Minimal Viable UX

An approach to incorporate UX into the LEAN principle.
User Experience is often interpreted as a process where the ‘UX guru’ holds the ultimate truth in designing for an experience. The guru likes to keep control of his design and doesn’t want to feel less valuable when adopting advice from non-designers, where his concern is becoming a pixel pusher.
Adopting UX in a LEAN way, the feedback from team members minimizes the team going down the wrong path. This prevents the guru from perfecting a design where constraints over time will become clearer and less aligned with the customer needs. Interaction with the team speeds up development time by giving early insight.
Design for User Experience
UX has many different definitions, in the end it enables the user to perform a task with the help of an interface. All disciplines in a software development team should be aware of the user they are designing or developing for, starting in Sprint Zero. UX is not about setting up mockups, wireframes, prototypes and providing designs, it has to be part of the team culture where every team member can attribute to. We are trying to solve problems and problems are not being solved with design documentation but solved with efficient, elegant and sophisticated software.
How to get there
Create user awareness
Being aware of the user helps reduce waste and keeps you focused on things you should care about, functionality that adds value in the perception of the customer.
First, use a set of personas, put them on a wall and let your team members align those users with the functionality they are building. Developers can reflect functionality, interaction designers can optimize interface elements and visual designers can align styling with the user.
Second, use a customer journey map. This is a powerful tool. It helps in creating context, gives an overview of the user experience and helps to find gaps.
Prototype quickly
Prototyping becomes easier by the day, thanks to the amount and quality of tools out there. Prototyping can be performed by using paper, mockups (Balsamiq) or a web framework, such as FramerJS. Pick the type you prefer and which is suitable for the situation and has the appropriate depth.

Use small portions of prototypes and validate those with a minimal set of users. This helps you to deliver faster, therefore again eliminate waste and improves built-in quality. Iterative design helps you to amplify learning. KISS!
Communicate
Involved parties need to be convinced that what you are saying is based on business needs, the product and the people. You need to befriend and understand all involved parties in order to make it work across the board. Besides that, don’t forget your best friends, the users.

If you don’t talk to your customers, how will you know how to talk to your customers? – Will Evans