What is UX-Driven Development?

Valentina Gomez

Sep

2023

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Have you ever spent much time and effort creating something that didn't meet your users' expectations? Have you ever wondered how to design software your users love and use? You must learn about UX-driven development if you answered yes to any of these questions. UX-driven development is a software design methodology that puts the user first. It helps you avoid wasting time, money, and resources on software nobody wants or needs.

By the end of this post, you'll be able to apply UX-driven development to your project's development lifecycle and design systems better for your users!

What is UX Driven Development?

UX-Driven (also UX Driven) Development (UXDD) is a way to design software that puts the User Experience (UX) at the foundation of the entire design process. It involves turning requirements into visual assets for users, using events as the data source, and applying the Command Query Responsibility Segregation (CQRS) pattern. UXDD aims to make the Software Development Process more cost-effective. It means making your software look good and ensuring it works well, solves problems, and provides value. It's continuous process involves researching, testing, trying again, and improving your software based on user feedback and data. User-centered design requires teamwork between UX Designers, Developers, Product Managers, and users. It's not a luxury but a must to create software users enjoy using it.

How to Apply UX-Driven Development

Implementing UX-driven development in your projects is not as hard as it may seem. You must follow some basic steps and principles to guide you through the process. Here are some of them:

● Start With The User. Before you write any code, you need to understand who your users are, what they want, and what they need. You can conduct user research through interviews, surveys, observations, or personas. Here, User Research will help you identify your user's problems, motivations, and expectations and define your user's goals and requirements.

● Design With The User. Once you have a clear idea of your users' needs, you can start designing your interactive prototype with them in mind. You can create user workflows, or UX prototypes showing how your software will look and work. User design will help you create user-friendly, usable, and valuable software.

● Test With The User. After you have designed your software, you need to test it with real users to see if it meets their needs and expectations. You can do this by conducting user testing, such as Usability Testing or A/B Testing. User testing will help you validate assumptions, identify issues, and collect feedback, data, or unexpected user behavior.

● Iterate With The User. Based on your user testing results, you need to make your software changes and improve it for your users. You can do this by analyzing the feedback and data, prioritizing the issues, and implementing the solutions. Iteration will help you refine your software and enhance the user experience.

● Repeat With The User. UX-Driven Development is not a linear process but a cyclical one. You need to repeat the steps of research, design, testing, and iteration until you reach a satisfactory level of quality and performance for your software. Repetition will help you keep your software updated and relevant for your users.

CQRS in UX-Driven Development

CQRS stands for Command and Query Responsibility Segregation, a pattern that separates read and update operations for a data store. In UXDD, CQRS works by starting from the ideal User Experience and working backward to the technical implementation. That means that the presentation layer defines the commands and queries the system needs to support, and the data layer implements them using the most suitable persistence technology. CQRS in UXDD helps create user-oriented, predictable, and competitive software.

When to Use UX-Driven Development

UX-Driven Development is a software design methodology used for any software project, regardless of size, complexity, or domain. However, some scenarios and contexts exist where UX-driven development is especially suitable and beneficial.

1. Creating New Software. When creating a new software or service, UX-driven development can help you validate your idea, understand your target market, and create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that meets your user's needs and expectations.

2. Enhancing Existing Projects. When improving an existing software product or service, UX-driven development can help you identify the pain points, issues, and opportunities to improve it and create a roadmap for enhancing the User Experience and Value Proposition.

3. Understanding Ever-Changing Markets. When facing a competitive or changing market, UX-driven development can help you differentiate your software from competitors and adapt to your users' changing needs and preferences.

4. Dealing With Challenges. When dealing with complex or innovative software, UX-driven development can help you simplify and clarify the product development life cycle, and features of your software and make it more intuitive and engaging for your users.

Pros and Cons of UX-Driven Development

Pros of UX-Driven Software	Cons of UX-Driven Software
It provides solutions that are relevant to users, solving their problems or meeting their needs.	Yet, it can be costly and time-consuming in terms of testing each aspect of a product.
UXD leads to more sales, loyal customers, and better ROI for the software investments.	It may require more collaboration between different teams and stakeholders.
It stabilizes Product Development, avoiding costly changes or rework later in the process.	It may limit some creative or innovative ideas that do not fit user persona requirements
UXD creates usable but also desirable products, valuable and enjoyable for your target audience	It may face some challenges when measuring the UX Design impact or value.

Why is UX-Driven Development Important?

UX-Driven Development is relevant because it helps software creators make solutions that work well for users and meet their needs. That leads to exponential growth for the software investments. UXDD designs software with the user in mind by starting with the ideal user experience and working backward to the technical feasibility. Using design, psychology, research, technology, and Business Principles, UXDD creates products that provide users with a positive and memorable experience, making them happy and loyal.

Conclusion

UX-Driven Development (UXDD) is not just a buzzword. It’s a game-changer for software design. It’s a way to make software that users love, not just tolerate. It’s a way to use events and CQRS to make software fast, reliable, and scalable. You'll surely avoid wasting time and money by implementing it in your user-centered development current practices. But UXDD is not a one-person show, you'll have to involve a wide range of stakeholders, from project managers to users, development teams to regulators, and designers to community organizations. They all have a say and a voice in the software. UXDD is how to listen to them and deliver software that makes everyone happy!

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