Allowing Ux to cater for agile development (and vice versa) can be a bit of a challenge, however there’s been harmony in recent times, which is most definitely producing better solutions, and that’s the most important thing rite?

It boils down to collaboration upfront with solid principles (think fluidity, performance, simplicity, consistency and innovation) used as a decision framework that’ll to get everyone singing the same tune. Maybe this is the full extent of the process, as design development can vastly differ depending on what’s being built and the level of interaction required. A one size fits all process can really limit the potential of some solutions and their ability to meet their objectives. Just come up with a guide and be prepared to give people free reign.

Once your well formed principles are defined, get a bunch of talented designers and developers in a room together with some butchers paper and sharpies and see what they can come up with (repeat if necessary). Better still if you have someone with the skills to start prototyping an agreed approach in these sessions, you’ll have output that’s golden for inspiring stakeholders and getting more accurate estimation and feasibility assessments.

You may think this sounds rudimentary but I guarantee a better outcome, then trying to do the same thing spending months locked away defining a business requirements document or master story list, before any designs have even been made. This’ll also eliminate unknowns upfront (for more accurate planing) and free’s up minds to stay happy and thinking creatively, chances are – you’ll hit the ground running once iteration one kick’s off.

Now more then ever Ux and development need to combine their powers as early as possible to ensure amazing outcomes that’ll delight and really generate buy-in and ownership from everyone one involved. We’re in this exciting time where there’s an abundance of new capabilities at our disposal that can take a solution to the next level of delightfulness and all the good things that proceed it.

This stuff enables us to build just about anything, whats difficult is getting an accurate understanding of what should be built and I think it takes the experience of both designers and technical people to really flesh out an effective yet minimalistic product that can be built upon on quickly once that market feedback rolls in.

Don’t ever evolve designs in isolation – technical people get peeved when near finished concepts are thrown over the fence for estimation and development, where they had no opportunity to contribute and provide ideas on how interactions can be enhanced via the abundance of newish web capabilities. Give it up a little and let them help shape the solution, you need their expertise and you need them to enjoy what they’re doing when delivery time comes round. Contribution = ownership = enjoyment = better outcomes.