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What is the best way to work with designers on stories

Last post 07:25 pm June 2, 2021 by Daniel Wilhite
7 replies
08:22 am June 1, 2021

Hi guys, 

Would like to get your thoughts on this: when working with designers (UX, UI, etc), which of the below options works best for you? (and please tell me why if you can):

- 2 Stories - Dev/BA creates a dev story, and UX creates their own design story.

- 2 Stories - UX creates their design story, and when that's done, Dev/BA creates a dev story for it.

- 1 Story - Dev/BA creates just one story with the design tasks and dev tasks part of the same story.


12:18 am June 2, 2021

It depends on your organizational structure and how different skills are available to your teams. For example, if you were operating in a scaled (multiple teams, one product) environment, you may not have one UX/UI designer on each team - that may not be very economical. In such a case, having the right level of design up-front is necessary. On the other hand, if you have a single team or do have enough people who are strong in UX/UI design, then perhaps you don't need as much up-front design and can do more just-in-time. Who does the work is going to affect how you break it down, visualize it, and manage dependencies.

However, another option that you don't have is that design tasks would be part of "creating and clearly communicating Product Backlog Items", which is the responsibility of the Product Owner. It seems to me that UX/UI design is a prerequisite for effective refinement of the work since the look and behavior of the user interface can greatly influence the complexity of the work. Understanding the intended user experience is necessary in order for the Developers to break down Product Backlog Items into more precise items (refinement). This does lead to the question of how the UX designer tracks their work, and I'd suggest that it's the same way as the Product Owner does with respect to preparing a Product Backlog Item for refinement by the Developers.


05:13 am June 2, 2021

What is the best way to work with designers on stories

A user story is a placeholder for a conversation about a possible requirement. You've got a cross-functional Scrum Team of collaborative professionals, jointly accountable for producing immediately usable increments of work every Sprint.

So, what are the conversations that need to happen...and what is the best way to make sure they happen?


06:04 am June 2, 2021

Perhaps the PSUX suggested reading will provide you with the insights you need. 

https://www.scrum.org/resources/suggested-reading-professional-scrum-us…


07:08 am June 2, 2021

Thanks guys, but my question is not exactly about how to work together. We have that nailed.



It’s more about the ways of managing the design and dev stories and tasks on the board


07:19 am June 2, 2021

Hello, 

You will find a lot interesting content in this book:

Lean UX: Designing Great Products with Agile Teams

https://www.amazon.com/Lean-UX-Designing-Great-Products-ebook/dp/B01LYGQ6CH/

I have read it and understand how to colaborate properly with UX/UI designers in Scrum enviroment. I found a lot techniques and tools that helps in daily work and interactions . 

-----

Back to your question: 

Try to avoid it mini-waterfall interactions in your team.  I suggest to work in one story and try to focus on all work need to right outcome. 

it all depends on the stage you are in... but in your concerns i think you should try consider diffrent prototyping levels

Try to colaborate with teams about requirements at each level of software production progress. 

As you know..

In early stage developers don't need all completed UI/UX. Sometimes we only need one sheet of A4 paper for specification

In medium stage maybe developers need prototype at a medium level of detail. 

Thanks to the understanding of both sides you can eliminate waste. 

Progressive colaboration work is the key to success

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


07:55 am June 2, 2021

I have tried only the first way when Dev/BA creates a dev story, and UX creates their own design story.


07:25 pm June 2, 2021

I have had best luck using the approach that @Thomas Owens mentioned where the UX is part of the discovery process and is included as "work done by the product owner".  It is information provided to the Development Team to better understand the scope of the work.  The User Interface Developer uses the information provided by the User Experience Designer in scoping the work that will be needed to accomplish what is described in the Product Backlog Item.

Every other attempt we tried led to a mini-waterfall effort and caused disruptions. 


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