In an agile environment, establishing usability and user experience as the responsibility of the UX team is destined for conflict and frustration. Learn how transferring this ownership onto the cross-functional team ultimately responsible for delivering the experience builds trust and empowerment and ultimately provides an environment that fosters collaboration, growth and innovation. This presentation will discuss the evolution of incorporating UX into agile at AppFolio, the roles and makeup of our development teams as they exist today, and some examples of how those teams collaborate around design solutions when tackling big feature enhancements on our mature product.

1. J.J. Kercher | Director, User Experience
@jjkercher
SELF-ORGANIZED,
AUTONOMOUS UX

2. UX
M A G I C
ABOUT ME

3. DESIGNER TO
ENGINEER, A DIALOGUE
Images shamelessly stolen from Allie Brosh, Hyperbole and a Half
hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com

4. “Hey Engineer, wanna collaborate??!!”

5. …too busy
…wrong timezone
…why do you care?

6. Sooooo

8. Three months later…

9. …yes but it’s what
you asked me
to build! but, but…it’s broken!

10. Which makes me all….

11. X

12. A portfolio of SaaS applications to help small and mid-
sized businesses improve their workflow so they save
time and make more money.
ABOUT APPFOLIO

13. UNDERSTANDING THE
APPFOLIO CULTURE

14. ✦ Founded by technology leaders
✦ Engineering-centric culture
✦ Agile shop since the beginning
✦ Adopters of the Four Steps to Epiphany and Lean
Startup ideology
✦ Ease of use already a core value and the #1 competitive
advantage
THE PRE-UX APPFOLIO LANDSCAPE

16. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
Working software over comprehensive documentation
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
!
Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
Responding to change over following a plan
Working software over comprehensive documentation
THE AGILE MANIFESTO
Psst…this conflicts
with traditional UX!

17. 1. Drive: UX practitioners are part of the customer or product
owner team
2. Research, model, and design up front - but only just enough
3. Chunk your design work
4. Use parallel track development to work ahead, and follow
behind
5. Buy design time with complex engineering stories
6. Cultivate a user validation group for use for continuous user
validation
7. Schedule continuous user research in a separate track from
development
8. Leverage user time for multiple activities
9. Use RITE to iterate UI before development
10.Prototype in low fidelity
11. Treat prototype as specification
12.Become a design facilitator
http://agileproductdesign.com/blog/emerging_best_agile_ux_practice.html

18. COMMON “AGILE UX” PRACTICES
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
Product Owner
Feature
Developers (includes QA)
Develop
Test
Release
UX Team (includes front end dev)
Research Design Validate Iterate Stakeholder
Approval

19. COMMON “AGILE UX” PRACTICES
User Story
User Story
User Story
User Story
Product Owner
Feature
Developers (includes QA)
Develop
Test
Release
UX Team (includes front end dev)
Research Design Validate Iterate Stakeholder
Approval

20. PUTTING IT ALL INTO
PRACTICE

21. Research

22. ResearchCollaboration
Rite Method Usability Testing
+
Mob Designpaper prototype prototype prototype prototype5 users 3 users 2 users 4 users

