Enforcing continuous development with UX

Enforcing continuous development with UX

The digital market changes continuously. Chances, opportunities and dangers are all around. The best answer to this changing market is to participate in continuous development and keep testing yourself, especially when it comes to a digital organization. Continuous development doesn’t always work though. The problem is that ‘the problem’ isn’t always clear. How do you come to a well-formed problem statement, how can you solve the problems in a structured way and how can you come to a solution that works?

Agile principles

Working with Agile principles is a way to participate in continuous development. Agile is a method that doesn’t always work well for problem solving. The downside to this is that it’s not a ‘one size fits all’ method. Even Agile has its faults and isn’t always the way to handle a question or a problem. The analysis isn’t taken into consideration when using Agile.

Problem analysis and problem definition

The analysis is the first step of solving the problem. Although it’s tempting to immediately think of a possible solution, it’s a much better approach to think about the problem itself first. A proper solution can be found after a thorough problem analysis. It’s the same for software solutions. To understand a problem fully is the first step of defining a problem. Defining the problem is the most important part of the software development cycles. When the requirements and parameters of the problem are clear, the actual outcomes of the development process are more in line with the expectations of the outcome.

Agile and UX

Continuous development is about meeting the expectations of the customer. You can meet their expectations by analyzing the problem. After the customer’s problem is clarified, you will be able to see if their expectations can be met. Merging Agile and UX is a way to improve continuous development. Merging the two principles will make sure that as well as the problem analysis as the problem definition will be taken into consideration. Really understanding the problem before coming to a solution will be key.

Exploring the problem is just as important as solving it

UCD (User Centered Design) is using the human perspective to solve a problem. Using this is necessary to come to a well-formed solution. UX is an interpretation of UCD. UX as an interpretation of UCD can help meeting the expectations of the end-user and in some cases even surpass expectations. The outcome of UX partially depends on the problem analysis and the problem definition, just like when it comes to software solutions. UX is a way to do more than fight symptoms. It maps out the problem and solves it thoroughly. UX is a discipline that a whole organization can benefit from, because exploring the problem is just as important as solving it.

Do you want to know how Team Experience can help your organization with analyzing and defining a problem? Keep track of our blog for extra information about the UX discipline or contact Lennert.