Ways of Working
Have a new project or initiative starting?
Instead of getting overwhelmed, we have some highlights from a few different working methodologies to help you. With this knowledge, you can understand the lingo other managers use, analyze their methods, and emulate their best practices.
Agile
Agile is an iterative approach to project management and software development that helps teams deliver value to their customers faster and with fewer headaches. Instead of betting everything on a big launch, an agile team delivers work in small, but consumable, increments. Requirements, plans, and results are evaluated continuously so teams have a natural mechanism for responding to change quickly.
Inclusive Design
Inclusive Design is a methodology, born out of digital environments, that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity. Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives.
Human-Centered Design
Human-centered design (HCD) is a term product creators use to describe a process of designing for people. HCD develops solutions to problems by involving the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process.
Agile
Intro to Agile
A group of software development experts developed the basics of the Agile System over 15 years ago. They created a new way to deliver value to and interact with consumers that featured four key aspects:
Project managers must value individual interactions over systems and tools.
Software should work well and not require extensive documentation.
Teams and customers should collaborate, not haggle over contracts.
Companies must prioritize responsiveness over rigid adherence to plans.
Instead of creating detailed specifications for end products at the beginning of an endeavor, Agile managers only identify priorities. As their teams work towards their goals, these managers remain flexible, communicate with all stakeholders, and change product requirements whenever necessary.
The Agile PM methodology suits businesses that seek to quickly and consistently provide products to consumers. Software development companies prefer this “light-touch” management style which facilitates rapid production cycles.
With this system, team leaders can create responsive and transparent workplace cultures. By sharing responsibility with their team members, they can optimize their awareness of and reactivity to market trends and changes in demand.
Agile teams work in short “sprints” or burst of work. Team leaders quantify each of these sprints as small, deliverable units. Teams stay motivated by working on series of small, fast projects (such as software updates) and tracking their progress.
Companies increase their responsiveness to customer demands and changes in the marketplace. Software companies, for example, create Agile teams to rapidly adjust their offerings to new challenges like emerging platforms and operating system updates.
Agile Project Management
Instead of creating detailed specifications for end products at the beginning of an endeavor, Agile managers only identify priorities. As their teams work towards their goals, these managers remain flexible, communicate with all stakeholders, and change product requirements whenever necessary.
The Agile PM methodology suits businesses that seek to quickly and consistently provide products to consumers. Software development companies prefer this “light-touch” management style which facilitates rapid production cycles.
With this system, team leaders can create responsive and transparent workplace cultures. By sharing responsibility with their team members, they can optimize their awareness of and reactivity to market trends and changes in demand.
Agile teams work in short “sprints” or burst of work. Team leaders quantify each of these sprints as small, deliverable units. Teams stay motivated by working on series of small, fast projects (such as software updates) and tracking their progress.
Companies increase their responsiveness to customer demands and changes in the marketplace. Software companies, for example, create Agile teams to rapidly adjust their offerings to new challenges like emerging platforms and operating system updates.
Scrum
Scrum teams meet for monthly Scrum sessions in which they break down their projects and deliverables into 15- or 30-day chunks, called “sprints.” By working toward these small increments, teams avoid the process overwhelm typical of other PM methodologies. By re-prioritizing their efforts each month to meet consumer demand, they can stay flexible and motivated – increasing both productivity and customer satisfaction!
Dev teams often apply the popular Scrum variation of Agile Project Management. Managers find Scrum easy to implement and very effective in addressing issues affecting software development teams.
Team members enjoy the way Scrum helps them untangle complex development cycles, redefine end goals during a project cycle, and get quality products to market very quickly.
In this system, no one holds the title of “project manager.” Instead, they split up their responsibilities by taking on certain roles: ScrumMaster, product owner, and team member:
Scrum Master
The ScrumMaster (despite their impressive-sounding title) does not take on the title of manager or team leader. This person oversees the Scrum process, not the job itself. They ensure everyone on the team communicates well on daily projects, eliminates distractions, and clears obstacles in the group’s path.
Product Owner
This person, either a key user or a marketing expert, gives the team a consistent vision of their initial goal: to meet customer needs. Because a team’s concept of their end product can change as they work, the Product Owner performs a vital “grounding” function.
Team Member
Teams meet daily to discuss their completed work and identify any roadblocks to further progress. The Scrum Master agrees to deal with these roadblocks; the Product Owner collaborates with the team to optimize product targeting.
The Scrum Method works best for small teams that work together in one environment and focus on only one project at a time. It facilitates open communication and creativity, as well as rapid development/testing cycles.
Scrum works especially well when teams have substantial support from upper management, in the form of open financial and time budgets.
