Unless you've been locked up in a Bali prison for the better part of the last decade, you would have either been involved in or at least heard of this thing called Agile development. If you're currently designing, or moving towards an agile environment then this is for you.Let's go back and think of the days of Waterfall, those care free days where you had your place, did your work and threw it over the fence for the next person.As a designer you would of had a scope (of some sort) to which you would work towards as a whole, consistency and branding were key from the beginning and as such would be evident throughout until final sign off.But, in an Agile environment where each feature can be designed, built and launched within one iteration how do you manage to keep consistent? How do you stay true to the brand and yet still be considered agile?Design inconsistencies start small, increase in size and before you know it you're in a world of shiitake mushrooms. The experience suffers, your brand suffers and you die a little on the inside each and every feature.So, there's a solution right?Yes! Well...no, as with most things there is never a one-size-fits-all fix and we're all learning as we go along. But let's run through some ideas you can put in place to help make things easier:Iteration zeroIf you are lucky enough to be involved at the start of a project (codenamed "iteration 0") then push to get enough time to think of the overall experience, put together end-to-end user journeys, style guides as well as a maintainable design process.Outside of this initial iteration, set aside time each week where you can take a step back from what you are working on right now and think about what you are working towards.Get up standupWhat better place to share, vent and discuss the merits of eating cereal than at a design standup. Organise them as frequently as you can as they are a great way to get everyone on the same page and prevent rework.Store, version & shareGithub isn't just for developers, prepare and use a design repository. Not only will it save countless hours in creating separate versions of your designs, but it can also save you in times of dire computer crashing crisis. Try combining Github with PSDiff for added functionality, or if you want more control try LayerVault.Stop designing pagesNot every page has to be designed, if the feature is using design elements you already have then sit with the developer and work straight on the code. Not only are they your friends, but learning more about how the system works helps you become a better designer.Get super stylin'Style guides give one clear voice of the design team, they help reduce time on designing new modules and can be used to make sure stuff you put out looks and feels as it should.If you can put together a live style guide it will help your design and development teams to be more consistent as well as give you a pre-built prototyping framework for your user testing.Bills, bills, billsMuch like tech debt the more features you launch the more inconsistencies sneak their way in. And when these inconsistencies join forces, your experience suffers.To give your experience the respect it deserves, keep track of them as they're found. Then create a design debt wall and encourage your BA's/IM's and PO's to bring them into future iterations.Is that it?Not really, this won't catch everything. Over time things are going to slip through. Listen to the team, collaborate, and over time you'll see fewer problems.
