ModevUX Look Back

Thank you to the folks at Modev for putting on a great event, especially Jamiey Walking Bear.
I sat in a few ModevUX sessions before ours so I was expecting a introspective crowd. That is not what we got. What we got was a full room of people who were fired up to ask questions and offer insights about prototyping. It was awesome.
Here are some of the key themes I took away from our talk and the discussion:
- A business outcome is something that generates revenue, reduces cost, improves customer engagement or activation or gets investment. Understanding business outcomes helps us make decisions, particularly when we are arguing about something or trying to prioritize.
- Prototypes are good for validating product ideas but you can also use them to test design for features
- Show internal stakeholders instead of telling with huge documents
- Everyone on the team needs to be responsible for driving the business outcome not just the product manager or team lead
- Have a structured schedule for when you plan, demo and test so your client and team know what to expect
- The value of a prototype is in the validated idea and the learning. The code is not so valuable and will largely be re-written.
- You can do rapid prototyping with remote team members if everyone is flexible and has the right tools
Also, if someone absconds with your projector cable, just start talking and make someone else fix it.
Image: A slide from our deck
So proud of @JessHallway and @eisaksen for a GREAT presentation on prototyping with a super engaged audience at #ModevUX!!
— 3Pillar Global (@3PillarGlobal) May 19, 2014
“Step back from perfect and polished.” It’s not design with a big “D”. – @JessHallway #prototyping #modevux
— Samara Watkiss (@samwatkiss) May 19, 2014
The validation, the experimenting and the learning is the true value of prototyping #modevux @JessHallway @eisaksen
— nanalq (@nanalq) May 19, 2014
“Get in the boat all the way” – #UX needs to be accountable to business outcomes – @JessHallway at #modevux
— Arin Sime (@ArinSime) May 19, 2014
We have to overcome execs association of user research with “the powerpoint deck to nowhere” – @JessHallway #modevux
— Samara Watkiss (@samwatkiss) May 19, 2014