23. Research +
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries

24. Research
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
What is User Research Friday?
UR Friday is a monthly meeting designed to expose the engineering team at
AppFolio to user research. We aim to:
promote empathy for our customers
foster ownership of usability
Each meeting focuses on one broad topic to encourage participation and
engagement across the different product teams. User Research Friday harnesses
the natural tendency of engineers to analyze, interpret, and derive their own
insights from available data.
Motivation
The user experience team at AppFolio continually seeks new, agile ways to communicate
customer insights and empower developers to make design decisions informed by
research.
In addition to usability testing, how else can we engage developers in the ongoing
discussion about our customers’ evolving needs?
The idea of a ‘User Research Day’ has been suggested to us via different conferences,
blog posts, and books. The usual suggestion is to show usability tests on a weekly basis. At
AppFolio, we are experimenting with different formats to showcase different types of
user research that can help inform development decisions.
This poster describes the purpose, structure, and outcomes of our first 3 User Research
Fridays at AppFolio, Inc.
User Research Fridays
A UX Ritual to Engage Agile Teams in
Peripheral Customer Insights
Custom Reports
Summary Reports
Other Reports
Help
Help center
Overview
APM Customers - Technology
Listings (no apply) - Techno…
Apply Only - Technology
Tenant Portal - Technology
Owner's Portal - Technology
Apply Conversion
Apply Conversion (Test)
Apply Only - Technology
Advanced Segments Edit Email Export Add to Dashboard Shortcut
vs.
Sort Type:
Operating System Browser Screen Resolution Screen Colors Content Viewed
Usage
Primary Dimension: Operating System
All Visits % of visits: 1.48%
All Desktop % of visits: 0.97%
Phone % of visits: 0.40%
Tablet % of visits: 0.11%
Visits Select a metric
Visits ( )All Visits Visits ( )All Desktop Visits ( )Phone Visits ( )Tablet
Jan 8Jan 15Jan 22Jan 291,0001,0002,0002,000Tuesday, January 22, 2013Visits (All Visits):1,363Visits (All Desktop):929Visits (Phone):359Visit
Visits Unique Pageviews
38,456
% of Total: 1.48% (2,604,638)
72,076
% of Total: 0.42% (17,180,209)
25,338
% of Total: 0.97% (2,604,638)
52,927
% of Total: 0.31% (17,180,209)
10,383
% of Total: 0.40% (2,604,638)
14,512
% of Total: 0.08% (17,180,209)
2,736
% of Total: 0.11% (2,604,638)
4,637
% of Total: 0.03% (17,180,209)
All Visits
All Desktop
Phone
Tablet
Secondary dimension Default
Reporting Customization
APM - -
Filtered View (Excludes Most Employee Data)
Edit Custom Report
General Information
Title
Report Content
Filters - optional
and
and
and
+ add filter
Profiles - optional
Current Profile 'Filtered View (Excludes Most Employee Data)'
Additional Profiles
Save Cancel
Operating System Browser Screen Resolution Screen Colors Content Viewed
Name
Type Explorer Flat Table Map Overlay
Metric Groups
+ Add metric group
Dimension Drilldowns
+ add metric
Visits Unique Pageviews Avg. Visit Duration
Pages / Visit
+ add dimension
Page
Page
Destination Page
Destination Page
Destination Page
Include Regex
Exclude Regex
Exclude Regex
None
Problem Statement
How do we use analytics to gain insights into our
products? The best way to understand is to use an
example: Our web analytics tell us that 30% of people
access our online rental application from a mobile device.
We wondered:
Which mobile devices do people use (phones,
tablets)?
What are some ways to optimize the online
application for a better mobile experience?
Structure
We demonstrated to the team how to create custom
segments using Google Analytics. Customer segments
show the percentages of people using tablets, smart
phones, and desktops to view the online application.
Goals
Developers understand how to derive customer insights
from analytics data, and how these insights can inform
product development.
Outcome
Developers learned how we use analytics data to
identify opportunities for improving our products
Developers understand how to read and evaluate the
monthly analytics reports we generate
Google Analytics
Segmentation Demo
Conclusion
UR Friday has given our developers the chance to:
Observe user behavior through tools like ClickTale and
Usertesting.com
Analyze customer behavior via Google Analytics
Listen to customers speak about their experiences
Regardless of personal preferences for different types of
data or modes of communication, the developers now
know how each type of data drives insights into the
customer experience. Meanwhile, the UX team discovered
that if we remove ourselves as interpreters/gatekeepers
of customer insights and instead put the data in front of
the development team, we could better facilitate a direct
flow of information from customers. After all, the most
compelling insights are the ones you discover for yourself.
Applicant General Info Payment Info Verify Confirmation
*Name
*Email Address
Phone
Note: Please provide at least 3 years of residential history.
*Address
Rental Application Echo Properties 949-555-5555
Contact Information
Current Address
First name M Last name
Home Phone Work Phone
Cell Phone
Address 1 Address 2
City State Zip
Applicant General Info Payment Info Verify Confirm
Feature-Specific User
Research Highlights
Problem Statement
Our web analytics indicate that only 20% of people who
view our online rental application actually complete and
submit the application. We can also see that 1 out of 4
people get an error message on the first page of the
application. We wondered:
What errors are people making?
How can we increase conversions?
Structure
We recorded users completing the online rental
application using two tools: ClickTale and Usertesting.com.
The team watched highlight reels from both tools then
compared and discussed their observations.
Goals
Developers witness customer behavior and frustration
with the online application.
Outcome
Developers:
Learned about two new data-gathering tools available
to the team
Identified opportunities for improving the online
application
Gained understanding of the problem space
Can make informed updates the next time they are
touching the online application
Poster Authors
Kate MacCorkle, Usability Analyst
J.J. Kercher, Senior Interaction Designer
Problem statement
Our app is complex, and our support queue is increasingly
overwhelmed by customer support requests.
How are customers using the existing Help &
Training Materials?
What are the opportunities for improving
the Help & Training experience?
Structure
We hosted a GoToMeeting with 3 remote users to discuss
their experience with Help & Training. In addition to
developers, we invited representatives from our services
team and our training guru. Everyone had the
opportunity to talk directly to the customers and ask
questions.
Goals
Developers and customer service reps talk directly with
customers about their workflow, highlights and pain
points.
Outcome:
Developers learned what help & training we offer and
how users access the resources
Customer service reps gained ideas for optimizing the
voicemail system and insight into why some users
submit multiple support requests
Training guru realized the importance of “searchability”
of help topics
Live Customer Panel
with Developers
3 Methods We’ve Tried...
What would you try?

