Let me speak quickly about two terms that you might have heard about or if you
haven't you'll probably hear about them soon as you
deepen your knowledge of user experience design.
The terms are Waterfall and Agile and they represent two different approaches to UX.
There's actually quite a bit of discussion,
argument and controversy about these terms.
They're are factions and turf wars and it's all pretty fascinating.
Once you've had a bit of experience as a UX designer
you'll probably want to join a side of the argument yourself.
So what do these terms actually mean?
The waterfall approach is a more traditional way of developing websites and Apps.
Remember all the phases we talked about in the previous lesson.
I explained how each phase is built upon
the previous one and although there can and should be some overlap,
it's still a fairly sequential process.
One phase follows the next and in the end there's a big launch.
It's just like a waterfall where the water starts at
the top and plunges down in a rather linear fashion.
Hence the name.
For many smaller websites this process makes a lot of sense.
You complete the UX process then you develop test and launch.
There might be small changes here and there
but the development of the project is completed.
Using such a process for big and complex projects however can be treacherous.
It's tempting to want to get everything completely
right before showing your site or App to the world.
Working with a waterfall process can mean years of development before
your project sees the light of day and since nothing is tested until late in the process,
chances are pretty high that the project went down the wrong path
and the final product has serious flaws that cannot be easily corrected.
By now, lots of time and money has already been spent.
That's where an agile process offers an advantage.
To stay with the water metaphor,
you can think of agile more like the wheel of a water mill.
The agile process is circular and iterative.
Instead of planning for one big launch at the very end of a long process,
there will be many launches along the way.
The goal is not to get everything exactly right the first
time but to get something in front of the user as quickly as possible.
This way, ideas can be tested by getting
actual user feedback and the product can be shaped over time.
With the agile process the product is never really done.
Instead, there is an ever evolving process that
includes cycles of user experience design,
development, testing and launch.
In Silicon Valley Speak,
people often talk about MVP.
No, this has nothing to do with the most valuable player.
In the UX world this acronym stands for Minimum Viable Product
and it means that companies should focus on
all the aspects of a product that are absolutely vital.
Everything else is secondary and can be added later after the initial launch.
To be sure, a lot of start-up companies pride themselves using
an agile development process and for many apps and web apps that makes absolute sense.
Think about Gmail or Facebook or Instagram for example or Uber or Airbnb or Amazon.
These sites and services are constantly being developed and they constantly change.
They are on a never ending development cycle and they are never really completed.
Their current incarnation compared to what they
were when they first launched, is quite different.
So where does this leave us and this course?
Well, we'll be looking at things through more of a waterfall-y lens .
Since many of you will be confronted with the UX process for the very first time,
we'll talk about each phase one at a time sequentially roughly one per week.
Once you complete this course sequence however,
you should have enough background in UX methodology that
you will be able to join an agile team without problems.
Remember, there will always be more to learn.
For now, you should just know these terms waterfall and agile and keep your ears
sharpened when you hear other people voice
their opinions about the pros and cons of each.