In this slide deck from our co-hosted on-demand webinar with iRise, Doug Brown, former VP Senior User Experience Designer at JPMorgan Chase and Manager of UI Engineering for eCommerce at DSW, discusses how he’s using and integrating best of breed tools to bring together requirements, Lean UX design, and the Agile development processes.

1. How a Top Retailer Brought
Together UX Design and Agile
Development
(and got it right!)

2. Meet The Presenters
Bryan Lipson
EVP of Product Management, iRise
Maury Cupitt
Sr. Director of Pre-Sales, Tasktop
Doug Brown
Former VP Senior User Experience
Designer, JPMorgan Chase and
Manager of UI Engineering
for eCommerce, DSW

3. Done cheaper
Improved Production Value
We All Want…
Done sooner
With fewer errors
Better User Experience
Higher Conversions
Better Documentation
Less wasted work
Better project
visibility
Fewer Roadblocks
Improved Collaboration
Clearer Role Responsibility

4. First Identify the Real Problem
• Make sure you know what
the question is before you
try to implement an
answer
• Understanding what we’re
trying to solve
• Defining how the solution
to our problem will be
built

5. We’re Similar But Different
• Real problem is bridging gaps between teams
• Managing requirements
• Handoff
• Communicating changes
• Lean and Agile are similar, but the people are different
• Different personality types
• Different objectives
• Different ways of thinking

6. Differences In Focus
Design / Business
Pressures
• Market windows
• User triggers
• Changing trends
• Advertising schedules
• Impromptu marketing
opportunities
Technology Pressures
• Technology constraints
• Existing work in pipeline /
bandwidth
• Enterprise strategies
• Timelines
• Cost of implementation

7. What is Design?
• Researcher
• Taxonomist
• Consultant
• Designer
• Technologist
• Negotiator
Infographic by Jonathan Lupo
Available for review online

8. What is Development?
• Implementation of a specific set of requirements
• Integration of technologies
• Presentation of user experiences
• Validation of product readiness (QA)
• Numerous technologies
• Back end (databases, fulfillment, etc)
• Middle tier (business logic, services)
• Presentation layer (user experience / data presentation)

9. Design Process
Strategy Launch

10. Design Process
User
Evaluate
Beta
Production
Design
Analysis
Research
Strategy Launch
Think
Make
Check

11. Design - Benefits
• Deep understanding of
user motivation / intent
• Interactions matching
user needs
• Detailed map of user
journey
• Functional alignment to
business objectives
• Complete requirements
before development

12. Traditional Design - Challenges
• Little involvement from
dev teams, creating
unintended technical
decisions
• Delays dev start for
considerable time

13. Lean Design - Benefits
• Faster dev start
• Iterative with developers
• More transparent
• More immediate user feedback

14. Lean Design - Challenges
• Trees vs Forest
• Turning requirements
into work
• Versioning

15. The Development Process
Initiate
(Requirements)
Launch

16. Client
Develop
Integrate
Test
Record
Changes
Prioritize
The Development Process
Initiate
(Requirements)
Launch

17. Agile Development
• Even Waterfall development happens iteratively
• Waterfall vs Agile is really a matter of how soon results
are seen outside development
• Plan for execution from most important to least
important
• Short cycles, typically two to four weeks
Agile development brings FOCUS

18. Agile Dev Process - Benefits
• Tighter management of
timelines and budgets
• Sponsors see progress in
tighter cycles and more
accurate spend rates
• Better information when
introducing changes
• Includes all disciplines
(Dev, UX, QA, Business,
etc.) when properly done

19. Agile Dev Process - Challenges
• Requirements authority /
business communication
• Email
• Excel
• JIRA
• Word Documents
• Which version is current?
• Translating requirements to
work

20. The Problem We Want To Solve
User
Evaluate
Beta
Production
Design
Analysis
Research
Strategy
Launch

21. It’s A Complicated Relationship
• Design and Development
have complex processes
• Each impact the other
• When done well allows for
proper feedback
throughout
• User input
• Technical decisions
• Business value
• Production readiness

22. Using Rapid Prototyping
• Dovetails perfectly with Lean Design
• Fast user feedback
• Transparency to business stakeholders
• Quick for review with developers
• Allows for high-level view of forest before designing
trees
• Iterative, working in sections
• A visual and experiential way to communicate
requirements

23. Requirements – The Big Ah-Ha!
• Relating requirements
directly to visual artifacts
• 1,000 words are mostly
adjectives
• Shorten time / reduce
waste by thinking deeper
about
• Flows
• Wireframes
• Visuals
• Functional Requirements

24. iRise for Design
• High-level flow diagrams
• Ability to start very low
fidelity
• High-fidelity interactions
• Sample data capabilities
• Requirements connected
directly to visuals
• Full collaboration

25. JIRA for Development
• Manageable Agile sprints
• Work estimation
• Full requirement details
• Process management and
transition
• Burn-down reporting
• Code repository
integration

26. User
Evaluate
Beta
Production
Design
Analysis
Research
Process Pain Point
Launch
Strategy

27. Bridging the Process Gap
TT-ID
Title
Description
Acceptance Criteria
Requirement
iRise Link
Author
Last Update
Comments
Ready for JIRA (trigger)
TT-ID
Title
Description
Acceptance Criteria
Requirement
iRise Link
Author
Last Update
Comments
All custom mappings!

28. Multiple Benefits Realized
• Improved traceability of
requirements
• Better definition of responsibilities
/ accountability
• Developers could easily find
prototype screens for reference
• Easy to review decision histories
• No additional work to get
requirements into backlog
• Rapid transition from design to
development

29. Lessons Learned
• Culture – Whole is greater than the sum of the parts
• Any team can make or break the process, regardless of the
tools used
• Don’t stray from agreed processes. Work together to
get past any learning curves.
• Your requirements are not as good as you think they
are
• And they are not an element in isolation
• Agile is not a magic bullet that allows for endless
change
• Have common understanding of “what does success

30. It’s All About Connectedness
• Don’t Panic!
• Remember to define your real problem
• Understand your processes and identify their
integration pains
• Use methods like prototyping to bridge gaps
• Use tools that fit your processes and can fit each other

32. Demo / Q&A