I have a fever, and the only cure is more Scrumbell

Agile and Scrum are mighty important to a software company that wants to keep things on schedule. Personally, I like that the change in my areas of focus is a guarantee; it satisfies my craving for variety. More importantly, I like the challenge it gives me to compartmentalize and strategize my design process.

In a two-week sprint, I focus the first few days on research and analysis, the next couple days on validating feasibility of some concepts with developers, making user flows and conducting design studio. Ideally, I’ll have some time left at the end to put together a couple wireframes. Ending the week in the midst of the evolutionary design process keeps my brain active for the weekend.

On Monday, week two, let’s hit those wireframes again. Let’s get some fresh eyes looking at our work and make sure what makes sense to us, makes sense to others. And Tuesday through Thursday, I can put together or update visual design elements, style guides, high fidelities of keyframes and redlines for the developers.

And before we know it: Friday. The last day of the sprint. Polish, review, polish some more, backfill some documentation, both for my team and for the developers, and prepare for the big handoff. I’m not a fan of Powerpoints, but I love to sit down with the developers to make sure all their questions are answered, all concerns are addressed, and they know how to reach us if something comes up.

Rinse, repeat. And always with more cowbell.