Experience-led engineering seeks to re-frame the software development process in a way that establishes the end user experience as a foundation for each stage of development. As the need for more effective cross-team collaboration increases, a user-centric approach such as this one ensures that all players involved in the software development lifecycle are aligned with the desired end goal.
Too often, engineering teams will dive into the software development process without a clear definition of project success, or a point of reference to the end user experience. The lack of clarity on how a product or application is intended to be used in its final form could lead to costly and time-consuming alterations in later stages of the development life cycle.
Experience-led engineering aims to combat the “illusion of agreement”, which is the misconception of goal alignment held by teams who, in reality, do not hold a common understanding of what the end product should look like. This problem is solved by placing user experience at the core of the software development process. It involves the creation of detailed narratives that effectively illustrate the journey that users undertake with a product or application. These narratives are then materialized incrementally through the development of prototypes within a well-defined scope of work. This ensures that the development process is accurately aligned with customer needs from start to finish. Allowing each stage of the development cycle to be informed by the intended user experience significantly mitigates the risk of deviating from the initial concept and streamlines the overall process.