The Burn Up - Agile Software Delivery

In this episode Swathi Poddar and I are talking about a topic very close to our heart: how do we best assign work to our teams? Do we have clear ownership of features or services, and if so, what do we do with the ‘shared’ service we’ll invariably encounter? Are such services commonly owned, can anyone mess with them, or are we keeping them under tight guard, and we ask: ‘Who owns the frontend?’ Expect an interesting, possibly controversial discussion... For context please view these charts and illustrations while listening to this episode: https://burnupmedia.com/2019/05/13/ep14-assigning-teams-to-features-or-services/ Books we touch on in this episode, and which are highly recommended to ready are Sam Newman’s Building Microservices https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22512931-building-microservices Eric Evan’s Domain Driven Design https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/179143.Domain_Driven_Design\ Expanded show notes and leave questions or comments for this episode at: https://burnupmedia.com/2019/05/13/ep14-assigning-teams-to-features-or-services/ Our guest in this episode is Swathi Poddar, Business Analyst, Product Owner and Software Consultant. She can be ‘found’ and contacted here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swathi-poddar/ – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

In our continued exploration into Team Roles, in this episode we talk to Erica Kucharczyk about the role of User Research. This is a role that is frequently overlooked, but can pay off huge dividends in the long run if quality research is incorporated into your development cycle. We discuss how research helps teams validate their value proposition, the value of user research, the process of designing, running and analyzing tests, Qualitative vs Quantitative, how to get into user research and what good looks like. So, get out there and do some research! We start by talking about how User Research validates value propositions; needs, gains and pains. Next, we talk about how the User Research role differs from, and overlaps with, the Design and UX roles. We discuss why you should pay for User Research and what good looks like when user research is incorporated fully into the development cycle. We briefly touch on some tools for remote testing and talk about different testing environments, such as a more formal lab setting vs. more natural settings. We talk about the importance of researcher demeanor and attitude, especially the mindset of not leading the user and not helping the user too much. We touch on low-fi testing methods for low budget situations or to simply get started doing user research with your team. We revisit the Qualitative vs Quantitative discussion and talk about how they compliment each other and how different insights can be gained by both approaches. We go through the process of designing tests, running the tests, analysing the results and playing back the findings. We talk about recording users and privacy concerns, including GDPR. Erica talks about her interest in this area and the article she co-wrote on this subject (see link in the show notes below). We discuss how people can get into research and what good looks like. Good researchers must be good communicators, they should like people, be persuasive, and be able to think on their feet. Finally, we talk about how to get started with research on your project and to ensure you don’t forget about the User Research role when planning teams. Erica Kucharczyk has been working as a researcher for about 12 years and started off in academia running research on projects in sleep technology and brain training games for older people with dementia. More recently she’s been working as a user experience researcher with Government clients and she’s interested in research ethics and research operations. Show Notes Erica Kucharczyk is a Brighton/London based User Researcher and can best be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-kucharczyk/ Erica’s article on GDPR and data protection with regard to User Research can be found here: https://medium.com/design-research-matters/general-data-protection-regulation-gdpr-and-user-research-e00a5b29338e Erica recommends the following book: Think Like a UX Researcher by David Travis https://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Like-Researcher-David-Travis/dp/1138365297/ Erica mentioned the following tools in this episode: Appear.in - https://appear.in/ Morae - https://www.techsmith.com/morae.html Loopback - https://lookback.io/ Windows Game Bar - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/game-bar/9nzkpstsnw4p Expanded show notes and leave questions or comments for this episode at: https://burnupmedia.com/2019/05/13/ep13-team-roles-user-research/ – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Story mapping is maybe the easiest tool to quickly and reliably elicit requirements. It’s my default that always delivers reliable results, not matter the situation. Here is our 5 minute how-to. Find detailed show notes on this episode page: https://burnupmedia.com/2019/03/06/ep09-tldr-story-mapping/ Related reading: https://thedigitalbusinessanalyst.co.uk/storymapping-3a3f0d67d681 https://www.adaptivepath.org/ideas/the-anatomy-of-an-experience-map/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_storming – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

For this episode we have invited our colleagues Isabell Britsch and Tarik Johnston to discuss all things Digital Design with us. We will touch on the importance of placing the user at the centre of things and in this context will explain the differences between service design (the overall end to end including the organisational view), user experience design (how user interact at the various touchpoints), user interface design (the design of an interface provided at a specific touchpoint). We chat about the difference between experience design (how things work) and visual design (how things look). And also why both are important in the design of products and services satisfy user needs and business goals. More so, user experience design is a vital factor in requirements analysis and iterative, collaborative solution design. In this context we will specifically argue that all software applications, even the most internal operational system, will benefit from, in fact require, user experience and visual design. As usual, in our episodes on roles we will touch on ‘what makes a good practitioner’ in these disciplines, how their day to day work looks like, and how one can get into these roles... Maybe the most important takeaway is that all software teams must adjust their thinking and start including user experience and visual design into their solution design and implementation process. Isabell Britsch is a London based Design Consultant and Art Director and has a 20 year work portfolio with clients across a wide range of industries and projects in digital, print and TV. When she does not design, she teaches Yoga and Meditation. Tarik Johnston is a London based User Experience Designer with a 15 year work portfolio in designing user-centered digital applications in the public and private sector across ecommerce, banking, government, travel and property. Show Notes Isabell Britsch is a London based Design Consultant and Art Director and renowned yoga and meditation teacher. Portfolio: https://www.behance.net/isabellbritsch Contact: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabell-britsch/ Yoga and meditation here: https://www.yogawithisabell.com/landing Tarik Johnston is a London based User Experience Designer and can best be found here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarik-johnston-625ba96/ – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

In this Episode we have invited our colleague Swathi Poddar to discuss why the Business Analyst and Product Owner are such important roles for every successful delivery team. Successful projects are based on a clear understanding of the domain, specifically goals and needs, and how to best satisfy these with a solution within the given constraints (time, money, regulatory, etc). With the Product Owner hat on, we take care of the up-front bit, i.e. the focusing on strategic fit, while with the business analyst hat on, we focus more on the nitty gritty details of the solutions. But really, both roles are just a different focus the same spectrum. In practice they can be taken on by the same or different individuals. Ultimately both roles are about ‘making sense’ of a problem domain, enabling teams to articulate complexity, explore items under discussion and converge towards a clear and valuable outcome. As with most roles in the ‘21st century’, knowledge of tools and techniques (how to do things) are being downgraded to hygiene factors, while approach and mindset (how to go about things, specifically communication and collaboration) become factors of excellence. Consequently the business analyst and product owner are key roles for any well run project. Swathi Poddar is a Business Analyst, Product Owner and Software Consultant. She has worked and studied in the UK, US and currently works out of Pune and Banglore, India. Show Notes Further thoughts on the topic can be found at our blog: The Business Analyst Role ‘analysed’: https://thedigitalbusinessanalyst.co.uk/how-to-become-a-business-analyst-1-mindset-vs-skills-435ef3bf1c5a Successfully interviewing as Business Analyst or Product Owner: https://thedigitalbusinessanalyst.co.uk/product-owner-interview-guide-d504ad1de1e2 BA Career survey: https://thedigitalbusinessanalyst.co.uk/business-analysts-how-did-you-get-into-your-role-cea4b64b8017 Our guest in this episode is Swathi Poddar, Business Analyst, Product Owner and Software Consultant. She can be ‘found’ and contacted here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swathi-poddar/ – More information at https://www.theburnup.com This podcast produced by Burn Up Media Ltd under under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Further Information at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/