The constant change in our digital world requires one thing above all else—flexibility. Due to the constantly changing market, the demands placed on our software solutions are becoming increasingly complex. More than ever before, the focus is on the user, and the days when software was simply expected to fulfill its purpose are long gone. In order to develop a product that is both useful and applicable for the target group, agile methods are essential for companies such as BREDEX. Some of these processes, which we implement in our projects on a daily basis, form the basis for Lean UX.
Think, Make, Check
Lean UX combines start-up mentality with agile development methodology and creates new approaches that greatly improve both the usability and user experience of a product. The focus is on interdisciplinary collaboration and experimental learning. Three interlocking areas of user-centered development lead to successful Lean UX: Lean Startup, Scrum, and Design Thinking.
Lean Startup
According to the Lean Startup method, everything is initially a hypothesis and must be tested. The entire team learns through experiments with users from the existing usage context, rather than conducting in-depth user research in advance. Lean UX derives the hypotheses to be tested from interviews with stakeholders, for example. These are then questioned in subsequent contextual interviews or usability test sessions. Positive results are just as valid as negative ones, because both possible outcomes are the basis of experimental learning.
We know from experience that many aha moments or new ideas arise when hypotheses that were considered correct have to be discarded in favor of newly gained insights. The resulting iterative process enables us to get to know the market and the needs of the user better and to adapt the product accordingly.
Scrum
With the help of Scrum, small work packages are implemented in interdisciplinary teams in so-called sprints and repeatedly subjected to quick usability tests, the results of which are then incorporated into the next sprint. This iterative approach delivers lean, rapidly developed product versions that may still be incomplete but gather important user feedback on behavior and usability. The goal here is to create something that has a positive effect on user behavior, rather than simply implementing a feature.
Design Thinking
The third area of Lean UX concerns design thinking, a solution-oriented way of thinking that focuses on holistic understanding. After thorough analysis, creative solution finding is given free rein and then adapted to the problem context based on rational considerations.
Conclusion
Lean UX is a logical consequence of the transformation of our digital world and a revolutionary collection of methods that brings us and the software we develop closer to the customer and significantly increases the usability of a product.
The implementation of the corresponding practices, principles, and values is initially very unfamiliar to many project teams. However, rapid testing and close customer involvement create opportunities on both sides that should not be underestimated. The key users of the software, who work with the delivered product on a daily basis, ultimately have a product that is tailored precisely to their needs and takes their wishes into account. On the other hand, the risk of going down the wrong path for too long and thus investing too much time and money that would not have been necessary is minimized.
Based on our experience, we can only report positive things about working with Lean UX and see agile methods as an essential cornerstone of the future of software design.
Autor
Magdalena Maciejko
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