When I was doing Google UX design course then I first heard about the design framework/ Design process. There are frameworks like Five elements of UX design, Design Thinking, Lean UX and Double Dimond.

In the google course, they are just focusing on design thinking and when I start working for a startup I understand that this design framework is suitable for big organizations and smaller companies don’t have the time or resources to spend months building something. Then I start exploring other frameworks and Lean UX was really interesting. The lean startup by

, Lean Ux by , and The Lean product playbook by those books are helpful and have a complete package of resources. Then I applied this design framework in my work and believe me, it just changes the game. In this article, I will go over what Lean UX is, its benefit, and its process.These three books are perfect, to learn Lean UX.

What is Lean UX?

Lean UX was inspired by Toyotas manufacturing model and is compatible with Agile techniques. It aims to eliminate waste and maximize value and focuses instead on generating immediate feedback to make small and continuous changes to the product. Also, Making a product that users genuinely need and utilize.

If you prefer not to read, watch this short video by Alvin Hermanto about Lean UX.

The Benefit of Lean UX

• Lean UX pushes the team to work more quickly and effectively over time, that’s why this framework is preferred by many design teams over the traditional UX method.
• Lean UX is a collaborative method that brings together designers and non-designers (engineers, developers, product owners, and marketers) to find a better solution.
• It demonstrates how crucial early testing is to a company’s success and product success. It saves a ton of time and is economical. The solution is repeatedly validated to establish a strong foundation for developing a product or feature.
• It’s a data-driven solution and all those assumptions created by the team will go through different tests. If there is no supporting evidence or data, it is time to move on to a new idea or hypothesis.

The Lean UX Process

The secret to a successful product is the process. Think, Make, and Check /Test are the three fundamental principles behind Lean UX. The product keeps getting better as the cycle continues.

Complete Lean UX cycle in two sprint

Based on a particular project, I have made a few modifications to the approach outlined in Dan Olson’s The lean product playbook.

The Product Market fit Pyramid of Lean UX from Lean product Playbook

Lean process Begin with identifying your target customer or end users. By collecting all of the relevant user attributes, you may identify your target user group (Demographics, Psychographics, behavioral or based on needs). Personas are a helpful tool for outlining your target audience, and they help to ensure that everyone in your team or in your organization who is working on the product is focused on the same users.

Personas I have prepared for a project.

1. Collect and Analyze Data

Gather as much primary and secondary data as you can. To identify the user issues or pain points (Underserved customer needs), you can interview users, conduct surveys, competitor analysis, etc.

Competitor analysis report I have prepared for a project (due to privacy issues, I can’t share all the research data)

2. Develop Hypotheses

After you write a problem statement or assumption, just simply transform it into a hypothesis. A hypothesis statement looks like this:

We believe that conversions will increase by 25% (business outcome) if new customers (your target audience) successfully identify a larger call to action button (feature).

Once you’ve created a hypothesis statement, it’s time to put it to the test.

3. Prioritize features and define your value proposition

For choosing which would go into development it’s very important to prioritize features. You can group your feature based on three categories.

• Must Have
• Performance Benefits
• Delighters

All team members then give an agreed number of points to features they consider most important. Also if you want then you can use Kano Model.

4. Ideation and build the product

Sketches are the most effective approach to exploring thoughts quickly and eliminating bad ideas. Just draw the wireframe with a pen and paper. Conduct both low-fidelity and high-fidelity wireframes if you have the time.

Rough Lo-fidelity Wireframes using pen and paper ( If you have time then you can do high-fidelity Wireframes).

Then complete the UI design and prototype of the product. The prototype requires little work to adjust, and it helps to communicate your design to developers and stakeholders.

5. User testing and research

This is the final stage of Lean UX. Here, you check the product with users and validate or invalidate your hypotheses. Analyze the data after testing your designs and hypotheses with users. (Maze is good software for usability testing)

As a UX Designer, our primary goal is to provide products to users that they want to use and that are simple to use. Lean UX shows us how to get there quickly, collaboratively, and efficiently. I applied this framework in
my previous company (Startup) and the outcome was good. End users are really enjoying the App for mental health.

Achievements of Relaxy team ( 3rd place in Huawei ICT incubator 2022 )

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