https://medium.com/freshbooks-product-development/how-freshbooks-democratizes-technical-design-by-applying-lean-ux-principles-873a020dd790
Your tech leads shouldn’t be the only ones tackling complex technical problems. With a process that is collaborative, transparent and iterative, any developer can be empowered to solve problems effectively.
The status quo: An exclusive and opaque process
The prevailing philosophy in software is that the most senior developers should be ones solving the most complex problems. This typically means that tech leaders are tasked with coming up with the designs that are then disseminated to other developers.
It just doesn’t scale
- Charrette (Ideation): A brainstorming and sketching session involving a cross-discipline group (Designers, PM, Dev, QA, etc.).
- Design Circle (Internal Validation): The sketches/prototypes are critiqued by a larger group within the company (mostly other Designers and PMs, ideally with Devs involved).
- User Testing (External Validation): A refined prototype is presented to real customers for the purposes of testing some of our assumptions and getting feedback.
- Design Circle (Review & Iterate): The insights gained from User Testing are brought back to the larger internal group, discussed and then used by a designer to further refine the design.
- Repeat above as needed.
