Software Development Life Cycle with Lean UX

A seven-phase process for moving a feature from idea through to productized release. The core of it is the Requirements & Design phase, which embeds a full Lean UX methodology — hypothesis backlog, collaborative design, user testing, iteration — as standard engineering practice rather than an optional add-on. Decisions throughout the flow can loop back for revision; the linked "back to" annotations show where each loop goes.

Look for cards with a chevron (▸) — they expand to show additional detail.

1. Roadmap

InceptionIdea is generated and business case is made for adoption. Initial market research.
Level of EffortRough requirements are outlined and rough LOE is estimated.
PrioritizationInitiative is added to development roadmap.

2. Requirements & Design (Lean UX)

Gather research 4 research sources Determine a list of questions to be answered before the design phase begins. These questions become the metrics used to determine the project's success after launch.
  • Database queries — answers to questions about usage and feature popularity
  • Existing analytics — answers to questions about usage and feature popularity
  • User interviews — qualitative information about what users like and dislike
  • Market research — in-depth research, competitive product review, user feedback
Write problem statementThe statement that describes the reason for doing the project.
Assemble product teamThe group that designs the product. All major disciplines should be represented.
Gather assumptions from teamUse the Lean UX worksheet to solicit answers to the assumptions prompts.
Is this a new product?
No — rewrite
Translate existing features into hypothesis statementsList the current features required for the rewrite, turn them into hypothesis statements, and add them to the backlog.
Yes — new
Create hypothesis statement backlogThe problem statements that drive product features. Maintained throughout the project. Any new idea should be added to the backlog to be voted on later.
Lean UX Iteration Process Full iteration loop Vote on hypotheses → Collaborative design → Mock-ups → User test → Create artifacts → Handoff → iterate or complete.
Vote on hypothesesThe team votes on 7 to 10 hypothesis statements from the backlog to work in a single iteration.
Collaborative designThe team discusses the hypothesis statements and turns them into a UI/UX.
Mock-upsDuring collaborative design, the designer creates high-fidelity mock-ups for use in user tests and later as tickets to developers.
User testThe UI created during the iteration is tested with users to ensure it solves the stated problem.
Did the design pass the user test? No → back to Collaborative design
Create artifactsOnce the design passes user testing, package the iteration's deliverables.
Technical DesignArchitectural, schematic, and domain-specific design specifications.
JIRA TicketsTickets for every feature captured in the iteration's hypothesis statements.
Design DocsDesign documentation for the dev team, included in the JIRA tickets.
Handoff to developersIf there's enough work for developers to begin implementing, the documentation can be handed off.
Is the product or feature design complete? No → begin a new iteration
End of Lean UX phase

3. Planning

EstimationInitial estimation created for the next iteration.
Client approval required?
Yes
Client approvalStatement of work created and sent to client for approval.
No
Skip approvalContinue straight to release assignment.
Assign to releasePrioritize and identify the candidate release package.
Release planningShort-term planning immediately preceding release development. Refer to the release-planning workflow.

4. Development

Team analysisTicket is reviewed in depth with the dev team and reestimated.
DevelopmentFeature coding.
Code reviewFeature is reviewed for completeness, bugs, cleanliness, patterns, and security holes.
DemoQuick demo provided to QA and other interested parties to show completion of features.

5. Quality Assurance

Approve master pushAfter a successful demo, QA approves push to the Master branch for testing.
TestFeature is tested for UI and feature acceptance criteria, performance, and usability.
Tests pass? No → back to Development (tests did not pass)

6. Deployment

Is there more iteration work to develop?
Can the current version be released as an MVP? No → back to iteration planning
Deploy MVPRelease the MVP build.
Estimate next iterationScope and size the next pass.
What type of release is this?
Launch to limited audienceMinimum viable product path: put the product in front of a small audience of users to test in a real-world setting.

7. Productization

Ready to productize?
No
Gather feedbackRecord usage in the field. Compile and analyze feedback.
Does this require major changes? Yes → back to Lean UX iteration
Improvement ticketsCreate tickets for the next set of improvements (feeds back to Development).
Yes
Write / update documentationGenerate user manuals and any other user- or marketing-related documentation.
Update release notesUpdate release notes for affected versions.
ProductizePrepare marketing and sales collateral. Move into the maintenance stage.
End of product
How this was built. Designed in partnership with the VP of Development. Phases and decision points were captured through a process audit: major milestones pulled from the bug-tracking software, plus interviews with PMs, QA, Architects, and Customer Service to surface the steps that lived in people's heads rather than in any system. The diagram reflects how work actually moved through the organization, not just how the documented process said it should.