn how to merge both UX and Agile methodologies.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Since many of you have been on this list a long time, I thought I'd
> ask:
> > > What tips do you have for user-focused people new to Agile
> environments?
> > >
> > > William
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>  
>