Over the past couple of years, we refined our agile and collaborative design process to reduce feedback loops and include our clients in the design process. The outcome is our current method, which we call D3: Deep Dive Design.
Prior to D3, we used a communication-intensive process where we involved clients and users in the input and output of each design iteration: vision, usability metrics, stories, tasks, requirements, brainstorming, sketches, wireframes, and visual designs. The earlier and more frequently we communicated, the better quality designs we got, and the happier clients and users were.
We then thought about raising the communication bar further, and wondered what it would be like to have clients as active participant in the design process. So we decided to spend four days on-site with our clients. During that week, we meet with the marketing, business and engineering team members, and we worked on the following:
- Day 1: Vision, success metrics, user research and stories.
- Day 3: Task flow and requirements
- Day 4: Ideation and brainstorming
- Day 5: Design explorations and sketching
Together, we create persona cards, storyboards, flow diagrams, high level requirements, idea backlog, and lots of design sketches. The process is typically recorded and notes/sketches are captured for further refinement.
The outcome of the Deep Dive week is a set of sketches that we iterate on, and use as input for the interaction and visual design stages. Because we are agile, we divide our engagement into small contracts that are scoped and estimated separately. This reduces risk on both sides, and eliminates the need to have change orders applied to statements of work.
The deep dive method has the following advantages:
- Hearing our clients share their dreams, their vision and motivation proved to be a great bonding exercise. Being on the same page is the best starting point. We fully get the WHAT and the WHY behind the project, and we become part our client%u2019s story.
- Our design process becomes fully transparent to the client. They learn our language, and they later use the same vocabulary to communicate feedback and requests.
- The client gets a very good idea about how the design vision aligns with the rest of the product, and insights into many of the design detail that will be delivered over the following weeks.
- We found that everyone in the client%u2019s team can be a great design thinker, if they are placed in the right environment and provided with the right tools and vocabulary to express their ideas. They see how easy it is to capture ideas in crude sketch format, and how to express designs visually and effectively.
- Team members go home with hands-on design training that they continue to use going forward.
- D3 is ideal for scrum and agile teams as they get to see the big picture while working on the detail. They don%u2019t just remember feature designs; they remember users and stories as well. Later on, they use personas and stories to reference features that they are working on.
- Because the process leverages everyone%u2019s input, all team members see their contributions in the final design.
- Everyone%u2019s feedback is immediately considered, and alternative designs are created on the spot if one design direction proves to be technically challenging.
- At the end of the week, everyone is more excited about getting started with the prototyping process. We start the week on the same page: the problem, and we wrap it up also on the same page: the solution.
its like first year undergrad work but this visualisation makes a very concise description of the design process. In this case, minimal pain, plenty of gains.
P.S : there are many things in the world that requires detailing & research in the unknowns. But we need not overdo it in most cases. Hope I've made sense.
0 comments:
Post a Comment