This week, we’re reading about creating great UX documentation, agile approaches to design, conducting lean research, and UX unicorns.

What did we miss?

How to create great UX documents

As this article states, “UX is knee deep in documentation.” The challenge is making all that documentation "great." The author here asserts that great UX documents are useful, appropriate, usable, presentable, and accessible. He then goes on to describe how to make them so.

The Right Way to Do Lean Research

According to this post, research is “the heart of the lean build-measure-learn cycle.” But how do you devote time and resources to research while trying to stay lean? By doing things the “right” way: ask the right questions; talk to the right people; use the right methodology; conduct your research in the right place; and maintain the right attitude (listen, don’t sell). 

Google Ventures: Your Design Team Needs A War Room. Here's How To Set One Up

“In the last two years at Google Ventures,” writes Google Ventures’ Jeff Knapp, “I’ve done design sprints with more than 80 startups. One of the simplest tricks I’ve learned is that a dedicated space with walls--a war room--always helps us do better work.” In this Fast Company piece, he describes how to set up a design war room of your own.

Off To The Races: Getting Started With Design Sprints

If you read the quote from Jeff Knapp above and wondered what in the heck a “design sprint” was, then this article is for you! It not only defines the design sprint but makes a case for why your design team should adopt this methodology, as well as providing details on how to get started.

What to do when you don’t have UX unicorn money

A “UX unicorn” is a user experience professional who can comfortably and competently do it all. While in the past the conversation revolved around whether such a figure was mythical or not, this article (written by our own Matthew T. Grant), takes their existence as a given. What it focuses on instead is what to do if you need UX expertise, but can’t afford high unicorn prices.

Image Credit (Creative Commons): Natalie Maynor.