Collaborative product design : working better together for better UX

UX designers today can piece together several frameworks and have a new website or app up and running in a matter of days--as long as everyone on the project has the same vision, that is. Implementing a product is no longer a problem, but collaboration often is. This practical guide provides tools and activities to facilitate collaborative design on UX design teams. Author Austin Govella, an Experience Director with Avanade Digital, introduces a series structured activities to help teams develop good collaboration habits. Along with incorporating a set of soft skills, your team will learn how to hack the structure of your design process and working sessions in order to facilitate better design collaboration. This book gives you the tools you need successfully collaborate on design with any kind of team in any kind of organization. You can launch a new app or website in days by piecing together frameworks and hosting on AWS. Implementation is no longer the problem. But that speed to market just makes it tougher to confirm that your team is actually building the right product. Ideal for agile teams and lean organizations, this guide includes 11 practical tools to help you collaborate on strategy, user research, and UX. Hundreds of real-world tips help you facilitate productive meetings and create good collaboration habits. Designers, developers, and product owners will learn how to build better products much faster than before. Topics include: Foundations for collaboration and facilitation: Learn how to work better together with your team, stakeholders, and clients Project strategy: Help teams align with shared goals and vision User research and personas: Identify and understand your users and share that vision with the broader... Collaborative Product Design 4 Contents 6 Preface 13 I Design and Collaboration 19 1 The Elements of Design: Think-Make-Check and the Four Models 22 Think, Make, Check: What Designers Do 22 Design’s Four Concerns: Users, Interfaces, Interactions, and Systems 26 2 Fidelity: Check the Right Things with the Right People 33 Fidelity Changes What’s Included in the Model 33 The Model’s Fidelity Affects Iteration 43 Think-Make-Check Means Design Requires Collaboration 45 3 The Elements of Collaboration: Shared Understanding, Inclusion, and Trust 47 Share Understanding, the First Principle of Collaboration 48 Include Everyone, the Second Principle of Collaboration 51 Trust Everyone, the Most Important Principle of Collaboration 54 Collaboration Is the Key to Better Products 60 4 Collaboration in Practice: Frame, Facilitate, and Finish 63 Collaboration Is Its Own Problem 63 Collaboration Has a Repeatable Structure 64 Collaboration Starts with a Frame 65 Finish Collaboration with a Captured Outcome 67 Facilitate Collaboration Through Four Steps 69 Formal and Informal Collaboration 76 Design and Collaboration, All Together Now 78 II Project Strategy 80 5 The Strategic Landscape 83 Strategy Is About Change 84 Drivers Explain Why to Change 85 Barriers Explain What Blocks Change 86 Goals and Getting to the Future State 88 Innovating at the Right Altitude 92 Focus Teams on the Right Goals 94 6 Identify Project Goals with Goal Mapping 96 How Goal Mapping Works 96 Activity 1: Generate and Share Everyone’s Project Goals 99 Activity 2: Group Goals to Find Common Themes 107 Activity 3: Prioritize Project Goals 112 Identify Goals in Casual Conversations 118 Shared, Prioritized Goals Fuel Better Teams 118 7 Identify a Concrete Vision for Success 121 How Future-State Envisioning Works 121 Activity 1: Generate Issues That Exist in the Current State 125 Activity 2: Generate Successes That Exist in the Current State 129 Activity 3: Generate Concrete Visions of What People Do in the Ideal Future 131 Activity 4: Map Metrics to Future Behaviors 137 Vision Focuses the Team on Success, not Features 141 8 Document and Share Project Goals and Vision 143 Document Goals to Provide Important Context 143 Document Vision to Show the Big Picture 145 Check the Goals and Vision with the Team 146 Teams Need to Constantly Reference Goals and Vision 147 III Users 149 9 Users and User Research 152 Personas vs. Profiles vs. Roles vs. Archetypes 152 Tasks, Contexts, and Influencers 153 Motivations, Goals, and Jobs-to-Be-Done 156 Project Goals Reveal the Attributes Your User Model Needs 161 Select Research Methods Based on User Attributes and Project Goals 164 Good User Models Evolve With the Product 167 10 Identify Users with the Bull’s-Eye Canvas 170 How User Identification Works 170 Activity 1: Generate Direct Users 173 Activity 2: Generate Indirect Users 176 Activity 3: Generate Extended Users 179 Build the Right Product for the Right User 183 11 Explore