Kinaxis

UX team building, mentoring and process maturity within a multinational agile software company

kinaxis.com

The UX design for a highly anticipated product enhancement was months overdue with no end in sight. The UX team had lost several key team members and was without a team leader. The remaining UX team weas under intense scrutiny. With a steady leadership hand, I worked closely with UX, development and product management to:

  • Put out the flames and overcome immediate project roadblocks
  • Rebuild the UX team including the hiring of a UX team lead
  • Set the team up for long-term success by establishing a UX process within a mature agile development environment

UX Process

Collaboratively building on lean UX principals, we tailored a UX process that would deliver predictable, high-quality, high-velocity UX outcomes.

Diagrm with cycles of think, make and check chained together to illustrate the Kinaxis UX process

Process diagram illustrating the components and iterative natue of the Check Phase of a UX process.

Think Phase

The Think Phase, aka initiation, should typically be 1 to 3 sprints but may be longer depending the complexity, novelty or scope of the challenge. Estimation of UX effort begins here and is refined throughout.


Make Phase

Staying 2 weeks ahead of development, the Make Phase consists of 2 week sprints with a rhythm and structure that is repeated until the design is complete. Planning, estimation, user research and validation are baked in to every phase of the process.

Process diagram illustrating the components and iterative natue of the Make Phase of a UX process.

Process diagram illustrating the components and iterative natue of the Check Phase of a UX process.

Check Phase

UX switches to a support role as development continues. Attention switches to visual and interaction polishing.






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