Agile UX

Course description

By continuously alternating practice and theory, you learn the process of developing functions or content with the right user experience based on the user’s needs and situation. The theory section of the programme is mixed with discussions, experiences and many practical exercises. The education is process-oriented and consists of at least 40–50% practical work with group work and discussions.

You will learn how to work effectively with usability and UX before, during and after a development project using agile and user-centered methods.

In the practical part of the course, you will develop a prototype for a web-based service – from target group analysis to an evaluation of the first prototype and learn the development process itself.

Practical work

The practical group work runs like a red thread throughout the education. Based on a company’s needs and target group analysis, we put into practice what we have gone through in each section. Personas and scenarios are created, requirements are formulated and prototypes are developed, which we finally evaluate in a test situation.

1. introduction

• The purpose of the introduction is to give an overview of what this course is about in terms of UX, usability and user-centered agile design.

2. Usability, UX, and User-Centered Development (UCD)

• Why should you work user-centric and what does it mean? How do you develop user-centered as a client, requirement maker, developer, Product Owners and Scrum Masters and others, and what you need to know for successful projects.
• Who is the UXer? The professional role, knowledge and its place in the team are reviewed.

3. Agile user-centered design (Agile UX)

• Today, more and more Agile methods, Scrum and Lean are used as process methods in development. How do usability and agile development meet, what does Agile UX and Lean UX mean in practice?

4. Target groups and target group analysis

• The target group analysis is the foundation of the UX work, how to gain knowledge about the target groups, i.e. the people who are intended to use the service, app or product. Those for whom you want to create value and benefit. Analytics often generate a lot of data, and the course covers examples of tools for working with these datasets, including the AI-based tools that have emerged recently.
• The section also includes how to use audience analysis to develop personas, user stories and scenarios.

5. Specification of requirements

• Just like when working with agile requirements management, the field of usability has worked with iterative requirements development for many years. How do you work with requirements in both traditional and Agile UX?

6. Design

• What exactly is design? Graphic design, information design and interaction design are discussed and how to better understand how users interact with products and services.

7. Prototypes

• What are prototypes, what are wireframes? How to use them in user-centered design? We also go through their various advantages and limitations.
• There are many different tools for prototyping. Some are discussed in the course such as Figma, Balsamiq and AI support for this part of the development process.

8. Conducting usability evaluations

• Evaluating with test subjects is the very heart of working user-centered. The course goes through various practical methods and tools for collecting data and knowledge about the use of the prototypes developed by the groups.

9. Conclusion

• Reflections on what participants have learned during these days and what they can take away.