The best experience design starts with usability research. Our multidisciplinary mobile team at this mid-sized e-commerce company excelled at weekly iterative usability testing on the beta mobile website in development.

Six targeted Friday morning formative sessions allowed participatory design discussions in the observation room. Debrief seldom happened outside the 9-to-12 time slot as all stakeholders were present during at least one session.

Moderating usability testing was shared by most on the team so everyone got to observe from both sides of the usability lab. When we were hot, the lead developer would push changes to the prototype in development between participants three and four, in keeping with usability best practices. Testing took place on iOS and Android devices using a sled-mounted video camera and audio recording. 

Our approach had more in common with Guerrilla Usability Testing (1, 2) and other Lean research (3) than the original Lean research method: "RITE", or Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation  (4, 5).

Decisions made while I was on the team include pagination vs. infinite scroll, industry template categorization and selection, and menu drawer interaction design & behavior. Some of these are seen here, taken from the current public website.