Lean UX: applying lean principles to user experience
is a book published by Jeff Gothelf together with Josh Seiden. Jeff is a globally-recognized, New York-based product designer who has led cross-functional and Agile development teams across environments such as AOL and Publicis Modem. He explores how there are times when we strive to encourage productive collaboration between UX designers and developers. It’s not always simple. The UX specialist develops a vision for the monitoring tool, and we utilize these images as a jumping-off point for internal debate to identify the most important criteria to focus on. However, a developer’s face may twist in horror upon seeing the images. “What on earth were you thinking?” This is a classic example of “Big Design Upfront,” and it is a total misconception! So, there comes the need for cross-functional collaboration in product development.
These are the main things that I learned from “Lean UX”:
Collaborative and cross-functional – The design team operates in its own little bubble since most businesses keep them apart from everyone else. However, Lean UX integrates designers to a larger collaborative process in which every team member contributes to design as a means of overcoming this. In essence, it infuses design thinking across all the stakeholders. Having a large group of individuals brainstorm with you is one way to increase the number of potential solutions. Gothelf emphasizes the value of having “one product team” collaborations, where the product manager, developers, designers, and any other stakeholders cooperate closely on the creation of the product. Therefore, it’s vital to get a consensus among your co-workers around the product objectives you’re attempting to attain.
Measuring outcomes – The measuring of progress in terms of results is one of the core tenets of Lean UX, instead of focusing merely on deliverables. Choosing which product concepts are worthwhile of your attention requires the most effective testing. Trimming the fat will guarantee that more resources are allocated to the working items. The efficacy of features can only be demonstrated after they have been released, according to Gothelf’s argument. Therefore, he advises a strategy that focuses on precise, predetermined results. This strategy also allows you to test your product features as you build them against these desired results.
Design in small batch sizes – Gothelf advises teams to stay away from working with large “inventories” of untested and incomplete design concepts, in keeping with the principles of Agile and Lean. I agree with Gothelf that working in little batches instead, utilizing the release of each small batch to learn and develop, is more successful. However, I think that such a concept may be visualized through some basic sketches or a more intricate design. Then, this may be divided into manageable chunks that can be worked on. Any design done in advance should, in my opinion, only be used as a starting point for certain features to be worked on and to get input on the path you’re considering taking.
Design based on assumptions – Gothelf applies the theory of validating assumptions for user experience in his book Lean UX. Instead of getting too caught up in fixed features, focus on testable assumptions. More specifically, he advises testing the riskiest hypotheses first since “the bigger the risk and the more unknowns involved, the higher priority to verify such hypotheses.”
Test your assumptions using hypotheses – The formulation of hypothesis statements as a tool to test or validate assumptions was perhaps the part of Lean UX that I found most helpful. A hypothesis statement is a more specific, testable version of the first assumption. These theories can be used to test a particular product area or workflow. The market signals that assist us confirm or refute these ideas are outcomes. Although they can also be qualitative, these signals are frequently quantitative.
“Lean UX” is a thorough and extremely useful book, in my opinion. The book offers a distinct break from more conventional ways of thinking about how user experience and interface design should be included in product development. Jeff Gothelf emphasizes the value of “collaborative design” in Lean UX, involving all stakeholders as early as feasible. He presents a compelling argument for cross-functional product teams that create solutions iteratively while continually seeking to validate certain assumptions.
