WIAD2012 A2 - Letting go of perfection: Developing IA agility
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Transcript of WIAD2012 A2 - Letting go of perfection: Developing IA agility
Letting go of perfection: Developing IA agilityWorld Information Architecture Day 2012
Ann Arbor, MI
Chris Farnum, Serena Rosenhan
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Background – UXD/IA at ProQuest Build search applications for academic and
corporate users Translate business requirements into user
experiences that can be implemented by development
Sit within development group Have shifted from traditional (waterfall) to agile
development processes Work on large scale agile projects
Global Multi-year
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
IA - Traditional development cycle
Business Case
Functional Design (prototyping, JADs usability testing )
Technical Design
Business requirements
Functional requirements
Design documents
Implementation
Test
Release
IAprocesses
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
What’s agile development, eh?
Wikipedia’s definition:
….a group of software development methodologies based on
iterative and incremental development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing, cross-functional teams. It promotes
adaptive planning, evolutionary development and delivery, a time-boxed iterative approach, and encourages rapid and flexible response to change. It is a conceptual framework that promotes foreseen interactions throughout the development cycle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
For more see: The Agile Manifesto - http://agilemanifesto.org/
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
IA in agile development
Prioritized requirements
Design
Develop/Test
Iteration release Productrelease
Planning
Core IAProcesses
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Agile challenges traditional IA value proposition
Working in Waterfall
Define site/application systems (navigation & labeling, metaphors etc.), resulting in a comprehensive and scalable user experience
Use upfront research to inform designs
Provide detailed and elegant deliverables to developers
Save money and development effort by reworking and testing designs before one line of code is written
Working in Agile
Can only design for known requirements.
Cannot do all research up front.
Smaller deliverables produced much more frequently
Coding begins before design is finished – inevitably has to be re-worked.
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
How can IAs be successful in agile?
Let go of old ideas of perfection and . . .
Change how you think
Change how you work
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you think
Understand the opportunities for IA in Agile
You can design iteratively
• Freedom to make mistakes earlier
• Working prototypes for testing come early
• It’s OK to refactor... Really!
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Want-to-have vs. need-to-have
How do I know the difference?
• Prioritize requirements• User personas and use case
scenarios• “What’s the simplest thing that
could work?”• Remember that it’s a moving
target
Change how you think
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you think
Increment your way to perfection
Think just enough, just in time
• Additional features ≠ better.
• Elaborate designs do not always create the perfect UX.
• Iterations provide room to make incremental progress
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Pyramid example courtesy of John Mayo-Smith, Two Ways To Build A Pyramid, InformationWeek, 22 Oct 2001http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/tools/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6507351
Goal = A pyramid for the Pharaohs tomb
An example…
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Approach 1 – Build the foundation
Pyramid example courtesy of John Mayo-Smith, Two Ways To Build A Pyramid, InformationWeek, 22 Oct 2001http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/tools/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6507351
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Approach 2 – Build up the pyramid
Pyramid example courtesy of John Mayo-Smith, Two Ways To Build A Pyramid, InformationWeek, 22 Oct 2001http://www.informationweek.com/news/development/tools/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=6507351
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Search saved article full text
Auto-fill search box
Search saved article titles
Add/edit notes
Share notes and ratings with others
Ratings
Create a personal account
Customize colors and
layout
Change password
Email a link to an article.
Email multiple articles
Attach the whole article
as a PDF
Add / delete articles to a
list
Save articles to folders
Place in multiple folders
General requirement: Users must be able to save and organize articles they find on your site into a personal account space.
Ability to find saved articles
Allow users to add notes
Create a personal account
Business Requirements
Ability to email articles
Ability to save articles
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Basic Functions
Enhancements
Embellishm
ents
Back to the pyramid
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Add/edit notes
Share notes and ratings with others
Ratings
Register for a personal account
Customize colors and
layout
Change password
Basic Functions
Enhancements
Embellishments
It’s tempting to build requirements vertically...
