[ID Discuss] Agile User-Centered Design

[Mark FelcanSmith]

Using [ID Discuss] Cooper Vs. Beck, as a springboard...

I'm in a development environment where an agile methodology is
being practiced. There is considerable interest in the
methodology; both in terms of how it differs from what was done
in the past, and can it be successful moving forward. The
company has relied in the past on outside agencies to provide a
user-centered design methodology. 

The current project is kind of a blend of the two, agile and
ucd. However, the outside agency, the ucd practitioners are no
longer on the project and we've really just begun the pilot
development. They provided business requirements, style guides,
wireframes, conducted some low-level usability - which helped
solidify some of their design decisions.

I'm in the position now to lead the continuation of the ucd
effort moving forward with the pilot as well as into subsequent
releases. My concern is this: the agile methodology that is
being embraced seems to lack the necessary *big picture* vision
that I feel is required and is attainable w/ an ucd methodology.

I had an opportunity to speak w/ Martin Fowler, who along w/
Kent Black pretty much outlined what XP (extreme programming)
is...about whether UCD and an agile methodology could co-exist -
and if so, given the overlap, how. One of the most interesting
comments he made was this, it seemed to him that the interaction
designer was super focused on getting the interaction spec
settled upfront, where as the agile developer is content with
letting this grow organically over the course of the project. 

That really struck a chord w/ me. That's been one of my main
concerns is the feeling that we don't have all the required
interactions figured out - and there are developers coding. In
my experience, having developers coding before there was
sufficient design to spec out *what* they should be coding has
led to products being produced that miss their mark in many
ways; the balance between usable and useful, a cohesive user
experience, consistent interactions, and consideration of users
expected behaviors.

Question: 
The long intro really gets me to this question: can both
user-centered design and agile (XP) methodologies co-exist in
the same development environment. And if so, how does this
co-existence look (and feel). What are the expectations when
there are obvious differences in the methodologies? e.g. having
a cohesive, clear definition of the interactions *before*
starting coding vs. seat-of-the-pants, make-it-up-as-you-go
development.

I've been struggling with this for a couple months now, and am
thinking that perhaps my view of the ucd methodology needs to
change, particularly if I'm going to stay on this project. The
agile approach isn't going away any time soon, and I've already
got buy-in for ucd from management - the issue is how do they
fit together. I sit now looking at an agile user-centered design
approach.

FYI - there are advanced topics and tutorials on this issue at
the UPA 2004 conference:
http://www.upassoc.org/conferences_and_events/upa_conference/2004/program/Tutorials_ALL.html

--
Mark FelcanSmith
mfs at ureach.com


-----Original Message-----
From:
discuss-interactiondesigners.com-bounces at lists.interactiondesigners.com
[mailto:discuss-interactiondesigners.com-bounces at lists.interactiondesign
ers.com]On Behalf Of Sarah Brodwall
Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 2004 3:31 AM
To: discuss at interactiondesigners.com
Subject: [ID Discuss] Cooper Vs. Beck


I'm not sure if this article has been discussed here before, but
I would 
very much like to hear your opinions on 
http://www.fawcette.com/interviews/beck_cooper/ (see also 
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?CooperVsBeck).

I'm studying interaction design with a focus on IA, while my
husband is an 
outspoken proponent of agile software development methods. 
Probably 
because of my husband's influence, I find myself agreeing with a
lot of 
what Beck has to say here, while Cooper comes off as being
somewhat out of 
touch with the realities of software development.  Have any of
you ever 
worked as interaction designers on a development team using
agile 
methodologies?  Do any of you come to the field of interaction
design from 
software development?  I'd really like to hear what you have to
say about 
this article.


--
Sarah Brodwall                     Time you enjoy wasting is not
sjb at broadpark.no                   wasted time.    ~T. S. Eliot