Lean UX · Jeff Gothelf · 2016

Lean UX is a design approach that promotes cross-functional collaboration and user-centred design. It reveals the product's true nature more quickly. Teams rapidly develop a shared understanding of the user, their needs, potential solutions, and definitions of success. Lean UX prioritises continuous learning and producing evidence for decision-making.

Teams should be cross-functional, small, dedicated, colocated, self-sufficient, empowered, and problem-focused to effectively tackle problems, optimise processes, and engage with the market.

The goal is to move from doubt to certainty by validating assumptions quickly with enthusiastic skepticism. It prioritises outcomes, defined as measurable changes in human behaviour that create value, over output. Removing waste that doesn't contribute to improved outcomes is crucial to move faster. Shared understanding helps teams cut through the noise and align on next steps. Lean UX culture emphasises team cohesion over individual egos and grants permission to fail, as experimentation breeds creativity and yields innovative solutions.

Your process should involve continuous research, design, testing, building, and deployment, with iteration being the key to agility. Working in small batches mitigates risk. Embracing continuous discovery by engaging customers throughout the development process increases empathy, creates shared understanding, and validates product ideas. It's essential to get out of the building, observe and engage with users, and externalise work for transparency and shared understanding. Prioritising making over analysis and focusing on output rather than artefacts is crucial, as good products, not documents, solve customer problems.

The definition of an outcome is ‘a change in human behaviour that creates value’. Shifting focus from outputs to outcomes changes your definition of done. To measure outcomes we must ship and observe (validation).

The Lean UX Canvas is designed to facilitate conversations with the team, stakeholders and clients. It includes:

Problem: Current goals, reasons for not meeting them, quantified improvement request
Business Outcomes: Changes in user behaviour if the solution works, outcome-to-impact mapping
Users: Focus on behaviours, goals, needs, and information that predicts behaviour
User Outcomes: Empathise, declare assumptions about user goals as outcomes and benefits
Solutions: Delay until this point, consider what bridges current and target conditions
Hypothesis: Structure - achieving business outcome if personas attain benefit with solution feature; prioritise based on risk vs. perceived value
What to Learn: Biggest risks relate to solution value - need, discoverability, trial, usage, perceived value; feasibility is a limiting factor only if these are true
How to Learn: Prioritise ruthlessly, put less effort into MVP if evidence is lacking

Admitting that the complexity and uncertainty of a situation prevents predicting the most successful product at the start of the quarter is not an abdication of vision.

In a sprint, focus on solving the problem rather than what can be built. Research should inform the product team's decisions. Keeping things low-fidelity allows everyone to contribute and maintains work malleability.

Lean UX redefines "done" as validated, which includes determining if people found it, used it, were successful with it, returned to use it again, and paid for it. Validation always starts with the customers.