LEAN TEAM - Bill Scott

Lean UX Anti-PatternsBehaviors & Happenings that can stifle collaborationSilicon Valley Code Camp 2012Bill Scott@billwscottSr. Director UI EngineeringPayPalOctober 2012

What’s wrong with UX design process?๏ Became a deliverables-based practice instead ofexperience-based practice๏ Results in tons of waste when coupled with waterfallmethodologies๏ Even with agile development, the design process is stillwaterfall

The Lean UX Process

Lean UX & Agile DevelopmentUSABILITY USABILITY USABILITYUSABILITY USABILITY USABILITY USABILITY USABILITY USABILITYLEAN UX STREAMClose collaborationbetween product,design &engineering.Refines customersolution. Focus ison rapid learningfrom usabilitystudies. Not ondelivery. Does notfollow the agile/scrum model.PM UEDUIEUIE STREAM(S)DEV STREAM(S)SPRINTUEDPMPMSPRINTSMDEV*SMSPRINT*UIEAgile Streamhardens the UI codefor production worksclosely with devteams and otherstreams. This is theSPRINTdelivery track for theexperience..SPRINTLEANTEAMSCRUMTEAMSDeveloperstreams focusedon non-UIE SPRINT(backendsystems,services, APIs,application flows.

Reinventing PayPal๏ At PayPal we are transforming the culture๏ Moving from a culture of a “long shelf life” and longdelivery times for product to a LeanUX way of working๏ Several products in flight that follow LeanUX

Reinventing ExperiencesLean UX - building products like startups)Product/Design team UI Engineers Usability/CustomersWhiteboardto codeCode toUsabilityAnd backagain...๏ Shared understanding๏ Deep collaboration๏ Continuous customer feedback

The Anti-PatternsSo you are off to form lean teams. What could go wrong?

GeniusDesignerAll design emanates from anhuber designer. Team doesn’tcollaboratively participate indesign/ideation.Solution: Keep the inspirationof genius designer but bring inothers to brainstorm. Focus onMVP (minimal viable product) totest with customersimmediately. Critical to buildteam success early.

Tribal GroupsWhen a team is very smallmembers are forced to workacross disciplines. As soon asteam gets bigger, tribes reformaround disciplines.Collaboration stops.Solution: You have to keepteam reasonably small. Andthe leaders in each disciplinemust form a tribe that worksacross disciplines.

The StrangerLean teams will form sharedunderstanding. However, whennew team member joins weassume this hard earnedunderstanding will just happen.Solution: The team mustimmediately stop and initiatethe newcomer. Be patient,answer questions, resetvocabulary and enjoy the newvoice in the team.

Bad HabitsTeams will often make a goodstart by trying out newbehaviors and seemingly leaveold behaviors behind. Beware!Old habits will creep back in.Solution: You must do it longenough and be successfulwith LeanUX to ensure teammembers internalize the newhabits.

The NaysayerWith collaboration so importantit is key to believe in theprocess to create greatproducts. A single naysayercan bring the team down in aninstant.Solution: The naysayer musteither learn new techniques orleave the team.

The VisitorInput from outside the team isessential. However, watch out.People cycling in & out of theteam can cause the samedisruption that the Strangeranti-pattern causes.Customer trumps visitor. Takeinput. But test early and oftenwith customers. That is theonly “visitor” that ultimatelymatters.

The MagicToolDesign & prototyping tools canaccelerate ideation and design.However, be careful, tools thatempower prototyping canenable designers to work inisolation.Solution: Use tools as meansto collaborate. Never revert to“delivery” model of design.

Going DarkWhen a developer, productmanager, or designer goesdark for more than a day (ortwo) the team is losing valuablecollaboration.Solution: Working in isolation isnecessary from time to time.However, limit to short periodsof time. Make work constantlyvisible.

Change ofCadenceChange of cadence is actuallya good and normal happening.However, whenever the rhythmchanges it can bringproductivity down.Solution: Prepare the team forthe change and quickly getfocus and re-establishcadence.

Too ManyCooksWhile lots of cooks are great,the work needs to be dividedup among different types ofcooks (Chef de cuisine, Souschef,Chef de partie)Solution: Have clear decisionmakers in each discipline andhave specific roles (you canalso rotate these functions).

Not EnoughPizzaWhen a team suddenly scalesup in size the team is in dangerof losing cadence, sharedunderstanding and focusSolution: Keep teams to 2-pizza size. Clear lines ofresponsibilities and laser focusfor the team must bemaintained.

Tower ofBabelShared understanding is key toLeanUX. However, it is easy toassume too quickly that teammembers are speaking thesame languageSolution: Always ask, “what doyou mean by x?”. Alwaysensure other disciplinesunderstand your jargon.

You Got MailEmail is a necessary form ofcommunication, however it isnot collaboration. Teams canrevert to email overcollaboration. Also, geographicallydistributed teamscan fall into delivery overcollaboration.Solution. Utilize high bandwidthcommunication (face to face,skype, telepresence, magicwhiteboards, phone, etc.)

Inmates areRunning theAsylumThis is from Alan Cooper’sclassic book of the same title.When engineers drive designthe inmates are running theasylum.Solution. UI engineers mustpartner with product/designand get out ahead of backendengineers.

ThePerfectionistNot embracing the challenge ofthe unknown, the perfectionistwill not share their work till it isperfect. Easy for designers tofall into this trap.Solution: Engineers must notjudge rough designs, insteadthey should use asspringboard for collaboration.Designers must realize iterativewill yield better designs.

The WeakestLinkWorking in a lean environmentmeans working in closeproximity and transparency.Team members who aren’t upto this challenge or not solidtalent can really cause a teamto stumbleSolution: Talent acquisitionmust match this style ofproduct delivery. Must havefreedom to replace talent.

The WallWalls between teams canhappen when• We allow Tribes to form• We see the other teams asseparate delivery factories• Geo-distributed teamsSolution: Always work in smallteams, collaborating notdelivering and build sharedunderstanding.

Tangled upTechnologyUnless the technology stack isbuilt to have a clear separationfrom experience & services thelean team cannot make rapidprogress. Watch out when devteams care too much aboutthe specific version of the UI.Solution: Key patterns are tobuild services, APIs and CLIs.Keep the services & UIseparate.

More Info๏ Jeff Gothelf - The LeanUX Advocatehttp://www.jeffgothelf.com/blog/๏ LeanUX Articlehttp://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2011/03/07/lean-ux-getting-out-of-the-deliverables-business/๏ Article I wrote back in 2010 on principle of sharedunderstandinghttp://52weeksofux.com/post/2403607066/building-ashared-understanding

Picture Creditshttp://www.flickr.com/photos/wuschl2202/531914709/sizes/o/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_ninjamonkey/3565672226/sizes/z/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/funky64/4367871917/sizes/z/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/emdot/9938521/sizes/o/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregory_bastien/2565132371/sizes/z/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/trvr3307/3703648270/sizes/z/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/legofenris/5426012042/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/cleaneugene/6866436746/sizes/c/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/66309414@N04/6172219058/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicmcphee/2954167050/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/pasukaru76/6151366656/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/brianmitchell/2113553867/sizes/o/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciscel/422253425/sizes/z/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/zebble/6817861/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/nicasaurusrex/3069602246/sizes/l/in/photostream/http://www.flickr.com/photos/nathangibbs/98592171/sizes/z/in/photostream/

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