Learn Lean UX with Jeff Gothelf: AMA Recap

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Annelise Schoups

Annelise is a writer and wanderer, passionate about storytelling and the spread of honest information.

For proponents of lean UX, it can sometimes be hard to convince others of its benefits. In many cases, the idea of creating more iterations is simply seen as creating more work. And it’s up to lean thinkers to shift this mindset because, in reality, it’s not about creating more or less work in general-- it’s about creating less wasteful work.

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At least that’s what Lean UX Author Jeff Gothelf told us when he joined the team at MURAL for a recent AMA (Ask Me Anything). Gothelf’s latest work, Sense and Respond - which is published by Harvard Business Press and available for pre-order - addresses the feedback he received from the first edition of Lean UX.

In this way, Sense and Respond is designed for the managers and leaders of people already practicing lean UX. It makes the case for creating a culture of continuous learning and an environment that leverages technology to build a customer- and employee-centric approach to both management and product development.

Given his obvious expertise, we seized the opportunity to ask all our questions about learning, implementing and validating lean UX in small teams and at scale.

You can see the mural with his entire presentation for more details.

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Implementing Lean UX at Scale

Ultimately, the most pressing question was this: how do we get more people - colleagues, managers, enterprise businesses - to adopt lean UX as viable model?

According to Gothelf, the first step is to get data to support your story. “Making the case for an iteration or fix has always been more successful when you use data,” he shared. Whomever you’re trying to convince (even if it’s yourself), will be more inclined to consider lean practices if there’s evidence behind it.

After that, keep testing. Weigh the risks as a framework for where to go next, and get a more holistic view by revisiting the focus at every iteration. Along the way, keep in mind that lean UX practitioners should always:

Let customer need drive decision making
Identify the risks as a tool to move forward
Do smaller sets of research more often

Whether you implement lean UX or move on to another set of principles, Gothelf left us with his hope for the future: “that whatever comes after [this] continues to leverage the principles that make these ideas so attractive."

If you’re interested, you can explore a Lean UX canvas for yourself to get started.

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