User Attributes with the Profile Canvas 185 How the User Profile Canvas Works 185 Activity 1: Generate Tasks and Contexts 188 Activity 2: Analyze Tasks to Identify the User’s Goal 191 Activity 3: Generate User Pain Points 196 Activity 4: Generate User Gains 199 Explore User Attributes to Build Better Products 203 12 User Needs and Preferences with the Attribute Grid 206 How the Attribute Grid Works 206 Activity 1: Generate Attributes to Reveal the Landscape 210 Activity 2: Refine Attributes to Remove Noise 218 Activity 3: Understand Patterns and Outliers in User Behaviors 227 Activity 4: Review to Build Shared Vision with Broader Team and Stakeholders 234 The Attribute Grid Lays the Foundation for Personas 236 13 Document and Share User Models 239 User Models Answer Four Different Questions 240 Two Types of User Models: Rationales and Guidelines 241 User Models Come in Three Formats 243 Three Ways to Communicate User Attributes 245 Five Other Things to Include in User Models 255 Show Multiple Users Side-by-Side 257 Focus on a Single User with One-Sheets 263 Share User Models in Other Ways 264 Make User Models in the Format You Will Review Them 266 User Models Are Powerful Reference Tools 266 IV Interactions 268 14 Elements of Interactions 270 Three Types of Interaction Models 270 Touchpoints Have Four Building Blocks 272 Length, Depth, and Point of View 276 Phases and Moments of Truth 279 As-Is or To-Be, Looking Forward and Back 280 Tailor Interaction Models to Project and Team Needs 281 15 Identify What to Build with Touchpoint Maps 284 How Touchpoint Maps Work 284 Activity 1: Clarify the Scenario 287 Activity 2: Generate Tasks 289 Activity 3: Refine Tasks and Sequence 297 Conversations Around Touchpoint Diagrams 299 Touchpoint Maps Reveal Discrete Parts of the Experience 302 16 Understand How Products Fit Together with Journey Maps 304 How Journey and Experience Maps Work 304 Activity 1: Generate Touchpoints 307 Activity 2: Analyze the Journey’s Structure 312 Activity 3: Explore Touchpoints in Detail 319 Journey Maps Reveal Secrets to Better Products 323 V Interfaces 324 17 The Visible and Invisible Parts of an Interface 327 The Four Visible Parts of an Interface 328 The Invisible Parts of an Interface 337 The Invisible Parts of the Interface Are Most Important 338 18 Design Interfaces with 4-Corners 340 How 4-Corners Works 340 Activity 1: Identify the Interface User 343 Activity 2: Identify the User’s Task 347 Activity 3: Identify the Next Step 350 Activity 4: Identify the Previous Step 353 Activity 5: Identify Interface Content 357 Activity 6: Identify Functionality 366 4-Corners for Wireframes, Mockups, and Prototypes 370 4-Corners for More Than Just Screens 371 4-Corners Creates a Shared, Holistic Vision of the Interface 372 19 Strategies for Sketching Interfaces 374 Activity: Group Sketching to Create a Single, Shared Vision 374 Activity: Individual Sketching to Reveal Competing Perspectives 379 Activity: 6-8-5 Sketching to Generate Multiple Directions 382 Additional Things to Think About When Sketching 385 Trust Others to Make Interfaces on Their Own 387 20 Choose the Right Interface Model: Wireframes, Comps, or Prototypes 391 Five Types of Interface Models (and the Actual Product) 391 Five Kinds of Interface Fidelity 398 Three Ways to Make Interface Models 405 Different Models Support Different Interface Fidelity 406 Use the Lowest Fidelity Possible to Reduce Iteration Time 408 Adjust Fidelity for Your Audience 411 VI Checks 418 21 Checks (and Balances) 420 Checks Start with the Finish 421 Frame the Check 424 Facilitate the Check 428 Transform Feedback into Gold 432 Stick the Finish 435 Keep the Faith 436 Index 438 You can launch a new app or website in days by piecing together frameworks and hosting on AWS. Implementation is no longer the problem. But that speed to market just makes it tougher to confirm that your team is actually building the right product. Ideal for agile teams and lean organizations, this guide includes 11 practical tools to help you collaborate on strategy, user research, and UX. Hundreds of real-world tips help you facilitate productive meetings and create good collaboration habits. Designers, developers, and product owners will learn how to build better products much faster than before. Topics include: Foundations for collaboration and facilitation: Learn how to work better together with your team, stakeholders, and clients Project strategy: Help teams align with shared goals and vision User research and personas: Identify and understand your users and share that vision with the broader organization Journey maps: Build better touchpoints that improve conversion and retention Interfaces and prototypes: Rightsize sketches and wireframes so you can test and iterate quickly