A version of my Rapid Product Design in the Wild talk at Agile Iceland 2014. http://www.agileisland.is How do you know you're developing the right product? This talk will help you think creatively about how to do customer development using Agile and Lean User Experience methods. I share what we learnt about using rapid, iterative prototyping techniques to develop a minimum viable product at a software conference. In August 2012 we attended Kscope, a conference for Oracle developers. Instead of doing the usual product demonstrations, we turned our stand into a live lab and took Agile development processes out of the office and in front of our customers. Our stand included an area for customer research, a Kanban board and information radiators in the form of a whiteboard, blank wall and a large digital screen. Over 3 days we ran 9 sprints and conducted 25 customer interviews, using a paper prototype to get feedback. We collected invaluable information about our customers' development environments, how they work with their teams, their processes, tasks and pain points. By the end of the conference my colleague had developed an interactive HTML/CSS prototype which potential customers could evaluate. The team went through several rapid build-measure-learn cycles to improve our product concept and validate the market need. Opening up our development process at a trade show provided visitors to the stand with an opportunity to experience Agile and Lean methods first-hand.

1. Rapid product design in the wild!
Agile Iceland 2014!
Michele Ide-Smith | @micheleidesmith

2. Red Gate makes tooling for .NET, SQL and
Oracle databases @micheleidesmith

3. “To
make
excellent
products
that
truly
understand
our
users’
contexts,
we
must
look
further,
and
inves:gate
context
first-­‐hand” Cennydd Bowles! @micheleidesmith

4. agilemanifesto.org @micheleidesmith

5. What makes you visit an exhibition stand
at a conference? @@micheleidesmith
micheleidesmith

6. agilemanifesto.org @micheleidesmith

7. “By the time the product is ! “Marketing that itself !
ready, it will already have! improves peoples lives.”!
established customers.”! ! Bob Gilbreath!
Eric Ries @micheleidesmith

8. “We wanted to make sure we were getting customer
feedback as we worked so that we were never working on
anything that wasn’t valued by the customer.”!
Nordstrom Innovation Lab @micheleidesmith

9. “if you’ve struggled to figure out how UX design can
work in an Agile environment, Lean UX can help.”
Jeff Gothelf, author of Lean UX
@micheleidesmith

10. !
• Continuous discovery!
• Shared understanding!
• GOOB (Get Out Of the Building)!
• Externalising your work
@micheleidesmith
Lean UX principles we followed

11. Hypothesis: Oracle Developers & DBAs need a
better way to source control their database schemas !
>70% interest – develop a tool a.s.a.p.!
@micheleidesmith

13. 9 (mini) sprints, 3 days, 1 prototype
@micheleidesmith

14. Making our processes transparent
@micheleidesmith

15. 25 feedback sessions with users
@micheleidesmith

16. Paper prototyping
Lo-fi prototypes Easy to are get quick feedback and and easy quick to to change
change
before you commit to code! @micheleidesmith

17. Feedback went directly into the HTML/CSS
prototype, using Twitter Bootstrap @micheleidesmith

18. Helped build personas People returned to see the feeanddb aa taclkki ng point!
throughout the conference @micheleidesmith

19. The Empathy Map helped us understand
customer needs @micheleidesmith

20. We fixed pain points and learned about
customer needs continuously @micheleidesmith

21. Sketching out processes and environments
identified real-world scenarios and pain points
@micheleidesmith

22. It’s was all about communication…
@micheleidesmith

23. …and collaboration
@micheleidesmith

24. Keep the conversation going @micheleidesmith

25. Surveys to test hypotheses @micheleidesmith

26. Remote usability testing and interviews @micheleidesmith

27. Releasing functionality early and
getting feedback @micheleidesmith

28. “Source Control for Oracle is a huge time saver… It
doesn't remove the need to version control, but it takes
the tedious steps out of the picture. I am blown away! “!
Lewis Cunningham, Oracle ACE Director
@micheleidesmith

29. Testing the prototype
“The live lab was a wonderful idea. I enjoyed
participating in it and can't wait to see the finished
product. Let me know if you need a beta tester.”!
Christoph Ruepprich, Oracle Developer @micheleidesmith

30. We worked collaboratively, as a
‘balanced’ team. @micheleidesmith
30

31. 31
We made great things happen!
@micheleidesmith

32. October 2013 - I joined the University of Cambridge
and Lean UX principles were introduced @micheleidesmith

33. The team collaborated on user research and
design @micheleidesmith

34. But I noticed a few things weren’t
going so well…
@micheleidesmith

35. www. s l i d e s h a r e . n e t / b i l l w s c o t t /
antipatterns-that-stifle-lean-ux-teams
35
Hat tip to @billwscott
Beware Lean UX anti-patterns!
@micheleidesmith

36. Too many cooks. Keep the team small to
ensure collaboration and team focus. @micheleidesmith
36

37. Tribalism. Boundaries between separate
functions start to creep back into the team. @micheleidesmith
37

38. Going dark. Sometimes you need to work alone.
But not at the expense of team collaboration. @micheleidesmith
38

39. !
• Continuous discovery!
• Shared understanding!
• GOOB (Get Out Of the Building)!
• Externalising your work
@micheleidesmith
Lean UX principles we followed

40. Continuous discovery
@micheleidesmith

41. Shared understanding
@micheleidesmith

42. Getting out of the building
@micheleidesmith

43. Helped build personas Externalising your work and a talking point!
@micheleidesmith

44. Michele Ide-Smith!
Design Team Manager!
University of Cambridge!
!
@micheleidesmith
Questions?
Thank you!
@micheleidesmith

45. Flickr User Image Credits !
!
Kevin.Cochran: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevincochran/4276052636!
Wonderlane: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderlane/2907868429!
Prayitno: http://www.flickr.com/photos/34128007@N04/5279860498!
Paigggeyy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paigggeyy/5533236567!
Lolly man: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lollyman/4424552903!
Lolly man: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lollyman/4424553767!
Notix: https://www.flickr.com/photos/notix/383037676!
Kaptain Kobold: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/5181464194!
Nur Hussein https://www.flickr.com/photos/nhussein/3863456505!
Dave Ware: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brickwares/3899001922!
mac_filko: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mac_filko/5471039165!
Chris: https://www.flickr.com/photos/oblongpictures/5250948891!
@micheleidesmith