Achieving UCD within Agile

Melissa Federoff

Usability Team Manager

A success story from salesforce.com

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Goals of this Talk

Overview our User Experience team’s transition to Agile

Offer hints at strategies for success

Simple FactsUX at salesforce.com

salesforce.com: An easy place to get inspired

Salesforce.com is the enterprise cloud computing

company

• Software as a service model (we host the infrastructure and data)• Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application & platform• 59,300 customers | 1.5 million subscribers | 3,600 full-time employees

UX at salesforce.com: Where creativity & collaboration rule 

An ever growing team:

• Design: Visual Designers, Interaction Designers• Research: Usability Analysts, User Researchers

Simple FactsMoving to Agile

Why the move to Agile?

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Features Delivered per Team

Days between Major Releases

Features Delivered per Team

Key differences with Agile

FACE TO FACE check-ins daily increases visibility

TEAM DRIVEN decisions increases accountability

TIME BOXED development increases predictability

INCREMENTAL releases manageability

6 months later…

Survey Question % of all Technology that agreed

% of UX that agreed

Is agile making your team more effective?

80 30

Agile will maintain or improve the quality of our products.

78 42

Since the rollout of agile, I am having a good time.

52 23

Key Problems

Assigned to too many teams (too many meetings!)

Timelines too tight

Difficult to design complex enterprise features in segments

18 months later…

Survey Question % agreeMarch 2007

% agreeMarch 2008

Is agile making your team more effective?

30 73

Agile will maintain or improve the quality of our products.

42 86

Since the rollout of agile, I am having a good time.

23 86

Simple FactsTransitioning to Success

Key Problem #1

Assigned to too many teams (too many meetings!)

Key Solution #1

Change resource allocation

Shared Resources

How many scrum teams do you belong to?

1 team,

15%

2 teams,

15%

3 teams,

15%

4 teams,

38%

5 or more

teams, 15%

Office Hours

Predetermined time and

location where scrum

teams without designers

can stop by for advice

Key Problem #2

Hard to design complex features in segments

Key Solution #2

Parallel design & development

Parallel Design

Design ahead while developers are

working on back end features

image from Agile case study by L. Miller, 2005

Key Problem #3

Difficult to get feedback to feature teams in time

Key Solution #3

Maximize research efficiency

Rapid Iterative Testing & Evaluation (RITE)

image from RITE case study by M. Medlock, 2002

Simple Facts3 Years Later… Are we done?

Continued Evolution

Improving communication and clarity of results

Assessing Utility early, before Usability

Bringing users into Sprint Reviews

Simple FactsConclusion

Key Takeaways

UX can be incorporated into Agile successfully

Constant adaptation and flexibility are required

There are lots of success stories to learn from!

Simple Facts Q&A

p.s. We’re hiring!!

User Experience of Enterprise Software

1. Designing International Enterprise SoftwareJanaki Kumar, Daniel Rosenberg, Paul Hofmann, Michael Arent, SAP Labs, United States.

2. From Research to Product: Integrating Treemaps into Enterprise SoftwareJoseph Goldberg, Jonathan Helfman, John Beresniewicz, Oracle USA, United States.

3. Successful User Experience in an Agile Enterprise EnvironmentMelissa Federoff, Catherine Courage, salesforce.com, United States.

4. Customer Boards as Vehicles of Change in Enterprise Software User ExperienceAnna Wichansky, Oracle USA, United States.

5. A Retrospective and Prospective View of Information Technology Professionals’ Use of Tools: Maturing the User ExperienceCandace Soderston, Microsoft Corporation, United States.

6. Crafting Contemporary Enterprise Application User ExperiencesJeremy Ashley, Misha Vaughan, Oracle USA, United States.

7. Designing for the Next Generation: Generation-Y Expectations Patanjali Venkatacharya, Sean Rice, Lulit Bezuayehu, Oracle USA, United States.