Methodology

Target the right thing, design it right, and build it right – now, do it continuously.

We execute lean and agile design thinking to maximize the UX value stream delivery in a continuous tri-track deployment framework. Our model staggers observation, analysis, and insight management with design planning, ideation, and execution for just-in-time story, screen, and component delivery mapped to product delivery timeframes in a continuous integration framework.

Our team deploys user-centered design methodology and UX Ops against all models that support the software development life cycle with a laser focus: make it usable, make it useful, and make it desirable.

Our research, strategy, and design methods can be structured in fluid and agile discovery, sprints, and deployments as well as robust waterfall projects.

Agile UX

Win fast, win early, win often… and if you fail… Fail Forward. Bringing innovative products and features faster to market doesn’t have to suffer the cost of low user acceptance and user blowback, and if or when it does, recovery and management should be in place to keep moving forward. Our Agile UX processes can generate quick wins, managed through backlogs that you can hit at your own pace.

Our Agile diagram shows how standard UX phases fit seamlessly at every level of the agile development.

The user-centered design (UCD) activities shown below are activities and artifacts we tailor to work effectively within an iterative, agile software development environment. Our practice is adaptable, allowing us to engage and provide value at any stage in the agile development lifecycle.

DISCOVERY

User Analysis & Segmentation
Contextual Inquiry
UI Requirements Gathering
Task/Activity Model
Branding
Moodboarding

RELEASE

User Analysis & Segmentation
Surveys
Focus Groups – Group Interviews
Card Sorting
Competitive Analysis
Expert UX Evaluation
UI Requirements Gathering
Task/Activity Model
Workflow Modeling

SPRINT

Surveys
Focus Groups – Group Interviews
Card Sorting
Workflow Modeling

DISCOVERY

Multi-Channel Strategy & Management
Content Strategy
Taxonomy Definition & Management
Content Inventory & Audits
Governance & Life Cycle Management
Enterprise Data & Content Migration
User Experience Strategy

RELEASE

Taxonomy Definition & Management

SPRINT

UI Mockups
Iconography Design

DISCOVERY

RELEASE

Diary Studies
UX QA / Development Support
Usability Testing (remote or in person)

SPRINT

Diary Studies
UX QA / Development Support
Visual Asset Production
Usability Testing (remote or in person)

Waterfall UX

Today, most companies are practicing some hybrid form of Waterfall and Agile, “Wagile or Water-gile”.

We get it. It takes business process reengineering, change management, and infrastructure tweaks to shift gears.

Our original methodology was designed to support the traditional waterfall software development lifecycle, but the process can be tailored to move in lockstep with any style of development.

Fortunately, our team has been practicing user centered design long enough to see it all. While we may make suggestions on process improvement, we won’t try to force you into scrum-mastering and sprint-tastic-a-liciousness.

Whether your emphasis is in research, product, engineering, or marketing – our focus is the right user centered design model that to meet your needs. Our adaptable set of tasks and deliverables can plugin to your projects at any phase of development through to product release.