Lean UX, 2nd Edition

Part III. Lean UX in Your Organization

Integrating design into Agile development is never easy. Sometimes, it causes a lot of pain and heartache. Jeff learned that first-hand when he was at TheLadders. After spending some time trying to integrate UX work with an Agile process, Jeff was feeling pretty good—until one morning when his UX team delivered the diagram shown in Figure III-1. This diagram visualized all of the challenges the team was facing as they tried to integrate its practice into the Agile environment. It served, initially, as a large slice of humble pie. Ultimately, though, it provided the beginning of conversations that helped Jeff, his UX team, and the rest of TheLadders’ product development staff build an integrated, collaborative practice.

Figure III-1. The UX team at TheLadders expressed their feelings about our Agile/UX integration efforts

In the years since this diagram was created, we’ve been fortunate to work at a consulting firm that we helped found. At Neo, the work we did with companies spanned a broad range of industries, company sizes, and cultures. We helped media organizations figure out new ways to deliver and monetize their content. We built new, mobile-first sales tools for a commercial furniture manufacturer. We consulted with fashion retailers, automotive services companies, and large banks to help them build Lean UX practices. We worked ...