A presentation I gave to the Brisbane Web Standards Group in February 2009 on combining usability and agile practices in Suncorp.

1. Agile & Usability
Teale Shapcott
Teale Shapcott
Brisbane Web Standards Group
Thursday, February 26th, 2009

2. Hex: # 008080
RGB: 0, 128, 128
Teale
Tl

3. • Supplier of banking, insurance
& wealth management products
& lth t dt
to over 7 million customers.
• Australia’s 6th largest bank, 2nd
largest domestic insurance group
largest domestic insurance group
with 16,000 staff.
• 450 offices, branches &
agencies throughout Australia &
agencies throughout Australia &
New Zealand.
• Recognised brands: AAMI,
APIA, Shannons, Vero, Asteron,
APIA, Shannons, Vero, Asteron,
Tyndall & GIO

4. TACTICAL STRATEGY
Practice Re
P
Evangelising Usability
Activitie
Technical Playground
Defining Tools & Processes
Defining Tools & Processes
elated
es
Trend & Tech Research
Expert Evaluations
Project
Designing future product &
Delivering Funded Projects
Act
Service Experiences
tivities
t Focussed
Personas & Mental Models
Design Research
Guid
Stan
Interface Coding Standards
Interface Coding Standards
delines
ndards
UI Guidelines / Design Patterns
Workshops & Training

7. vs
End User Focus Customer Focus

8. vs
Upfront Design Incremental Design

9. vs
Paper Prototyping Working Prototypes

10. Implementation Implementation
vs
Independence Dependence

12. Agenda
• The case for combining Agile & Usability
The case for combining Agile & Usability
• Relationship Health Check
Relationship Health Check
• Shared values
• Practical application in Suncorp.

13. “ Agile is here to stay.
The economic
difficulties of the past
difficulties of the past
months have finally put
waterfall out of its
waterfall out of its
misery; now more
than ever, long
h l
requirements phases
and vaporous up‐front
documentation aren t
documentation aren’t
”
acceptable.
Cennydd Bowles
y
Getting Real about Agile Design
A List Apart, Dec 2, 2008

14. compelling
usable
useful
f

15. useful
usable
compelling
pg

17. Tension is in the air
air…

18. Lipsticking
the pig
th pig

19. Scoring goals with
sh r u
shared valuess ...

20. People centric values

21. Iterative Design values

22. vs
Iterative Design Incremental Design

23. Creative values

24. Delivery values

26. Business V l Generation & Risk Mitigation
Bi Value G i Ri k Mi i i
CONCEPT INITIATE DELIVER DEPLOY
Approx 1 week Approx. 2-4
Approx 2 4 weeks 2 weeks per Iteration Approx.
Approx 2 weeks
Aim: Identifying a technical Refines & validates the Ongoing Iterative Rapid and secure transition to
solution at a reasonable cost. solution. development of working the production environment.
software.
software.
Concept documentation
reviewed and refined Refinement & adaptation of
providing a solid foundation plans from initiate.
for development.
• Risk Assessments
Deliverables: • Focusing Question • Provision of infrastructure • Quick & secure deployment
• Issues Register
• Business Benefits for software production. of developed software into
• Value Stream Mapping
• Cost Benefits Analysis • Development & delivery of production or other required
• Story Card Identification
• Success Sliders
lid d d ifi i high quality working
hi h li ki environments.
i
• Story Card Prioritisation software.
• Story Card Estimation
• Release Planning

27. Deliver Surface:
Parallel Track Dev What will the finished product
Interface Prototype look like?
Usability Testing
bl
Seek out TOOLS
Initiate Skeleton: (features)
What components are needed
to help me complete
User Goals
for the site to be used.
for the site to be used
Task Analysis
T kA l i
my TASKS
Persona archetypes
to achieve my GOALS
Structure:
How will pieces of the site fit
How will pieces of the site fit
together & behave?.
Scope:
p
GOALS achieved
Strategy becomes requirements
– what features are needed?
By completing TASKS
Concept
C t Strategy:
High level Business goals.
High level goals I have GOALS
Jesse James Garrett’s Elements of User Experience

28. Scope Cost Time Quality Users Team
FIXED FIXED FIXED FIXED
FIXED FIXED
FLEXIBLE FLEXIBLE FLEXIBLE FLEXIBLE
FLEXIBLE FLEXIBLE

29. A useful, usable & compelling
A fl bl & lli
Design is a balance between
Customer End User
Goals
Gl Goals
Gl
Customer Goals & End User Goals
C G l &E dU G l
(concept) (initiate)
Modelling
(tasks, personas)

31. INVEST (I d d t N ti bl Valuable, Estimable, Small, Testable))
(Independant, Negotiable, V l bl E ti bl S ll T t bl

32. Must Have Should Have Could Have Won’t Have

33. parallel track development

34. feature scale
low cost
Necessity
What are the minimal characteristics of
What are the minimal characteristics of
the feature?
Flexibility
y
How can the feature be more useful in
moderate cost
other situations
Error Recovery
Error Recovery
Is this feature safe to use in terms of error recovery?
Performance
What will make this feature more desirable to use?
high cost

36. In summary
y
• Agile is here to stay!
•LLeverage the shared values between Agile
th h d l bt A il
& Usability for effective collaboration
• Combining usability & agile fosters
innovation & development of a useful,
innovation & development of a useful
usable & compelling product
• Encourage usability as a team sport
• Use personas to get everyone thinking
Use personas to get everyone thinking
about the same user
• Iterate rather than increment