agile-user experience design: an agile and user-centered process?

Agile-User Experience Design:

an Agile and User-Centered Process?

Lou Schwartz

ICSEA 2013

Agenda

1. Agile vs. User Centered Design

2. Review of 5 Agile-UX processes

3. Discussion

Agile-UX: an Agile & UCD process? -- Lou Schwartz 2

Agile- User Experience Design

Values

1. Individuals and interactions

over processes and tools

2. Working software over

comprehensive documentation.

3. Customer collaboration over

contract negotiation.

4. Responding to change over

following a plan.

Agile Manifesto

1. The design is based upon an explicit understanding of users, tasks and environments

2. Users are involved throughout the design and the development

3. The design is driven and refined by user-centered evaluation

4. The process is iterative

5. The design addresses the whole user experience

6. The design team includes multidisciplinary skills and perspectives

ISO 9241-210

3Agile-UX: an Agile & UCD process? -- Lou Schwartz


Objectives

• Enhance value of delivered product to satisfy the customer’s requirements

• Avoid delayed projects, budget overruns and stressful jobs

• Assure quality

BUT

• Neither method nor good practices to achieve this objective, particularly for the needs elicitation or the design part

• Focused on the developers’ work and on the development quality

• No guarantee on usability of interfaces

• Produce usable software to satisfy real end-users and customers

BUT

• No guarantee on delayed projects, budget overruns and stressful jobs



Processes

SCRUM / 1 Agile methodISO 9241-210

[Product owner]

Product Backlog

(priorized)[Team]

Sprint Backlog

Product

(potentially delivered)

Daily

Scrum

Sprint

2-4 weeks


Agile-User Experience Design

Reconciliation of both approaches is possible

And implemented

• It implies focusing more on design activities

• It results to a redefinition of the process to organize the

activities dedicated to the design and the process dedicated to

the development.


Process 1: Parallel tracksSy

Well acclaimed by usability experts who test it


Process 2: Design work done on parallel

levelsArmitage

Concerns only the designers’ work organization

3 parallel levels, from unit to global level

• Provide detailed designs for the requirement developed in the current or next

iteration.

• Redesign software developed in previous releases (a release is a set of several

iterations).

• Provide overall product vision, to keep a global coherence throughout the

project and developed software.

R: requirement

S: software

P: Product


Process 3: iterative design phase +

iterative development phase + TestsDeuff & al.

• Phase 1: Iterative upfront design

• Phase 2: Iterative development in agile

• Phase 3: Big final users’ test

1. Design2.

Development3. Final

users’s test


Process 4: Big upfront designBlomkvist

Chamberlain & al.

McInerney & Maurer

Nodder & Nielsen

…

Big upfront design

Development in agile

• To support product owner in User stories definition usability

experts propose a big upfront analysis

SupportersBlomkv

istChamberlain

Project I

Constantine

Brown Deuff Ferreira McInerneyProje

ct PV

Nodder

Project2

Project3

Project4

Do first

analysis and

design

X X X X X X X

Avoid risks X X

Have a global

vision X X X X X X


Process 4: Big upfront designBlomkvist

Chamberlain & al.

McInerney & Maurer

Nodder & Nielsen

…

Big upfront design

Development in agile

Opponents

• Iteration 0 is enough

Armitage ChamberlainProject I

Brown FerreiraProject 1

Nodder

Avoid risks (time &

money consuming)X X X X

Respect Agile values:

accept changesX X X X

Big upfront analysis

reduce qualityX


Process 5: Usage centered designConstantine

Integration of agile and User Usage Centered design

• more focused on roles and on usage scenarios (task cases)

than on users

• Roles and tasks are identified by stakeholders (domain experts,

business people, designers, developers, users, etc.) thanks to

brainstorming


Discussion

Sy Armitage Deuff Big upfront design

Constantine

UCDActivities

1. Specify context X X X X X2. Specify users’ needs X X X X X3. Design X X X X X4. Evaluate X X X NO NO

UCDprinciples

1. Design based on explicit understanding of users, tasks and environment

X X X X X

2. Users involvedX N E X

N Ebut recom.

X

3. Design driven and refined by user-centered evaluation X N E X

N Ebut recom.

NO

4. Iterative processX X More or less

N Ebut recom.

X

5. Process addresses the whole user experience

N E N E N E N E N E

6. Team includes multidisciplinary skills X X X

N Ebut recom.

X

AgileValues

1. Individual and interactions over processes and tools

N E N E N E N E N E

2. Working software over comprehensive documentation

N Ebut promoted

N E N E N EN E

but promoted3. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

N E N E N E N E N E

4. Responding to change over following a plan

X X +/- NO X

N E = Not ensured

Recom = recommanded


Conclusion

• Even if the parallel tracks process is generally accepted, some

other processes are proposed

• Brown Every team has to find its proper way to process

Agile-UX because “different challenges require different

solutions”

• No one studied process covers entirely all the UCD activities,

UCD principles and Agile values

• Have to be completed by practices or by cultural aspects, e.g.

• Add tests

• Combine some processes


Conclusion

Opened questions

• Which practices are necessary to complete the Agile-UX

processes?

• What can be an Agile-UX process that respects all UCD and

Agile principles?

• How may the people and the cultural question enhance the

Agile-UX processes?

• How to ensure the respect of the fifth UCD principle: process

addresses the whole user experience?


Thank you for your attention

[email protected]

agile-user experience design: an agile and user-centered process?

Technology

agile ucd process

agile phase

agileux processes

agile methodiso

iterative process

user centered design

usercentered process

design work