Which way?

Now that the whole world has switched to working ‘Agile’, it’s easy to believe speed is the most important factor when designing and developing new things.

“We have to be able to adapt to changes more quickly!” “We have to work faster!”

But Agile has never been about speed. There is a reason teams talk about their velocity rather than their speed. Similar concepts, but there is an important difference.

Speed is simply the rate at which an object moves.
Velocity on the other hand, is the rate and direction of the object’s movement.

No matter how fast you can move, if you are moving in the wrong direction, you’re not accomplishing much.

This tweet popped up in my timeline today and says it so well:

As designers, we have what it takes to be truly Agile. Yes, we can work fast. We can crank out one sketch after the other and with reusable components of our design system we can make realistic mockups in no time.

But our real added value lies in our ability to set the direction. Because to know where a team needs to go, the destination needs to be visualized. It’s not a vision if you can’t see it. We have the unique skills to turn abstract problems into experiences that can be imagined. We can create scenarios, concepts, prototypes, storyboards and experience visions that make the direction clear to everyone. And with good user research, we can actually check whether we are indeed heading in the right direction.

So if your team is asking ‘which way should we go?’, you can be the one pointing them in the right direction.