Allow users to add notes
Personal account
Business Requirements
Email a link to an article
Email multiple articles
Attach the whole article
as a PDF
Add / delete articles to a
list
Save articles to folders
Edit, Move, Rename Folders
Ability to email articles
Ability to save articles
Ability to find saved articles
Auto-fill search box
Search saved article titles
Search saved article full text
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Share notes and ratings with others
Ratings
Register for a personal account
Customize colors and
layout
Change password
Basic Functions
Enhancements
Embellishments
Good layering creates a fully functional system more quickly.
Allow users to add notes
Personal account
Business Requirements
Email a link to an article
Email multiple articles
Attach the whole article
as a PDF
Add / delete articles to a
list
Save articles to folders
Edit, Move, Rename Folders
Ability to email articles
Ability to save articles
Auto-fill search box
Search saved article titles
Search saved article full text
Ability to find saved articles
Add/edit notes
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Share notes and ratings with others
Ratings
Register for a personal account
Customize colors and
layout
Change password
Basic Functions
Enhancements
Embellishments
Starting basic is also important at the next level of granularity.
Allow users to add notes
Personal account
Business Requirements
Email a link to an article
Email multiple articles
Attach the whole article
as a PDF
Add / delete articles to a
list
Save articles to folders
Edit, Move, Rename Folders
Ability to email articles
Ability to save articles
Auto-fill search box
Search saved article titles
Search saved article full text
Ability to find saved articles
Add/edit notes
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
1st layer – Saved list of articles
Layered design example
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
2nd layer – Add navigation, article details, sorting
Layered design example
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Bi-focal design• Attention to framework, architecture, big picture • Deliver detailed design on very small aspects of system.
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Personas Use cases Sketches Wireframes User stories Process flow Prototypes
-and- Ad hoc – what the project needs now.
Many of these are familiar, but how youproduce them may change.
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
The Agile Manifesto“Working software over comprehensive documentation”
Austin Govella“There’s a dangerous, anti-deliverable meme lurking about that damages good teams.”
Anders Ramsay“UX designers continue to struggle with letting go of the deliverables mentality, the idea of UX being one of creating pretty-looking design artifacts before starting to create software.”
Deliverables– think lightweight!
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Try using “dirty deliverables” for some situations.
A basic site map – post its on butcher paper (courtesy of FatDUX)
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
FIG 2: My Saved Articles FIG 2 Notes:
1. Page title2. Count of all items in the list.
• Increments as items added• Decrements as items deleted
3. Link back to last set of search results
4. Sort options:• By date added – reverse chron• By date published – reverse
chron• Alphabetical by title
5. Checkbox to select all items in the list• Checking selects all items• Unchecking deselects all items
6.Articles. Each item includes:• Checkbox• Number in list• Citation – in same style as in
search results• Date added – DD Mon YYYY
12
34
5
6
Wireframes work well side by side with annotations
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Change how you work
Title: Article list view
User statement: As a researcher, I want to see a list of articles that I have selected during my session.
Acceptance criteria:
1. The page appears as in the wireframes.
2. The titles of all articles the user has selected during the session are listed in alphabetical order.
3. The articles are numbered.
4. Each article can be deleted from the list.
Wireframes: http://www.mywireframelink.com
Owners:
JMarkel – IA
JJones - DEV
SSmith – QA
Related Stories:1287 Link to article list from utility nav.
History/notes:
1. 1 Apr 2011, JMarkel - Story created
User stories – keep them short and precise. Link to details
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Conclusion
Do you really have to let go of perfection to be agile?
It’s not about perfect deliverables, it’s about working toward a highly usable product.
It’s a goal, not an end-state.
It’s a lesson we’re all still learning.
@crfarnum @SHRosenhan #WIAD
Bye
Questions?
Contact info:[email protected]
Slidesharehttp://www.slideshare.net/ChrisFarnum/
Special thanks to Joanna Markel and Carissa Demetris!without whose Agile know-how this presentation would not have been possible