Integrating UX & Agile

Last week I attended a panel on integrating user experience into Agile development, put on by the Western NY Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (WNYHFES). The panel was interesting in that I learned more and more companies are embracing Agile in some way. However, there was not nearly enough time spent on how to integrate user experience methods into the process. Maybe there can be a part two.

What I'd like to see in a part two is more on cycle 0 and the UX processes that need to occur outside of and before Agile development begins. And more on how  to *design* in a more agile fashion. Rick Cecil's article for UXMatters addresses some of these topics. Lastly, a question from the audience on how to use Agile within fixed price projects could use further exploration as these are a fact of life for many agencies.

Here are my notes:

• Development is broken into shorter, smaller chunks: Analysis > Design > Coding > Testing
• Testing phases are informal, more like unit testing
• No clear answer on doing end-to-end testing
• Addresses the challenge of not knowing everything up front
• Add features as you determine need with users
• Mostly used with smaller teams
• Constant communication with developers, testers, stakeholders, etc.
• Can solve problems faster as they come up
• Agile assumes 1) everything is not known early; 2) discovery throughout
• Focus on delivering working code to customers at frequent intervals
• Constant collaboration to deal with new discoveries and to move forward
• Can be done (and is) with remote teams
• UX/UCD works 1 cycle ahead of development

Best part of the presentation was the following diagram from Desirée Sy's paper Adapting Usability Investigations for Agile User-centered Design.

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Image above is from The Journal of Usability Studies, Vol. 2, Issue 3, May 2007, pp. 118 and reuse is subject to the following:

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Comments

[torresburriel]

I have your notes translated into spanish.