Jared Spool published a great article yesterday titled “Essential UX Layers for Agile and Lean Design Teams”.
Jared talks briefly about proliferation of agile approaches in software design and user experience (UX) design and contrasts that to the Big Design Up Front approaches of the past, he then goes further in describing, not only User Stories, but several other layers of UX design and how each layer differs in scope and purpose from the other layers.
we frequently saw the successful teams talking about these other layers all through development. When a team member would produce a deliverable or design sketch that wasn’t quite matching the direction that the other team members imagined, the team would step back and talk about the other layers, trying to figure out where the disconnect came from. Because the team established the layers together, based on research they jointly conducted, they found it easy to collaborate on creating coherent experiences that regularly delighted their users.
It’s a great read, and I highly recommend heading over to the UIE site and reading the full article. You might also consider subscribing to the UIE podcast BrainSparks.
If you’ve never heard Jared Spool speak live, he’s a great presenter and is always thought provoking and memorable, I have the privilege of presenting at the same conference as Jared in July, The Big (D)esign Conference is July 14th – 16th
