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on February 10, 2014
This is a great introduction for UX specialists in Lean. Based on experience from the trenches the author adequately explains the paradigm shift from a cooperative attitude to a collaborative environment. The book contains valuable lessons in regards to Lean UX foundation, principles and processes. I especially liked the link to the Scrum framework because this is what most teams nowadays use.
I deducted one star because of:
> The statement to abandon the product road map instead of improving it by adding outcomes that clarify what feature sets suppose to deliver;
> The introduction of noise using hypothesis and syntax as placeholders for work instead of just using (spike) Stories which can also be considered "experiments";
> The last paragraph "A Last Word" that shows UX Researcher, UX Designer and UI Developer as lead roles in innovative product development instead of complying with Scrum and appoint the Product Owner as the lead with all other people in the role of Developers with special skills. According to me Apple is a interesting example of a company that was successfully lead by Steve Jobs as THE Product Owner with THE vision and will, according to me, struggle with UX designers now taking over.
Overall a good read to understand that we need to be team players.
I deducted one star because of:
> The statement to abandon the product road map instead of improving it by adding outcomes that clarify what feature sets suppose to deliver;
> The introduction of noise using hypothesis and syntax as placeholders for work instead of just using (spike) Stories which can also be considered "experiments";
> The last paragraph "A Last Word" that shows UX Researcher, UX Designer and UI Developer as lead roles in innovative product development instead of complying with Scrum and appoint the Product Owner as the lead with all other people in the role of Developers with special skills. According to me Apple is a interesting example of a company that was successfully lead by Steve Jobs as THE Product Owner with THE vision and will, according to me, struggle with UX designers now taking over.
Overall a good read to understand that we need to be team players.
on December 29, 2014
Loved it. Really straightforward easy to understand with great real-life examples and photos of how other companies, including some huge ones like PayPal, meetup.com, and Dropbox, implemented lean ux and the growing pains. Takes a lot of pressure off of designers and creates a more team-effort feel which is both scary (as I am a designer used to working in my little cave) and exciting. I rated 4 stars and not 5 because I would have liked some more detailed how-to's for the entire process, and not just the concepts. Like how to include everyone throughout while battling with their time and availability for their primary jobs, how to make executive decisions when needed without being a hero or breaking the process. When changes are too small to have meetings and collaboration over, etc. all these little uncertainties I have make it scary but he mentions in most of his real-life stories that perfecting the lean us process was also a process and isn't something that had to be perfectly executed the first time. I will be implementing this next month across the company and cities and am excited and a little sweaty to do it. :) this book makes me feel more prepared... But I'll still need to carry extra deodorant as I get started. :)
on August 12, 2013
Even though I am not directly involved in the UX world, most of our projects have at least one or more UX resources involved. Being a Scrum person in terms of execution, I've always struggled with how to best incorporate those UXers into the mix. This book not only lays out a much "leaner" approach than the typical User Centered Design (UCD) process, but gives real world examples on what this looks like in terms of a project setting.
Although I did find the chapter of integrating LeanUX + Scrum lacking (hence the 4 instead of 5 stars), the book itself was a wealth of knowledge for all readers (not just those involved in UX). It opened my eyes to cross functional teams where the UX resource will become more of a facilitator and the developers could easily assist with being research assistants, scribes, and partnering with the UXers.
It has spawned my interest in how I can better assist in reducing documentation and fixating on the end product.
Although I did find the chapter of integrating LeanUX + Scrum lacking (hence the 4 instead of 5 stars), the book itself was a wealth of knowledge for all readers (not just those involved in UX). It opened my eyes to cross functional teams where the UX resource will become more of a facilitator and the developers could easily assist with being research assistants, scribes, and partnering with the UXers.
It has spawned my interest in how I can better assist in reducing documentation and fixating on the end product.
on June 2, 2013
As you would expect for a book advocating a Lean approach the book itself is lean with about 125 pages of content. It packs a lot of ideas, guidelines, approach and examples into those pages. Although I would prefer more examples - included a start to finish one - it would be hypocritical to be more wordy as many books do (quantity vs. quality because someone assumes that you cannot charge 20+ bucks for a book under 200 pages). In other words, if you cannot describe a lean approach in a lean manner then are you really a lean practitioner? This book can live on as a reference for projects - being re-usable. If our UX designers do not use this collaborative / Agile-based approach when working with me, I will be questioning them and using examples and associated rationale from this book.
on March 18, 2013
The book is well organized and an easy read. I would say even if you are not focused on say Lean startup techniques, yet interested in removing waste as in the traditional Lean practices, then this is an essential read for Product Managers and Development team. I am highly recommending this to Product Owners and team members of Scrum teams as the Lean approach points to how one can get teams focused.
The book could have done with better proof reading as errors in terminology may put folks off yet there are excellent elements of such as having a hypotheses and essentially taking a Scientific approach in testing the hypotheses. So sure the four Agile values are incorrectly stated as principles, and no doubt in the abstract one can confuse values and/or principles. In fact they could have provided some treatment to the twelve Agile principles [...] in order to introduce a narrower set of principles as there are some overlapping principles. As someone already mentioned the 15 or so principles would have been better presented in a simpler form that is memorable.
The main thrust of the book is that early on in Software industry development was undertaken at the behest of someones best guess. Now, software development is no longer the new kid on the block and fortunately we now have tools and techniques learnt as a result of the past that pushes teams to be more deliberate with the choices they make versus a choice made in some ivory tower. Sure a higher level choice is made through company and product strategy. This hasn't trickled down as easily as one would imagine and Lean UX shows a way in how one can focus on flow of ideas all the way to customer realizing value based on customer feedback and frequent learning that teams engage in.
