Rapid UX Research for Agile

Bob Thomas aimed to introduce Rapid User Research Methods to Agile teams during his tenure as Director of UX Research at a Fortune 100 company. The traditional usability testing methods involved qualitative research where participants were recruited, and sessions were moderated using task-based scenarios. The feedback obtained from users was used to understand their needs, pain points, and preferences. However, this process took up to five weeks, which was not feasible for Agile teams that worked in short sprints.

To address this issue, Bob's team incorporated Lean UX Research Methods in 2015 to cater to the needs of Agile teams. The new approach focused on the experience under design, allowing rapid testing and validation of design ideas with real users. The team measured time in days instead of weeks and recruited participants based on a 5-to-10-question screener or from previous studies. Usability sessions involving 5-10 participants were conducted in one to two days, and Agile team stakeholders observed the sessions in real-time, writing single observations on sticky notes.

In a "Find the Problems" collaboration session, the UX and Agile teams worked together to group the sticky note observations into categories, label them, vote on the most important categories, and identify the highest-priority problems. Finally, a follow-up "Find the Solutions" collaboration session was held to identify and work out fixes for the problems found in the usability sessions. Despite the change in methodology, the UX team's ultimate goal was to understand their customers' needs by testing early and often. They believed that building user experiences based on subjective opinion would not result in a successful user experience. #RapidUserResearch #LeanUX #AgileTeams #UserExperience #TestEarlyAndOften