Hypothesis-Driven Development

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/uva-darden-agile-testing

Introduction

**Course Review: Hypothesis-Driven Development on Coursera** In the fast-evolving world of technology and product development, carving out a niche for user-centered design is more crucial than ever. The **Hypothesis-Driven Development** course on Coursera acknowledges this need, equipping learners with the tools and methodologies to deliver agile outcomes effectively. Here’s an in-depth overview and personal recommendation for this exciting course. ### Course Overview The essence of the **Hypothesis-Driven Development** course lies in its commitment to fostering a culture of experimentation within teams. Unlike traditional agile processes, this course emphasizes the systematic identification of pressing questions paired with appropriate testing methods. Students will learn to embrace a hypothesis-driven approach that minimizes waste while maximizing valuable outcomes for users. The course is structured around four comprehensive modules, each delving into critical elements of hypothesis-driven development: 1. **How Do We Know if We're Building for a User that Doesn't Exist?** - This module guides participants in transforming backlog grooming into impactful results by prioritizing user outcomes over mere output. There’s a strong emphasis on cultivating team excitement around experimental results, a crucial aspect for fostering collective engagement in results-driven practices. 2. **How Do We Reduce Waste & Increase Wins by Testing Our Propositions Before We Build Them?** - Here, learners dive deep into the importance of concept testing within a product pipeline. This module focuses on integrating testing into the early stages of product development, helping teams validate ideas before embarking on extensive software development. 3. **How Do We Consistently Deliver Great Usability?** - Building exceptional usability into products is paramount for success. This module equips participants with practical tools for diagnosing and conducting user testing throughout the development process. By advocating for continuous usability testing, it helps eliminate the dreaded "big unveil" surprise, which often exposes serious flaws in user experience. 4. **How Do We Invest to Move Fast?** - The final module covers the principles of continuous delivery and the DevOps movement. As teams strive for agility, understanding the mechanics of rapid code delivery becomes essential. This section demystifies the delivery pipeline and highlights practices that can streamline releases, allowing teams to adapt and evolve efficiently. ### Strengths of the Course One of the standout elements of the **Hypothesis-Driven Development** course is its practical approach. It doesn’t just provide theoretical knowledge; rather, it emphasizes actionable strategies that can be applied directly to real-world scenarios. The interactive and hands-on nature of the course helps reinforce learning by enabling participants to experiment and apply the concepts discussed. Moreover, the course is suitable for team members of all levels—whether one is just starting in product development or is a seasoned professional looking to refine their skills. The content is well-structured, making it easy for learners to follow along while actively engaging with the material. ### Recommendation I wholeheartedly recommend the **Hypothesis-Driven Development** course to anyone interested in refining their approach to agile product development. If you’re a product manager, software developer, UX designer, or even a business analyst, this course will equip you with valuable insights that enhance your ability to deliver solutions that resonate with users. In a landscape where understanding the user is critical to success, this course not only addresses pivotal questions but also empowers you with the knowledge to test and validate your ideas effectively. Embrace this journey into hypothesis-driven practices to elevate your team's capabilities and drive meaningful, user-centric results. Enroll today and take the first step toward transforming your approach to product development!

Syllabus

How Do We Know if We're Building for a User that Doesn't Exist?

How do you go from backlog grooming to blockbuster results with agile? Hypothesis-driven decisions. Specifically, you need to shift your teammates focus from their natural tendency to focus on their own output to focusing out user outcomes. Easier said than done, but getting everyone excited about results of an experiment is one of the most reliable ways to get there. This week, we’ll focus on how you get started in a practical way.

Nothing will help a team deliver better outcomes like making sure they’re building something the user values. This might sound simple or obvious, but I think after this week it’s likely you’ll find opportunities to help improve your team’s focus by testing ideas more definitively before you invest in developing software. In this module, you’ll learn how to make concept testing an integral part of your product pipeline. We’ll continue to apply methods from Lean Startup, looking at how they pair with agile. We’ll look at how high-functioning teams design and run situation-appropriate experiments to test ideas, and how that works before the fact (when you’re testing an idea) and after the fact (when you’re testing the value of software you’ve released).

The best products are tested for usability early and often, avoiding the destructive stress and uncertainty of a "big unveil." In this module, you’ll learn how to diagnose, design and execute phase-appropriate user testing. The tools you’ll learn to use here (a test plan template, prototyping tool, and test session infrastructure) are accessible/teachable to anyone on your team. And that’s a very good thing -- often products are released with poor usability because there "wasn’t enough time" to test it. With these techniques, you’ll be able to test early and often, reinforcing your culture of experimentation.

You’ve learned how to test ideas and usability to reduce the amount of software your team needs to build and to focus its execution. Now you’re going to learn how high-functioning teams approach testing of the software itself. The practice of continuous delivery and the closely related Devops movement are changing the way we build and release software. It wasn’t that long ago where 2-3 releases a year was considered standard. Now, Amazon, for example, releases code every 11.6 seconds. This week, we’ll look at the delivery pipeline and step through what successful practitioners do at each stage and how you can diagnose and apply the practices that will improve your implementation of agile.