Extreme Programming (EP)
Like all Agile systems, Extreme Programming focuses on teamwork and customer satisfaction. It features five basic tenets:
Communication
Simplicity
Feedback
Respect
Courage
Extreme Programming teams work in shorter sprints typical for Agile/Scrum companies. These shorter cycles allow them to maintain rigid task structures. EP teams don’t embrace as much flexibility as other Agile teams, undertaking tasks in a strict priority order.
The EP methodology mandates specific engineering practices such as test-driven product development, automated testing, simple and elegant design, refactoring, etc. Experts recommend teams begin with Scrum and adopt EP slowly as they determine their own best practices and engineering protocols.
Adaptive Project Framework (APF)
The Adaptive Project Framework allows Agile teams to work with optimal flexibility and epitomize the idea of “agility.” Sometimes teams must improvise their systems and protocols as they work, due to roughly-defined goals and outcomes.
The APF framework best suits unique challenges which don’t call for one size fits all solutions. This approach empowers teams because they aren’t expected to blindly follow pre-ordained scripts.
In this model, clients work directly with Agile teams and select the exact features they need in finished products. Consumers appreciate not having to accept products that meet some, but not all, of their needs.
Similarities between Agile Methodologies
Regardless of the flavor of Agile you choose, they all share certain commonalities. Agile teams:
Maintain clear project objectives, though final product may change as they work.
Work in iterative cycles, constantly evaluating their results.
Optimize their deliverables to meet consumer needs.
Collaborate continuously with each other, stakeholders, and customers.
Agile and Kanban
Originally developed by Toyota in the 1940s, Kanban means “signal card” in Japanese. This method relied on Kanban cards, which indicate the need to reorder certain supplies. Many managers consider Kanban a Lean Manufacturing system because it eliminates wasted time and resources. In short, Kanban makes companies “lean and mean.”
Many project managers use Kanban concepts in conjunction with Agile methods. The genius of Kanban is “on-demand” production, in which customer orders “pull” items through a production facility.
This idea replaces the traditional method of producing large amounts of products and warehousing them in anticipation of an estimated demand. In a software development setting, this idea of customer demand powering a system fits hand in glove with Agile.
In the workplace, Kanban teams originally visualized their workflow as cards moving from left to right across a Kanban board. They grouped tasks and projects into broad categories:
In Queue (a U.K./Commonwealth term meaning “in line”)
In Progress
Recently Completed
Modern Agile/Kanban managers use virtual “cards’ to represent units of work flowing through their systems. By engaging visually with their workflow, team members and managers can easily estimate and prioritize upcoming tasks.
When assigning new tasks (inspired by customer demand), executives use Kanban boards to assess a team’s current workload. They can easily estimate the effects additional tasks would have on a team’s current productivity.
The Agile/Kanban hybrid project management methodology works best for small teams that work in a single, shared location. Even people who work independently find this PM method useful.
Human-Centered Design
Intro to Human-Centered Design
Human-Centered Design is a process, mindset, and approach to solving complex problems. It’s a process that starts with the people you’re designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs. Human-centered design is all about building a deep empathy with the people you’re designing for; generating tons of ideas; building a bunch of prototypes; sharing what you’ve made with the people you’re designing for; and eventually putting your innovative new solution out in the world.
What distinguishes Human-Centered Design from other problem-solving approaches is its obsessive focus on understanding the perspective of the person who experiences a problem, their needs, and whether the solution that has been designed for them is truly meeting their needs effectively or not. At its most effective, the very people who experience a problem the most are a constant part of the design process and when possible, become part of the design team itself.
While the Human-Centered Design process has many forms, the model we describe has 5 key phases.
Phases of Hunan-Centered Design
Empathize
The foundational principle of Human-Centered Design is that you should truly understand the people who experience a problem before you design a solution to serve them. Empathy is about understanding the problem by immersing yourself in the community that will be affected by your design.
Designers spend time talking directly with those who experience a problem, observing how their environments work, and consulting experts on the issue to fully grasp all the challenges that need to be overcome in order to create a solution.
This stage, and the design process as a whole, is about asking questions instead of making assumptions about why things are the way they are. Those who can adopt a “learner’s mindset” when approaching problems that affect other people will have the greatest success in creating solutions that make an impact.
This is the most important part of the process, focusing on participatory action research — not just documenting the user, but engaging them in the brainstorming, modeling, and prototyping as well.
Define
This step helps set up the rest of the process. After learning as much as you can about the issue you’re looking to solve, define the problem by focusing on the key action that you want to accomplish. Most often people try to define problems as a mix of problem and solution. Some examples of the statements we’ve heard are “We need more money.” “We need to pass a law.” “We need to build more jails.”