25. Research
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”

26. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”

27. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Customer Interviews
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
Usage Analytics
Design Studios

28. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
Design Studios Prototype Validation

29. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
Design Studios
UX/Engineer Design Pairing
Prototype Validation

30. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
Design Studios
UX/Engineer Design Pairing
Prototype Validation

31. Research
Collaboration
+
Rite Method Usability Testing
Customer Interviews
Contextual Inquiries
“User Research Friday”
Usage Analytics
Design Studios
UX/Engineer Design Pairing
Mob Design
Design Patterns Team
Prototype Validation
Sketching/Wireframes
Support Requests
User Forums
Competitive Analysis
“UX Award”
Lean Experiments

33. OUR UX VALUES
Adapted from Agile Experience Design, Ratcliffe & McNeill 2013
! Inclusive
rather than Elitist
"
# ◎
Emergent with direction
rather than up front
Integrated and collaborative
rather than handed over the fence
Considerate of customer, business,
and technology needs
rather than biased towards a single factor
2014 winner!
design for experience awards | union of design and engineering

34. Facilitation Exercise
FUN
Break!

36. HOW OUR TEAMS
WORK TODAY
Case Study: Mobile Inspections

37. Scrum Team Scrum Team
Product
Manager
Agile
Coach
UX
Designer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer

38. Engineering “College”
Engineering
Director
UX Research
Facilitator
Scrum Team Scrum Team
Product
Manager
Agile
Coach
UX
Designer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Scrum Team Scrum Team
Product
Manager
Agile
Coach
UX
Designer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
QA
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer
Software
Engineer

39. The dedicated UX lead on a small, cross functional scrum team
responsible for prototyping and validating design solutions made
in collaboration with Software Engineers, QA Engineers and the
Product Manager.
!
!
!
The UX support lead responsible for inspiring user-centered
design on the scrum teams through exposure to user insights and
facilitation of collaborative design activities
UX ROLES
UX
Designer
UX Research
Facilitator

40. PROCESS (BIG FEATURE RELEASES)
Adapted from “The Product Design Sprint” http://robots.thoughtbot.com/the-product-design-sprint

45. iterate iterate iterate iterate

46. PROCESS (BIG FEATURE RELEASES)
!
Project Kickoff
Competitive Analysis
Review Feedback
Contextual Inquiries
Audience Profile
!
Competitive Analysis
Review Feedback
Individual Sketching
!
Design Studio
Identify Themes
Prototype Sketch
!
UX Prototype
Test Plan
Recruiting
!
Prototype Testing
Dev Prototype
Iterate
Pair/Mob Designing
Increased Fidelity
Alpha/Beta
Customer Interviews
Adapted from “The Product Design Sprint” http://robots.thoughtbot.com/the-product-design-sprint
Backend Planning and Research: Architecture, Frameworks, Etc.

47. Our Values
• User Empathy
• Collaboration
• Facilitation
• Empowerment
• Education
What we are NOT
• Product Owners
• Deliverers of Polished Designs
• The Sole Owners of Product Usability
IN CONCLUSION

48. J.J. Kercher | Director, User Experience
@jjkercher
GOOD TALK :)
pssst…we’re hiring! ux.appfolio.com/jobs