Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Principles of Team Wireframing
Gold
Monday, October 2, 2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Share the love for this talk
Principles of Team Wireframing
Speakers: Billy Carlson
Link:

Summary

Wireframing is not just making sketches; it's about team communication. Make handoffs clear, know why you're wireframing, and annotate your work. Roles like Product Managers, Designers, and Developers all benefit from wireframing for different reasons. PMs can clarify requirements and sketch ideas, designers can generate multiple options, and developers can understand what's easy or hard to code. So yeah, wireframing is great for teams, not just designers.

Key Insights

  • Wireframes add value primarily through the collaborative process, not as final deliverables.

  • Treating wireframes as high-fidelity prototypes causes confusion and misalignment.

  • Low-fidelity wireframes enable rapid idea generation, iteration, and communication.

  • A lack of collaboration among UX, design, and development teams leads to project fragmentation.

  • Wireframes are an ideal place to outline content and content requirements early on.

  • Five principles—articulate, generate, iterate, communicate, and validate—drive effective team wireframing.

  • Keeping wireframes low-fidelity prevents premature commitment to details and encourages diverse solutions.

  • Tools like Balsamiq intentionally limit fidelity to focus on idea sharing rather than visual polish.

  • Paper prototyping workshops can kickstart ideation before moving to digital wireframing.

  • Early validation with developers and users reduces costly changes in later high-fidelity phases.

Notable Quotes

"Wireframes don’t add value to the product; the true value is the wireframing process together."

"Wireframes are an in-between artifact, an idea in time used for conversation."

"I was handed a thick stack of wireframes and felt really lost because they weren’t collaborative."

"Wireframes should not be seen as prototypes or high fidelity deliverables."

"The ability in low fidelity design to try things quickly and test if they work is invaluable."

"Low fidelity allows me to focus on the structure I want to change, not just UI design."

"Generate many ideas as a team and don't stick with your first assumption."

"Stay in low fidelity so you can share ideas confidently and get feedback before polishing."

"Mid fidelity is perfect as a handoff point; UI designers need freedom to finalize designs."

"If you show something that looks ready to ship early, you might miss exploring better options."

Ask the Rosenbot
Cennydd Bowles
Responsible Design in Reality
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Daniel Orbach
Zero to One: Co-Creating Operating Models with your Team
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Bill Scott
Lean Engineering: Engineering for Learning and Experimentation in the Enterprise
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Catherine Courage
The Enterprise UX Journey: Lessons From the Voyage & The Opportunity Ahead
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme Three Intro
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Renee Bouwens
Landing Product Impact: Aligning Research as a Foundational Driver for Delivering the World’s Best Products (Videoconference)
2023 • QuantQual Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Molly Fargotstein
Multipurpose Communication & UX Research Marketing (Videoconference)
2019 • DesignOps Community
Sarah Barrett
The "How" of Enterprise Information Architecture
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Joseph Meersman
Sweating the Pixel: Scaling Quality through Critique
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Nathan Curtis
Beyond the Toolkit: Spreading a System Across People & Products
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Brendan Jarvis
It was the Best of Times. It was the Worst of Times.
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Luca Rager
Empowering Gaming at Scale: How Xbox Builds Powerful, Automated, and Distributed Design Systems with Sketch
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW
Everything You Need to Know about the Civic Design 2022 Call for Presentations (Videoconference)
2022 • Civic Design Community
Etienne Fang
The Power of Care: From Human-Centered Research to Humanity-Centered Leadership
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Kristin Skinner
Theme 2: Introduction and Provocation
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold

More Videos

"Organizations don’t always need external training; they can facilitate internal learning and mentorship."

Shaping design, designers and teams

November 8, 2018

Sabrina Mach

"We are not a circus juggling nine balls; we focus on two to avoid cognitive overload and achieve meaningful output."

Sabrina Mach Nina Wainwright

How to Design Your Design Operating Model

September 29, 2021

Samuel Proulx

"Disability isn’t a problem with a person; it’s something that happens when we fail to enable them."

Samuel Proulx

Invisible barriers: Why accessible service design can’t be an afterthought

December 3, 2024

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"It’s very overwhelming for one person to own accessibility alone; you have to build a coalition of passionate allies."

Saara Kamppari-Miller

DesignOps for Inclusive Design and Accessibility (Videoconference)

May 26, 2022

Briana Thomas

"Michael became our farmer maintaining a steady flow of the team; Dana was our gardener cultivating quality work."

Briana Thomas

The Quiet Force: Uncovering Hidden Leadership in High-Impact Design Teams

September 24, 2024

Adam Cutler

"A good story that people can retell is key for global communication, even if it distorts a bit."

Adam Cutler Karen Pascoe Ian Swinson Susan Worthman

Discussion

June 8, 2016

"Surprising to me, PMs benefited from the platform and were able to work faster in their own lifecycles."

Operationalizing DesignOps

November 7, 2018

Leah Buley

"Executives see research value when they’ve lost money on bad bets and want to mitigate risk for future decisions."

Leah Buley Joe Natoli

Ask Me Anything with Leah Buley and Joe Natoli, co-authors of The User Experience Team of One (2nd edition)

October 8, 2024

Nathan Shedroff

"Rather than aiming for the chief strategy officer directly, build relationships with junior strategists who are more accessible."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020