These statements are bad examples of how to define a problem. As a Human-Centered designer, you should always be asking /why/. Why do we need more jails? What are we really trying to accomplish? The answer might be something like, “We need a way to maintain public safety.” That’s the real problem you want to focus on. The way you define the problem is important and should be phrased in a way that allows for creativity in how it could be addressed.
With this statement, designers can come up with a variety of potential solutions. This statement will serve as the thesis that the team can repeatedly check solutions against throughout the process to ensure that they’re actually tackling all aspects of the problem.
Ideate
Now, having come to better understand the perspective of the person who experiences the problem from your work in the empathy phase and having defined an actionable problem during the define stage, it’s brainstorm time. Come up with as many solutions to the problem you defined as possible. This is best done in teams where each team member writes down the ideas they have one at a time and place them on a board for everyone to see.
One key thing to keep in mind here is that this isn’t the time to judge whether ideas are good or bad, practical or outlandish. The goal is to come up with as many ideas as possible. When we judge ideas as they come out, it shuts down the creative process. Often an impractical idea scaled back slightly can become exactly the type of novel solution that you’re looking for.
Additionally, don’t be afraid to include those who live with a problem in the brainstorming process. At DC Design we embrace a concept known as co-design where we work right alongside those we are aiming to design for. By having them involved in the process, you’re likely to get more nuanced solutions that are bottom-up, not top-down.
Prototype
Designers put ideas into action by creating low-cost experiments to test them. These experiments or prototypes can be created for physical products, virtual interfaces, processes, or systems. In any of these situations, the goal is to create something you can test with those who live with the problem in order to see if it works.
For physical and virtual products, this is often a model of the designs you have in mind. In the case of services, build out a model with actionable steps and a workflow that can be simulated either in the real world or through role-play. Given that it’s a prototype, it’s considered a work in progress, not a final solution.
A good practice is for designers and participants to have multiple prototypes and experiment to see which one is best suited to meet the needs of the person they are designing for.
Test and Iterate
Put the ideas and prototypes to test. This is where designers identify flaws, weaknesses, and gaps in the design, improving it along the way. The person who lives with the problem is asked to test the model or the prototype repeatedly and see if it addresses all aspects of a problem.
It is particularly important when testing that you are not trying to defend your solution. Your goal is to use your prototype as a way of learning more about the people you are designing for. What do they like about it? What don’t they like about it? Why is that? If you can look at this as an opportunity to learn more about what the best solution would look like for those who need it, you’ll be able to produce a solution that has significantly more uptake than one where you forced your ideas through.
Inclusive Design
Intro to Inclusive Design
Inclusive Design is a methodology, born out of digital environments, that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity. Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives.
Principles of Inclusive Design
Exclusion happens when we solve problems using our own biases. As Microsoft designers, we seek out those exclusions, and use them as opportunities to create new ideas and inclusive designs.
Recognize exclusion
Designing for inclusivity not only opens up our products and services to more people, it also reflects how people really are. All humans grow and adapt to the world around them and we want our designs to reflect that.
Solve for one, extend to many
Everyone has abilities, and limits to those abilities. Designing for people with permanent disabilities actually results in designs that benefit people universally. Constraints are a beautiful thing.
Learn from diversity
Human beings are the real experts in adapting to diversity. Inclusive design puts people in the center from the very start of the process, and those fresh, diverse perspectives are the key to true insight.
Why it matters
Designing for inclusivity not only opens up our products and experiences to more people with a wider range of abilities. It also reflects how people really are. All humans are growing, changing, and adapting to the world around them every day.
We want our designs to reflect that diversity.
Every decision we make can raise or lower barriers to participation in society. It’s our collective responsibility to lower these barriers though inclusive products, services, environments, and experiences.
Inclusive design defined
Inclusive design: A design methodology that enables and draws on the full range of human diversity.
Most importantly, this means including and learning from people with a range of perspectives. Designing inclusively doesn’t mean you’re making one thing for all people. You’re designing a diversity of ways for everyone to participate in an experience with a sense of belonging. Many people are unable to participate in aspects of society, both physical and digital. Understanding why and how people are excluded gives us actionable steps to take towards inclusive design.
Benefits of inclusive design
Technology that’s designed through inclusive practices pays off in many ways including:
Increased access
Reduced friction
More emotional context
The impact of inclusive design is more than just the products that people use. It’s also a shift in our mindset, methods, and behaviors. What we design is a byproduct of how we design. Measuring the benefits includes measuring the shift in our culture and ourselves.
