Thursday, Jul 28, 2011
Agile+UX, Lean+UX, and Balanced Teams
Agile+UX doesn't cut it. Lean+UX does, but only for the UX side. Balanced teams are what it's really all about.
Agile+UX almost gets there. Lean+UX defintiely colors in the rest of the picture, but if you only make your process more lean, you’re not building better organizations and balanced teams.
What’s a balanced team?
First, it’s not a binary designation. One team can be more or less balanced than another. Second, a more balanced team has a higher design literacy among its members than a less balanced team. The balance in “balanced team” refers to the imbalance in design literacy across the members of your organization. If your information architect is the only person on the team with any user experience knowledge, then your team is very imbalanced.
It’s important to note that the goal is not an “agile” or “lean” user experience practice. The goal is to raise your team’s design literacy so its design thinking is more balanced among the varied perspectives and experiences that your team members bring to the table.
The goal is to build balanced teams, not better interfaces.
(To a great extent, I’ve appropriated the “balanced team” phrase from others. For me, it encapsulates my three core principles. But, before you lump my ramblings with the balanced team approach, I encourage you to make up your own mind by checking out .)
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