The book could have done with better proof reading as errors in terminology may put folks off yet there are excellent elements of such as having a hypotheses and essentially taking a Scientific approach in testing the hypotheses. So sure the four Agile values are incorrectly stated as principles, and no doubt in the abstract one can confuse values and/or principles. In fact they could have provided some treatment to the twelve Agile principles [...] in order to introduce a narrower set of principles as there are some overlapping principles. As someone already mentioned the 15 or so principles would have been better presented in a simpler form that is memorable.
The main thrust of the book is that early on in Software industry development was undertaken at the behest of someones best guess. Now, software development is no longer the new kid on the block and fortunately we now have tools and techniques learnt as a result of the past that pushes teams to be more deliberate with the choices they make versus a choice made in some ivory tower. Sure a higher level choice is made through company and product strategy. This hasn't trickled down as easily as one would imagine and Lean UX shows a way in how one can focus on flow of ideas all the way to customer realizing value based on customer feedback and frequent learning that teams engage in.
on November 25, 2014
The book was excellent. It helped me understand the Lean UX/Agile world. Now I have to figure out how to teach the concepts to college students who have neither UX or Agile experience.
I'm thinking I'll change the comparative viewpoint of "then" and "now" to a present day viewpoint of "this is how". Basically the students will never be exposed to BDUF but will learn Lean UX from the git go.
I'll be creating a session for our local Podcamp called "Start at B: Lean UX for non-UXers" that will profile my experience this spring in the classroom.
Thanks and wish me luck.
Todd O'Neill
Coordinator and Professor
New Media Communication program
Middle Tennessee State University
I'm thinking I'll change the comparative viewpoint of "then" and "now" to a present day viewpoint of "this is how". Basically the students will never be exposed to BDUF but will learn Lean UX from the git go.
I'll be creating a session for our local Podcamp called "Start at B: Lean UX for non-UXers" that will profile my experience this spring in the classroom.
Thanks and wish me luck.
Todd O'Neill
Coordinator and Professor
New Media Communication program
Middle Tennessee State University
on January 21, 2014
Though this book might be consider by many as a simple read, the ideas presented are by no means simple to implement. It is targeted at all the stakeholders across the entire value chain, and thus must be generalized to a certain degree. That is it's greatest strength.
Experienced UXer's will likely know much of what is presented here, however achieving a shared understanding across an organization both horizontally (value stream) and vertically (management layers) for most companies involves a radical mind-shift.
This book can help open a dialogue with those stakeholders who may not have the time to study these things in depth but still have a major stake in the game. It uses brevity to provide clarity to an idea that many still only understand peripherally. At 120 pages, your manager, developer, product owner, marketer, teammate or CEO can read it in a day or two, though I might suggest they take their time to let the full picture sink in a little deeper.
Experienced UXer's will likely know much of what is presented here, however achieving a shared understanding across an organization both horizontally (value stream) and vertically (management layers) for most companies involves a radical mind-shift.
This book can help open a dialogue with those stakeholders who may not have the time to study these things in depth but still have a major stake in the game. It uses brevity to provide clarity to an idea that many still only understand peripherally. At 120 pages, your manager, developer, product owner, marketer, teammate or CEO can read it in a day or two, though I might suggest they take their time to let the full picture sink in a little deeper.
on April 1, 2013
Been waiting for this one. I could not believe it took so long to be released - a good solid year after I first heard about it at South By Southwest. Seemed ironic that a book about "Lean" would take so long to release!
I ate this book up. It came along at a great time, my UX team is reevaluating our process, and I am navigating my relationship with a born again "agile" development team.
Years back, I moved upstream from front-end development and started a career in usability and UI design, and I much of the credit to Steve Krug's classic, "Don't Make Me Think". I see parallels here I believe will propel "Lean UX" a into a must-own classic. It is concise, well written and easy to read in an afternoon (or a "long plane ride", if you will!). It is full of current, yet time-tested thinking that spells out an easy to implement process that you can get up and running in short order.
Lean UX is a common sense approach, with a focus on collaboration, iteration & proving out ideas by getting design ideas quickly into the field. This book will likely inspire you reconsider your existing product development process.
I'm recommending this book to everyone on my team, and to colleagues across other functions as well.
Now, stop reading reviews and order this book already.
I ate this book up. It came along at a great time, my UX team is reevaluating our process, and I am navigating my relationship with a born again "agile" development team.
Years back, I moved upstream from front-end development and started a career in usability and UI design, and I much of the credit to Steve Krug's classic, "Don't Make Me Think". I see parallels here I believe will propel "Lean UX" a into a must-own classic. It is concise, well written and easy to read in an afternoon (or a "long plane ride", if you will!). It is full of current, yet time-tested thinking that spells out an easy to implement process that you can get up and running in short order.
Lean UX is a common sense approach, with a focus on collaboration, iteration & proving out ideas by getting design ideas quickly into the field. This book will likely inspire you reconsider your existing product development process.
I'm recommending this book to everyone on my team, and to colleagues across other functions as well.
Now, stop reading reviews and order this book already.
on February 19, 2014
Solid concepts to integrate. I'm working to develop this type of working pattern with my team. The advice tends to stay a little vague but the examples are excellent and the ideas are important and prove relevant in my day to day working as a Senior UX designer at ProQuest. I am still resolving what it looks like to build Lean Methods in the creative process (and all the extensions that a UX designer becomes responsible for) but this book is definitely worth reading if you are currently in a UX role. I would argue, however, the language is a little more focused to UX designers and people new to UX should probably learn more about that job function elsewhere. Reading this book would just make it harder to get started in UX as it's more about improving upon existing practices that it takes the assumption you already know.
