Understanding dual-track Agile for product development

Dual-track Agile can be helpful for almost any app or product developer. It allows developers to be involved with an idea from the get-go, and designers participate in the delivery.

This approach expands team roles within the product development process, leading to faster production, as both teams are active in both tracks.

Read our guide to dual-track Agile to help you decide whether it’s the right approach for your teams.  

While traditional product management is focused on a step-by-step approach to planning and managing products, dual-track Agile combines the discovery of user research with implementation. By using dual-track Agile, your team can research and develop simultaneously.

The discovery track focuses on coming up with product ideas and improvements, and then testing and validating them. The delivery track allows your researchers to combine development and design.

With traditional Agile, all project members follow the same path. With dual-track Agile, teams may be involved in different, non-linear paths or in individual sprints of differing lengths.

As the name implies, the discovery track focuses on understanding and defining user problems. Understanding the needs and desires of your users helps you prioritize solutions.

Product discovery starts with user research. To help your users, you need to understand what they want to do with your product, as easily and efficiently as possible. How many users face the same problem and how important it is to them helps you know which issues to address first.

This takes you to the testing phase of discovery. Most tests don’t take long to give you results and will give you a clearer idea of each issue's importance and how to address the problem. Using a problem-solving framework in this way benefits your teams and your users.

On the delivery track, you take what you learn from the discovery track and apply or deliver it to the product, adding new features and creating as many improvements as possible in a sprint. With dual-track Agile for product development, delivery works in tandem with the discovery track, making the whole thing easier and quicker.

Delivery is an ongoing task. Think of the delivery track as providing continual benefits through continual delivery.

By refining the user experience, you are helping your users to better understand your product and engaging them more, while encouraging them to stay with you, come back time and again, and offer referrals to others.

There are many reasons to use dual-track Agile for UX, not least of which is allowing you to address issues and user problems with your product quickly and efficiently with user-centric design.

You can provide better and upgraded products

By using dual-track Agile, your team will work on validated and most critical issues first. This enables you to release upgraded or new features quickly, addressing your customers' needs and goals.

You can rest assured you’re developing the best product through the discovery track, while the delivery track allows the product to be built properly.

Managing risks

Because any assumptions are addressed through discovery, there is far less risk of coming up with the wrong product or product improvement, or building the product incorrectly. By building early prototypes, you can make better decisions on how to develop the product.

Best use of your team's time

Addressing the discovery and development tracks in tandem means less wasted time, as you don’t need repeated cycles of each. You can quickly confirm or deny assumptions, allowing for efficient development of prototypes, avoiding delays and possible reworking later.

Through dual-track Agile, you will have better products faster, allowing you to get them into users’ hands more quickly.

Cost-effectiveness

By using dual-track Agile, your team is carrying out discovery and development simultaneously while validating research and use. A single team can accomplish more in less time, keeping your operating costs down.

In short, dual-track Agile is more cost-effective than addressing discovery and delivery separately.

No research and development approach is without obstacles, and dual-track Agile is no different. Dual-track Agile is a balancing act between its two tracks.

For companies accustomed to using traditional methodologies for development, dual-track Agile can be difficult for some team members to adjust to. Individual team members may be hesitant to change from their old ways.

There is no rushing the discovery process in using dual-track Agile. It needs to align with the delivery track so everyone can work together to solve one or more user problems. It is important to incorporate user experience and feedback in every step, as your goal is to improve your users’ experience of your product.

It is important to understand each role of the dual-track Agile framework for it to run smoothly.

The roles include:

Product manager

It is up to the product manager to figure out a roadmap to discover which features of your product customers need or want the most.

The product manager should develop a strategy and vision for your product by analyzing the market and looking at the competition. They should encourage faster delivery through collaboration and consistent improvement.

UX/UI designers

These people are responsible for the design and development of a quality and intuitive user experience. Using design software and wireframe tools, UX/UI designers will make sense of what users want and need.

Developers

The developer or development team develops new or existing software products or apps in releasable increments. Developers must analyze user requirements while troubleshooting and debugging problems.

Agile coaches

An Agile coach supports and guides individual team members and each team as a whole, while promoting an Agile mentality.

They strive for continuous improvement by encouraging quicker decision-making and a faster turnaround of products or improvements.

There is no shortage of dual-track Agile software tools, frameworks, and guides. Some top tools include:

• Kanban: Kanban allows your teams to manage product development faster and more efficiently with continuous delivery while limiting work in progress and envisioning workflow stages.

• Jira: Jira is respected as an aid in Agile project management. Designed for Agile solutions, you can use it for managing projects through Kanban, Scrum, and others.

• Asana: One of the top benefits of Asana is that it allows you to customize it to meet specific Agile needs for your products and apps.

• Trello: Working with Kanban, Trello provides flexibility for the setup of different boards, cards, and lists.

• Monday.com: With a wide range of customizations, Monday.com offers smooth communication and cooperation among all players and teams.

• ClickUp: ClickUp helps with task management, such as setting priorities and time periods for getting work done, while managing tasks through a Kanban board.

There are many guides and books available to learn more about dual-track Agile. Some include:

• Scrum and XP from the Trenches – "Director's Cut" by Henrik Kniberg

• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love by Marty Cagan

• Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products by Marty Cagan

• Succeeding with Agile: Software Development Using Scrum by Mike Cohn

• Coaching Agile Teams: A Companion for ScrumMasters by Lyssa Adkins

In the fast-paced world of product development, dual-track Agile is here to stay. It provides product development teams with a faster way of working, thanks to the dual tracks of discovery and delivery. This speeds up release times for new and revised products.

If you’re dealing with dissatisfied users, dual-track Agile can help you validate your assumptions about user needs and enable a quicker turnaround to meet those needs.