Lean UX talks

Lean UX is an approach to product design that borrows from Lean Startup and agile development. Instead of producing detailed specifications and deliverables up front, a team states its assumptions as hypotheses, builds the smallest thing that can test them, and learns from real user behavior before committing further. Designers, developers and product managers work together as one cross-functional team, and progress is measured in validated learning rather than finished documents.

The approach matters because much product work fails not through poor execution but by building the wrong thing well. Short cycles of experimentation and validation reduce that risk, keep research close to decisions, and make design a shared responsibility rather than a hand-off between departments.

The 14 talks here, recorded between 2010 and 2018, include five by Jeff Gothelf: on getting out of the deliverables business (UX Lisbon, 2014), Lean UX in the enterprise, combining Lean UX with design thinking, building teams with evidence-based innovation, and what he learned from five years of practice (UX Poland, 2016). Eric Ries presents the Lean Startup, and Tomer Sharon warns against perfectly executing the wrong plan and argues for sampling user experience rather than simply listening to users. Julie Zhuo describes how a Facebook designer thinks, Rochelle King talks about managing conflict, and Paul Adams, Steph Troeth and Anders Toxboe cover cults, cheating your way with UX and experimenting to innovate. R.A. Mashelkar’s TED talk on ultra-low-cost products is also included. Sub-topics include experimentation and validation.