PROCESS
There are a million ways to get things done. Many of them lead to great user-centered products and happy teams.
Experience has told me that a healthy process enables great design, happy teams, and successful products. I'm always committed to finding the best way for a team to support, and be supported by, the goals of a project through good process.
A process can be as simple as a team's brief discussion about how they plan to get something done, setting expectations with each other, and then following through. It can also be a more robust framework with the same intent. A process shouldn't be a burden, stifle creativity, or be rigid. Processes are living parts of a team and should to be cared for, assessed for value, and evolved as needed.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."
~ Albert Einstein
USER-CENTERED DESIGN PROCESS
When a product is developed using user-centered design methods, the results are transformative. True user-centered design is built around user research and evaluated through user testing. Like all processes, there is no one-size-fits-all approach; there are many different ways to put the user at the center. See an example of a project where I used user-centered design.
UCD ACTIVITIES + DELIVERABLES
I've worked with a variety of clients and always adjust my process and deliverables to meet the needs of the client and team. My goal is always to provide the user-centered design services and deliverables that provide the most impact.
Research
Client Interviews
Competitive Audit
Surveys
Interviews
Observation
Expert Review
Analytics
Personas
Journey Maps
Ideate
Brainstorming
Sketching
User Flows
Use Cases
Prototype
Low/High Fidelity
Wireframes
Prototypes
Visual Explorations
Evaluate + Test
Usability Testing
Client Reviews
Team Reviews
Produce
Final prototype
UI/Visual
Design Spec
User Stories
Client Presentation
Dev Hand-off
UCD + AGILE DEVELOPMENT
User-centered design and agile work well together. The agile process best suited for a project depends on the design roles on the team, the presence of a client (agency model vs. corporate), the location of the development team (embedded or off-shore), and overall team and project size. I believe the single most important aspect of any agile process is the concept of a "shared understanding". User-centered agile processes allow the whole team to get a better understanding of the users. Communication and collaboration across roles is key to a good agile process and to a more robust and sustainable product.
A MILLION OTHER WAYS
Lean, agile, waterfall, agile-fall, startup, Kanban, rapid-iterative, get-it-done...they all come down to communicating responsibilities, activities, and deliverables within a team environment. In the absence of a formalized process, I've found that transparency and communication are key to keeping teams happy, productive, and efficient.