Agile/Lean UX

Hey UxDers,

Hope everyone is enjoying this atypical March weather!

Last week, Najla and LaiYee hosted an agile/lean UX session with CUxD. Najla presented on the agile development process based on her summer experiences, and LaiYee talked about lean UX after having attended the Agile UX conference in New York City a few weeks ago. Following their presentation, CUxD members tried out the agile process for themselves by attempting to redesign the notorious Cornell “student center” while indulging in pizza (kudos to our treasurer Ashley)!

Najla went through the entire agile process and its benefits: as opposed to the more traditional “waterfall” method, agile development minimizes overall risk, promotes adaptability, allows for less documentation, and permits coders to spend a lot more time face to face. She also introduced us to the logistics of sprints and tasks, and a wealth of new vocabulary involving scrum boards and scrum masters!

Najla teaching us the difference between "waterfall" and "agile" methodologies

LaiYee then taught us about lean UX’s focus on the testing experience itself rather than the more traditional emphasis on the flows of documentation, and how the development team is involved in testing as well as the more traditional emphasis on the customer.

"Lean UX focuses on testing the experience itself, not the flows of documentation"

After their talk, we split into two teams and followed the epic epic (pun intended!) “student center redesign.”

Brainstorming stories: "As a student, I want to enroll in my courses quickly so I can go back to sleep"

Drawing the task of pre-selecting courses the night before... if only...

Team 1's scrumboard and burndown chart: success!

Thanks again to Najla and LaiYee for sharing their expertise with us!

Susie Forbath

CUxD Publicity and Social Media Chair | Portfolio | Twitter | LinkedIn